Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore. Ver. 1. _Now when Ezra had prayed_] Had presented himself as... [ Continue Reading ]
And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, [one] of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. Ver. 2. _And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel_] _Egregie cordatus... [ Continue Reading ]
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. Ver. 3. _Now therefore let us make a covenant_] And so ti... [ Continue Reading ]
Arise; for [this] matter [belongeth] unto thee: we also [will be] with thee: be of good courage, and do [it]. Ver. 4. _Arise_] _Surge, age, Summe Pater,_ Arise, act, most high father, said Mantuan to the pope, exciting him to take arms against the Turk: to the same sense Shechaniah here to Ezra; or... [ Continue Reading ]
Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware. Ver. 5. _Then arose Ezra_] According to the counsel of Shechaniah, Ezra 10:4. "How forcible are right words!" Job 6:25. One seasonable speech, falling upon... [ Continue Reading ]
Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and [when] he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away. Ver. 6. _Then Ezra rose up from before the hous... [ Continue Reading ]
And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem; Ver. 7. _And they made proclamation_] Heb. They caused a voice to pass, viz. by a herald or crier. _ That they should gather themselves toge... [ Continue Reading ]
And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away. Ver. 8. _And that whosoever would not come, &c._] Laws, if they be not... [ Continue Reading ]
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It [was] the ninth month, on the twentieth [day] of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of [this] matter, and for the great rain. Ver. 9. _Within... [ Continue Reading ]
And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel. Ver. 10. _We have transgressed_] We have disloyally, or rather sacrilegiously, trespassed, by transgressing the covenant. Other men's sins are rebellious against... [ Continue Reading ]
Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. Ver. 11. _Now therefore make confession_] This is the soul's vomit, _Vomitus sordium animae_ (Naz.) which is the hardest kind of med... [ Continue Reading ]
Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do. Ver. 12. _Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice_] But not with a true heart, Hebrews 10:22. For within a few years they returned to their vomit again. _ As thou hast said, so mu... [ Continue Reading ]
But the people [are] many, and [it is] a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither [is this] a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing. Ver. 13. _Neither is this work of one day or two_] No more is repentance, that first and continual work... [ Continue Reading ]
Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us. Ver. 14. _Let now our rulers... [ Continue Reading ]
Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this [matter]: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them. Ver. 15. _Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah_] These two priests only, of all the company, had kept themselves unspotted, and so were fit... [ Continue Reading ]
And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, [with] certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by [their] names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. Ver. 16. _And the children of the captivity... [ Continue Reading ]
And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month. Ver. 17. _By the first day of the first month_] So that it was not the work of one day or two, as Ezra 10:13, but of full three months; and yet they were not slothful in that business, but ferven... [ Continue Reading ]
And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: [namely], of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. Ver. 18. _And among the sons of the priests, &c._] What a shame was this, and a stain to their cloth... [ Continue Reading ]
And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and [being] guilty, [they offered] a ram of the flock for their trespass. Ver. 19. _And they gave their hands_] i.e. They plighted their troth, and assured the assent of their hearts, 2 Kings 10:15 . _ That they would put away their w... [ Continue Reading ]
All these had taken strange wives: and [some] of them had wives by whom they had children. Ver. 44. _And some of them had wives by whom they had children_] Who yet for all that were put away together with their children, Ezra 10:3. The Hebrew hath it thus, and there were of them women, and they had... [ Continue Reading ]