Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Ezra 10:18-44
The Names Of Those Involved In Marrying Idolatrous Foreign Women (Ezra 10:18).
Ezra then prepared for Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, a list of those with whom he had had to deal. We can compare how the king had asked for a list of those involved in building the Temple (Ezra 5:10). The list is divided up into priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers an Israel. All four houses of priests mentioned in Ezra 2:36 were involved. Although the promise to put away their idolatrous foreign wives and to offer sacrifices are only mentioned with respect to the first-named it is clear that the same would apply to all who were named. The king would be happy to learn that the God of Heaven had been made happy.
We do not know how often the body that was set up met. It met during the winter months, so that they would have to travel to and fro in difficult travel conditions,.and the heads of the fathers' houses may well have had other pressing responsibilities And time would have to be given for men to prepare their defence, especially when they need to demonstrate that their wives were good Yahwists and not involved in idolatry. Furthermore some cases may have come before the body more than once. Nor do we now how long it took them to determine each case, or how many put up a good case and were declared innocent, and were therefore not listed. And time would be spent in the usual Easter courtesies. They would not want to have too many per day because of the uncertainties. Three months times 24 days (excluding Sabbaths) equals roughly 72 days available to them if they met every day. They found guilty one hundred and fifteen men. This hardly suggests dilatory progress. (If we assumed two examinations per day it would indicate one hundred and forty four cases, with twenty nine proving innocent).
As we would expect the names of clans are paralleled in the list in chapter 2. It was these who would have been involved in taking idolatrous foreign wives. Those who had arrived with Ezra would not have had enough time.
The Priests.
‘And among the sons of the priests who were found who had married foreign women: (were) of the sons of Jeshua: Ben-Jozadak, and his brothers (kinsmen), Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.'
In Ezra 2:36 these were the children of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua. Five of them were involved.
‘And they gave their hand that they would put away their wives, and being guilty, (they offered) a ram of the flock for their guilt.'
Having been found guilty ‘gave their hand' that they would put away their wives, and because of their guilt each made a sacrifice of a ram of the flock. This punishment once stated would not need to be repeated. There is no need to think that it has later been omitted in other cases. Guilt offerings would be required in all cases.
‘And of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.'
The sons of Immer are mentioned in Ezra 2:37. Three of them were found guilty.
‘And of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.'
The sons of Harim are mentioned in Ezra 2:39. Five were found guilty.
‘And of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.'
The sons of Pashhur are mentioned in Ezra 2:38. Six were found guilty. Thus of the priests as a whole nineteen were found guilty.
The Levites.
‘And of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (the same is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.'
See Ezra 2:40 where they were also listed as one clan. Six were found guilty.
‘And of the singers: Eliashib.'
See Ezra 2:41 where they were listed as one clan. Only one was found guilty.
‘And of the gatekeepers: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.'
See Ezra 2:42 where they were computed as one clan. Three were found guilty. Thus in all ten of the Levites were found guilty. It is interesting but not surprising that the Temple servants are not mentioned. Once having been foreigners they would have had no land in Israel. They would probably live in Jerusalem and not have much contact with foreign women. Furthermore they would be of a class where their wives would be expected to conform to their husbands wishes.
The Rest Of Israel.
‘And of Israel:'
Ten clans are listed as affected in Israel. The number has in fact been artificially achieved by including the sons of Bani twice because of their overwhelming numbers. We can compare the lists of ten patriarchs in Genesis 5:11; Genesis 5:1 Esdras has more but is unreliable. As we have seen it seeks to remedy what it sees as errors.
‘Of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, and Izziah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.'
The sons of Parosh are mentioned in Ezra 2:3. Seven were found guilty.
‘And of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Elijah.'
The sons of Elam are mentioned in Ezra 2:7. (Rather than Ezra 2:31 which may be the name of a town). Six were found guilty.
‘And of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.'
The sons of Zattu are mentioned in Ezra 2:8. Six were found guilty.
‘And of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai.'
The sons of Bebai are mentioned in Ezra 2:11. Four were found guilty.
‘And of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, Jeremoth.'
The sons of Bani are mentioned in Ezra 2:10. Six were found guilty.
‘And of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.'
The sons of Pahath-moab are mentioned in Ezra 2:6. Eight were found guilty.
‘And the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah.'
The sons of Harim are mentioned in Ezra 2:32. Eight were found guilty. It will be noted that the ‘of' is missing. Such occasional variations occur in lists. There is no need to amend it to fit in with our ideas of uniformity.
‘Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei.'
The sons of Hashum are mentioned in Ezra 2:19. Seven were found guilty.
‘Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, and Uel, Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu, and Bani, and Binnui, Shimei, and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah, Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, Azarel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah, Shallum, Amariah, Joseph.'
This is the second mention of the sons of Bani, but apart from Adaiah they are different names. An occasional two people of the same name is not unusual. It would appear that the sons of Bani were particularly at fault in taking idolatrous foreign wives, possibly due to where they lived. It would have been surprising if at least one clan had not sinned above the norm. Real life is different from fiction. It was because of their large numbers that the writer divided them in order to make ten clans in the list. Twenty seven were found guilty (making thirty three sons of Bani in all)
‘Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo, and Joel, Benaiah.'
The sons of Nebo are mentioned in Ezra 2:29. Seven were found guilty. The total number of Israel who were found guilty was eighty six. In all, including priests and Levites one hundred and fifteen were found guilty.
‘All these had taken foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had had children.'
The Hebrew has difficulties but is not impossible. It confirms that all those mentioned were found guilty and adds that in some cases children were involved. They would not, of course, just be cast out. They would return to their family home, and compensation may well have been paid. And as they were probably mainly from the higher classes they would suffer no hardship (it would require some wealth for them to be able to maintain their religions separately). Being arranged marriages their love for each other may not have been deep. When we consider that other women may have been divorced in order to make room for them, sympathy for them may not have run high (see Malachi 2:11; Malachi 2:14).
As Ezra had been sent by the king to teach and enforce the Law this was important evidence in his first year report that he was fulfilling the king's expectations. He was in fact merciful. The king had urged death, banishment, confiscation of goods and imprisonment (Ezra 7:26).
And so the book ends on what Ezra would have seen as a triumphant note. Idolatry has been rooted out from among God's remnant, and the whole group of the returnees have expressed their commitment in future to avoid idolatrous associations. It was not Ezra's fault, nor his failure (he had succeeded admirably) that a few of the next generation would slip back into the old ways (Nehemiah 13:22). Nehemiah was able to stamp it out quickly, and much more ferociously, precisely because Ezra had laid the foundation.