On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover.
The exiles had just finished and dedicated the temple. Weeks later they gathered for Israel's oldest feast, on the exact day the law set for it. Why did this small, powerless community reach past the glories of the kingdom to the night Israel left Egypt? What does that choice say about where they thought they stood with God?
Redemption as the ground of everything
The order matters: the house first, then the Passover. One writer sees the feast as the remnant tracing everything they had back to its source.
Edward DennettThe connection is very beautiful. The house of their God is finished, and now His people celebrate the memorial of their redemption from the land of Egypt. So they remind themselves, to the praise of Jehovah, of the ground on which they stood. They remind themselves that the foundation of all their blessing, of all God's acting in grace towards them, was the blood of the slain Lamb… They passed by the glories of the kingdom. They travelled upward until they reached the charter of all they had, whether in title or in prospect, and there confessed God as the God of their salvation.
Another writer names what the Passover remembered, and what it matches for Christians now:
H. L. RossierThe Passover was the memorial of the sacrifice that preserved Israel from the judgment of God on the one hand, and set them free from slavery in Egypt on the other. For us Christians, this feast matches the memorial of the death of Christ, of our deliverance, and of the blessings of the new covenant in His blood.
The right day, not a second-best one
The date matters. Israel had kept Passovers late before, when the people were not ready. This one stands against that record.
Leslie M. GrantAt last a Passover could be kept in Jerusalem. The last Passover recorded before this is Josiah's, which must have taken place over 100 years earlier (2 Chronicles 35:1-19). This one was kept on the proper day too. It was not like the Passover in Hezekiah's time (2 Chronicles 30:1-3), which was held in the second month because many were not purified in the first month.
A name that admits the ruin
The verse names them by where they had been. ESV calls them "the returned exiles"; older translations read "the children of the captivity." One writer shows why faith can carry such a name.
The Bible TreasuryAh, the humbling fact: "the sons of the province, that went up out of the captivity!" Pride forgets such things and hides them. But faith, cleared and cheered by grace, can afford in the darkest day to own the truth: however Israel may change, Jehovah does not change. Therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed.
That small company also refused to shrink its prayers to its own size. It kept the feast on behalf of people who were not even there.
The Christian's FriendNotice how this remnant clings to the written word. The city is in ruins, the wall unbuilt, enemies all around. Most of the people of Israel are not with them, but are still scattered through the vast dominions of the king of Persia. Yet they offer the sin-offering for all Israel, and kill the Passover for all the children of the captivity who are absent — not with them, but still remembered and prayed for.
Purity before the meal
Being purified was the difference between a feast on time and a feast delayed. Commentators carry that over to the Lord's table now.
H. L. RossierThey realise that defilement cannot be allowed at the Lord's table, and that the world has no place there. They also realise that the supper cannot take place without self-judgment: "Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup" (1 Corinthians 11:28).
Redemption first, then a holy life
Passover never stood alone. The seven days of unleavened bread that followed carry the point forward.
Edward DennettThe moment we are redeemed God claims us, and He wants us to answer His claims by holy lives — separation from evil, and separation to Himself. The feast lasted seven days. That is a complete period — a picture of the whole span of our lives. So in the Old Testament as in the New, all God's claims on His people rest on redemption. "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price."
Summary
- Foundation. With the house finished, they went back to the blood of the lamb. That was the charter of everything they held and everything they hoped for.
- Memory. Passover recalled two rescues: from God's judgment, and from slavery in Egypt. It answers now to the memorial of Christ's death.
- Timing. Kept on the proper day, unlike Hezekiah's delayed feast — readiness, not convenience, set the date.
- Honesty. "Children of the captivity" is a humbling name; faith can own the ruin because the Lord does not change.
- Continuation. Seven days of unleavened bread follow the lamb. Redemption comes first, then a whole life claimed for God.