Text: Ezra 6:19-22
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 12:1-28
Subject: Post-exilic Passover celebration
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Anchor Text: Exod 12 — The Passover
Significance: The returnees' celebration of Passover in Ezra 6:19-22 deliberately echoes the original Passover of Exodus 12:1-28, complete with killing the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month and maintaining ritual purity. The Ezra account emphasizes that "the priests and Levites had purified themselves" (הִטַּהֲרוּ, hitaharu), connecting to Exodus 12's requirements for proper observance. By celebrating Passover immediately after the temple's completion, the post-exilic community links their deliverance from Babylonian exile to the foundational deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The note that they ate the Passover "with joy" (בְּשִׂמְחָה, besimchah) because "the LORD had filled them with joy" reinforces the new Exodus typology.