Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezra 9:1
Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, [doing] according to their abominations, [even] of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
Commencement of the Religious Reform
Chap. Ezr 9:1-4 . The Sin of the People
1. Now when these things were done ] Cf. 2Ch 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 fifth month, ch. Ezr 7:8, Ezr 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 ninth month, ch. Ezr 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 (Ezr 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 four months after the events described in ch. Ezr 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 Ezr 6:16, Ezr 7:13.
have not separated themselves ] The explanation is given in Ezr 9:2. Compare also Ezr 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 Ezr 6:21.
doing according to their abominations ] The phrase ‘the abominations of the heathen’ (haggyyim) is very familiar. Deu 18:9: 1Ki 14:24: 2Ki 16:3; 2Ki 21:2 : 2Ch 28:3; 2Ch 33:2; 2Ch 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. Five in Exo 13:5, Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Hivite, Jebusite: six are named in Exo 3:8; Deu 20:17; Jos 9:1; Jos 12:8, Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Hivite, Jebusite: seven in Deu 7:1; Jos 3:10; Jos 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 Deu 23:3-7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Abominations – The mixed marriages had prevented that complete separation of the people of God from the idolatrous rites, or abominations, which the Law required, and which was necessary for purity of religion. See 1Ki 11:2 note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER IX
The princes inform Ezra that many of the people now settled
in the had married heathen wives; and several of the rulers
were principal offenders in this thing, 1, 2.
He is greatly afflicted, 3, 4.
His prayer to God on thus account, 5-15.
NOTES ON CHAP. IX
Verse 1. The people of Israel] These were they who had returned at first with Zerubbabel, and were settled in the land of Judea and whom Ezra found on his arrival to be little better than the Canaanitish nations from whom God had commanded them ever to keep separate.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The princes; who feared God, and understood that Ezra was come with large commission from the king, and with this design, to reform all disorders, whereof this was not the least. From the people of the lands, i.e. from the heathen nations round about them, which God had expressly commanded them to do, Deu 7:2,3. Doing according to their abominations, to wit, either,
1. Marrying promiscuously whomsoever they liked, as the heathens used to do; or,
2. Imitating them in their idolatrous or other wicked practices, into which they were drawn by their heathenish affinities; although they are not charged with any other crime besides their marriage in the following account of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1, 2. Now when these things weredoneThe first days after Ezra’s arrival in Jerusalem wereoccupied in executing the different trusts committed to him. Thenature and design of the office with which the royal authority hadinvested him was publicly made known to his own people by the formaldelivery of the contribution and the sacred vessels brought fromBabylon to the priests to be deposited in the temple. Then hiscredentials were privately presented to the provincial governors; andby this prudent, orderly proceeding he put himself in the bestposition to avail himself of all the advantages guaranteed him by theking. On a superficial view everything contributed to gratify hispatriotic feelings in the apparently flourishing state of the churchand country. But a further acquaintance discovered the existence ofgreat corruptions, which demanded immediate correction. One wasparticularly brought under his notice as being the source and originof all others; namely, a serious abuse that was practised respectingthe law of marriage.
the princes came to me,sayingThe information they lodged with Ezra was to the effectthat numbers of the people, in violation of the divine law (Deu 7:2;Deu 7:3), had contracted marriageswith Gentile women, and that the guilt of the disorderly practice,far from being confined to the lower classes, was shared in byseveral of the priests and Levites, as well as of the leading men inthe country. This great irregularity would inevitably bring manyevils in its train; it would encourage and increase idolatry, as wellas break down the barriers of distinction which, for importantpurposes, God had raised between the Israelites and all other people.Ezra foresaw these dangerous consequences, but was overwhelmed with asense of the difficulty of correcting the evil, when matrimonialalliances had been formed, families had been reared, affectionsengaged, and important interests established.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now when these things were done,…. When the captives with Ezra had refreshed themselves, and weighed the money and vessels they brought, and put them into the hands of proper persons, and offered sacrifices, and delivered the king’s commissions to his lieutenants and governors, and shown his own:
the princes came to me; some of the nobles of Israel, the most religious of them, who were concerned at the corruptions that were among them, though not a sufficient number to reform them:
saying the people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the land: but joined with them, though not in idolatrous practices, yet by marrying with them, which might lead them into them:
doing according to their abominations; not serving idols as they did, but imitating them in their marriages: even
of the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites; affinity with many of these was forbidden by an express law, De 7:1 all but the Moabites, Ammonites, and Egyptians, and from these for the same reason they were to abstain; namely, lest they should be drawn into idolatry; that the priests and Levites should do this, who ought to have known the law, and instructed the people better, was very sad and shocking.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Information given of the intermingling of Israel with the heathen nations of the land by marriage (Ezr 9:1-4), and Ezra’s prayer and confession (Ezr 9:5-15). – Ezr 9:1, Ezr 9:2. “When this was done, the princes came to me, and said, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, do not separate themselves from the people of the lands, according to their abominations, (even) of the Canaanites; … for they have taken (wives) of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of the lands.” What now follows is placed in close chronological sequence with what precedes by the formula , at the time of the completion of these things; comp. 2Ch 31:1; 2Ch 29:29; 2Ch 7:1. are the things related Ezr 8:33-36. Of these the delivery of the gifts took place on the fourth day after Ezra’s arrival at Jerusalem, i.e., on the fourth or fifth day of the first month (comp. Ezr 8:32, etc., with Ezr 7:9). The sacrifices (Ezr 8:35) would undoubtedly be offered immediately; and the royal orders would be transmitted to the satraps and governors (Ezr 8:36) very soon after. As soon, then, as Ezra received intelligence concerning the illegal marriages, he took the matter in hand, so that all related (Ezr 9:3-10) occurred on one day. The first assemblage of the people with relation to this business was not, however, held till the twentieth day of the ninth month (Ezr 10:9); while on the calling of this meeting, appearance thereat was prescribed within three days, thus leaving apparently an interval of nine whole months between Ezra 8 and Ezr 9:1-15. Hence Bertheau conjectures that the first proclamation of this assembly encountered opposition, because certain influential personages were averse to the further prosecution of this matter (Ezr 10:15). But though Ezr 10:4-7 does not inform us what period elapsed between the adoption of Shecaniah’s proposal to Ezra, and the proclamation for assembling the people at Jerusalem, the narrative does not give the impression that this proclamation was delayed for months through the opposition it met with. Besides, Ezra may have received the information concerning the unlawful marriages, not during the month of his arrival at Jerusalem, but some months later. We are not told whether it was given immediately, or soon after the completion of the matters mentioned Ezr 8:33-36. The delivery of the royal commands to the satraps and governors (Ezr 8:36) may have occupied weeks or months, the question being not merely to transmit the king’s decrees to the said officials, but to come to such an understanding with them as might secure their favour and goodwill in assisting the newly established community, and supporting the house of God. The last sentence (Ezr 8:36), “And they furthered the people and the house of God,” plainly shows that such an understanding with the royal functionaries was effected, by transactions which must have preceded what is related Ezr 9:1-15.
This matter having been arranged, and Ezra being now about to enter upon the execution of his commission to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of his God (Ezr 7:12), he received information of the illegal marriages. While he was in the temple, the princes ( , the princes, are those who give the information, the article being used e.g., like that in , Gen 14:13) came to him, saying: The people (viz., Israel, the priests, and the Levites; the three classes of the Israelite community) do not separate themselves from the people of the lands; comp. Ezr 6:21. , with respect to their abominations, i.e., as Israel should have done with respect to the abominations of these people. The to might be regarded as introducing the enumeration of the different nations, and corresponding with ; it is, however, more likely that it is used merely as a periphrasis for the genitive, and subordinates the names to : their, i.e., the Canaanites’, etc., abominations, the suffix relating, as e.g., at Ezr 3:12 and elsewhere, to the names following. Give Canaanitish races are here named, as in Exo 13:5, with this difference, that the Perizzites are here substituted for the Hivites, while in Exo 3:8; Exo 23:23, both are enumerated, making six; to these are added in Deu 7:1 the Girgashites, making, generally speaking, seven nations. Ammonites, Moabites, and Egyptians are here cited besides the Canaanitish races. The non-severance of the Israelites from these nations consisted, according to Ezr 9:2, in the fact of their having contracted marriages with them. In the law, indeed (Exo 34:16; Deu 7:3), only marriages with Canaanitish women were forbidden; but the reason of this prohibition, viz., that Israel might not be seduced by them to idolatry, made its extension to Moabites, Ammonites, and Egyptians necessary under existing circumstances, if an effectual check was to be put to the relapse into heathenism of the Israelitish community, now but just gathered out again from among the Gentiles. For during the captivity idolaters of all nations had settled in the depopulated country, and mingled with the remnant of the Israelites left there. By “the people of the lands,” however, we are not to understand, with J. H. Michaelis, remnants of the races subjugated by Nebuchadnezzar and carried to Babylon, – who were now, after seventy years, returning, as well as the Jews, to their native lands under Cyrus; in support of which view Mich. incorrectly refers to Jer 25:9, etc. – but those portions, both of the ancient Canaanitish races and of the Moabites and Ammonites, who, escaping the sentence of captivity, remained in the land. is naturally completed by from the context; comp. Ezr 10:44; 2Ch 11:21, and other passages. The subject of is the collective , the holy seed, i.e., the members of the nation called to holiness (Exo 19:5). The appellation is taken from Isa 6:13, where the remnant of the covenant people, preserved in the midst of judgments, and purified thereby, is called a holy seed. The second part of Ezr 9:2 contains an explanatory accessory clause: and the hand of the princes and rulers hath been first in this unfaithfulness ( , comp. Lev 5:15), i.e., the princes were the first to transgress; on the figurative expression, comp. Deu 13:10. is an Old-Persian word naturalized in Hebrew, signifying commander, prefect; but its etymology is not as yet satisfactorily ascertained: see Delitzsch on Isa 41:25.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Ezra’s Reformation. | B. C. 456. |
1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. 3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. 4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.
Ezra, like Barnabas when he came to Jerusalem and saw the grace of God to his brethren there, no doubt was glad, and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord, Acts xi. 23. He saw nothing amiss (many corruptions lurk out of the view of the most vigilant rulers); but here is a damp upon his joys: information is brought him that many of the people, yea, and some of the rulers, had married wives out of heathen families, and joined themselves in affinity with strangers. Observe,
I. What the sin was that they were guilty of: it was mingling with the people of those lands (v. 2), associating with them both in trade and in conversation, making themselves familiar with them, and, to complete the affinity, taking their daughters in marriages to their sons. We are willing to hope that they did not worship their gods, but that their captivity had cured them of their idolatry: it is said indeed that they did according to their abominations; but that (says bishop Patrick) signifies here only the imitation of the heathen in promiscuous marriages with any nation whatsoever, which by degrees would lead them to idolatry. Herein, 1. They disobeyed the express command of God, which forbade all intimacy with the heathen, and particularly in matrimonial contracts, Deut. vii. 3. 2. They profaned the crown of their peculiarity, and set themselves upon a level with those above whom God had by singular marks of his favour, of late as well as formerly, dignified them. 3. They distrusted the power of God to protect and advance them, and were led by carnal policy, hoping to strengthen themselves and make an interest among their neighbours by these alliances. A practical disbelief of God’s all-sufficiency is at the bottom of all the sorry shifts we make to help ourselves. 4. They exposed themselves, and much more their children, to the peril of idolatry, the very sin, and introduced by this very way, that had cone been the ruin of their church and nation.
II. Who were the persons that were guilty of this sin, not only some of the unthinking people of Israel, that knew no better, but many of the priests and Levites, whose office it was to teach the law, and this law among the rest, and in whom, by reason of their elevation above common Israelites, it was a greater crime. It was a diminution to the sons of that tribe to match into any other tribe, and they seldom did except into the royal tribe; but for them to match with heathen, with Canaanites, and Hittites, and I know not whom, was such a disparagement as, if they had had any sense, though not of duty, yet of honour, one would think, they would never have been guilty of. Yet this was not the worst: The hand of the princes and rulers, who by their power should have prevented or reformed this high misdemeanour, was chief in this trespass. If princes be in a trespass, they will be charged as chief in it, because of the influence their examples will have upon others. Many will follow their pernicious ways. But miserable is the case of that people whose leaders debauch them and cause them to err.
III. The information that was given of this to Ezra. It was given by the persons that were most proper to complain, the princes, those of them that had kept their integrity and with it their dignity; they could not have accused others if they themselves had not been free from blame. It was given to the person who had power to mend the matter, who, as a ready scribe in the law of God, could argue with them, and, as king’s commissioner, could awe them. It is probable that these princes had often endeavoured to redress this grievance and could not; but now they applied to Ezra, hoping that his wisdom, authority, and interest, would prevail to do it. Those that cannot of themselves reform public abuses may yet do good service by giving information to those that can.
IV. The impression this made upon Ezra (v. 3): He rent his clothes, plucked off his hair, and sat down astonished. Thus he expressed the deep sense he had, 1. Of the dishonour hereby done to God. It grieved him to the heart to think that a people called by his name should so grossly violate his law, should be so little benefited by his correction, and make such bad returns for his favours. 2. Of the mischief the people had hereby done to themselves and the danger they were in of the wrath of God breaking out against them. Note, (1.) The sins of others should be our sorrow, and the injury done by them to God’s honour and the souls of men is what we should lay to heart. (2.) Sorrow for sin must be great sorrow; such Ezra’s was, as for an only son or a first-born. (3.) The scandalous sins of professors are what we have reason to be astonished at. We may stand amazed to see men contradict, disparage, prejudice, ruin, themselves. Strange that men should act so inconsiderately and so inconsistently with themselves! Upright men are astonished at it.
V. The influence which Ezra’s grief for this had upon others. We may suppose that he went up to the house of the Lord, there to humble himself, because he had an eye to God in his grief and that was the proper place for deprecating his displeasure. Public notice was soon taken of it, and all the devout serious people that were at hand assembled themselves to him, it should seem of their own accord, for nothing is said of their being sent, to, v. 4. Note, 1. It is the character of good people that they tremble at God’s word; they stand in awe of the authority of its precepts and the severity and justice of its threatenings, and to those that do so will God look, Isa. lxvi. 2. 2. Those that tremble at the word of God cannot but tremble at the sins of men, by which the law of God is broken and his wrath and curse are incurred. 3. The pious zeal of one against sin may perhaps provoke very many to the like, as the apostle speaks in another case, 2 Cor. ix. 2. Many will follow who have not consideration, talent, and courage, enough to lead in a good work. 4. All good people ought to own those that appear and act in the cause of God against vice and profaneness, to stand by them, and do what they can to strengthen their hands.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Ezra – Chapter 9
Mixed Marriages, Verses 1-4
Almost immediately Ezra was presented a very serious problem. The princes brought him very disturbing news. Many of the people were guilty of intermarriage with the people who had moved into the land following its depopulation by Nebuchadnezzar. Not only had the people generally fallen into this condition so roundly proscribed by the law of Moses, but even the priests, Levites were guilty. Their wives came from the various tribes of Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and even the Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites from more remote lands. This was a major reason for Israel’s previous captivity, and Moses’ strict warning against it was already being ignored again.
Israelite daughters had been wedded to pagan men, and pagan daughters had been taken for Israelite sons. Ezra told that the princes and rulers had been among the chief offenders in the matter. It was very upsetting to the pious Ezra, who observed every outward sign of distress. He tore his garment and the mantle which covered his head; he pulled out the hair of his head and his beard. He was astonished to find such a condition among those who had taken the initiative to re-inhabit the land when given the opportunity. Their present negligence and carelessness was very much in contrast with their humility and reverence demonstrated in the early days of their return under Zerubbabel and Jeshua. However, that generation had passed from the scene, and a new one arisen who felt more confident in the land.
There were those in the land who were concerned with this matter of the intermarriage, whose hearts are said to have trembled within them. This means that they feared the judgment of God for this trespass of His law. These people heard of Ezra’s reaction and resorted to him to show themselves on his side in the matter. Ezra sat astonished until the evening sacrifice, seemingly in dumb silence. God’s people are warned not to take lightly infractions of His laws (cf. 1Co 5:1 ff).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.] We now come to the social and religious reformation effected by Ezra amongst the Jews who had previously returned to their own land (chaps. 9 and 10). And in this chapter we have(i.) The complaint of the princes to Ezra concerning the mingling of the people of Israel with the idolatrous people of the lands (Ezr. 9:1-2). (ii.) The great amazement and grief of Ezra because of this (Ezr. 9:3-4). (iii.) The confession and prayer of Ezra for the people of Israel (Ezr. 9:5-15).
