The Passover celebration
On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. 20 The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their brothers the priests and for themselves. 21 So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the LORD, the God of Israel. 22 For seven days they celebrated with joy the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because the LORD had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria, so that he assisted them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
The mention of the Passover is especially significant as a symbol of the full restoration of the Mosaic form of worship. The Passover was the special festival that celebrated the liberation of the Israelites so that they could serve God. There was a further restoration of the unity of the nation when the celebration was joined by people of the land who had separated themselves from their heathen neighbors. It is possible that these people were converts to the Jewish faith, but it is more likely that they were Jews who had remained in the land and mixed with the Samaritans. Now they were returning to the faith of their ancestors.
Critics have often claimed that the reference to the king of Assyria is an obvious mistake and that the king of Persia must be meant. On the contrary, it appears that this is an intentional reference on the part of Ezra. He emphasizes that although Israel’s experience with the world empires began with the bitterness of the Assyrian deportations and the Babylonian destruction of the temple, God’s grace had changed bitterness to joy. The restoration of the temple was accomplished, and with the help of a heathen king! Ezra’s tendency to regard all the world empires as succeeding phases of the same experience is also reflected in 5:13, where Cyrus is called “king of Babylon,” and in Nehemiah 9:32, where Israel’s whole experience with the three empires of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia is treated as a unit. The vision of world empires in Daniel chapter 2 also treats all the empires as successive phases of the same experience for the people of God.
The first half of the book of Ezra thus closes on a note of joy, triumph, and thanksgiving. The bitterness of exile yields to the joy of being home again, of being able to worship in a restored temple.