Ezra 9:1

Commencement of the Religious Reform

Chap. Ezra 9:1-4. The Sin of the People

1. Now when thesethings were done Cf. 2 Chronicles 31:1. A very indefinite note of time. We have two dates given by which we can conjecture the length of the interval that had occurred since the events narrated at the close of the previous chapter. (1) The sacred gifts had been handed over to the care of the priests and Levites on the 4th day of the fifthmonth, ch. Ezra 7:8; Ezra 8:33. (2) The summons for the general assembly, convened to enquire into the people's sin was sent out on the 27th date of the ninthmonth, ch. Ezra 10:8-9. On the one hand, it is said, not very much time could have elapsed since Ezra's arrival; for otherwise neither the subject of the complaint could have escaped his observation, nor the information have affected him with such astonishment. On the other hand, if, as is likely, the mention of -these things" refers to the communication of the king's commissions to the neighbouring satraps and governors, Ezra himself may at first have been occupied in these trans actions and perhaps have been absent from Jerusalem, attending in person at the courts of the local governors, to claim the Jewish privileges and exemptions. Furthermore Ezra would have made his ground secure with the princes of the people (Ezra 10:6), before proceeding to meet the question that had arisen with strong measures.

We therefore conjecture that the report of -the princes" described in this verse was made about fourmonths after the events described in ch. Ezra 8:31-35, and a week or two before the summons of the general assembly.

the princes the leaders of the people, the chiefs of the fathers" houses. The term does not mean the whole number, but rather representatives of the class. Many princes were implicated in the charge.

came to me R.V. drew near unto me: more literally.

The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites The three divisions of the Jewish settlement. -The people, namely Israel" are the laity as distinguished from the priests and Levites. See Ezra 6:16; Ezra 7:13.

have not separated themselves The explanation is given in Ezra 9:2. Compare also Ezra 6:21, -all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land". Idolatry was the inevitable evil attendant upon the mixed marriages with the heathen.

from the people of the lands R.V. from the peoples of the lands referring especially to the heathen of the neighbouring countries. See note on Ezra 6:21.

doing according to their abominations The phrase -the abominations of the heathen" (haggôyyim) is very familiar. Deuteronomy 18:9: 1 Kings 14:24: 2 Kings 16:3; 2Ki 21:2 : 2 Chronicles 28:3; 2 Chronicles 33:2; 2 Chronicles 36:14. -The heathen", thus usually found in connexion with this phrase, can hardly differ from -the peoples of the lands". Their -abominations", which primarily referred to the immoralities of their nature worship, are here associated with the mixed marriages, since the foreign wives introduced impure forms of worship among the Israelites. Others render -in respect of their abominations".

even of the Canaanites&c. The Hebrew preposition is better here rendered as expressing identification = -even", -namely" &c. than comparison = -according to" (the abominations of). The eight nationalities here mentioned exemplify the possibilities of contamination from intercourse with -the peoples". They differ therefore from the list of nations whose conquered territory the Israelites were to possess. Fivein Exodus 13:5, Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Hivite, Jebusite: sixare named in Exodus 3:8; Deuteronomy 20:17; Joshua 9:1; Joshua 12:8, Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Hivite, Jebusite: sevenin Deuteronomy 7:1; Joshua 3:10; Joshua 24:11, Hittite, Girgashite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, Jebusite. Of the seven names occurring in these lists, two i.e. the Hivite and the Girgashite are not here mentioned. Three others are inserted, the Ammonite, the Moabite, and the Egyptian. (In the parallel passage of 1Es 8:69 -the Ammonites" are omitted, and -the Edomites" substituted for -the Amorites" a change indicating the later date of this composition.) The position of the Ammonites, Moabites and Egyptians between the Jebusites and the Amorites is strange. But the list so far as it refers to contemporaneous influences, is illustrative rather than exhaustive of -peoples" (a) not driven out of Palestine, (b) dwelling on the frontier of Israel. It combines typical names, familiar in the lists of the early writings of this people, with those of countries which were the chief source of more recent corruption.

The mention of the Ammonite, Moabite, and Egyptian together suggest the influence of Deuteronomy 23:3-7.