Ezr. 9:1. Now when these things were done] Some time seems to have elapsed between the events recorded in chap. 8 and those narrated in chap. 9. Ezra and his company arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month (chap. Ezr. 7:9), and on the fourth day of that month they delivered up the treasures in the Temple, and offered burnt offerings and sin offerings unto the Lord God (chap. Ezr. 8:32-35). The next note of time is in chap. Ezr. 10:9 : It was the ninth month and the twentieth day of the month when the great assembly took place at Jerusalem. This assembly had been summoned three days previously. So that there seems to have been an interval of more than four months between the arrival at Jerusalem and the events related in chaps. 9 and 10 Probably some portion of this time was occupied in making arrangements with the kings satraps and governors (chap. Ezr. 8:36). The people of the lands] are the dwellers in the adjacent districts, who are afterwards mentioned. Doing according to their abominations] It is better to omit doing, which has been unnecessarily supplied by the translators of the A.V. Have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, according to their abominations, (even) of the Canaanites, &c. Or, in respect of their abominations, (even) of, &c. The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites] were descendants of the ancient Canaanites, whom Israel failed to exterminate, and who were not carried into captivity with the Israelites, but remained in some parts of Palestine. The Ammonites, the Moabites] dwelt on the east. The Egyptians and the Amorites] on the south.
Ezr. 9:2. The holy seed] The expression is probably taken from Isa. 6:13. By calling, by covenant, and by profession the Israelites were a separate people, a holy people (see Exo. 19:5-8; Exo. 33:16; chap. Ezr. 6:20-21). Have mingled themselves with the people of the lands] thus violating an express command of the Lord their God (Deu. 7:1-4). Yea, the hand of the princes and rulers have been chief] &c., i.e. the upper classes were the first to transgress in this respect.
Ezr. 9:3. I rent my garment and my mantle] As an indication of his great grief and horror, he rent both his outer and inner garments. The custom was a very ancient and a very common one for expressing sorrow, and is frequently mentioned in the Bible (see Gen. 37:29; Gen. 37:34; Jos. 7:6; 1Sa. 4:12; 2Sa. 1:11; 2Ki. 2:12; Job. 1:20, et al.) And plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard] This also was expressive of grief, horror, and moral indignation. To shave the head in great sorrow was not unfrequent amongst the Jews (Job. 1:20); but this is the only example in the canonical Scriptures of a person plucking out his own hair by the roots in grief and indignation. And set down astonied] or benumbed, stunned.Fuerst.
Ezr. 9:4. Every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel] &c. They trembled in their alarm because of the punishments threatened in the law of God for such transgressions as had been committed. I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice] Inasmuch as business is generally transacted in the morning in the East, the princes in all probability made their complaint to Ezra in the forenoon, in which case he sat stunned and silent for several hours.
Ezr. 9:5. I arose up from my heaviness] Rather, as in margin: affliction. Fuerst: self-affliction. Keil: mortification, or humiliation. And having rent my garment and my mantle] This does not refer to the former rending (Ezr. 9:3). For the second time he expresses his grief and horror in this manner.
Ezr. 9:6. I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face] &c. Keil: I am ashamed, and am covered with shame, to lift up, &c. The same words are used together in Isa. 45:16; Jer. 31:19; and other places. Our trespass is grown up unto the heavens] Margin: our guiltiness. Keil: our guiltiness is great, (reaching) unto the heavens. (Comp. 2Ch. 28:9.)
Ezr. 9:7. Since the days of our fathers] This expression may be taken as reaching back to the time when their fathers came out of Egypt; but it seems probable that Ezra meant by it, since the time when under their kings idolatry and idolatrous customs were practised amongst them. To confusion of face] (comp. 2Ch. 25:21; Dan. 9:7-8). As it is this day] They were then in subjection to Artaxerxes.
Ezr. 9:8. For a little space] or, a little moment. The eighty years that had elapsed since the emancipation by Cyrus he speaks of as a little moment, as compared either with the long period of suffering from the times of the Assyrians (comp. Neh. 9:32) till the reign of Cyrus (Keil), or with the long enjoyment of Divine favour from Abraham to Zedekiah (Rawlinson). A remnant to escape] Keil: rescued remnant. Those who had returned to the land of their fathers were but a remnant as compared with the numerous population of former days. And to give us a nail in His holy place] Margin: or, a pin: that is a constant and sure abode. Fuerst: = a peg, nail, driven into the wall (Isa. 22:25; Eze. 15:3); a tent pin, to which a tent is fastened (Jdg. 4:21; Exo. 27:19); the fastening being used as an image of being established (Isa. 22:23); of remaining (Ezr. 9:8). for which stands in Ezr. 9:9. Ezra seems to have regarded the Temple as a pledge of their permanence, and a means of increased life and vigour; for he goes on to say: that our God may lighten our eyes] &c.
Ezr. 9:9. For we were bondmen] Rather, we are bondmen. They were still subject to the Persian king. Only as regards the exercise of their religion were they granted independence. And to give us a wall] &c. This must be understood figuratively; for the walls of Jerusalem were not yet rebuilt (see Neh. 1:3; Neh. 2:13). God had disposed the Persian kings, Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, to protect them in the possession of their country and capital. The wall is a figure of defence, safety, and continuance.
Ezr. 9:11-12. Which Thou hast commanded by Thy servants the prophets, saying, The land] &c. This is not a verbal quotation, but a statement which correctly represents many passages of Scripture (see Exo. 23:32-33; Exo. 34:12-16; Lev. 18:24-30; Deu. 7:1-4; Deu. 23:6, et al.)
Ezr. 9:13. Hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve] The last word is supplied by the translators of the A.V. Margin: Heb. hast withheld beneath our iniquities. Fuerst: Thou hast delivered (us) below our iniquities, i.e. undervaluing our iniquity. Keil: Thou hast spared us more than our iniquity deserved. Or, Thou hast checked, hast stopped, beneath our iniquities. Though not a close rendering of the Hebrew, the A.V. gives the meaning of it. And hast given us such deliverance as this] Rather, Thou hast given us (such) a remnant as this.
Ezr. 9:15. Thou art righteous] Ezra appeals to the righteousness of God, to rouse the conscience of the community, to point out to them what, after this relapse into their old abominations, they had to expect from the justice of God.Keil. Or, he acknowledges the justice of God in His dealings with them, by which they were reduced to a mere remnant. For we cannot stand before Thee because of this] (comp. Psa. 76:7; Psa. 130:3).
THE GOOD MANS SORROW OVER THE PEOPLES SIN
(Ezr. 9:1-4)
Notice:
I. The painful communication made to Ezra. Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, &c. (Ezr. 9:1-2). Information is here given to Ezra
1. Of a great sin committed. The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, according to their abominations, &c. The men of Israel had taken wives of the idolatrous Canaanites and other heathen peoples.
(1.) This was a positive transgression of a plain and oft-repeated command (see Exo. 23:31-33; Exo. 34:12-16; Deu. 7:1-4; Jos. 23:12-13).
(2.) It was a perilous transgression. Every sin is perilous. But this one was especially so. The foreign and idolatrous wives were likely to lead their husbands into their sinful customs; and yet more likely to train up their children in them. This was expressly pointed out to them by Moses: They will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods, &c. (Deu. 7:4). Their previous history contained evidence painfully abundant and conclusive of the danger of these prohibited marriages. Even Solomon, notwithstanding his great wisdom and that he was so richly blessed by God, erred greatly and sadly through the influence of heathen wives. His wives turned away his heart after other gods (1Ki. 11:1-13). And this sin the Jews who had returned to their own land were guilty of.
2. Of the prevalence of this sin. No class of the community was free from it. The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites (Ezr. 9:1) were all guilty of it. The evil was general in the community.
3. Of the aggravations of their sin.
(1.) The priests and the Levites (Ezr. 9:1), whose business it was to teach the law and promote obedience to it, were themselves guilty of violating it in this respect. The law for the regulation of the marriages of priests was particularly strict (Lev. 21:7; Lev. 21:13-14); and by reason of this and of their sacred character and calling, their marriages with heathen wives were especially reprehensible.
(2.) The princes and rulers were foremost in the offence. Yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. It was their duty to have maintained and enforced the observance of the law, yet they took the lead in violating it. Other and greater princes had done the same evil thing; e.g., Solomon, Ahab, et al. Again, the eminence of their position would impart great force to their example, and it was their duty to see that the excellence of the latter corresponded with the eminence of the former; but it was the opposite of this. In this matter, at least, their example was as pernicious as it was influential. (a.) This distressing communication was made to Ezra by persons of unimpeachable credibility. They were in responsible positionsprinces;and in making this statement, if they did not impeach themselves, they certainly impeached their order. It is probable that they had been stirred up to do so by the influence of Ezra. During the four months which had passed since his arrival at Jerusalem, he had been inquiring into the condition of the people (comp. chap. Ezr. 7:14), and the administration of justice, and the measure of their acquaintance with the law (comp. chap. Ezr. 7:25-26); he had also probably been expounding and applying the law; and the result was, that the minds of these princes were enlightened, their consciences were aroused to a sense of the sin which had been committed, and they went to Ezra and made known to him the sin which was so general in the community.
II. The effect which this communication produced upon Ezra. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, &c. (Ezr. 9:3). The statement caused Ezra
1. Great amazement. I sat down astoniedstunned. Domestic life in the East is characterised by great privacy; so that Ezra in making inquiries into the state of the people might well have been ignorant as to the occupants of the apartments of the women. The statement of the princes was quite a revelation to him, and filled him with bitter astonishment. The sins of religious people in our day might well utterly amaze a really godly man.
2. Deep grief. I rent my garment and my mantle. The usual mode of expressing sorrow amongst Eastern peoples was by tearing the garment. The tearing both the outer and the inner garments may betoken the intensity of Ezras distress. The prevalence of iniquity is ever a source of pain to the godly. It was so to the Psalmist: I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not Thy word. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, &c. (Psa. 119:158; Psa. 119:136). And to Jeremiah: Oh that my head were waters, &c. (Jer. 9:1; Jer. 14:17). Ill fares it with the soul when we can contemplate sin without sorrow.
3. Intense moral indignation. I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. Thus he expressed not only his surprise and grief, but also his utter abhorrence of the sin of which they were guilty. God has declared His hatred of sin (Jer. 44:4); and as His servants grow in likeness to Him, their hatred of sin will also grow. We may not hate the sinner; while we condemn we may also pity him; but it behoves us to regard sin with repugnance and anger.
III. The effect of Ezras grief upon others. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, &c. Thus the distress of Ezra
1. Excited their alarm. They trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away. They were filled with fear lest the judgments pronounced upon those who were guilty of this sin should be inflicted upon them. They could not do otherwise than regard with consternation that which afflicted Ezra with so much distress.
2. Attracted them unto him. Every one who thus trembled at the words of God assembled unto Ezra. Some might have been drawn to him by curiosity; but certainly they who were alarmed because of the threatened punishments were not of the number. They came to him moved by deep concern on account of the guilt contracted, and by sympathy with his sorrow because of it. And he and they remained apparently speechless for a considerable timeprobably for three or four hours. Emotions are sometimes too deep to find expression in words. At such times silence is more expressive than even the most mighty and moving words (comp. Job. 2:13). Mark the power of one true and good man to influence others beneficially. The sorrow of such a man is deeply impressive; it awakens serious reflection, &c. And his moral indignation goes far to carry conviction of the sinfulness of that which enkindles it. (b).
CONCLUSION:
1. Separation from the world is obligatory upon the true Christian. We do not by this mean neglect of the secular duties of life. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Diligent in business. In business the Christian must associate with the worldly. Nor do we mean separation from political parties and pursuits. As citizens we have duties which we may not neglect without sin. Nor yet, retirement from the world into seclusion. I pray not, said our Lord, That thou shouldest take them out of the world, &c. We mean separation from the aims, principles, spirit, and society of the world. And this not from any Pharisaic conceit of our moral superiority, but for our own safety and usefulness, and for the honour of God. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, &c. (2Co. 6:14-18). (c).
2. Sin in others should be regarded by the true Christian with unfeigned sorrow, and reprobation of the sin. See how Ezra grieved! how our Lord wept over guilty Jerusalem! (d).
3. Sin in the avowed people of God is especially heinous and mournful. Their privileges are greater than those of the world, consequently their obligations also are greater, and their sin involves a darker guilt. It is a greater dishonour to God; it checks the progress of His cause and kingdom, &c.
4. Therefore it behoves Christians to give all diligence to walk holily and unblamably before God and before men. Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord. Let us take heed that we be not found false witnesses. Ye are the salt of the earth, &c. (Mat. 5:13-16). (e).
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) If a man could be wicked and a villain to himself alone, the mischief would be so much the more tolerable. But the case is much otherwise. The plague flies abroad and attacks the innocent neighbourhood. The guilt of the crime lights upon one, but the example of it sways a multitude, especially if the criminal be of any note or eminence in the world. For the fall of such an one by any temptation (be it never so plausible) is like that of a principal stone, or stately pillar, tumbling from a lofty edifice into the deep mire of the street: it does not only plunge and sink into the black dirt itself, but it also dashes and bespatters all that are about or near it when it falls. Was it not thus with Samson, who, of a judge of Israel, and a terror to his enemies, a man all made up of miracle, rendered himself both the shame of the former and the contempt of the latter; a scoff and a byword to all the nations round about him (as every vicious and voluptuous prince must needs be); and all this by surrendering up his strength, his reason, and his royal trust to the charms of a brutish temptation, which quickly transformed and made him a more stupendous miracle of folly and weakness than ever he had been of strength; and a greater disgrace to his country than ever he had been a defence; or, in a word, from a judge of Israel, a woeful judgment upon it? And was it not thus also with David? This was the worst and most killing consequence of the temptation which he fell by (2Sa. 12:14), that he had by that enormous act given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. And no doubt the religion he professed, as well as the sin he had committed, was thereupon made the song of the drunkards; and many a biting jeer was obliquely cast at one, as well as directly levelled at the other.R. South, D.D.
(b) The Christian ought to clear a space for himself wherever he goes. Little children, humble hearts, mourning souls, reverent, noble, heavenly-minded persons ought to come round him and say, Welcome in Gods name. Dont leave us; abide with us a long while. But knaves and hypocrites, people who are rolling iniquity under their tongue as a sweet morselmasked peopleought to feel terribly uncomfortable when a Christian man comes among them. They ought to know him from afar. There should be surrounding him a kind of atmosphere in which men that are evil cannot breathe and livethe knave should shrink away from his sight; the coward should hide himself in the lowest and vilest dust; and the man who was contemplating some keen, clever stroke, in which there should be dishonour and injustice, should feel himself paralysed, disabled, half-damned, in the presence of a man whose soul is afire with Divine truth.Joseph Parker, D.D.
(c) The Jewish law shadowed out an everlasting truth. Gods people are an exclusive nation; Gods Church is for ever separated from the world. This is her charter, Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Gods people may break that charter, but they do it at their own peril. And we may be very sure of this, when a religious person begins to feel an inclination for intimate communion with the world, and begins to break down that barrier which is the line of safety, the first step is made of a series of long, dark wanderings from God. We are to be separate, brethren, from the world. Mistake not the meaning of that word. The world changes its complexion in every age. Solomons world was the nations of idolatry lying round Israel. Our world is not that. The world is that collection of men in every age who live only according to the maxims of their time. The world may be a profligate world, or it may be a moral world. All that is a matter of accident. Our world is a moral world. The sons of our world are not idolaters, they are not profligate, they are, it may be, among the most fascinating of mankind. Their society is more pleasing, more lively, more diversified in information than religious society. No marvel if a young and ardent heart feels the spell of the fascination. No wonder if it feels a relief in turning away from the dulness and the monotony of home life to the sparkling brilliancy of the worlds society. And yet now, pause. The Christian must leave the world alone. His blessedness lies in quiet work with the Israel of God. His home in that deep, unruffled tranquillity which belongs to those who are trying to know Christ.F. W. Robertson, M.A.
(d) You must learn to be good hatersbut not of men. You do not need anything to instruct you on that point. You are too good in that already. You are to abhor evil. Ah! there are hundreds of men that know how to hate men, where there is one that knows how to love a man and hate evil. Because evil is offensive to God, because it is repugnant to the innate delicacy of every moral sentiment, because it wastes you, because it wastes your neighbour, because it is hurtful to society, because every benevolent instinct requires that you should hate that which is the common foe of all mankind, therefore you should hate evil. We are to hate all qualities and actions which corrupt the individual, which injure manhood in man; all that creates sorrow or suffering, or tends to do it. In short, we are to take our beginning in the law of God; and being filled with goodwill toward every living creature, that spirit breathing itself like summer throughout, we are to hate, come from what quarter it may, everything that injures society, that injures men in the mass, or that injures men in their individual capacity. Whether it be in their bodies, their souls, or their estate, whatever works mischief to mankind, you are to be its enemy. The want of this moral rebound, and of this indignation, will be found to be ruinous. The presence of it is wholesome. The absence of it is effeminating. It destroys the individual to whom it is lacking, and it is mischievous to the community in which it is lacking.H. W. Beecher.
