Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezra 10:17
And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.
17. And they made an end with all the men, &c.] The Hebrew runs ‘And they made an end with the whole (business), i.e. the men that had, &c.’ The English rendering expresses the meaning. But the wording of the present Hebrew text can hardly be correct, and there is some ground for the conjecture that the words’ the men that had married strange wives ‘found their way into the text from a heading or a marginal gloss.
that had taken strange wives ] R.V. that had married strange women.
by the first day of the first month ] The investigation had lasted precisely three months. It lasted until the 1st of Nisan, having been continued throughout the months of Tebeth, Shebat (Zec 1:7) and Adar (Ezr 6:15).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The business occupied the commission full two months. In some cases, it may be presumed, they had to summon persons before them who did not wish to part with their foreign wives; in all, they had to assure themselves that the wives were foreign; finally, they had in every case where they decreed a divorce to make out the writing of divorcement Ezr 10:3.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. The first day of the first month] So they were three whole months in examining into this affair, and making those separations which the law required.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives,…. Finished their inquiry and examination of them:
by the first day of the first month; the month Nisan, answering to part of March and April; so that they were three months about this work.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And they made an end with all, with respect to the men who had brought home strange wives. (with the article) cannot be so connected with , from which it is separated by the accentuation of the latter, as to admit of the repetition, as by older expositors, of the preposition before : with all, namely, with the men. Still less can , as Bertheau thinks, be taken in the sense of “in every place,” and connected as an accusative with : they finished in every place the men (!); for with an accusative of the person signifies to annihilate, to make an end of, while means to finish, to make an end with, comp. Gen 44:12. If, as the accentuation requires, we take independently, can only be an accusative of more exact definition: in respect of the men ( being without the article, because words which define it follow). As this gives a suitable meaning, it seems unnecessary to alter the punctuation and read , or with Ewald, 290, c, note 1, to regard as a singular combination. – Till the first day of the first month (of the next year), therefore in three months, their sittings having begun, according to Ezr 10:13, on the first day of the tenth month. – The account of this transaction closes with –
The list of the men who had taken strange wives, vv. 18-44; among whom were priests (Ezr 10:18-22), Levites (Ezr 10:23, Ezr 10:24), and Israelites, i.e., laymen (vv. 25-43).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
17. End first month So that they were employed three months in the matter.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ezr 10:17 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 Ezr 10:13 , but of full three months; and yet they were not slothful in that business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. In the work of repentance take time enough, dig deep enough by thorough humiliation; lest the fall of the house be great. The English are not sick soon enough, saith one, and they are well too soon; this is true of their minds, as well as of their bodies.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the first day of the first month. See note on Gen 8:13. Ezra’s last date. The commission, therefore, sat for eighty-eight days.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
first month
i.e. April.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
am 3548, bc 456
the first day: The cases brought before the council were either so many, or so complicated, that, though they separated themselves from other employments, yet they were three whole months in examining into their affairs, and making the necessary separations required by the law. Ezr 10:17