Ezra 6:16

And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16-22) The dedication of the second Temple.

(16) Children of the captivity.—This designation is peculiarly appropriate here, as in Ezra 6:20. “All Israel” soon follows.

Benson Commentary

Ezra 6:16. The children of Israel — Probably some out of each of the twelve tribes; the priests and Levites, &c., kept the dedication of the house of God with joy — When it was built, being designed only for sacred uses, “they now showed by an example how it should be used,” which, says Bishop Patrick, is the proper and simple sense of dedicating. They entered upon it with solemnity, and probably with a public declaration of the separating it from common uses, and the surrendering it to the honour of God, to be employed in his service.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:13-22 The gospel church, that spiritual temple, is long in the building, but it will be finished at last, when the mystical body is completed. Every believer is a living temple, building up himself in his most holy faith: much opposition is given to this work by Satan and our own corruptions. We trifle, and proceed in it with many stops and pauses; but He that has begun the good work, will see it performed. Then spirits of just men will be made perfect. By getting their sins taken away, the Jews would free themselves from the sting of their late troubles. Their service was with joy. Let us welcome holy ordinances with joy, and serve the Lord with gladness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

"Adar" was the twelfth or last month of the Jewish year, corresponding nearly with our March. The sixth year of Darius was 516-515 B.C.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Ezr 6:16-18. Feasts of the Dedication.

16. the children of Israel … kept the dedication … with joy—The ceremonial was gone through with demonstrations of the liveliest joy. The aged who had wept at the laying of the foundation [Ezr 3:12] were most, if not all of them, now dead; and all rejoiced at the completion of this national undertaking.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the children of Israel,.... Those of the ten tribes that remained after the body of the people were carried captive, or came with the Jews at their return:

the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity; those of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin:

kept the dedication of this house of God with joy; they set it apart for sacred use and service, with feasting and other expressions of joy and gladness, as follows.

Geneva Study Bible

And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. the children of Israel] Cf. the application of the term ‘Israel’ in Ezra 2:70, Ezra 3:1. In its special religious significance, its use here is appropriate to the sacredness of the event, in which the people were engaged, while it tends to clear the Jewish community from the charge of exclusiveness towards their own brethren. ‘The priests and Levites and the rest of the children of the Captivity’. Under these heads, the Israelites would be grouped at such a festival, cf. Ezra 6:20. Children of the Captivity’. See on Ezra 1:11, Ezra 2:1. Cf. Ezra 6:19.

dedication] Called in the Greek Encænia (ἐγκαίνια, LXX.), and in Hebrew ‘Khanukah’, the same word which gives its name to the Feast of the Dedication, founded to commemorate the purification of the Temple after the pollution of Antiochus Epiphanes (164), cf. John 10:22. That festival was kept for eight days (cf. 1Ma 4:60) and began on 25th of Chislev (the 9th month).

with joy] Some have suggested in connexion with this joyous occasion that the Psalms 145-148, called in the LXX. Psalm of Haggai and Zechariah, may have been composed at this period. But proof is wanting.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - The children of Israel. Again the writer is careful to present the returned exiles to us as "Israel," and not merely "Judah" (comp. 2:70; 3:1, 10, 11; 4:3; 5:1). This is especially fitting when he is about to explain why the number of the he-goats offered was twelve (see the next verse). Kept the dedication of this house of God. The primary dedication seems to be glanced at in the words, "the dedication of this house," an expression repeated in the next verse. It is one of the great objects of Ezra to link the present with the past, the new temple with the old, the restored religion with that of former times. Ezra 6:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The sons of Israel, more exactly the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the sons of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy. חנכּה עבד equals the Hebrew חנכּה עשׂה, to celebrate the dedication (2 Chronicles 7:9). בּחדוה, Hebrew בּשׂמחה; see Nehemiah 8:10. They brought for the dedication a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs as burnt-offerings, and twelve he-goats for a sin-offering for all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, because the temple was intended for the entire covenant people, whose return to the Lord and to the land of their fathers, according to the predictions of the prophets, was hoped for (comp. e.g., Ezekiel 37:15., Jeremiah 31:27.), not, as older expositors thought, because certain families of the ten tribes, who had before settled in Judah, were also among those who returned (J. H. Mich. ad h. l.).