(e) It is recorded of Alexander the Great, that a soldier was reported to him as having betrayed great cowardice on a particular occasion, on which Alexander called him to him and asked his name. On hearing that his name was Alexander, he upbraided him with the dishonour that he brought on such a name, and entreated him either to change his manners or to change his name, asking him how he could dare, while known as Alexander, to act unworthily? And shall not the Christian remember the high and holy name by which he is called, and dread encountering the guilt and meanness of dishonouring his Head, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners? That name, in its very signification, tells him that he is related to the anointed One, and that (as the name implies) all His members, in their measure and degree, are anointed ones. How shall they who take this sacred unction upon them dare to dishonour this name, and so sin against Christ!H. G. Salter.
THE GOOD MANS CONFESSION OF THE PEOPLES SIN
(Ezr. 9:5-15)
We have here
I. Deep personal shame and sorrow on account of the sins of the people. These feelings Ezra expresses by
1. A symbolical action. And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness, and rent my garments and my mantle. Thus before the assembled people he proclaims the grief and moral indignation with which he regarded their sin.
2. A suggestive attitude. I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God. The posture indicates deep humiliation before God and earnest supplication unto Him.
3. An explicit avowal. Ezra said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to Thee, my God. In this avowal notice
(1.) The shamefulness of sin. Sin is a reproach to any people. It is an abominable thing.
(2.) The good man is ashamed because of the sin of others. He feels the dishonour which is offered by it to God, and the ingratitude, folly, and wickedness of those who commit it. He cannot be an unmoved spectator of the workers of iniquity. The knowledge of human wickedness affects him as it did Ezra, or leads him to cry with the Psalmist, Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake Thy law.
(3.) The good man is specially conscious of the shamefulness of sin when he draws near to God in worship. In the light of His presence the exceeding deformity and heinousness of sin are painfully clear; and the godly soul, burdened in feeling with the iniquities of others, is ashamed to lift up his face to God. (Comp. Isa. 6:1-5.) (a).
II. Humble confession of the sins of the people. Ezra confesses
1. The great accumulation of their sins. Our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up into the heavens. The idea seems to be that their iniquities, like waves of the sea, rolled over them threatening to overwhelm them; and their guilt was piled up to the very heavens. The confession of the Psalmist is similar: Mine iniquities are gone over mine head, &c. (Psa. 38:4). Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, &c. (Psa. 40:12).
2. The long continuance of their sins. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day. From generation to generation they had been a perverse and rebellious people. A sad continuity in sin characterised their history.
3. The sore aggravations of their sins.
(1.) That they had been committed notwithstanding the Divine judgments. For our iniquities have we, our kings and our priests, been delivered into the hands of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. God had visited them with heavy judgments, but they had not turned from their iniquities. He had severely reproved them, but they were not reformed. As a people they had suffered long and sorely for their sins, and yet they were still guilty of those sins.
(2.) That they had been committed notwithstanding the Divine mercies. Of these several are mentioned by Ezra. (i.) Mercy in the measure of the punishment inflicted upon them. Thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve. God might justly have entirely forsaken them, or have made an utter end of them; but in His wrath He had remembered mercy, (ii.) Mercy in disposing the Persian monarchs to treat them with so much generosity. For we were bondmen, yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, &c. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia (chap. Ezr. 1:1) to grant them permission to return to their fatherland. He inclined the heart of Darius to treat them so favourably. And it was by His good hand upon Ezra that Artaxerxes granted him all his request (chap. Ezr. 7:6). (iii.) Mercy in bringing a rescued remnant to their own land again. And now for a little space grace hath been showed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, &c. A considerable remnant of the people had been safely restored and comfortably settled in the country given by God to their fathers. (iv.) Mercy in enabling them to rebuild the Temple of their God. To give us a nail in His holy place, &c. To set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof. For a people in their circumstances this was a great achievement, and a great mercy from the Lord their God. To the pious amongst them it would be the crowning blessing that the Temple was restored, and that the ordinances of their holy religion were regularly and becomingly celebrated. (v.) Mercy in granting them security in their own land. Two expressions seem to suggest this: To give us a nail in His holy place. Margin: Or, a pin; that is, a constant and sure abode. And to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem; not a literal wall, for as yet the walls of Jerusalem were not restored; but a shield and shelter, peace and protection. Their Samaritan enemies were restrained, and did not trouble them. And the officers of the Persian government favoured and supported them and the house of God. Yet despite all these mercies, they were now living in the regular practice of sin against their gracious God. How black the ingratitude of such conduct! And how foolish, for their sins might lead Him to withdraw His favour from them. Neither judgments nor mercies had availed to restrain them from heinous transgression.
(3.) That they had been committed against plain and positive commands. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken Thy commandments, which Thou hast commanded by Thy servants, the prophets, &c. (Ezr. 9:10-12, and see Explanatory Notes on them). They could not plead ignorance or uncertainty of the law as an excuse for their evil doings.
(4.) That they had been committed against commands the reasons of which had been clearly set before them. It had been shown to them that obedience to these commands was necessary for(i.) The maintenance of their power. That ye may be strong. (Comp. Deu. 11:8.) As they mingled with the heathen they lost strength and courage. (ii.) Their enjoyment of the produce of the land. And eat the good of the land. (Comp. Isa. 1:19.) They should eat it, and not strangers. They should eat it in peace and happiness. (iii.) Their continued possession of the land. And leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever. (Comp. Deu. 11:9; Pro. 13:22; Eze. 37:25.) Their separation from the heathen was necessary to their secure possession of their country. Thus, these commands were not arbitrary, but reasonable; and the reasons for them were stated. Obedience would have been both rational and advantageous; it was both their duty and their interest. Yet they transgressed these commands. No obligation seemed strong enough to bind them to their duty in this respect; no motive adequate to constrain them to obedience. Most persistent and most aggravated were their sins. (b).
III. A solemn anticipation of the consequence of the continuance of the sins of the people. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, &c. (Ezr. 9:13-15).
1. Continuance in sin would lead to their utter end as a community. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that Thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; should we again break Thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations, wouldest not Thou be angry with us till Thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? This inquiry does not denote doubt, but certainty. Looking at Gods commands to them, and His past dealings with them, Ezra was convinced that if they persisted in these sinful alliances God would bring them to an utter end.
2. That such a consequence of continuance in sin would be just. O Lord God of Israel, Thou art righteous, &c. (Ezr. 9:15). In His past dealings with them God had been just and merciful. He would still be just towards them. They were guilty before Him; they had nothing to plead in extenuation of their sins, but must leave themselves in His hands.
3. That such a consequence of continuance in sin was to be dreaded. This is quite clear from the close of Ezras humble appeal to God (Ezr. 9:13-15). If sin be not truly repented of its consequences will be found to be dreadful. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness.
LEARN:
1. The great evil of sin. It is evil in itself; it is a great wrong against God; it is terrible in its consequences, &c. (c).
2. The grand hope of the sinner. God is merciful as well as just. The greatest sinner, being penitent, may approach unto Him, and, confessing his sin, may obtain full and free forgiveness. There is forgiveness with Thee, &c. (Psa. 130:3-4; Psa. 130:7). If we confess our sins, &c. (1Jn. 1:9). (d).
3. The right relation of the good man to sin. Like Ezra, he should hold it in abhorrence, should be burdened in feeling because of its prevalence in others, should exhibit to them its heinousness, and should humbly confess it before God. When iniquity abounds, let Gods faithful people weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord, &c. (Joe. 2:17). (e).
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) Our whole lives present one unbroken series of duties neglected, of favours not acknowledged. And, oh! how do they appear, when we review them in the light of Gods countenance! When we see before us our Creator, our Preserver, our Benefactor, our Sovereign, and our Heavenly Father; when we see in Him, to whom all these titles belong, infinite excellence, perfection, glory, and beauty; when we see with what profound veneration, with what raptures of holy, grateful affection He is regarded and served by all the bright armies of heaven;and then turn and contemplate our past lives, and reflect how they must appear in His sight, can we refrain from exclaiming with Job, We have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now our eyes see Thee: wherefore we abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes? Must not each of us say with the Psalmist, Innumerable evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head; therefore my heart faileth me? Nay, more, when you see what God is, and how He is worshipped in heaven, and then look at the coldness, the formality, the want of reverence with which you have often approached Him in prayer, and listened to His word, must you not feel conscious that should He call you into judgment you could not answer for one in a thousand of the iniquities which have stained your holy things, your religious duties?E. Payson, D.D.
(b) The criminality of any sin is in proportion to the motives and obligations which opposed its commission. To sin against many and powerful motives indicates greater depravity, and is, of course, more criminal than to sin against few and feeble motives. Suppose a person is informed that if he commits a certain crime he shall be imprisoned. If, notwithstanding the threatening, he perpetrates the crime, he shows that be loves the crime more than he loves liberty. Again, suppose him to be assured that if he commits the crime he shall be put to death. Should he after that commit the crime, it would indicate greater depravity than before, it would show that he loved the crime more than life. But the Word of God threatens sinners with everlasting misery if they persist in sin, and promises them everlasting happiness if they will renounce it. I need not tell you that what is everlasting is in one respect infinite, viz., in duration. Here, then, are two infinitely powerful motives presented to the sinner to deter him from sininfinite happiness and infinite misery. Every one, then, who persists in sin, notwithstanding these motives, shows that he loves sin more than everlasting happiness, that he hates holiness more than he dreads everlasting misery. His attachment to sin, and, of course, his depravity and criminality, are therefore boundless or infinite.Ibid.
(c) Every sin is a violation of an infinitely perfect law. It will readily be allowed that to violate a good law is a greater evil than to violate a law the goodness of which is doubtful. It will also be allowed that if there were any law made by human governments, on obedience to which the honour, the welfare, and even the existence of a nation depended,to violate that law would be the greatest crime which a subject could commit. Now the law of God is perfectly holy, just, and good. If it were universally obeyed, universal and endless happiness would be the consequence. But disobedience to this law tends to produce universal and endless misery. Take away the law and the authority of God, there would be no right but that of the strongest; violence, discord, and confusion would fill the universe; sin and misery would overspread the earth, would ascend to heaven, subvert the throne of Jehovah, and compel Him to live in the midst of a mad, infuriated mob, the members of which were continually insulting Him and injuring each other. Now every violation of Gods law tends to produce this effect.Ibid.
Others may throw garlands upon sin, picturing the overhanging fruits which drop in her pathway, and make every step graceful as the dance; but we cannot be honest without presenting it as a giant, black with the soot of the forges where eternal chains are made, and feet rotting with disease, and breath foul with plagues, and eyes glaring with woe, and locks flowing in serpent fangs, and voice from which shall rumble forth the blasphemies of the damned.T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.
(d) Confession is a necessary basis of forgiveness. Confession is not a simple act. Confession is in reality a multitudinous act; it is many acts in one; it is a convergence of right judgment, right feeling, and right action. There are kinds of confession which are wholly unavailing. This is not the confession in which David poured out his soul; his words are full of heart. His language seems to be baptized with tears. Every word is a groan from the soul; and consequently his confession comes within the assurance of that world-enclosing and most blessed promise, that if we confess our sins, God will erase them from His book, and remember them no more for ever. Think of God forgetting. Think of the Infinite casting aught behind His back! Back of the Infinite! Where is that? He will put our sins away from Him, as far as the East is from the West. What geometrician can set forth in lines that distance, or tell in words the vastness of that immensity?Joseph Parker, D.D.
(e) Abhorrence of evil is indispensable to the purity of a mans own self who is in the midst of a perverse and crooked generation. I do not believe any man can avoid the formation of feeling, and to a certain extent the expression of it, and maintain himself incorrupt. It is unnatural. What would you give for a mans humanity who could stand by and see a little boy deliberately tortured, and maintain a sweet and smiling face, and perfect equanimity, saying, It is neither my child, nor the child of anybody that I know anything about; and saying, It is wrong; I suppose it is wrong; but there is no use of being excited about it? What would you think of a man that could stand and look upon wickedness and not feel all his nature rebound at it? You cannot see a man steal (provided it is not yourself!) without the utmost horror. You never see a mean thing done (if it is only done by another) without some sensibility in regard to it.
Now, the expressions of these feelings are, by reaction, the modes in which moral sense, the repugnance to wickedness, to evil, is strengthened. And if you, for any reason, forbear to give expression to the feeling, it goes out for want of expression. It is like fire that is smothered. And the man who is so extremely prudent that he never does give utterance to his feelings of indignation against great wrongs, is a man that emasculates himself; and he becomes a moral eunuch. A man is not worthy of the name of man who has no power of indignation. A man is not worthy of being ranked in the roll of manhood who does not know how to issue soul-thunder.
The feeling, and suitable expression, of indignation, then, is not only salutary as a mode of penalty, and of restraint to the wickedness of society, but it is quite indispensable, also, to the moral purity of the individual, the spectator, himself. It is one of those exercises by which the very moral sense itself, the judge and test of all things right or wrong, is kept in tone.H. W. Beecher.
EZRAS HUMILIATION FOR THE SINS OF HIS PEOPLE
(Ezr. 9:5-6)
I. The reason of his sorrow. Many of the people had connected themselves in marriage both with the Canaanites and other heathens around them. This he justly regarded as a most heinous evil.
1. As being a violation of an express command. Ezra himself speaks of it in this view (comp. Ezr. 9:10-12 with Deu. 7:2-3). It is possible that, whilst the generality sought only the gratification of their own corrupt appetites, the princes and rulers, who were chief in this matter, justified their conduct on the ground of policy. They might urge that, being few in number, it was desirable for their own preservation to make alliances with those whose hostility they feared. In this way many set their own reasonings in opposition to Gods revealed will. But reason is altogether out of place on such occasions. We are not at liberty to sit in judgment on Gods commands, and to determine how far it is expedient to obey them, &c.
2. As having an evident tendency to bring the people back to idolatry. It was for their idolatries that the nation had been sent into captivity; and a recurrence of the same evil was likely to result from so intimate a connection with idolaters. (Comp. Deu. 7:4.) Their disregard of this danger showed how little they had profited by the judgments that had been inflicted on them, or the mercies that had been vouchsafed unto them. But thus it is with all who seek the friendship of the world: God has told them that friendship with the world is enmity with God (Jas. 4:4); that it is impossible to maintain communion with both (Mat. 6:24; 2Co. 6:14-15); and that therefore all who cultivate the friendship of the world will be regarded and treated as the enemies of God (1Jn. 2:15-17); yet they will run the risk, and for the sake of gratifying their corrupt wishes, will endanger the everlasting salvation of their souls.
II. The expressions of his sorrow.
1. The expression of his grief the instant he was informed of their misconduct. This was more violent than any of which we read in the Holy Scriptures. Often have men rent their mantle and their garments; but of him alone we are told that he plucked off the hair of his head and of his beard. He was almost distracted; he was so overwhelmed as to be incapable of speech or action; he sat down astonied, &c. Shall we think all this extravagant? No truly, if we duly estimate the evil they had committed, and the danger to which the whole nation was reduced. We are told of David, that horror took hold upon him, and that rivers of tears ran down his cheeks, &c. St. Paul appeals to God, that he had great sorrow and continual heaviness in his heart, &c.
2. His humiliation before God more particularly demands our attention. At the time of the evening sacrifice, as if revived and encouraged by the consideration of the great atonement, he arose from his heaviness, and fell upon his knees, and confessed with shame and anguish of heart both his own sins and the sins of all the people. What a just view had he of national transgressions. Many would have thought that because he disapproved of the evils that had been committed, he had no share in the guilt, nor any occasion to humble himself before God on account of them; but the members of the body politic are, in their corporate capacity, like the members of the natural body, all to a certain degree responsible for those evils which generally, though not universally, prevail among them. At the day of judgment indeed, none will have to answer for anything but what they themselves were personally guilty of; but in this world, where alone nations can be dealt with as nations, we should consider ourselves as participating in whatever relates to the nation at large. Oh that we felt for our own sins as he felt for the sins of others! We are told plainly enough what is that repentance which godly sorrow will produce (2Co. 7:10-11); let us therefore look to it that we approve ourselves to be clear in this matter.
APPLICATION:
And now the evening sacrifice is just offered; now once in the end of the world, hath Christ appeared, &c. (Heb. 9:26.) Let us spread before Him both our national and personal transgressions; not doubting but that if we confess our sins, God is faithful, &c. (1Jn. 1:9).C. Simeon, M.A.
