Ezra 10:1-44
1 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 wepta very sore.
2 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.
3 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.
4 Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.
5 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.
6 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.
7 And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;
8 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,b and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.
9 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.
10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have takenc strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
11 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.
12 Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.
13 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 manyd that have transgressed in this thing.
14 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.
15 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.
16 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.
17 And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.
18 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.
19 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.
20 And of the sons of Immer; Hanani, and Zebadiah.
21 And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.
22 And of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah.
23 Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah, (the same is Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.
24 Of the singers also; Eliashib: and of the porters; Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.
25 Moreover of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.
26 And of the sons of Elam; Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Eliah.
27 And of the sons of Zattu; Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.
28 Of the sons also of Bebai; Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.
29 And of the sons of Bani; Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth.
30 And of the sons of Pahathmoab; Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.
31 And of the sons of Harim; Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchiah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,
32 Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.
33 Of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattathah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.
34 Of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel,
35 Benaiah, Bedeiah, Chelluh,
36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,
37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasau,
38 And Bani, and Binnui, Shimei,
39 And Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,
40 Machnadebai,e Shashai, Sharai,
41 Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,
42 Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.
43 Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, and Joel, Benaiah.
44 All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children.
ACTION FOLLOWING PRAYER
(vv. 1-17)
Ezra expected an answer to his prayer, and God provided the answer immediately in moving a very huge number of men, women and children to gather together before Him, weeping bitterly, for they realized that this was not a matter merely to pray about, but to be faced and settled before God.
One man, Shechaniah, became a spokesman for all, confessing their guilt in having trespassed against God in taking pagan wives."Yet now," he said, "there is hope in Israel in spite of this" (v. 2).He asked that a covenant be made with God to put away these foreign wives and children born to them, and to let it be done according to the law (v. 3). He therefore encouraged Ezra to rise and act on this advice, since Ezra was in a place of authority, assuring him that he (Shechaniah) and others would back him up.Ezra then rose and required an oath to be sworn that Israel would clear themselves of their evil compromise by putting away their foreign wives and their children (v. 5).
Such an action certainly shows the seriousness of the evil of sinful associations.We must not diminish the seriousness of this, though in our day, under grace, we cannot require the putting away of wives, though they are not saved.The nations Israel was involving themselves with were actually demon worshipers, so that God had absolutely forbidden any marriages with them. Believers today are not under such a law, though they are told, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers" (2 Corinthians 6:14).If they disobey this scripture, they are not told to put away the unbeliever, but rather, "a wife is not to depart from her husband" (1 Corinthians 7:10), though "if the unbeliever departs, let him depart" (1 Corinthians 7:15). Once the marriage is consummated, the believer is not free before God to leave it except in the case of the partner being unfaithful (Matthew 19:9).Today, a believer who marries an unbeliever must learn by experience the painful results of this disobedience, rather than being relieved of suchresults.
However, Ezra, still under deep exercise of soul, went apart from the people, into the chamber of Jehohanan, the son of Eliashib the high priest, where he fasted and mourned because of the guilt of the remnant of the captivity (v.6). How good it is too if we seek solitary, protracted exercise of heart before God in connection with any occasion of serious trouble amongst the saints of God.Daniel, when deeply concerned about the low condition of his people Israel, "was mourning three full weeks"(Daniel 10:2).
Then a proclamation was issued and sent to all the descendants of the captivity that they must gather at Jerusalem, this order being accompanied by the warning that one who refused to come would have all his property confiscated and he himself separated from the assembly of the returned remnant (vv. 7-8). Why should this be in the case of those who were not guilty of mixing with the nations?Because all were affected by the evil of even a few, though in this case it was more than a few.But all the people were intended to feel the guilt that Israel had incurred by the evil allowed in their midst, so that it would not be so likely to quickly rise again.We surely must always feel the shame of wrongs committed in our own company, and take sides with God in a proper judgment of them.
