And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth [day] of the first month.
Ver. 19. And the children of the captivity] So the returned captives are called, first, to keep still afoot the remembrance of their late misery, lest they should despise the chastening of the Lord, Hebrews 12:5. Secondly, to remind them of that signal mercy of their return to their own country. Hence doth the evangelist Matthew so oft mention their transportation to Babylon, and rings it in the ears of his ungrateful countrymen, Matthew 1:11,12; Matthew 1:17 .
Kept the passover] In remembrance, that the punishing angel passed over their ancestors in Egypt, Exodus 12:12,14, and for confirmation of their faith in Christ, the true paschal Lamb. Hast thou escaped a danger? offer a passover. Hath Christ delivered thee from the wrath to come? keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth 1 Corinthians 5:8 .
Upon the fourteenth day of the first month] See Exodus 12:2, with the note.