EZRAS ADDRESS
(Ezr. 9:8)
Israel had often suffered for their sins, especially for idolatry. Worsted by enemieslatterly carried into captivity. Now, after seventy years, restored. Now Ezra relates his experience. Deep sorrow and shame for their sins (Ezr. 9:2, &c.). His distress, prayer, and confession, &c. In the midst of this comes our text, full of instruction, counsel, &c. The subject shows
I. The grace they had experienced.
Observe
1. In bondage. Not desert, but graceundeserved favour.
2. Grace from Jehovah, their covenant God.
3. Grace to preserve. A remnant. Seventy years captivity. Not all extinguished. Some kept, sustainedand a remnant only.
4. To be restored to their landnationcityworshipinheritancesand home.
II. The exalted position to which they had been raised.
1. A nail, or pinthese were inserted in the building of the place. Designed
(1.) For ornament.
(2.) For usefulness.
(3.) For permanence. So Christ, the Messiah (Isa. 22:23). Levites were nails, pins. The prieststhe high priestan exalted place. The musicians.
2. In the holy place of God. TabernacleChurch of the old covenant. Not in palacesschools of learninghalls of scienceacademies of philosophy; but in the far higher, holier Church of the living God. Observe this is expressive
(1.) Of their honourtrue dignity.
(2.) Of their security.
(3.) Of their privileges and favours.
III. The blessings connected with these privileges.
And here there is reference
1. To spiritual illumination. God may lighten, &c. (Psa. 13:3; Psa. 34:5).
(1.) Eyes to see their own unworthiness.
(2.) Their own helplessness.
(3.) The Lords goodness.
(4.) The Lords will and ways.
2. Spiritual reviving. Rekindling of the firestirring upre-inspiringre-strengtheningreviving. Faithhopezealloveobedience.
3. Gratefulness for deliverances. In our bondagethat God should show grace. Deliverance from it, &c. And now gratefully reviewed, &c.
4. The brevity of these signal merciesa little space. For workingfightingbuilding up ourselves. Also the Churcha little space. We are reminded of this
(1.) By those who have passed away. The fathers, &c. Those we have knownsucceeded.
(2.) By the advance we have made in life. Look back to childhoodyouth, &c. How changed!
(3.) By the uncertain, fragmentary remains, we can only possess. Time is short, &c. We spend our years as a tale that is told. The Judge at the door. I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day, &c. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, &c. Let the subject be
1. A test of character. Are we of the remnant? Calledthe chosenthe faithful.
2. An appeal as to our position. In the Church, a nail or pinsomewhere.
3. A question as to our desires. Are we seeking the reviving?
4. An exhortation. Appeal to those outside the Church to come with us, &c.Jabez Burns, D.D.
FORBIDDEN MARRIAGES
(Ezr. 9:12)
Give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons. The Israelites were prohibited from taking heathen women for their wives, and from giving their daughters in marriage to the heathen. And true Christians are commanded not to marry those who are not Christians. What are the reasons why such marriages should not be contracted? Because
I. They are opposed to the express command of God. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, &c. (2Co. 6:14). There is, says Barnes, a difference between Christians and those who are not so great as to render such unions improper and injurious. The direction here refers, doubtless, to all kinds of improper connections with those who were unbelievers. It has been usually supposed by commentators to refer particularly to marriage. But there is no reason for confining it to marriage. It doubtless includes that. And M. Henry: Those relations that are our choice must be chosen by rule; and it is good for those who are themselves the children of God to join with those who are so likewise; for there is more danger that the bad will damage the good than hope that the good will benefit the bad. Again, St. Paul writes that Christians are to marry only in the Lord (1Co. 7:39); which Alford explains thus: i.e., within the limits of Christian connectionin the element in which all Christians live and walklet her marry a Christian. So Tertull., Cypr., Ambros., Jerome, Grot., Est., Bengel, Rosenm., Olsh., Meyer, De W. Whitby: She must marry a believer, one who is in Christ by faith and profession. And Barnes: That is, only to one who is a Christian, with a proper sense of her obligations to Christ, and so as to promote His glory. (a).
II. They are inconsistent with the most sacred aspects and ends of marriage. Marriage was instituted by God (Gen. 2:20-24; Mat. 19:4-6); and it was intended by Him to be a union of persons not merely as regards their temporal interests, but in their spiritual sympathies. In its best aspect marriage is a union of souls. (b). They who are thus united have sympathy with each other in their deepest, highest, and holiest experiences. They are one in soul, one in Christ, and one for ever. The marriage which is not a union of souls is defective, and it degrades the Divine institution. One of the ends contemplated in the institution of marriage was that they who are joined in this relation should be mutual helpers. Woman was created to be an help meet for man. And this must surely hold good in relation to the highest and most important concerns of life, viz., the salvation of their souls, or their life, health, and progress as spiritual beings. Husbands and wives should aid each other in their upward and heavenward path. But how can they do this if the genuine Christian is mated with one who is not a Christian? (c). The absence of this high and holy union is sometimes mournfully manifest in married life. How inexpressibly sad it is when in the sore troubles of life husband and wife look to different quarters for relief, and consolation, and help! The true Christian looks to the Heavenly Father, and obtains calmness and peace and hope, to which the unbelieving partner is a stranger. When their union should be most closely and preciously realised, the gulf which separates them is most painfully felt. In like manner the unbeliever is utterly unable to enter into the tenderest, holiest, and most cherished experiencesthose of the religious lifeof the Christian partner.
III. They imperil the salvation of the soul. The believing husband or wife may be successful in leading the unbelieving partner to real trust in Christ and hearty consecration to Him. But in very many instances the actual result is the opposite of this. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin (Neh. 13:26). There is far greater ground of fear that they shall pervert you, than there is ground of hope that you shall convert them. The risk of this kind which such marriages involve is one which no Christian is justified in deliberately encountering. (d).
Maid, choosing man, remember this:
You take his nature with his name;
Ask, too, what his religion is,
For you will soon be of the same.
IV. They are inimical to wise and harmonious home government. In such marriages there is a difference of opinion as to the ends to be sought and the methods to be employed in the government of the family; and as to the spirit which should pervade the home; and, further, as to the course of life to be pursued therein. Such differences must militate against the order and harmony which should characterise family life.
V. They are detrimental to the best interests of the children of the marriage. One of the objects contemplated in the institution of marriage was the production of a godly seed (Mal. 2:15), and in the marriages which are Divinely forbidden this object is likely to be frustrated. The diversity of spirit, principles, aims, and methods, which exists where one parent is really a Christian and the other is not, must exert an injurious influence upon the children, (e). How many and forcible, then, are the reasons why Christians should marry only in the Lord!
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) They that enter, or think of entering, into the married state, are required to do it in the Lord, as an only thing. Marry they may, only in the Lord. But when they neglect this, they leave out the only thing that can make a blessed marriage; which certainly must argue a very profane mind, when men and women dare venture, and rush upon a matter of so great importance as that, and leave out the very only thing that concerns them in it.John Howe.
(b) The relation of which we now treat, instituted by the benevolent Creator Himself, is the closest, the most intimate and tender, of all earthly connections. Its closeness and endearing intimacy were evidently meant to be indicated by two circumstances:
(1.) The manner of the formation of the first woman; not, as the man himself had been, from the dost of the ground, but from a bone of his own body; and that bone one of the safeguards of the most important and vital organs of his frame, being part of the protecting bulwarks of his heartthe fountain of life to his whole frame, and the seat of all his affections. I dare not for a moment doubt the emblematic significance of this remarkable fact. It is as far as possible from being fanciful. Adam himself perceived, and felt, and expressed it, when, on the delicate and lovely counterpart of himself being brought to him by the Divine Maker, he exclaimed, with new, and delightful, and sinless emotion: This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. In our language the sentiment is not, and cannot be, correctly transfused. In the original the name for woman is simply that for man, with a feminine termination, which, from the structure of our language, we cannot imitate. The nearest approximation to it would be she-man; but, unfortunately, it sounds too ludicrously to be at all sufferable. To this original formation of woman Paul beautifully alludes, when he describes the very thing of which we have been representing it as significant of the tender care with which husbands should regard and cherish the chosen partners of their lives. So ought men to love their wives, &c. (Eph. 5:28-30).
(2.) The second thing by which this was indicated was the pronouncing of this relation, by Jehovah Himself, superior in its imperative requisitions to every other. The relation of child to parent is specially tender and powerful; yet it must give way before the obligation under which that child, when he becomes a husband, is laid to the wife of his youth: For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife. It is the only one of lifes relations that is represented as constituting a species of identitya dual unit: Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.R. Wardlaw, D.D.
(c) Husband and wife should be as the milch-kine, which were coupled together to carry the ark of God; or as the two cherubim, that looked upon one another, and both upon the mercy-seat; or as the two tables of stone, on each of which were engraven the laws of God. In some families married persons are like Jeremiahs two baskets of figs, the one very good, the other very evil; or like fire and water, whilst the one is flaming in devotion, the other is freezing in corruption. There is a twofold hindrance in holiness: first, on the right side; secondly, on the left. On the right side: when the wife would run in Gods way, the husband will not let her go: when the fore-horse in a team will not draw, he wrongs all the rest; when the general of an army forbids a march, all the soldiers stand still. Sometimes on the left: how did Solomons idolatrous wives draw away his heart from heaven? A sinning wife was Satans first ladder, by which he scaled the walls of Paradise, and took away the fort-royal of Adams heart from him. Thus, she that should have been the help of his flesh, was the hurt of his faith: his natures under propper becomes his graces under miner; and she that should be a crown on the head, is a cross on the shoulders. The wife is often to the husband as the ivy is to the oak, which draws away his sap from him.W. Secker.
(d) Such unlawful unions have been usually advocated thus:The godly party pretends to make no doubt but that the other party may be converted: God can easily convert men when He will; and if there be but love, persons are easily won over to the same mind with those they love. Answer
(1.) Then it seems because you love an ungodly person, you will be easily turned to be ungodly. If so, you are not much better already. If love will not draw you to their mind to be ungodly, why should you think love will draw them to your mind to be godly? Are you stronger in grace than they are in sin?
(2.) If you knew well what grace is, and what a sinful, unrenewed soul is, you would not think it so easy a matter to convert a soul. Why are there so few converted, if it be so easy a thing? You cannot make yourselves better by adding higher degrees to the grace you have; much less can you make others better by giving them the grace which they have not.
(3.) It is true that God is able to convert them when He will; and it is true that, for aught I know, it may be done. But what of that? Will you in so weighty a case take up with a mere possibility? God can make a beggar rich, and for aught you know to the contrary, He will do it; and yet you will not therefore marry a beggar; nor will you marry a leper, because God can heal him; why then should you marry an ungodly person, because God can convert him? See it done first, if you love your peace and safety.R. Baxter.
A consistent Christian young man became attached to a pleasure-loving and gay young lady, and married her against the advice of his brethren. Her influence silenced his prayers, estranged him from the house of God, and led him to her ways of pleasure. Sickness called his attention back to religion. Twice his wife had driven him from his duty. Now, in agony and remorse, with a fearful eternity before him, he gazed upon her and cried, Rebecca, Rebecca, you are the cause of my eternal damnation! and died.Dict. of Illust.
(e) Hannah vows, if the Lord will give her a son, by bearing him, she will return that son to the Lord by serving Him (1Sa. 1:11). A spouse should be more careful of her childrens breeding than she should be fearful of her childrens bearing. Take heed lest these flowers grow in the devils garden. Though you bring them out in corruption, yet do not bring them up to damnation. Those are not mothers, but monsters, that whilst they should be teaching their children the way to heaven with their lips, are leading them the way to hell with their lives. Good education it the best livery you can give them living; and it is the best legacy you can leave them dying. You let out your cares to make them great. Oh lift up your prayers to make them good; that before you die from them, you may see Christ live in them. Whilst these twigs are green and tender, they should be bowed towards God. Children and servants are in a family as passengers are in a boat; husband and wife, they are as a pair of oars to row them to their desired haven. Let these small pieces of timber be hewed and squared for the celestial building. By putting a sceptre of grace into their hands, you will set a crown of glory upon their heads.W. Secker.
USE OF GODS DIVERSIFIED DISPENSATIONS
(Ezr. 9:13-14)
I. Gods diversified dispensations towards us. God visited His people of old with alternate mercies and judgments; and thus He has dealt with us also.
1. He has visited our sins with judgments. And it is of the utmost importance that we should acknowledge the hand of God in them. They spring not out of the dust, &c. God uses men as instruments, just as He did the Assyrians and Chaldeans, to punish His people; but still it is His hand alone that inflicts the stroke (Psa. 17:13; Isa. 10:5-7; Isa. 10:13-15; Isa. 37:24-26; Gen. 45:8). We must confess, however, that our sufferings have by no means equalled our deserts (Psa. 103:10). Take any one of our national sins, &c. If God had proceeded against us according to the tremendous aggregate of our iniquities, we should have been made as Sodom and Gomorrah.
2. He has also vouchsaved us a deliverance. The deliverance granted to the Jews on their return from Babylon was not inferior to that which they had formerly experienced in their departure from Egypt. And has not ours also been exceeding great? In this too must we view the hand of God. Whoever were the means, God was the author of it. It is He who produces all the changes in the state of individuals (1Sa. 2:6-8), or of kingdoms (Jer. 18:6-7; Jer. 18:9). And as the discerning of His agency in our afflictions is necessary to effect our humiliation, so the beholding of it in our mercies is necessary to excite our gratitude.
II. The effect they should have upon us. If the destruction of sin be the end which God proposes to Himself in all His conduct towards us, then we should endeavour to make everything subservient to that end. The pointed interrogation in the text strongly shows in what light we should view a renewed violation of Gods commandments, after He has taken such pains to enforce the observance of them.
1. How unreasonable would it be! No man can read the account of Pharaohs obstinacy in the midst of all his successive judgments and deliverances, and not stand amazed at his more than brutish stupidity. Yet it is thus that we shall act, if we do not now put away our sins, &c. And how irrational such conduct would be God Himself tells us: He even calls heaven and earth to express their astonishment at it, &c. (Isa. 1:2-3). And if we be guilty of it, He will justly vent His indignation against us, as He did against His people of old: They are a perverse and crooked generation, &c. (Deu. 32:5-6).
2. How ungrateful! Ingratitude is considered as one of the greatest aggravations that can be found in any offence of man against his fellow-man; and how much more must it enhance the guilt we contract in our disobedience to God! See what a stress God Himself lays upon this in the transgressions of David (2Sa. 12:7-9), and Solomon (1Ki. 11:9), and Hezekiah (2Ch. 32:25); and will it not stamp a tenfold malignity also on our offences? (Comp. Jer. 7:9-10.)
3. How dangerous! This is particularly noticed by Ezra, in the words following the text; and the state of the Jews at this moment is an awful comment upon it. God tells us that, as the impenitence of the Jews was the reason of His continuing to afflict them (Isa. 9:12; Isa. 9:17; Isa. 9:21; Isa. 10:4), so He will punish us seven times more for our sins (Lev. 26:18; Lev. 26:21; Lev. 26:24; Lev. 26:28) if we now continue in them. To what a state of misery we may in that case expect to be reduced, we may judge from what was actually experienced by the Jewish nation (Jdg. 10:11-14).
ADDRESS:
Remember that God is not an indifferent spectator of our conduct. Sin is that abominable thing which His soul hateth (Jer. 44:4); and He will surely destroy either it or him that retains it. And if His judgments be not inflicted on the sinner in this life, there still is a future day of retribution, when every man shall give account of himself to God, and receive the just recompense of all his actions. Let every one of us shudder at the thought of ever again breaking the least of Gods commandments.C. Simeon, M.A.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
TEXT AND VERSE-BY-VERSE COMMENT
C. Ezra hears about some current sins, particularly marriage to foreigners, and he prays.
1. Ezra is informed of the problem.
TEXT, Ezr. 9:1-5
1
Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
2
For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands or the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.
3
And when I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled.
4
Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.
5
But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God;
COMMENT
Ezr. 9:1-2 reveal how Ezra received the information.
Ezr. 9:1 indicates a space in time since the previous verse: it could have been a few weeks, but it couldnt have been much more than four months (cf. Ezr. 10:9). It Was the princes, the civil authorities and not the religious leaders who came to Ezra. They indicated that the three groups mentioned earlier in the book, the people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, were all involved. They may have mentioned the people of Israel first to soften the blow for the priests and other religious leaders, or else because it was the group of which they were a part.
The people of the lands were of two kinds: (1) people who had not been driven out of Palestine when Israel had settled there originally, but who had remained even through the period of Israels exile (Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Amorites. Jos. 9:1); and (2) neighboring nations (Moabites, Egyptians, and Ammonites). These had introduced abominations into Israels culture.
