1. Ezra 6:19 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is significant about this Passover?

Ezra 6:19 (ESV)

19 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover.

Passover is celebrated again for the first time in more than 100 years (2 Chronicles 35:18 was the previous celebration).1 If the temple was completed on March 12, 515 BC, the Passover would have begun on April 21, 515 BC.2 This special Passover celebration was linked with the spiritual reformation of the people of Israel; the exile is over, a new beginning now lies ahead for the people of God.3 With the Passover celebrations, the community is considered to represent the whole of the people of Israel.4 (For more information regarding the Passover festival, read Exodus 12:1–28.)