Ezra 6:20

For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure,.... They were all to a man pure, and all purified as one man; all were of one mind to purify themselves, and took care

And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. No JFB commentary on these verses.

Ezra 6:20 For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them [were] pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.Ver. 20. Were purified together] Misery had framed them to unanimity. See 2 Chronicles 29:34. All of them were pure] Ritually at least, if not really. And killed the passover] i.e. The paschal lamb, whereof see Exodus 12:1-51 with the notes. For all the children] And for themselves] For they also were sinners, and needed a Saviour, Hebrews 7:27. That Popish expositor was utterly out when, from Exodus 30:31-32, he will needs infer that priests, when once anointed with the holy oil, were thenceforth angels, spirits, not having human flesh, or infirmities.

(20) Purified together.—This verse should be translated as follows, contrary to the present accentuation: “The priests were purified; and the Levites were purified as one man: all were pure; and killed.” In this fact the present Levitical and official purity of both orders surpassed that of Hezekiah’s celebration (2 Chronicles 29:34; 2 Chronicles 30:3). It had come to be the practice that the Levites slaughtered all the paschal lambs.

Verse 20. The Levites were purified together] They were all ready at one time to observe the proper rites and ceremonies, and had no need of having a second passover, which was appointed by the law for those who had been accidentally defiled, or were at a distance from the tabernacle. See 2 Chronicles 30:3.

20. The explanatory ‘for’ means that this celebration of the Passover could take place, because the priests and Levites had duly prepared themselves for it by ceremonial purification. the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure] R.V. the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together (Heb. as one); all of them were pure. ‘Had purified themselves’: the reflexive is the accurate rendering of the original. together] Lit. ‘as one’: see Ezra 2:64, Ezra 3:9. The rendering of the R.V. represents the ceremonial purification to have been jointly performed by priests and Levites, who were therefore all ‘pure’ and capable of sacrificial acts. The only difficulty arises from the following clause. How can it be said that ‘the priests and Levites killed the passover … for their brethren the priests, and for themselves?’ The words ‘for their brethren the priests’ shew that the subject of the last clause must be the Levites alone; and that the mention of the priests belongs to the two first clauses. Compare 2 Chronicles 29:34, ‘their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests’ (cf. 2 Chronicles 30:3). The small number of Levites who had returned were, we must suppose, more rigid followers of the ceremonial law than their brethren the priests, numerically a far larger body. for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves] The triple division of the community: see Ezra 6:16. The Levites are here represented as slaying the Paschal lamb. Three stages of custom as to the slaughter of the lamb are recorded in Scripture, (a) Originally, the lamb was slain by the head of each household (see Exodus 12:6): (b) in the days of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 30:17) the Levites ‘killed the passovers for every one that was not clean’: (c) in the days of Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:10-14) the Levites seem to have slain all the passover lambs, and roasted them both for the people, and for the priests, and for themselves. The object of the alteration in the custom was twofold; (1) to secure the ceremonial purity of those entrusted with the duty of slaying the passover, (2) to relieve the priests, who at the season of the feast were busied in other offerings; see 2 Chronicles 35:14, “therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron”. The above is a useful illustration of the manner in which the absolute rule of the early law was modified in later times out of regard for considerations of a purely practical character (cf. Ezra 3:8, note on “twenty years old and upward”).

Some render, “And the priests were purified; and the Levites, as one man, were all of them pure.” A contrast is drawn between the universal purity of the Levites and the merely general purity of the

20. For — This introduces the reason why they were able to celebrate the passover so soon after the dedication — they were not obliged to wait for the purifying of the priests and the Levites.