Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezra 10:44
All these had taken strange wives: and [some] of them had wives by whom they had children.
44. All these had taken strange wives ] So also the R.V., a different phrase in the original from that rendered ‘had married strange women’. See on Ezr 9:2.
and some of them had wives by whom they had children ] So R.V. Marg. Or, some of the wives had borne children. The clause in the original is beset with difficulties. Literally rendered it seems to be ‘And there were of them (masc.) wives, and they (masc.) begat children’. The LXX. renders freely ‘And they begat of them sons’ ( ) agreeing generally with the A.V. and R.V. text. The Vulgate has ‘And there were of them wives which had borne children’, agreeing with the margin of the R.V. This, it must be confessed, gives the best sense, although it does violence to the grammar in the matter of genders. The exact purpose of the clause is also a matter of uncertainty. (1) By some it is supposed that the clause is intended to illustrate the difficulties with which this general divorce was attended. The action was complicated by the question of the children. (2) Others think that it is added to show how thoroughly the commission was carried out. Mothers and their children were alike driven forth, in accordance with Shecaniah’s proposal (Ezr 10:3) ‘Let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and such as are born of them’. The probability that we are here confronted with another instance of textual corruption receives support from the parallel passage, 1Es 9:36 ‘And they put them away along with their children’, which suggests the existence of a different original text.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 44. Some of them had wives by whom they had children.] This observation was probably intended to show that only a few of them had children; but it shows also how rigorously the law was put in execution.
According to a passage in Justin Martyr’s dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, Ezra offered a paschal lamb on this occasion, and addressed the people thus: “And Ezra said to the people, This passover is our Saviour and our Refuge; and if ye will be persuaded of it, and let it enter into your hearts, that we are to humble ourselves to him in a sign, and afterwards shall believe in him, this place shall not be destroyed for ever, saith the Lord of Hosts: but if ye will not believe in him, nor hearken to his preaching, ye shall be a laughing-stock to the Gentiles.” – Dial. cum Tryphone, sec. 72.
This passage, Justin says, the Jews, through their enmity to Christ, blotted out of the book of Ezra. He charges them with cancelling several other places through the same spirit of enmity and opposition.
In the Hebrew text this and the following book make but one, though sometimes Nehemiah is distinguished as the second book of Esdras. In the Masoretic enumeration of sections, &c., both books are conjoined. This may be seen at the end of Nehemiah. I can add nothing of importance to the character of Ezra, which has already been given so much in detail in the introduction to this book.
Corrected, March, 1828. – A. CLARKE.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Whereby he implies that most of their wives were barren; which came to pass by Gods special providence, partly to manifest his displeasure against such matches, and partly that the practice of this great and necessary duty might not be encumbered with too many difficulties.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
All these had taken strange wives,…. In all about one hundred and thirteen:
and some of them had wives by whom they had children; and yet they put them away, which made it the more difficult for them to do; and those that had none, it is thought to be a mark of God’s displeasure at such marriages. No mention being made of the children being put away, as Shechaniah proposed, Ezr 10:3, it may be concluded they were not, but were taken care of, to be educated in the true religion, and entered proselytes at a proper time; and the rather, as Ezra gave no orders about their putting away, Ezr 10:11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ezr 10:44 contains the statement with which the account of this transaction closes. The Chethiv seems to be an error of transcription for (the Keri), which the sense requires. , “and there were among them women who had brought forth sons.” must be referred to women, notwithstanding the masculine suffix. , too, can only be referred to , and cannot be explained, as by J. H. Mich.: unde etiam filios susceperant seu procreaverant . The gender of the verb is adapted to the form of the word , an incorrectness which must be attributed to the increasing tendency of the language to use the masculine instead of the feminine, or to renounce a distinction of form between the genders. There are no adequate reasons for such an alteration of the text as Bertheau proposes; for the lxx already had our text before them, and the of 1 Esdr. 9:36 is a mere conjecture from the context. The remark itself, that among the women who were sent away were some who had already brought children into the world, is not superfluous, but added for the purpose of showing how thoroughly this matter was carried out. Separation from women who already have children is far more grievous, ob communium liberorum caritatem , than parting with childless wives.
