Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezra 10:11
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.
11. make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers ] R.V. make confession (marg. Or, give thanks) unto the Lord, the God of your fathers. ‘Make confession’. Literally ‘give thanksgiving or praise’. The substantive is connected with the verb which in its reflexive form means, as in Ezr 10:1, ‘made confession’. It is found elsewhere in these books (Neh 12:27; Neh 12:31; Neh 12:38-40; 2Ch 29:31; 2Ch 33:16) with the meaning of ‘thanksgiving’, which is the general sense of the word in other books (Lev 7:12-13; Lev 7:15; Psa 26:7; Psa 42:4; Psa 50:14; Psa 50:23; Psa 56:12; Psa 100:4; Psa 107:22; Psa 116:17; Psa 147:7; Isa 51:3; Jer 17:26; Jer 30:19; Jer 33:11; Amo 4:5; Jon 2:9). The only possible exception is Jos 7:19 ‘My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and make confession (marg. Or, give praise) unto him’. There, as in this passage, ‘make confession’ is a good paraphrase rather than a strict translation. ‘Praise’ was given to God by the utterance of confession. The penitent who renounced his sin and threw himself upon the mercies of God rendered that true praise of trust and love, from which ‘confession’ springs. Cf. Psa 50:23 ‘Whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth me’. On ‘the Lord, the God of your fathers’, see note on Ezr 8:28.
and do his pleasure ] The words of praise to be verified in action. The same phrase as in Psa 40:8 ‘I delight to do thy will, O God’, Psa 143:10 ‘Teach me to do thy will ’.
and from the people of the land, and from the strange wives ] R.V. from the peoples of the land and from the strange women. See note on Ezr 10:2. The separation entailed not merely the divorce of the wives but a complete breaking of intercourse with all residents in the land who had not adopted the religion of the Jews.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 11. Make confession] Acknowledge your sins before God, with deep compunction of heart, and the fullest resolution to forsake them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Do his pleasure; you have sinfully pleased yourselves, now please God by your obedience to his command.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Now therefore make confession to the Lord God of your fathers,…. Of their sin, and express their detestation of it, and repentance for it:
and do his pleasure; obey his will, and particularly in this case:
and separate yourselves from the people of the land; the Canaanites, c. have no fellowship with them, make no covenants, contracts, and alliances with them for the future
and from the strange wives; they had taken; put them away.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ezr 10:11 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.
Ver. 11. Now therefore make confession ] This is the soul’s vomit, Vomitus sordium animae (Naz.) which is the hardest kind of medicine, but most healthy. This the devil knows, viz. that there is no way to purge the sick soul but upwards, by casting out the vicious humour wherewith it is clogged; and, therefore, he holds the lips close, that the heart may not disburden itself by so wholesome evacuation. Confession must follow upon conviction, as here; and be followed by reformation.
And do his pleasure: and separate, &c.] For they that confess and forsake not their sins are only dog sick. When they have disgorged their stomachs, and got a little ease, they will be as bad as before. Wicked people make account of confession as drunkards do of vomiting; that they may add drunkenness to thirst. But the man that shall have mercy must both confess and forsake, Pro 28:13 . Open a vein, and let out his bad blood.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
make confession: Lev 26:40-42, Jos 7:19, Psa 32:5, Pro 28:13, Jer 3:13, 1Jo 1:7-9
do his: Isa 1:16-18, Isa 56:4, Rom 12:2, Col 1:10, Heb 13:21
separate: Ezr 9:1, Neh 13:3, 2Co 6:17
and from the: Deu 7:3, Deu 7:4, 1Co 2:12-14
Reciprocal: Lev 5:5 – confess 2Ch 30:22 – and making Neh 1:6 – confess Neh 9:2 – the seed Neh 10:28 – all they 1Co 7:12 – If
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Ezr 10:11-12. Make confession unto the Lord; and do his pleasure You have sinfully pleased yourselves, now please God, by your obedience to his command. And separate yourselves from your strange wives There being no mention made here of putting away their children, but only their wives, it has been thought by some that they kept their children, and, by circumcision, dedicated them to God. For, though Shechaniah proposed the putting them away, yet it may seem not improbable that Ezra, to whom the matter was referred, when he came to order what should be actually done, mitigated the severity of the proposal. As thou hast said, so must we do They saw no other remedy, and so submitted to what he required.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:11 Now therefore {h} 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.
(h) Read Jos 7:19.