Reading for April 14th

 Read 6.19-22. In 6.19-22: The first Passover in the rebuilt Temple. The shift back to Hebrew from Aramaic draws attention to just as Israel was not a physical nation until they could worship God following their escape from Egypt, celebrated in the Passover, so the exilic community could not be considered a nation until the house of God was fully functioning. With the Temple in place, the Passover celebration had a renewed importance for the community as a sign of their coming into a new status. The author skillfully connects this with the physical separation of the community from the physical separation of the community from the surrounding peoples, a point that Ezra will hammer on as the center piece of his reforms. On verse 20: The priests and the Levites had purified themselves: Following the return from exile, there was a new emphasis on the purity regulations of the Pentateuch and on extending the areas of life they affected. Before undertaking the Passover, the ritual purity of the priests and Levites had to be assured. In verse 21: The people of Israel who had returned from exile, and ... all who had joined them and separated themselves from the pollutions of the nations: As a celebration of God's miraculous deliverance and the formation of the people into a nation,Passover was a powerful symbol of identity.Those who had been exiled and returned clearly would be recognized as part of Israel. The population that remained behind joined the exile community by separating from the surrounding peoples. Pollutions: a term normally reserved for severe violations of the sacral order. It was because of their pollutions, according to some parts of the hebrew Bible, that God removed the Canaanites from the land (Lev20.22-24). In verse 22: Had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them so that he aided them in the work: An echo of Ezra 1.1-4. The use of the title king of Assyria is unclear, though the Persian king did not adopt this title since the former Assyrian territory was under his rule. It may be a deliberate reference to King Esarhaddon of Assyria (Ezra 4.2); some of the peoples he transported to the territory north of Jerusalem had indeed "come over" to the side of the returning exiles in opposition to their fellow countryfolk, who opposed the Temple. Comments or Questions..