The problem of mixed marriages has already been discussed in reference to the Samaritans at Ezr. 4:3. It was nothing as simple as a marriage between a Baptist and a Presbyterian, or even between a Protestant and a Roman Catholic or a Jew. These foreign people worshiped other gods in ways that were incompatible with Israels worship, i.e., by sacred prostitution and human sacrifice. Remains of infants buried alive in jars throughout the land testify to the reality of this evil.[49] Thus the things that were most religious to them were absolutely irreligious to Israel. The O.T. never sanctions freedom of religions in this context.
[49] G. E. Wright, Biblical Archaeology (abridged), p. 12, mentions these, but minimizes them. Werner Keller, The Bible As History, devotes an entire chapter to the abominations of the heathen, p. 270ff.
For a further description of the sin involved in these marriages to foreign (strange) women, and of the warnings against them, see Proverbs 1-9, especially Pro. 2:16; Pro. 5:20; Pro. 7:5, where foreign is used as a synonym of adulterous.
There was a way to marry a person of another ethnic background, as the story of Ruth illustrates, if conversion had taken place. Rahab, the harlot at Jericho, entered the Messianic line (Mat. 1:5), and Uriah the Hittite married a Jewish girl (Bathsheba, later Davids wife) and became one of the thirty most respected men in Davids army (2Sa. 23:39). In the O.T. nationalities of persons are more descriptive of their religions than of their citizenship or ethnic origins.
Some of these people of the land may have been outside landholders,[50] and therefore wealthy. We know from Malachi (Ezr. 2:11; Ezr. 2:14) that at a date not too far from Ezra a number of Israelites divorced their first wives, who were of their race, to marry foreign women. If this is the situation which Ezra is describing, then there was a second sin, of unfaithfulness and violation of a previous marriage, involved as well. The temptation would be strong; intermarriage would offer the people of Israel a chance to move up economically; it would offer the foreign peoples a way to enter the approved social structure of the country and solidify their holdings. In the process, spiritual and human values would be crushed.
[50] Anchor Bible, op. cit., p. 77.
It was all the more disgrace that the nations leaders, religious as well as civil, were the leaders in this evil.
Ezr. 9:3-5 portray Ezras reaction,
Ezr. 9:3 shows Ezra alone, but in public view in the Temple compound, expressing his dismay. The tearing of garments was a method frequently used throughout the Bible for this purpose (Num. 14:6; Act. 14:14). Pulling out a part of his hair and beard would be a much less frequent mark of profound humility, sorrow, or disgrace, since the beard in particular was a symbol of ones age and therefore wisdom and honor (Isa. 15:2). Note that Mephibosheth neglected his beard at a particularly evil time (2Sa. 19:24).
His sitting down and showing his horror (cf. Job. 2:13) would continue to impress his feelings on the public.
Ezr. 9:4 testifies of the effect this had on the community. All of those who feared, i.e., reverenced God (trembled at the words of God), who were similarly dismayed at the conduct of the evildoers, gathered about him as he continued to sit in an attitude of apparently speechless astonishment into the middle of the afternoon.
Ezr. 9:5 portrays Ezras taking the problem to God in prayer, torn robe and all. Stretching forth the hands was the attitude of petition.
WORD STUDIES
PEG: Nail, tentpeg (Ezr. 9:8, Yathed): the basic idea is of that which is driven in firmly, or fixed fast, to render something stable. A good ruler or prince, on whom the welfare of the state depends (i.e., hangs down), would be described as a tentpeg (Zec. 10:4).
BONDAGE (Ezr. 9:8-9): condition of laboring, working, serving. A servant or a slave would be described by this term. It occurs in the name Ebed, or Obed; remember Davids grandfather in Rth. 4:17? It is used of tilling the ground also (Gen. 4:2). In slightly different form it is used in a religious sense, of our service or worship.
WALL (Ezr. 9:9, Gader): that which surrounds or encloses. The three consonants appear in different order in our words guard and garden. So God guards His people, as His garden.
OFFERING (Ezr. 9:4-5, Minchah): for a description of this particular offering see Exo. 29:38-46. The word emphasizes its nature as a gift or present. Although it can describe offerings of either meat or grain (it is used of both Abels and Cains offering, Gen. 4:3-4), it usually designates the meal (grain) offering. By its nature as a gift, its chief purpose was to portray fellowship between God and His people.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
IX.
(1) Now when these things were done.The remainder of the book is occupied with the execution of Ezras function as a moral reformer. One chief disorder is mentioned, that of the mixed marriages (Ezr. 9:2), which the new lawgiver evidently regarded as fatal to the purity of the Divine service, and to the design of God in separating for a season this peculiar people.
(1-4) The report of the abuse of mixed marriages is formally brought before Ezra.
(1) The princesHeads of tribes, native rulers of Jerusalem, as distinguished from the satraps and governors. Zerubbabels office had no successor; and the term princes expressed rather their eminence than their authority, which had been powerless to check the abuses they complain of.
Doing according to their abominations.Rather, as it regards their abominations. They are not charged with abandonment to idolatry, but with that peculiar laxity which appears in the sequel.
The Ammonites.It is remarkable that all the ancient proscribed races are mentioned, and not the specific nations by the names of which the Samaritans were known, as if to make the case as hateful as possible. At the same time, many of these races still lingered in the neighbourhood of Juda.
(2) The holy seed.The holy nation or peculiar people of Exo. 19:6 is called the holy seed by Isaiah (Ezr. 6:13), with reference to its being preserved and kept holy amidst judgments; and here the same term is used with reference to its desecration by being made common among the nations.
The princes and rulers.The upper classes, whether priests and Levites or laymen.
This trespass.There is no question as to the unlawfulness of these intermarriages, nor any palliation on account of necessity. The rulers report it, and Ezra receives the report as evidence that the whole purpose of God with regard to the people was, at the very outset of their new economy, in course of being defeated by the guilt of the heads of Israel. Their delinquency as such is admitted on all hands.
(3) I rent my garment and my mantle.The actions of Ezra betoken his horror and grief. But both the rending of the outer and inner garment and the plucking the hair were symbolical acts, teaching their lesson to the people who witnessed, and, as we see, were deeply impressed.
(4) Trembled.In fear of the Divine judgments.
Transgression of those that had been carried away.The usual name of the people at this time. During their captivity, however, they had not been thus guilty. It was the aggravation of their guilt that they committed the trespass now.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
ISRAEL’S SIN OF HEATHEN INTERMARRIAGE MADE KNOWN TO EZRA, Ezr 9:1-2.
1. When these things were done Namely, the treasures delivered, the burnt offerings offered, and the king’s commissions handed to the satraps and governors, as stated Ezr 8:33-36.
The princes Certain distinguished and godly men among the chiefs of the new community at Jerusalem. Not all the princes came, for some were implicated in the trespass here confessed. Ezr 9:2.
People priests Levites All classes were involved, even the ministers of the temple, who, above all, should have kept themselves pure. Nor were the rulers and princes clear, as the next verse shows.
Not separated themselves from the people of the lands The people of the lands are the idolatrous nations in and about Palestine, named in this verse. With these nations, which were not extinct, but abode still in large numbers in various parts of the country, the returned exiles had largely mixed themselves. At the passover, held immediately after the feast of dedication, (Ezr 6:19-22,) a number joined the new community from “such as had separated themselves from the filthiness of the heathen of the land,” (Ezr 6:21,) apparently Israelites who had not gone into exile, but, being left in the land, had intermarried with their heathen neighbours, and being without temple, priests, or worship, had gradually lost the knowledge and worship of Jehovah. These seem to have corrupted many of the Jews who had returned from exile, and during the half century or more from that time until Ezra’s arrival, this evil leaven had been spreading through the whole community. Not all the people were guilty, but the evil had affected all classes, and the commandments of the law forbidding intermarriage with these heathen nations (Exo 34:12-16; Deu 7:1-3) seem to have been forgotten, or else utterly ignored by even the leaders of the people.
Their abominations Their idolatrous practices. On the strictly Canaanitish nations here mentioned, see note on Jos 3:10. The Ammonites and Moabites, whose country was east of the Jordan, had at different times long before this corrupted Israel with their abominations. Num 25:1; Jdg 10:6. The wars between Persia and Egypt had, doubtless, brought many Egyptians into contact with the Jews, and from the time of Solomon’s marriage with Pharaoh’s daughter (1Ki 3:1) the Egyptians had mingled more or less with the Israelites.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Problem Of Foreign Wives Is Brought To Ezra’s Attention ( Ezr 9:1-4 ).
It is noteworthy that the problem in question was drawn to Ezra’s attention by some of the ‘princes’ of Israel. This suggests that something had made them become concerned about a situation that they were well aware of. And this must surely have been the Law of God as expounded by Ezra. Ezra had begun his work of teaching the Law, and dealing with law-breaking, and in the course of time he would deal with the very question that was raised, especially as he was probably aware of a little of what was going on. But seemingly he did not want to meet the people head on over such a large issue until at least some concern was expressed. Rather he dealt with it by reading aloud and expounding the Law of God on the subject, leaving that to work on their hearts. Indeed, Ezr 10:3 suggests that it had been a matter of concern among those who were faithful to the Law ‘and trembled at it’ to such an extent that they now came up with a solution of how it could be dealt with. So we must see what follows as the people’s response to the teaching of the Law.
Ezr 9:1
‘Now when these things were done, the princes drew near to me, saying, “The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.”
‘Now when these things were done.’ This is a vague time note simply demonstrating that it occurred some time after the arrival of Ezra and his party, once their celebrations were over, and once he had carried out the king’s initial requests. ‘These things’ included the furthering of the people and the house of God which would involve a lot of his time. Initially proclaiming the Law around the area, and setting up a system of judges would also necessarily take some time, and the period was broken up by the Feast of Trumpets on the 1st day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement on the 10th day of the seventh month and the Feast of Tabernacles on the 15th day of the seventh month for eight days, during which time the Law would be read out to the people (Deu 31:10-13). For an example of this later on after the arrival of Nehemiah see Nehemiah 8. This would explain why things only came to a head in ‘the ninth month’ (Ezr 10:9) whereas the Ezra party had arrived in the fifth month (Ezr 7:9). But it does serve to bring out the impact that Ezra’s ministry was having. It may well have been the reading of the Law at the Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month, together with exposition by Ezra, that made certain of the leaders finally come together and decide to approach Ezra in this way. It was no light thing to do.
Some of the ‘princes’, (heads of fathers’ houses, rulers of districts, and no doubt some of the recently appointed judges), came as a deputation to Ezra and pointed out that men out of all Israel, (the people, the priests and the Levites), were all guilty of practising idolatry and the evils of Canaanite religion. Their words clearly reflect a knowledge of the Law which had probably been emphasised by Ezra. The reference to the Canaanite, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites and the Amorites can be instanced again and again (e.g. Exo 3:8; Exo 3:17; Exo 23:23; Exo 34:11; Exo 34:16; Deu 7:1-4; Deu 20:7). Exo 34:11; Exo 34:16 and Deu 7:1-4 are particularly apposite as they refer to the dangers inherent in marriage with these peoples with their debased religions. It is interesting that the Hivites are omitted. This last may suggest that descendants of the other nations could still be identified (whether correctly or not) in the land and its surrounding area. But all who were involved in the worship of Baal among the peoples of the land may well have been seen as ‘Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites’. Compare for this the clauses that follow ‘the peoples of the lands’. The peoples from north of Israel, or the wandering Arabs to the east, may well have been seen as Amorites. The reference to the Egyptians may have been derived from Lev 18:3, where the ‘doings of the land of Egypt’ were compared with the ‘doings of the land of Canaan’. The Ammonites and the Moabites were the source of the worship of Molech which was such an abomination to the prophets and such a curse to Israel, and was probably still being carried on in the land, which was probably one reason why, apart from their lack of hospitality, they were excluded from membership of the assembly of Israel for ten generations even though they should convert to Yahwism (Deu 23:3-6). But the impression of the whole is not that it says that it was all right to marry among peoples not named regardless of their religious attitude, but rather to condemn any marriage with people involved in idolatry, and that could include syncretistic Yahwists.
That God had been right to legislate in this way comes out in that, even after the warnings of the prophets and what had happened to Jerusalem in living memory, Israel were still marrying such people and being led astray by their ‘abominations’, that is by their idols and their false religious ideas. We must remember that of the poor who had been left in the land probably the large majority had continued in these ways, and as we have suggested the returnees might well have seen them with their idolatrous practises as reflecting the nations named. It would have been just as wrong to marry a practising syncretistic Yahwist as to marry into these peoples.
Ezr 9:2
“For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the peoples of the lands, yes, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass.”
The ‘princes’ pointed out that the main culprits had been the aristocracy who should have been preventing it happening. And they saw their activities as causing ‘the holy seed’ of the returnees and those who had united with them to become mingled with ‘the peoples of the land’, by allowing the aristocrats and the other men of the new Israel to intermarry with idolaters. We can compare Paul’s injunction in 1Co 6:15-17, where he condemns true Christians who have consorted with prostitutes, religious and otherwise, because by doing so they have become one with them. We should note that this reference to ‘the holy seed’ is in the words of the officials, and is probably citing Isa 6:13. They are not the words of Ezra. But it does demonstrate that they saw themselves as the holy remnant of Israel, and as such needing to be religiously pure.
It is not justifiable in context to take seed literally as seed that is implanted, and then to build theories on that basis. The contrast is not with other seed or with soil but with people, as in Isa 6:13. Thus the holy seed must signify the holy people. This is such a common use of seed in the Old Testament e.g. Gen 3:15; Gen 4:25; Gen 12:7; Gen 13:15; and often, that it scarcely needs to be demonstrated.
Once again we must reiterate that at the heart of what happened was a hatred of idolatry and sexual perversion, rather than an attack on races. People of all such nations could eventually have been absorbed into Israel (and had been in the past) if they had truly turned to YHWH. It is, however, certainly a warning to us not to be ‘unequally yoked together with unbelievers’ (2Co 6:14), because that is to mix light with darkness.
Ezr 9:3
‘And when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down desolated.’
Ezra’s response was immediate. This does not necessarily indicate that he had been unaware in general of what was happening, but it does demonstrate that he wanted the people to realise how seriously he treated the matter. He tore his clothes, plucked hair from his head and his beard, and ‘sat down desolated’. These were deliberate signs of distress and anger (compare Neh 13:25). They not only depicted sorrow, but judgment.
Ezr 9:4
‘Then were assembled to me every one who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the gross dereliction of duty of those of the captivity, and I sat desolated until the evening oblation.’
Then those who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, that is the truly God-fearing, who, of course, had not taken foreign idolatrous wives, gathered to him to support him because of the gross dereliction of duty, the grievous sin, of ‘those of the captivity’ (those who had returned with Zerubbabel) who had become involved with idolatry. Ezra was clearly now in the Temple area but in a place where people could come to him, that is, in the court around the Temple. And he sat there in his anger and anguish until the time for offering the regular evening sacrifice, at around 3:00 in the afternoon.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ezra Deals With The Problem Of Returnees Who Have Been Led Astray Into Idolatry Having Taken Foreign Wives ( Ezr 9:1 to Ezr 10:44 ).
It is important here to recognise that what was in question was not the taking of foreign wives who willingly turned away from all false gods and became worshippers of YHWH, but the problem of taking foreign wives who introduced their false gods and ideas into the worship of Israel. This is specifically brought out in Ezr 9:1-2; Ezr 9:11-12. It was as a consequence of such false worship that God’s judgment had come on Judah and Jerusalem previously, and there was a grave danger that it could occur again. It was this recognition, and not racism, that made Ezra act as he did. We note here that Ezra’s reference to himself in the first person continues. We are still within the sphere of his own memoirs. His decision here was vital to Israel’s future.
It is understandable why some of the returnees should seek wives among the local population because the numbers given in Ezra 2 suggested that many of them were unmarried. But what they should have ensured was that those wives abjured idolatry and became true Yahwists. It was the failure to observe this rule, by taking wives still involved in idolatry, that led to the problem
What is now described in Ezr 9:1 to Ezr 10:6 all took place in the Temple on the same day, and Ezr 10:7 onwards then explains the steps that were taken afterwards to deal with the situation. It may be summarised as follows:
The princes report to Ezra in the Temple area on the taking of foreign wives involved in idolatry by the aristocracy and the people, thus introducing pollution among God’s people (Ezr 9:1-2).
Ezra expresses his anger and grief and sorrow by his actions, and sits there in utter desolation, while around him gather those in Israel who tremble at God’s word (Ezr 9:3-4).
At the time of the evening sacrifice Ezra prays and acknowledges the sin of the people against God in the face of His mercy (Ezr 9:5-15).
A great crowd gather around Ezra joining with him in his grief (Ezr 10:1).