Strictly as this separation was carried out, this evil was not thereby done away with for ever, nor even for very long. After the arrival of Nehemiah at Jerusalem, when the building of the wall was concluded, the congregation again bound themselves by an oath, on the occasion of a day of prayer and fasting, to contract no more such illegal marriages ( Neh 10:31). Nevertheless, Nehemiah, on his second return to Jerusalem, some five and twenty to thirty years after the dissolution of these marriages by Ezra, again found Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Moab, and Ammon, and children of these marriages who spoke the tongue of Ashdod, and could not speak the Jews’ language, and even one of the sons of the high priest Jehoiada allied to a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite (Neh 13:28, etc.). Such a phenomenon, however strange it may appear on a superficial view of the matter, becomes comprehensible when we consider more closely the circumstances of the times. The nucleus of the Israelite community in Jerusalem and Judah was formed by those exiles who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel and Ezra; and to this nucleus the remnant of Jewish and Israelite descent which had been left in the land was gradually united, after the rebuilding of the temple and the restoration of the worship of Jahve. Those who returned from Babylon, as well as those who remained in the land, had now, however, lived seventy, and some of them one hundred and fifty, years (from the captivity of Jehoiachin in 599, to the return of Ezra in 457) among the heathen, and in the midst of heathen surroundings, and had thus become so accustomed to intercourse with them in civil and social transactions, that the consciousness of the barriers placed by the Mosaic law between Israel, the people of Jahve, and the Gentiles, was more and more obliterated. And this would specially be the case when the Gentiles who entered into matrimonial alliance with Israelites did not flagrantly practise idolatrous worship, i.e., did not offer sacrifice to heathen deities. Under such circumstances, it must have been extremely difficult to do away entirely with these unlawful unions; although, without a thorough reform in this respect, the successful development of the new community in the land of their fathers was not to be obtained.
Ezra’s narrative of his agency in Jerusalem closes with the account of the dissolution of the unlawful marriages then existing. What he subsequently effected for the revival of religion and morality in the re-established community, in conformity with the law of God, was more of an inward and spiritual kind; and was either of such a nature that no striking results ensued, which could furnish matter for historical narrative, or was performed during the period of his joint agency with Nehemiah, of which an account is furnished by the latter in the record he has handed down to us (Neh 8:10).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
44. Wives by whom they had children The Hebrew reads literally, And there were of them ( , them, is here masculine, and seems to refer to all these at the beginning of the verse,) wives, and they set (or placed, , the masculine form of the verb) children. The brevity and obscurity of the text are such as to make the exact meaning very doubtful. The naked statement of our common version, which follows in sense the Septuagint and Vulgate, that some of these wives had children, seems bootless. The masculine form of the verb, as well as its peculiar meaning of setting, appointing, etc., inclines one to think that the writer here speaks of some disposition which some of these husbands, who put away their wives, made also of their children. Bertheau conjectures that may be a corruption of , ( thrust out, used of divorce in Lev 21:7,) and has been transposed from its proper place before wives, so that originally the text read: And some of them thrust out wives and children. While not prepared to accept this emendation of the text, we think it brings out substantially the meaning which the Hebrew writer meant to convey. For Ezr 10:3 implies that children as well as wives were put away.
The Book of Ezra ends abruptly here, but this reformation was not the end of his ministry for Israel. How long he continued at Jerusalem after the events of this chapter we have no means of knowing, but it is very supposable that he continued there at least some days, in order to instruct the people further in the knowledge of the law. Many have thought that he remained at Jerusalem as governor until the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, when Nehemiah was appointed to that office by the king. But if Ezra had been superseded by Nehemiah we should, doubtless, have had some notice of it in the history of the latter. The abrupt termination of this book, and the subsequent relapse of the Jews at Jerusalem, and their deplorable state when Nehemiah came, leads us rather to the opinion that Ezra soon returned again to Babylon. This view is favoured by the fact that his commission was only to bear the gifts of the king and his counsellors, and “to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem.” Ezr 7:14.