Within three days after the proclamation was made, this gathering took place, and even though the people had to sit outside in a heavy rain, there was no delay in facing the matter.The time would correspond to our December or January, so that the weather only increased their trembling over the matter that troubled them.
Ezra then spoke briefly and to the point, "You have transgressed and have taken pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel.Now therefore make confession to the Lord God of your fathers, and do His will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the pagan wives"(vv. 10-11). Perhaps it was Ezra's prayer and self-judgment that kept the people from resisting this order, for generally those who have sunk into evil are stubborn enough to resist any reproof.But God was working, as He always does in response to faith and self-judgment.
All the people answered decisively, "Yes!As you have said, so we must do" (v. 12).How thankful Ezra must have been to hear these words!However, as they say, this work would take time, both because of the weather and because there were many involved in this transgression.They suggest that appointments might be made at stated times for the judging of every case, with judges and elders present, and this suggestion was accepted in spite of some apparently disagreeing (v. 15).
The most responsible for this guilt are mentioned first, priests, the sons of Jeshua (v. 18), and then other priests (vv. 20-22).Jeshua had been identified with Zerubbabel in building the house of God (Haggai 2:2), and for his sons to fall into the snare of the enemy was deeply serious, for this provided a bad example for others.When they gave their promise to put away their strange wives, they presented a ram as a trespass offering.Whenever we have been guilty of any sin, we must be reminded that Christ is "the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 2:1).If we think seriously of the agony He suffered on account of our sins, are we likely to carelessly slip back into sin again?Thus, self-judgment should be real, and full.
Levites are spoken of in verse 23, and singers in verse 24, then others of the people in verses 25-43. Thus we are reminded that, however greatly we may be blessed, none of God's people are automatically exempt from being tested by the seductions of the enemy.
Thus, every one of these unequal yokes had to be broken, regardless of what either party felt about it.This was under law.Under grace today, if one should find himself in an unequal yoke, the general principle is that he should leave it if he can do so without injustice toward the other party. Supposing it is a business yoke, if a believer has committed himself to a contract, he may find the only right way to break the contract is to buy himself out of it, which he should do if possible.It is not so easy as this in marriage, for scripture tells the believer, "a wife is not to depart from her husband" (1 Corinthians 7:10). For under grace, "the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband?Or how to you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?" (1 Corinthians 7:16). How thankful we ought to be that we are living under grace rather than under law!
Is it not striking that the only work recorded on Ezra's part in returning to the land is that of dealing with the unfaithfulness of the people?This should deeply impress us with the fact of God's abhorrence of bad associations on the part of His beloved people.But the faithfulness of Ezra is beautifully commendable.
Following this, it seems that Ezra faded into the background, at least not having an outstanding place in the history of the returned remnant of Israel, though, being a scribe, he is seen in Nehemiah 8:1 reading to the Jews from the Book of the Law of Moses. Though the Lord had pressed him into a most forward position for the purpose of purifying Judah from the corruption into which they had fallen, there was no ambition on Ezra's part to take a prominent place in the government of the nation.This is a lovely contrast to the attitude of the disciples of the the Lord Jesus when they disputed among themselves as to who should be greatest (Luke 22:24).We have much to learn from the character of this devoted servant of the Lord.Indeed, the Lord's disciples had far more reason to be humble and self-effacing than Ezra had, for they had companied with the Lord Jesus Himself and had seen this marvelous lowly character manifested in all His ways.Ezra had not had this wonderful advantage, but he had learned well in the presence of God.
There can be no doubt that the most significant reason for the writing of this book of Ezra is to deeply impress on believers the seriousness of the question of our associations. This is particularly necessary ministry for our present day, at the end of the dispensation of grace, when the enemy of oursouls is trying every artifice to involve believers in the schemes of unbelievers and to mix believers and unbelievers so that no clear difference can be seen between them.May we take these things deeply to heart, that we may rightly honor our blessed Lord.