Shecaniah confesses to Ezra that the people have sinned and suggests that they gather and make a covenant with God to put away their idolatrous foreign wives, calling on Ezra to arise and act (Ezr 10:2-4).
Ezra arises and makes the priests, the Levites and all Israel swear that they will do what had been suggested (Ezr 10:5).
Ezra retires to one of the side chambers and begins a time of fasting and prayer (Ezr 10:6).
Proclamation is made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returnees that within three days they must gather in Jerusalem on pain of forfeit of their property (Ezr 10:7-8).
All the returnees gather on the twentieth day of the ninth month in the open area around the Temple, in pouring rain, in great concern over the matter (Ezr 10:9).
Ezra points out firmly that they have sinned in the matter of marriage to idolatrous foreign women, bringing guilt on Israel, and calls on them to make confession and separate themselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women (Ezr 10:10-11).
The people consent but point out that there are a large number of people involved and the rain is so heavy that they cannot stand out in it, and that besides this it is a matter which will take a few days (Ezr 10:12-13).
They suggest that their princes be appointed to deal with the matter, and that there should be brought before them out of the cities at different appointed times all those who had married foreign women, accompanied by their elders and judges (Ezr 10:14).
A few stand up and oppose the suggestion, but are overridden, with the result that the people do what is suggested (Ezr 10:15-16 a).
Ezra and the heads of fathers’ houses spend three months examining the cases as suggested by which time all the cases have been dealt with (Ezr 10:16-17).
A list is given of the priests, Levites, singers, gate-keepers and all of Israel who have been involved with idolatrous foreign women, and they give their word to put away their wives and offer suitable sacrifices (Ezr 10:18-44).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ezr 9:8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
Ezr 9:8
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Evil of Intermarriages Exposed
v. 1. Now, when these things were done, v. 2. For they, v. 3. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, v. 4. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
2. REFORMATION OF RELIGION ACCOMPLISHED BY EZRA AT JERUSALEM.
EXPOSITION
IN the interval between Zerubbabel’s rule and the coming of Ezra from Babylon with a special commission appointing him governor of Judaea, the Jews seem to have been left without any strong controlling authority. The civil administration devolved upon a certain number of chiefs or “princes,” who maintained order in Jerusalem, collected and remitted the tribute due to the Persian crown, and held courts to decide all causes, criminal and civil, in which only Jews were concerned. Tranquillity and order were sufficiently maintained in this way; but the governing power was weak, and in matters outside the range of the civil and criminal law men did pretty nearly “as it seemed good in their own eyes.” During this interval of governmental debility, it appears that a fusion had begun between the Jews and the neighbouring nations. Although the law of Moses distinctly forbade intermarriage between the people of God and the idolatrous nations whose land they had inherited, and by implication forbade such unions with any neighbouring idolaters, the newly-returned Israelites, perhaps not fully provided with women of their own nation and religion, had taken to themselves wives freely from the idolatrous tribes and nations in their vicinity. They had intermarried with the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Amorites, the Egyptians, and even with the remnant of the Canaanites. Not only had this been done by the common people, but “the hand of the princes and rulers” had been “chief in this trespass” (Ezr 9:2). Nor had even the sacerdotal order kept itself pure. Priests and Levites, nay, the actual sons and nephews of the high priest Jeshua himself, were guilty in the matter (Ezr 10:18), had taken to themselves wives of the accursed races, and “mingled themselves with the people of the lands” (Ezr 9:2). The danger to purity of religion was great. Those who married idolatrous wives were tempted, like Solomon, to connive at their introducing unhallowed rites into the holy city; while the issue of such marriages, influenced by their mothers, were apt to prefer heathenism to Judaism, and to fall away from the faith altogether. A fusion of the Jews with the Gentiles in Palestine at this time would have meant a complete obliteration of the Jews, who would have been absorbed and swallowed up in the far larger mass of the heathen without materially affecting it. Thus God’s purpose in singling out a “peculiar people” would have been frustrated, and the world left without a regenerating element. Considerations of this kind help us to understand the horror of Ezra when he understood what had taken place (Ezr 9:3-6; Ezr 10:1), and enable us to estimate at its right value the zeal that he displayed in putting down the existing practice and establishing a better order of things. His task was lightened to him by the fact that a large religious and patriotic party rallied to him, and associated itself with his reforms; a party including many of the princes and elders (Ezr 9:1; Ezr 10:8), and no doubt a certain number of the priests. He effected his reform by means of a commission of laymen (Ezr 10:16), which in the space of little more than three months inquired into all the suspected cases, and compelled every person who had married an idolatrous wife to divorce her, and send her back, with any children that she had borne him, to her own people. Thus, .for the time, the corruption was effectually checked, the evil rooted out and removed. We shall find, however, in Nehemiah, that it recurred in Neh 13:23), in combination with various other abuses, and had to be once more resisted and repressed by the civil power (Neh 13:30). This section is divisible into ten parts:
1. The complaint made by the princes to Ezra concerning the mixed marriages (Ezr 9:1, Ezr 9:2);
2. Ezra’s astonishment and horror (Ezr 9:3, Ezr 9:4);
3. His confession and prayer to God (Ezr 9:5-15);
4. Repentance of the people, and covenant sworn to, on the recommendation of Shechaniah (Ezr 10:1-5);
5. Ezra’s fast (Ezr 10:6);
6. Proclamation summoning all the Jews to Jerusalem (Ezr 10:7-9);
7. Address of Ezra, and consent of the people to put away the strange wives (Ezr 10:10-14);
8. Opposition of Jonathan and others (Ezr 10:15);
9. Accomplishment of the work (Ezr 10:16, Ezr 10:17); and
10. Names of those who had married strange wives (Ezr 10:18-44).
Ezr 9:1-2
COMPLAINT OF THE PRINCES TO EZRA (Ezr 9:1, Ezr 9:2). It is remarkable that complaint on a matter of religious transgression should have come from the secular, and not from the ecclesiastical, authorities of the city. But there clearly appears about this time some remissness and connivance at evil, if not even participation in it, on the part of the chief ecclesiastics. On this particular occasion, actual sons and nephews of Jeshua the high priest were among those who had married idolatrous wives (Ezr 10:18), and afterwards, in Nehemiah’s time, not only did the high priest’s family indulge in similar alliances in Neh 13:4, Neh 13:28), but Eliashib actually assigned to one of the heathen, and one who was a bitter opponent of Nehemiah, a chamber in the temple itself (ibid. verses 5, 9). When the heads of the sacerdotal order were themselves implicated in the abuses prevalent, it was perhaps not unnatural, though highly reprehensible, that the inferior clergy should be silent and stand aloof. By God’s good providence, however, it often happens that when things have come to this pass, and the priestly order is hopelessly corrupt, godly princes are raised up to take in hand religious reforms and carry them to a successful issue.
Ezr 9:1
When these things were done. It must have been some considerable time afterwards. Ezra reached Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month (Ezr 7:9), rested three days (Ezr 8:32), and on the fourth day of the same month made over the vessels to the temple authorities. It was not till the seventeenth day of the ninth month that, on Ezra’s motion, the matter of the mixed marriages was taken in hand (Ezr 10:8, Ezr 10:9). Yet we cannot suppose that action was long delayed after the matter came to Ezra’s knowledge. The princes. The civil heads of the community, whom Ezra found at the head of affairs on his arrival, and whose authority he did not wholly supersede (see Ezr 10:14, Ezr 10:16). The people of the lands. The idolatrous nations inhabiting the districts adjoining Palestine: Egyptians and Amorites on the south; Moabites and Ammonites on the east; Canaanites probably towards the north and the north-west. Doing according to their abominations. Rather, “in respect of their abominations.” The complaint was not so much that the Jews had as yet actually adopted idolatrous functions, as that they did not keep themselves wholly aloof from them. The foreign wives would introduce idolatrous rites into their very houses.
Ezr 9:2
The holy seed. Compare Isa 6:13. The “seed of Israel,” however much it polluted itself by transgressions, was still “holy” by profession, by call, by obligation, by prophetic announcement. They were “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation” (Exo 19:6); bound to be “separated from all the people that were on the face of the earth” (Exo 33:16), and to keep themselves a “peculiar people.” When they mingled themselves with the people of the lands, they not only broke a positive command (Deu 7:3), but did their best to frustrate God’s entire purpose in respect of them, and to render all that he had done for them of no effect. The hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in the trespass. “Princes and rulers” are here opposed to people of the middle and lower ranks. The upper classes, whether clerical or lay, had been the chief offenders (see Ezr 10:18); and compare the similar defection of Jews of the upper classes in Nehemiah’s time (Neh 6:17, Neh 6:18; Neh 13:4, Neh 13:28).
Ezr 9:3-4
EZRA‘S ASTONISHMENT AND HORROR (Ezr 9:3, Ezr 9:4). In Babylonia, whence Ezra had come, the inclination to intermarry with the heathen had not, it would seem, shown itself. Exiles in a foreign land naturally cling to each other under their adverse circumstances, and, moreover, being despised by those among whom they sojourn, are not readily accepted by them into social fellowship, much less into affinity and alliance. Thus the thing was to Ezra a new thing. His familiarity with the Law, and, perhaps we may add, his insight into the grounds upon which the Law upon this point was founded, caused him to view the matter as one of the gravest kind, and to feel shocked and horror-struck at what was told him respecting it. He showed his feelings with the usual openness and abandon of an Oriental: first rending both his outer and his inner garments, then tearing his hair and his beard, and finally” sitting down astonied,” motionless and speechless, until the time of the evening sacrifice. Such a manifestation of horror and amazement was well calculated to impress and affect the sympathetic and ardent people over whom Providence had placed him.
Ezr 9:3
I rent my garment and my mantle. Rending the clothes was always, and still is, one of the commonest Oriental modes of showing grief. Reuben rent his clothes when his brothers sold Joseph to the Midianites, and Jacob did the same when he believed that Joseph was dead (Gen 37:29, Gen 37:34). Job “rent his mantle” on learning the death of his sons and daughters (Job 1:20); and his friends “rent every one his mantle when they came to mourn with him and comfort him” (Job 2:11, Job 2:12). Rent clothes indicated that a messenger was a messenger of woe (1Sa 4:12; 2Sa 1:2), or that a man had heard something that had greatly shocked him, and of which he wished to express his horror (2Ki 18:37; Mat 26:65). Ezra’s action is of this last kind, expressive of horror more than of grief, but perhaps in some degree of grief also. And plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard. These are somewhat unusual signs of grief among the Orientals, who were wont to shave the head in great mourning, but seldom tore the hair out by the roots. The practice is not elsewhere mentioned in Scripture, excepting in the apocryphal books (1 Esdras 8:71; 2 Esdras 1:8; Apoc. Est 4:2). And sat down astonied. Compare Dan 4:19; Dan 8:27, where the same verb is used in the same sense.
Ezr 9:4
Then were assembled unto me. The open manifestation by Ezra of his grief and horror produced an immediate effect. A crowd assembled around him, attracted by the unusual sightpartly sympathizing, partly no doubt curious. Every one came that trembled at the words of the God of Israel; by which is meant not so much all God-fearing persons (see Isa 66:2) as all who were alarmed at the transgression of the commands of God (Ezr 10:3), and at the threats which the Law contained against transgressors (Deu 7:4). Because of the transgression of those that had been carried away. The transgression of “the children of the captivity” (Ezr 4:1)of those who had been removed to Babylon and had returned under Zerubbabel. I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. As morning is the time for business in the East, we may assume that the princes had waited upon Ezra tolerably early in the daybefore noon, at any rateto communicate their intelligence. The evening sacrifice took place at three in the afternoon. Ezra must, therefore, either from the intensity of his own feelings or with the view of impressing the people, have “sat astonied”speechless and motionlessfor several hours.
Ezr 9:5-15
EZRA‘S CONFESSION AND PRAYER TO GOD (Ezr 9:5-15). The most remarkable feature of Ezra’s confession is the thoroughness with which he identifies himself with his erring countrymen, blushes for their transgressions, and is ashamed for their misconduct. All their sins he appears to consider as his sins, all their disobedience as his disobedience, all their perils as his perils. Another striking feature is his sense of the exceeding sinfulness of the particular sin of the time (see verses 6, 7, 10). He views it as a “great trespass”one that “is grown up into the heavens”which is equivalent to a complete forsaking of God’s commandments, and on account of Which he and his people “cannot stand before” God. This feeling seems based partly on the nature of the sin itself (verse 14), but also, and in an especial way, on a strong sense of the ingratitude shown by the people in turning from God so soon after he had forgiven their former sins against him, and allowed them to return from the captivity, rebuild the temple, and re-establish themselves as a nation. If after their deliverance they again fell away, the sin could not but be unpardonable; and the punishment to be expected was a final uprooting and destruction from which there could be no recovery (verses 13, 14).
Ezr 9:5
At the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness. The time of sacrifice was the fittest time for prayer, especially for a prayer in which acknowledgment of sin was to form a large part. Sacrifice symbolized expiation; and Ezra probably felt that his supplication would be helped by the expiatory rite which was being performed at the time. He rent his garment and his mantle a second time, as a renewed indication of sorrow, and with the view of impressing the people who “were assembled unto him” (verse 4) the more, and stirring them up to penitence. “Segnius irritant animum demissa per aures Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus.“
Ezr 9:6
I am ashamed and blush. Jeremiah had complained that in his day those who “committed abominations were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush” (Jer 6:15; Jer 8:12). Ezra, with these words in his thoughts possibly, begins his confession with a protestation that he at any rate is not open to this reproachhe blushes and burns with shame for the sins of his people. Our iniquities are increased over our head. i.e. have kept on rising like a flood; “gone over our head” (Psa 38:4), and overwhelmed us. And our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Has grown to such a height that it has attracted the notice of God, and made him angry with us.
Ezr 9:7
Since the days of our fathers. The historical sketches in Nehemiah (Neh 9:6-35) and the Acts (Act 7:2-53) show that this phrase might be taken in a very wide sense, and be regarded as including the “fathers” of the nation who came out of Egypt; but perhaps Ezra has rather in his mind the series of idolatries belonging to the kingly period, and extending from Solomon to Zedekiah. We, our kings, and our priests, have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands. Menahem into the hand of Pul, Pekah of Tiglath-Pileser, Hoshea of Shalmaneser or Sargon, Manasseh of Esarhaddon, Josiah of Pharaoh-Necho, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, of Nebuchadnezzar. That the priests had their full share in the calamities of the captivity appears from 2Ki 25:18; Jer 52:24; Eze 1:1-3. And to confusion of face. i.e. To disgrace and shame (compare Psa 44:13-15).
Ezr 9:8
And now for a little space grace hath been showed. The “little space” must be understood relatively to the long enjoyment of Divine favour from Abraham to Zedekiah. It was a space of more than eighty years. A remnant to escape. The Hebrew has simply p’leythah, “a remnant,” the “remnant” being that which had escaped the two dangers of destruction and absorption, and had returned from Babylon to Palestine. To give us a nail. “A nail” seems to mean here “a firm and sure abode,” as our translators note in the margin.
Ezr 9:9
For we were bondsmen. Rather, “we are.“ The Jews had not recovered their independence. They continued to be the subjects of a despotic monarch, and were therefore ‘abddim, “slaves.” All the favour shown them by the kings of Persia had not changed this fact. To give us a wall. That is to say, “a shelter.” The city wall still lay in ruins (see Neh 1:3; Neh 2:13, etc.).
Ezr 9:11
The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land, etc. These exact words do not occur elsewhere; but the “unclean” and corrupt character of the Canaanitish nations is constantly proclaimed in the Law, and was the sole reason why their land was taken from them and given to the Israelites. On the special character of their “filthiness” and “abominations” see Deu 12:2, Deu 12:3; Le Deu 18:6 -27.
Ezr 9:12
Give not your daughters, etc. Here Deu 7:3 is plainly referred to, though not verbally quoted. This is the sole place in the Law where the double injunction is given, Exo 34:16 referring to the taking of wives only. Nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever. So Moses had enjoined with special reference to the Moabites and Ammonites (Deu 23:6). With regard to the other idolatrous nations, the exact command was “to make no covenant with them” (Exo 23:32; Exo 34:12), i.e. no terms of peace. Much the same was probably meant by both injunctions. That ye may be strong. See Deu 11:8. And eat the good of the land. These words are taken from Isa 1:19. And leave it for an inheritance, etc. No single passage seems to be referred to here, but the clause embodies the idea found in Deu 11:9; Pro 10:27; Eze 37:25, and elsewhere.
