remain true, and are inherited by the Church of Christ in all lands.

The re-establishment of the Temple worship with the appointment of
priests and Levites, according to the ancient ordinance, naturally
followed on the dedication.

III. The celebration of the Passover (vers. 19-22). It took place on
the fourteenth day of the first month, and probably, therefore, very
soon after the dedication. They 'kept the feast, ... for the priests
and Levites were purified together.' The zeal of the sacerdotal class
in attending to the prescriptions for ceremonial purity made it
possible that the feast should be observed. How much of real devotion,
and how much of mere eagerness to secure their official position,
mingled with this zeal, cannot be determined. Probably there was a
touch of both. Scrupulous observance of ritual is easy religion,
especially if one's position is improved by it. But the connection
pointed out by the writer is capable of wide applications. The true
purity and earnestness of preachers and teachers of all degrees has
much to do with their hearers' and scholars' participation in the
blessings of the Gospel. If priests are not pure, they cannot kill the
passover. Earnest teachers make earnest scholars. Foul hands cannot
dispense the bread of life.

There is a slight deviation from the law in the ritual as here stated,
since it was prescribed that each householder should kill the passover
lamb for his house. But from the time of Hezekiah the Levites seem to
have done it for the congregation (2 Chron. xxx. 17), and afterwards
for the priests also (2 Chron. xxxv. 11, 14).

Verse 21 tells that not only the returned exiles, but also 'all such