Several years later Ezra appears at Jerusalem again, in connexion with Nehemiah and many Levites, reading and expounding the law to a great assembly of the people. Nehemiah 8. The agreement of the ancient traditions in associating Ezra with the Great Synagogue, and the formation of the Old Testament Canon, may authorize us to believe at least this much, that in concert with Nehemiah and the leading Jews of his time he did collect and arrange the books of the Old Testament Canon in substantially the form in which we now possess them. He lived at a time when such a work could best be done, and he had facilities for doing it which no later age possessed. And it may be added, he alone of all the Jews of his age was most competent to perform a work of such responsibility and care. How long he lived after this is uncertain. Josephus says he died at an advanced age, and was buried with distinguished honours at Jerusalem; but other traditions have it that he died on his way back to Persia, and his reputed tomb is still shown on the banks of the Tigris, about twenty miles above its junction with the Euphrates.
Ezra was unquestionably one of the greatest men of his age, and his mighty influence upon his people is attested by the almost innumerable traditions of his character and works, which afterwards sprung up among the Jews, and still linger about his name. He is said to have introduced the square character into Hebrew writing, and also to have established the office of dragoman, or interpreter, whose duty it was to translate and explain the words of the Scriptures as they were read in the synagogue. He is said to have been the founder and first president of the Great Synagogue, and, in fact, of the entire system of synagogue worship as it afterwards prevailed among the Jews of all lands. To him has been attributed the authorship of several books of the Old Testament, [Chronicles, Nehemiah, Esther,] besides this one which bears his name.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 44. These had taken strange wives, &c. The number is not very great, if compared with all those who came out of captivity; but they seem to have been eminent persons, and their examples would, doubtless, have spread the contagion, if a speedy stop had not been put to the evil. Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho, says, that this following speech of Ezra was in the ancient Hebrew copies of the Bible, but was expunged by the Jews; viz. “And Ezra said to the people, this passover is our saviour and our refuge; and if you will be persuaded of it, and will let it enter into your hearts, that we are to humble him in a sign, and afterwards shall believe in him, this place shall not be destroyed for ever, saith the God of hosts; but if you believe not in him, neither hearken to his preaching, ye shall be a laughing-stock to the Gentiles.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
PAUSE, my soul, over this chapter, and before I close this book of divine inspiration, and shut up the view of this great man’s history and reform; see, and consider what the Holy Ghost graciously intended to teach the church from it of a spiritual, gospel nature.
And here, my soul, stand still and consider how much of thine own life and conduct is strikingly set forth. Have I not from the womb been seeking out and forming strange alliances, and taking up connection with anything, and with everything, rather than being married to Christ? In Adam and his stock, fallen, sinful, and polluted I was born; by nature closely attached to him, and seeking nothing but what proved my alliance to him. Married to the law, wedded to my own righteousness, (or rather my fancied righteousness, for in reality righteousness I had none); how did I seek to find justification before God by the works of the law? And though that law became only the ministration of death; though its demands of unsinning obedience, making no one allowance whatever, might have made my very soul tremble under its universally condemning power; yet notwithstanding its rigour; notwithstanding the dreadful condemnation it held forth; still infatuated to my own present and everlasting ruin, never should I have put away those strange wives had not Jesus, like another Ezra, have come with grace in his lips, and love in his heart, and by his Holy Spirit convinced me of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, and divorcing me from every other alliance, betrothed me to himself, and made me his forever. Oh! thou almighty Bridegroom of thy church and of thy people! what unknown, unexplored riches are contained in that tender character. Yes! my soul! thy Maker is thine husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name. And thy Redeemer, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called. Help me, Jesus, my Lord and my God, to put away all the strange alliances my poor sinful heart hath been making. Do thou, dearest Jesus, hedge up my path, my way, with thorns, if at any time my wandering soul should be going away from thee after my old lovers! oh! draw me, thou dear Lord Jesus, that I may run after thee; and be thou my Ishi, my husband, my Holy One, the Lord my righteousness.
