Ezra 6:22

22 For seven days they celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread in a very joyful way. The Lord had made them happy by changing the mind of the king of Assyria so that he helped them in the work on the Temple of the God of Israel.

Ezra 6:22 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 6:22

And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy,
&c.] Which immediately followed upon the passover, ( Exodus 12:18 Exodus 12:19 ) ,

for the Lord had made them joyful;
the building of the temple being finished, and the service of it restored to its original purity;

and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen
their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel;
by giving them leave to go on in building the temple, and by encouraging and assisting them in it till they had finished it; this was Darius Artaxerxes, who, though called king of Persia, was also king of Assyria, being possessed of the Assyrian monarchy, as his predecessors were upon the taking of Babylon, and the same is therefore called also the king of Babylon, ( Nehemiah 13:6 ) . God, the God of Israel, who has the hearts of all men in his hands, and so the hearts of kings, and can turn them at his pleasure, inclined his heart to do them good, which was matter of joy unto them, see ( Ezra 7:27 ) .

Ezra 6:22 In-Context

20 The priests and Levites had made themselves clean. Then the Levites killed the Passover lambs for all the people who had returned from captivity, for their relatives the priests, and for themselves.

21 So all the people of Israel who returned from captivity ate the Passover lamb. So did the people who had given up the unclean ways of their non-Jewish neighbors in order to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.

22 For seven days they celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread in a very joyful way. The Lord had made them happy by changing the mind of the king of Assyria so that he helped them in the work on the Temple of the God of Israel.