Ezr 9:13, Ezr 9:14
After all that is come upon us, etc. After the punishments that we have suffered, the loss of our independence, of our temple, and our city, the long and weary period of captivity and servitude in a foreign land, which should have bent our stubborn spirits to obedience; and after the mercy shown us in the fact that thou hast punished us less than our iniquities deserved, and given us a deliverance, or rather a residue, such as this, which should have stirred us up to gratitude and love, should we again break thy commandments, and fall away, what can we expect but final abandonment, complete and entire destruction? If neither severity nor kindness avail anything, what can God do more? must he not view our case as hopeless, and so make an end of us altogether? (Compare Isa 5:1-7; Luk 13:6-9).
Ezr 9:15
Thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped. Righteousness, in its widest sense, includes mercy; and so the meaning here may be, “Thou art good and gracious; of which thy having spared us is a proof;” or tsaddik may have its more usual sense of “just,” and Ezra may mean to say, “Thou art just, and therefore hast brought us to the low estate in which we are to-day, and made us a mere remnant.” We are before thee in our trespasses. We are here, in thy presence; here, before thy holy place (Act 10:1); sinners, with all our sins upon us, confessing our guilt; for we cannot stand before theewe cannot boldly stand up and face thee (“Who shall, stand in thy sight when Thou art angry? Psa 76:7), because of this our heinous transgression, for which there is no excuse.
HOMILETICS
Ezr 9:1-4
An astounding discovery.
The previous chapter ended with every appearance of peace. The people already at Jerusalem, the new arrivals, the Persian authorities, seemed all of one mind. So far as the house and worship of Jehovah were concerned, and, therefore, so far as the welfare and prosperity of the returned remnant were concerned, there did not appear to be a cloud in the sky. But we have hardly begun this next chapter before we are in the midst of a storm. On the one side we hear the language of agitation and distress. On the other we see the silence of consternation and awe. Rightly to appreciate either we must dwell upon both. Let us ask
(1) What was the origin of this cry of distress;
(2) what its exact nature;
(3) what its immediate results.
I. THE ORIGIN OF THE CRY. This was traceable, we believe, in large measure, to Ezra’s own arrival and influence. He had come to Jerusalem avowedly (see Ezr 7:25) for the purpose of giving instruction, and, where need was, of administering correction, in regard to that Law of Moses which he had studied so well. As we read the story, he had now been something more than three months in the holy city (comp. Ezr 7:9, and Ezr 10:8, Ezr 10:9). During that time he certainly had not been silent as to the commands of that Law; but had doubtless both explained and enforced its directions and warnings with a clearness and force that made it in those comparatively book-less days almost a new thing in Jerusalem. Consider all that is implied in this connection in Neh 8:8. In the case of many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem this would have a twofold effect. It would at once enlighten their understanding (Rom 3:1-31 end Rom 3:20; Rom 7:7) and arouse their fears (2Ch 34:19-21). In proportion, also, as his work in these respects was made effectual by God’s blessing, in the same proportion would they be led to think and feel thus, not only about such open sins as Ezra might denounce by name, but also about any other offences which, from his position as a new-comer or other causes, might be known to themselves, but not to him. Violations of God’s law in connection with the peculiar privacy of domestic life in the East would be sins of this kind. It would be very difficult for Ezra, merely by seeing the heads of households in public, to know who might be found connected with them in the women’s apartments at home. Nor would he even learn this probably, in many cases, by seeing such men in their homes, as he would seldom, if ever, see the women themselves. On the other hand, amongst those who listened to him there would be many who, as resident in Jerusalem from their birth, and not hitherto separated from others as Ezra was by position and character, might be perfectly well aware of what was thus unknown to himself. Such appears to have been the case. Some of his hearers knew of many marriages in Israel at large which they now found from his teaching, or else now felt more strongly than previously, to be contrary to God’s law. Such men would naturally begin to speak of these things to others like-minded, and afterwards would resolve with them unitedly on bringing the subject before their teacher. It is thus, apparently, that we find them speaking to him as in verses 1, 2 of this chapter. Ezra had influenced them to such an extent that they could not help informing him about all (comp. Act 19:18). That was clearly the first step. What steps should be taken afterwards they would learn from himself.
II. THE CHARACTER OF THEIR CRY. In their way also of confessing the facts of the case to Ezra there is much to be noticed. We find, for example, that in speaking of the sin of these mixed marriages they acknowledge
1. Its national bearing. “The peoplethe priests and the Levites”the whole people, i.e; including even those who ought to have been furthest from such a transgression, have been concerned in this evil. Either by example, in short, or else by connivance, we are all guilty in this respect.
2. Its intrinsic wickedness. Wherein and why were they bound to be separated from the neighbouring tribes? In respect of the “abominations” practised by them, and because of the exceeding danger to the Israelites themselves of pollution thereby. This may be the reason why they make mention here of three other nations (viz; Ammon, Moab, and Egypt) besides those Canaanitish nations which are expressly mentioned in that part of the Law referred to. In their then present critical and struggling condition there was similar danger to them from these quarters as well (Lange). From all those who “hated God” (see 2Ch 19:2) they rightly felt that they ought to be separated in such times as theirs.
3. Its deadly character. Instead of being thus “separated” from these dangerous neighbours, they had become united with them, in many cases, in the most intimate possible way, viz; by admitting the daughters of these idolaters to be the mothers and teachers of the Israel of the future, to the utter corruption in two ways of the “holy seed” (see Isa 6:13) of God’s people.
4. Its special aggravations. The very hands which “bare the sword” (Rom 13:4), and ought to have “restrained” and prevented this evil, were those stained by it most. “The princes and rulers” have been “chief in this trespass.”
III. The IMMEDIATE RESULTS of this unsparing confession. These appear to have been even more serious than the princes had expected.
1. On Ezra himself. What depth of grief as evidenced by the violent rending of both his outer and inner garment (verses 3 and 5), more even than we read of in the case of Job (Job 1:20) after losing all his substance, and all his children as well. What depth of indignation as shown by the sudden injury done to himself, as it were, for being identified with such a nation (comp. somewhat similar case in Neh 13:25). What utter bewilderment and terror, sitting down in silence as one “stunned” and confounded, not knowing, in such circumstances, what to do or even to say. Nay, one had almost said, what despairso remaining, as in a kind of ecstasy, till all who truly sympathised with him in Jerusalem had heard of his grief and come to him.
2. On Ezra‘s friends. What a picture of them is here presented to us. All “trembling” like Ezra himself. All silent, like Job’s friends, when first they came to him and beheld his grief (Job 2:13). There are occasions when silence says most. It does so when it proclaims a sorrow to be too overwhelming to allow of speech. In such silence that afternoon passed, till the hour for the evening sacrifice had arrived, and the usual preparations were being made for its solemn observance. But not till that sacrifice spoke to them, as it were, like a voice from heaven was any other voice heard.
See, in conclusion, from this passage
1. How wide the grasp of God’s law. Even as given in a written form, and with a peculiar minuteness of specification, in the Pentateuch, we see that it was rather a thing of principle than precise enactment. Hence, in one way, its “exceeding breadth” (Psa 119:96), and its applicability, as here, to analogous cases as well as direct ones. Hence, also, the way in which we read of it as being an object of “love” and “delight” (Psa 1:2; Psa 119:97, Psa 119:113, Psa 119:165, etc.). Those who love it ask not how little, but how much, it implies.
2. How subtle the infection of sin. There is danger even in being witnesses of other men’s sins (Psa 119:37). There is almost certain contraction of guilt in anything like intimacy with evil men. Observe on this point the sixfold warning of Pro 4:14 -16. No privileges, no office, no rank secure exemption from this peril.
3. How especially destructive the sins of God’s people. What can be said or done for those who “hold the truth in unrighteousness” (see 1Co 5:11)? If it were not, in fact, for the voice of the “sacrifice,” the “propitiation” appointed even for such (1Jn 2:1, 1Jn 2:2), what must there be for them but despair?
Ezr 9:5-15
A flood of tears.
As we noticed before, and as is here noticed again, the approach of the evening sacrifice seems to have been the first thing which opened Ezra’s lips. Speaking to him at last as he sat like a rock (comp. Psa 105:41), it was answered immediately by a mingled outburst of confession and tears. Again by outward gesture expressing his sorrow, but not, as before, his indignation, he added now, by falling on his knees and spreading out his hands, the outward tokens of humiliation and prayer. And all that he says we find to be in exact accordance therewith. Unqualified shame; irresistible proof; inexcusable guilt. In these words we have a sufficient key to the nature and order of his thoughts.
I. UNQUALIFIED SHAME. How difficult a thing it is to look on any one to whom we have done wrong. How especially difficult if that other is one to whom we are especially bound to show honour. This was the great trial of the prodigal’s case. He had to say to his father, I have sinned before thee (see Isa 1:2; Mal 1:6). The same kind of feeling is traceable here. “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God.” As one of thy chosen people Israel, how can I look on thee as things are? My own countenance proclaims its shame, its burning shame, if I do. For, indeed, there is cause for shame in this case. There is nothing else, in fact, as things are. Like a man in the waters, when, being above his head, they destroy his life, so are we overwhelmed now with our shame. Like those who have nothing to say to thee because the proof of their guilt is before thee, so are we silenced now by our shame. “Our guiltiness (margin) is grown up into the heavens” (comp. Psa 90:8). Altogether this opening confession is like that of Job (Job 40:4; Job 42:6). Behold, I am vile, and abhor myself; or, like that of the prodigal, before referred to, “I am not worthy to be called thy son.” My very privileges having become my disgrace, what disgrace can be worse?
II. IRRESISTIBLE PROOF. There being nothing perhaps less pleasing to God than to accuse ourselves before him without knowing why, such an extreme confession as the above ought not to be made without sufficient proof. This we have in abundance in the words which come next (verses 7-12). The sin which Ezra had that day heard of, and which had led him to make this confession, was in every way a reproach. It was so because committed
1. In defiance of God’s judgments. For similar sin in previous days on the part of their fathers an almost unexampled visitation of judgment had come on them as a nation. Though a people sacred to Jehovah, he had handed them over in consequence, together with their “kings and priests,” the most sacred classes among them (2Sa 1:14, end 21; Psa 106:16; Lain. 4:20), into the hands of their foes. Loss of life, or liberty, or substancein the best case loss of respecthad been the result (see end verse 7). Even to that “day,” in fact (ibid.), this “confusion of face,” of which Daniel had spoken so feelingly some eighty years ago, after some seventy years’ trial of it, remained as part of their lot. Yet, with all this in their memory and experience, what had been their reply? To repeat again now the very offence for which they had suffered so much!
2. In despite of God’s mercy. Notwithstanding this heavy displeasure, there had been compassion as well. For some little time back (little in the life-history of a nation, that is to say) various signs of “grace” or favour had been vouchsafed to them. The destruction of the people, e.g; had not been total; a “remnant” had “escaped”a great token of good in itself (Eze 14:22, Eze 14:23). Nor had their dispersion from the home under God’s wing been for ever. On the contrary, a “nail,” or fixed habitation (Isa 22:23; Isa 33:20), had been given them “in his holy place.” There was some cheerfulness also, or “lightening of the eyes,” with all their “confusion of face,” and some “reviving” in their death-like bondage. Truly wonderful mercy, indeed, it was!that restored house after such long desolation; that restored “wall” or fence round such captives; how much it proved; how much it promised; what an undeserved mercy it was. How amazingly wicked, therefore, how ungrateful, to despise it as they had done.
3. In contempt of God’s express will. Most clearly, most strongly, most earnestly, and that from the very first, had God declared his mind on this point. lie had done so by his words, as here quoted. He had done so by his actions, as here referred to. Why had he ever swept away from Canaan its original inhabitants? Why had he introduced the Israelites in their place
7. What had he made their inheritance of it to depend on? The answers to these various questions were clear and emphatic on this subject, and made the conduct which Ezra was bewailing like that of soldiers ordered by their commander to charge the enemy, and drawing their swords instead against himself. These were the three reasons why Ezra spoke as he did of their sin.
III. INEXCUSABLE GUILT. In circumstances such as these, what could they say or expect? After such experience, after such deliverance, and in the face of such knowledge, they had begun again the old sin. Must not this bring down again the old anger, and this time without bound (verse 14)? Even as things were, would not God be “righteous” (verse 15) if their whole remnant were destroyed? So much so, that it does not seem to occur to Ezra even to speak to God of any other course of proceeding. It is even a marvel to him, in the circumstances, that they continue “escaped.” Here we aredo as thou willestwe cannot stand before thee in our trespasses (see Psa 130:3)we can only place ourselves before thee in the dustwe have nothing to urge. This total absence of all plea or entreaty almost reminds one of Eli’s silence in 1Sa 3:18 (comp. also 1Sa 2:25), knowing as he did the inexcusable guilt and impenitence of his sons. Even Daniel, in his deepest humiliation on account of the sins of his people, could take a different line (Dan 9:19).
CONCLUSION. In this remarkable picture of true penitence we may notice
1. Its singular accuracy of judgment. Sin here, as with David and Joseph and all truly “God-conscious” men and minds, is an offence against God himself (see Gen 39:9; 1Sa 12:23; Psa 51:4; Rom 4:15; 1Jn 3:4).
2. Its unswerving. loyalty. See the acknowledgments here of God’s mercy and justice in verses 13, 15; and comp. Psa 51:4, also Psa 1:4, Psa 1:6; Luk 7:29; Rom 3:4, Rom 3:19. This sin, at any rate, the sin which renders amendment and forgiveness impossible, the sin of charging God foolishly, the true penitent is free from.
3. Its unsparing sincerity. So far from denying, hiding, or palliating the evil it refers to, it seems anxious rather to bring to light and exhibit its very worst traits. We read of Elias in one place (Rom 11:2) as making “intercession against Israel.” Ezra here, identifying his own case with that of Israel, may be almost said to do it against himself. Could even the great accuser (Rev 12:10) with truth have said very much worse? Contrast Gen 3:12, Gen 3:13; 1Sa 15:13, 1Sa 15:20, 1Sa 15:21; and comp. perhaps the of 2Co 7:11.
HOMILIES BY J.S. EXELL
Ezr 9:1-4
Spiritual separation.
I. THAT SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD IS A LAW OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. The Israelites must separate themselves from the people of the land (Ezr 9:1). This separation is not
(1) local. The Israelites and Canaanites must live in the same world, in the same town, and often in the same house. This separation is not
(2) political. Both the Israelites and the Canaanites must act their part as citizens of the same state. This separation is not
(3) commercial. The Israelites have to do business with the Canaanites. This separation is
(4) spiritual. The good man is separate from the world by the moral dispositions and aims which are cherished by him; so that while he is in the same place, state, and business, he is of a different mind, temper, and character. Why must the good man thus separate himself from the world? True, he has sympathy with his comrades; he shares their manhood; he does not leave it in pride, or in sullenness; but
1. That he may maintain the dignity of the Christian life. The Israelites were the followers of Jehovah, and could not place themselves on the same platform with idolaters. There is a moral dignity about religion which must not be sacrificed by undue familiarity with the common things of the world. There is a dignity in the Divine name, in the cross of Christ, in spiritual devotion, in the truth of the gospel, in the hopes of the believer, which the good man must maintain, which is likely to be forfeited in worldly companionships. The sacred things of God must not be profaned by worldly associations. The rose must not cast in its lot with the nettle.
2. That he may exemplify the purity of the Christian life. The land of the people was unclean (Ezr 9:11). Israel must not be contaminated by its abominations. The worldly life is sinful. The Christian life must be holy. Its commandments are holy. Its Supreme Example is sinless. Its duty is to manifest the beauty of holiness, and to inculcate the pursuit of piety. In order to this it must be separate from sinners.
3. That he may insure the safety of the Christian life. The Israelites were exposed to great danger by contact with the heathen, and separation was their only safeguard. Piety has no right to endanger itself by unholy associations; separation is safety.
4. That he may conserve the purposes of the Christian life. Israel had a mission to the other nations, and only by separation could it be accomplished; separation is necessary to the moral design of the Church.
II. THAT THE LAW OF SPIRITUAL SEPARATION IS OFTEN VIOLATED BY CHRISTIAN MEN. It is difficult to separate from those amongst whom we live. It is not easy to avoid unholy contact with the people of the land who are so near to us. There are many temptations which attract the spiritual to the carnal. The people of the land have daughters to give in marriage, they have oftentimes prosperity and wealth; and these things are calculated to tempt the godly into unholy alliance (Ezr 9:11). Great will be the condemnation of those who yield to this solicitation.
III. THAT THE LAW OF SPIRITUAL SEPARATION IS CONDUCIVE TO THE PROSPERITY or THE CHURCH. “That ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever” (Ezr 9:12).E.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD
Ezr 9:1-4
Ezra’s grief.