Farewell, Ezra, faithful servant of my God! I bless thy Lord, and my Lord, that he was pleased to sanctify thy ministry in this sweet book of thine, under God the Spirit, in showing so much of Jesus shadowed forth in the several parts of it. And, blessed Lord God, be thou eternally praised, when from the services of thy inspired ministers glory thereby reverts to Jesus; everlasting glory be to the holy undivided Three in One, for all salvation. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ezr 10:44 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, Ezr 10:3 . The Hebrew hath it thus, and there were of them women, and they had put forth sons, or exposed their sons to do as they might, or to be disposed of by the judges; as that good woman who told Bonner, that if he burnt her, she hoped he would keep Faith, Hope, and Charity (those were the names of her three daughters). No, by my truth will not I, quoth the bishop; I will meddle with none of them (Acts and Mon.).
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
strange = foreign.
Thus ends the first part of this book “Ezra-Nehemiah”; not abruptly; as it is followed by the second part, which is concerned mainly with the rebuilding of the city and the walls, instead of with the Temple. The incidents recorded in Neh 1:1 Neh 7:4 had taken place before the first return under Zerubbabel, See the Structures and notes on pp 617, 618, and App-58. Compare also Neh 7:4 with Hag 1:1-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
strange wives: Pro 2:16, Pro 5:3, Pro 5:20
and some of them: This observation was probably intended to shew that only a few of them had children, and also how rigorously the law was put in execution. According to a passage in Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, Ezra offered a paschal lamb on this occasion, and addressed the people thus: “And Ezra said to the people, This pass-over is our Saviour and our Refuge; and if ye will be persuaded of it, and let it enter into your hearts, that we are to humble to Him in a sign, and afterwards shall believe in Him, this place shall not be destroyed forever, saith the Lord of hosts; but, if ye will not believe in Him, nor hearken to his preaching, ye shall be a laughing-stock to the Gentiles.” This was probably a marginal note added by some early Christian.
Reciprocal: Ezr 7:1 – Ezra Ezr 10:12 – As thou hast said Neh 13:23 – married
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Ezr 10:44. All these had taken strange wives The number is not very great, says Dr. Dodd, if compared with all who came out of captivity; but they seem to have been eminent persons, and their examples would, doubtless, have spread the contagion, if a speedy stop had not been put to the evil. Some of them had wives by whom they had children This implies, that most of their wives were barren; which came to pass by Gods special providence, to manifest his displeasure against such matches, and that the putting them away might not be encumbered with too many difficulties. One would think this grievance altogether removed; yet we meet with it again, Neh 13:22. Such corruptions are easily and insensibly brought in, though not easily purged out. The best reformers can but do their endeavour. It is only the Redeemer himself, who, when he cometh to Sion, will effectually turn away ungodliness from Jacob. It may not be amiss to add here a remark of Mr. Locke: Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho, says that the following speech of Ezra was in the ancient Hebrew copies of the Bible, but was expunged by the Jews, namely: And Ezra said to the people, This passover is our Saviour, and our Refuge, (namely, a type of him,) and if you will be persuaded of it, and will let it enter into your hearts, that we are to humble him in a sign, and afterward shall believe in him, this place shall not be destroyed for ever, saith the God of hosts; but if you believe not in him, neither hearken to his preaching, ye shall be a laughingstock to the Gentiles.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:44 All these had taken strange wives: and [some] of them had wives by whom they had {n} children.
(n) Who also were made illegitimate because the marriage was unlawful.