“Now when these things were done,” viz; when the free-will offerings were deposited in the temple, when the sacrifices had been offered, when the king’s commissions had been delivered to his lieutenants and the governors of the provinceswhen all things promised well, a new cause of trouble arises. “The princes came,” etc. (verses 1, 2). Here we have
I. THE CAUSE OF EZRA‘S GRIEF.
1. The law of God was violated.
(1) The holy people had made marriages with strangers. God had separated the people of Israel to himself (Deu 14:1, Deu 14:2). For them to form such affinities was against the law (Deu 7:3). The marriage union of children of God with children of Satan is monstrous. It is an outrage against the spirit of the gospel (2Co 6:14).
(2) They had in consequence been drawn into their abominations. This is just what might have been expected. This issue is constantly foreshown (Exo 34:15-17). The effect of these unequal yokings upon Christians is most melancholy.
2. The violation of the law was general.
(1) The rulers were involved in it. The civil; the ecclesiastical. “The princes and rulers have been chief in this trespass.” Being in it, this could not be otherwise. Position involves responsibilities. Those who are conspicuous for station should be conspicuous for goodness.
(2) The people were in it. Crime is contagious. Witness too often the tyranny and slavery of fashion. What absurdities are endured because prescribed by the leaders of fashion! How demoralising to a people is corruption in the court. The rulers could not reprove the people when implicated themselves.
3. The fact was incontestable.
(1) It was reported to Ezra by the princes. The representatives of David and Solomon were the princes of Judah. They had the rule over the people, and must be presumed to be well informed.
(2) But in this matter they cannot be mistaken, for they are themselves also in the transgression. They bear witness against themselves. Note here the power of conscience. Crime cannot be hidden for ever. The great day of judgment will bring all deeds of darkness to the light. Consider now
II. THE DEPTH OF EZRA‘S GRIEF (verses 3, 4).
1. He rent his clothes.
(1) In early times emotion was commonly expressed in symbolical acts. This action was expressive of deep distress of soul (Gen 37:29, Gen 37:30; Le Gen 10:6; Gen 11:1-32 :44; Jdg 11:35; Job 1:20). The rending of the heart is the idea (Joe 2:13).
(2) Ezra rent his garment. The word here rendered “garment” ( beged) is the common term for clothes. His rending the vestments personal to him would express his personal grief. The honour of God should be personal to each of us.
(3) He also rent his mantle. The term here employed ( m’il) describes an official robe. It is used for the robe of the ephod worn by the high priest; also for the kingly robe of David, and that of Saul, the skirt of which was cut off by David (1Sa 24:4; 1Ch 15:27). The “mantle” in which the ghost of Samuel was seen is described by the same word (1Sa 28:14). In Ezra’s case it might be his official robe either as a priest or as a civil ruler, or both. In rending his mantle, therefore, he expressed his distress as representing the people. Religious men are the truest patriots.
2. He plucked off his hair.
(1) The hair of his head. As the head is the symbol of rule, so the hair of the head was regarded as a natural crown (1Co 11:7). Righteousness is the crown of our glory (2Ti 4:8). Sin plucks this crown from us, and reduces us to the deepest humiliation (Neh 13:25). This humiliation was expressed by Ezra.
(2) The hair of his beard. This sign of manhood was regarded as a symbol of honour, and a greater insult could scarcely be given to an Oriental than to pluck or cut off his beard (2Sa 10:5). This action of Ezra set forth how he regarded the honour of his nation to be wounded in the tenderest place by this mingling of the holy seed with the people of the land.
3. He sat down astonied.
(1) The state of silent, awful desolation in which Ezra sat is not inaptly expressed by this old English word, which suggests the idea of being stunned as by thunder. He was awed by hearing as it were the rumbling of the approaching thunder of God’s judgments upon a guilty people.
(2) Then were assembled to him “every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel.” The sympathy of a common fear brought them together, as a terrified flock would gather when the elements become sulphurous for the thunder-storm. Good men love to meet in joy; so do they love to meet in grief. Let us admire and imitate
(a) this zeal for God. This grief for his honour being outraged by sinners.
(b) This purest patriotism which repents vicariously for our people.J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Ezr 9:1-4
Disappointment and disobedience.
And now then for rest and saris-faction! now for spiritual enjoyment! now for the continuous exercise of the soul m sacred privileges in the holy place! now for the goodly sight of a holy people walking in the commandments of the Lord blameless I Such was probably Ezra’s feeling as he first settled down in Jerusalem with the children of the captivity. It would have been natural and human for him to think thus; but if he did thus think he was mistaken. He was to be an instance of
I. DISAPPOINTMENTthe lot of the Christian workman. Hardly had he established himself in the city of God when he found, with painful experience, that it was an earthly Jerusalem in which he had come to dwell. Zerubbabel was dead, and Haggai was no longer prophesying, and some of those who had the direction of public affairs”princes” they are called (Verse 1)came to Ezra with a very serious complaint. They came to tell him that several of the Jews, including many of the Levites, and even of the priests, and also (and notoriously) some of the princes, had broken the clear and plain commandment of the Law by mingling and even intermarrying with the people of surrounding lands, in fact with the heathen (see Exo 23:32, and Exo 34:12, Exo 34:15, Exo 34:16; Deu 7:3). It is not quite certain that they had not gone further than this in the way of laxity and worldliness; but as far as this they had certainly gone, and the fact that the leaders, secular and spiritual, were setting the example (verse 2) made the matter one of the greatest consequence. The soul of Ezra was filled with sadness; with extreme disappointment and dismay that there should be found so serious a blemish in the holy nation. When he was thinking that everything promised well, here was an evil in the midst of them which threatened to undo all that had been done, to bring down the wrath of God, and to demolish the good work which he and others before and beside him had so laboriously built up. He “rent his garment and his mantle;” he” sat astonied until the evening sacrifice “(verses 3, 4). Such is the common experience of Christian workmen. When the Master himself gathered disciples, the scribes and the Pharisees sought to sow estrangement and separation in their hearts. When Paul, with untiring labour, had founded Churches in Galatia, Judaising teachers followed, undermining his influence and corrupting the truth he had preached. When we think that all is going well with the cause of God, and that we may rest in spiritual enjoyment, then we, too often, find that tares are among the wheat, that dross is mixed up with the gold, that error is falsifying and distorting truth, that sin is in the Church of Christ. We need not look out for disappointment as a thing to be certainly found, but when it comes we may remember that it has been an invariable ingredient in the Christian workman’s cup, from the Master down to the humblest teacher, from apostolic clays to our own. It is trying in the last degree. It tries our patience, our trust in God, our confidence in his truth; but it leads us to him, as then it led Ezra, in humble, earnest, united prayer. The Jewish people at this period afford an instance of
II. DISOBEDIENCEa recurring note in the life of the Christian Church. Disobedience had seriously affected the Jews from the highest social rank to the lowest. Princes, priests, Levites, and the common people were all compromised to a greater or less degree. The wrong-doing may not seem so flagrant to us as it did to Ezra, for wide-spread intercourse, national intermingling, is a marked feature of our times. But the one special virtue the Jewish Church was bound to exemplify was purity; its principal duty was to maintain separateness from surrounding evil. It was now failing in that respect in which it was most urgently required to be steadfast and true. Hence the intensity of the feeling of Ezra and those who “trembled at the words of the God of Israel” (verses 3, 4). How often and how sadly has the Christian Church disappointed its Lord by disobedience to his will.
(1) Sinful alliances with the secular power which have corrupted and enfeebled it;
(2) guilty conformity to the
(a) idolatrous, or
(b) licentious, or
(c) convivial, or
(d) untruthful, or
(e) dishonest practices of an unrenewed, unpurified world;
(3) culpable disregard to his will respecting the equality of his disciples, and our duty to the “little child,” the lowly and helpless member of his Church;
(4) faulty negligence to evangelise the surrounding and outlying worldthese are disobediences which
(a) disfigure the beauty of the Church,
(b) disappoint and displease the Master, and
(c) delay the conversion of the world.C.
Ezr 9:4-15
Sensibility.
Ezra was a man not only of vigorous mind and strong will, with whom things soon took shape and form, but also of keen sensibility, into whose heart things cut deeply, and whose soul was stirred with strong emotion. Therefore he knew not only great joys, but great sorrows also.
“Dearly bought the hidden treasure
Finer feelings can bestow;
Chords that vibrate deepest pleasure
Thrill the deepest notes of woe.”
When he learnt how the children of Israel had gone astray in the matter of the mixed marriages, he was overwhelmed with strong and profound feeling. There was
I. DISMAY AT THE PRESENCE OF SIN (verse 5). He sat “astonished until the evening sacrifice” (verse 4), having just given way to an Oriental exhibition of extreme agitation (verse 3). This blow seems to have stunned him. He was simply dismayed, appalled. After a burst of grief he sat overwhelmed with a sense of the exceeding great folly and iniquity of the people.
II. SHAME UNDER A SENSE OF SIN (verses 5, 6, 15). Placing himself in penitential attitude, he addressed himself to God, and said, “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee “(verse 6). He went on to identify himself (though personally guiltless) with his people: “Our iniquities,” etc. (verse 6). “We are before thee in our trespasses” (verse 15). And he concluded by saying, “We cannot stand before thee because of this” (verse 15). Such was his intense fellow-feeling and sympathy with those whom he was serving, that he felt overwhelmed with shame under a consciousness of their guilt. Sin, the sin of our family, of our city, of our country, of our racequite apart from our personal share in itis a shameful thing, something to humiliate us and cause us “confusion of face.”
III. FEAR OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. “Wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us,” etc. (verse 14). He lamented that the brief sunshine they were enjoying would probably disappear, in God’s rekindled wrath, in utter darkness. God’s mercy was for a space encompassing them, and now they were going to throw it, desperately and wantonly, away. No sooner were they out of bondage than they were inviting the great Disposer, in his righteousness, to send them back into captivity. Sin had ruined them before, and would surely ruin them again, and this time utterly and completely (verses 7, 8, 9, 14). What insensate folly!
We may look at sensibility in respect of sin as it relates to
1. Our Divine Lord himself. He became man in order that he might suffer in our stead; in order that, as man, he might bear the penalty we must otherwise have borne. The Sinless One was never conscious of sin, nor yet of shame as we know it; but by becoming a member of our race, thus entering into perfect fellowship and intense sympathy with us, he could be affected, sorrowfully and sadly, by a sense of human sin. He did, in a way necessarily mysterious to us, thus suffer for us. It was to his soul a dreadful, horrible, shameful thing that mankindto whose family he belonged, and of which he was a membershould have sinned so grievously as it had.
2. Our own souls. It is well for us indeed when we have come to feel the shamefulness of our own sin. The heart that, thus affected, can say, “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face unto thee” (verse 6), is in that state of contrition, of poverty of spirit, “of which is the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 5:3). Sin is shameful because
(1) it is the act of those who owe everything they are and have to God, and
(2) it is directed against him who has
(a) multiplied his mercies unto us in so many ways, and
(b) borne so long with us, and
(c) done and suffered, in Christ, so much to reclaim us; and because
(3) it is continued in spite of our knowledge of what is right, reasonable, and beneficial.
3. Our fellows. We may well be sympathetically affected by the sins of othersour kindred, our fellow-citizens, our fellow-men. Rivers of water should run down our eyes because men keep not his law. We may well be ashamed and appalled, and pour out our souls to God, under a sense of the guilt of the world.C.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD
Ezr 9:5
The dawn of hope.
Here is a graphic scene. Behold Ezra, the chief man of his nation, and a prince of the Persian Empire, with his garment and his mantle rent, his hair and beard torn and disordered, bowed in silent grief, and surrounded by the best men of his people, all trembling at the word of God. But lo! a ray of hope from the fire of the altar kindles in his soul. “And at the evening sacrifice,” etc. Here learn
I. THAT THE ONE WAY TO GOD IS THROUGH THE BLOOD OF ATONEMENT.
1. Ezra sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.
(1) He saw the sin of his people. Its enormity. Its aggravations.
(2) He saw the gathering storm of Divine anger. The more he reflected, the blacker became the cloud.
(3) He saw no way of escape. His suspense was awful, until the fire of the altar began to light up the darkness of the gathering night.
2. Now he is encouraged to pray.
(1) God has found out a way. Sacrifice would never have occurred to the unaided reason of man; or even had it occurred to him, he could not be sure that God would accept it.
(2) God has made his ways known unto men. It was revealed soon after the fall (Gen 3:15, Gen 3:24; Gen 4:4; Gen 8:20, Gen 8:21). More formally established in the Levitical law. This was authenticated by all the miracles of the exodus. Fulfilled in the solemnities of Calvary.
II. THAT HE MUST BE APPROACHED IN THE SPIRIT OF HUMILIATION.
1. Ezra rent his garment and his mantle.
(1) His “garment” to express his personal grief at the dishonour done to God. At the wickedness of his people. At their consequent. liability to fearful punishment.
(2) His” mantle,” which was such a robe as was worn by persons of birth and station, was rent to express his distress in his magisterial. and representative capacity. Public men should recognise a public responsibility to God.
2. This he now did the second time.
(1) In the first instance he rent his clothes to express to men his grief. It produced the desired effect. All those who “trembled at the word of God” gathered round him. We should witness for God to man against sin. We should do this in the most emphatic manner, so as to produce conviction.
(2) Now by similar acts he expresses his grief to God. This second rending of his garment and mantle was in connection with his rousing himself to pray. God expects from us a formal and full confession of sin. He does not need information, but requires it for our benefit.
3. Ezra also now fell upon his knees.
(1) Hitherto he had been sitting in his grief, bewildered and astonished, not knowing what to do to avert the looming’ vengeance. To pray he knew not how until his spirit was stirred within him “at the evening- sacrifice.” All true prayer is from God (Pro 16:1). The fire that stirs a prayerful soul is from the altar of Calvary (see Isa 6:6, Isa 6:7).
(2) Kneeling is an appropriate attitude for prayer. It expresses submission (Php 2:10). We should beware of the hypocrisy of bowing the knee when there is no submission in the soul.
(3) Posture, however, is not essential to prayer. Scripture furnishes examples of various postures. The attitude of the heart is of vital importance. This is a comfort to those who are physically incapacitated for kneeling (1Ti 4:8).
III. THAT WE MUST DRAW NEAR TO GOD IN FAITH. Ezra “spread out his hands to the Lord his God.”
1. He recognised God as his covenant friend.
(1) Note the possessive case. All that is meant in the title “God” he claims as his. What a proprietary is here!
(2) There is a glorious complement to this. If the Lord be our covenant God, then are we his covenanted people. He too has a property in us (So Ezr 2:16). We are his “peculiar. treasure.” (Psa 135:4).
(3) The covenant,, relationship evermore recognises Christ who is the Covenant of his people, and whose blood is the “blood of the covenant.” The recognition of all this is faith, and when this recognition is raised in us by the Spirit of God the faith becomes saving.
2. Therefore he spread out his hands.
(1) The open hand is the symbol of truth. Ezra approached God with the sincerity of a genuine faith (see Psa 24:4). The open hand of the impenitent hypocrite is bloody in the sight of God (Isa 1:15).
(2) The hands spread out are in the attitude of craving and receiving. Corresponding to this, the outstretched hands of God denote the offers of his mercy (Pro 1:24). Let us ask and receive, that our joy may be full.J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY J.S. EXELL
Ezr 9:5-15
A good man’s sight of sin.
I. That the sight of sin AWAKENS WITHIN THE GOOD MAN A SPIRIT OF EARNEST PRAYER. “I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God” (Ezr 9:5).
1. The humility of the prayer. Ezra fell upon his knees in deepest self-abasement; he did not stand erect like the Pharisee in the temple, but smote upon his breast like the publican (Luk 18:13). Surely the sin of God’s chosen people could not but inspire humility within the patriot.
2. The earnestness of the prayer. Ezra spread out his hands in earnest entreaty before God; the solemnity of the circumstance awakened him to holy fervour. At such a time a lifeless prayer could be of no avail.
3. The direction of the prayer. Ezra directed his prayer to the Lord his God; he felt the vanity of human help, and that God only could avert the consequence of their transgression. A sense of sin should lead to God.
4. The personal claim of the prayer. “My God,” “O my God.”
II. THAT THE SIGHT OF SIN AWAKENS WITHIN THE GOOD MAN A SENSE OF SHAME. “I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens (verse 6). He is ashamed
1. Because he is morally sensitive to sin. Purity is sensitive to evil.
2. Because he understands the true nature of sin. “Our iniquities,” “our trespass.”
3. Because he realises the magnitude of sin. “Our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up to heaven.” Sin brings shame; this the good man feels.
III. THAT THE SIGHT OF SIN AWAKENS WITHIN THE GOOD MAN MEMORIES OF SORROW. “And for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil” (verse 7).
1. A memory of degradation. Sin will send kings and priests into degrading captivity.
2. A memory of cruelty. Sin delivers men as to the sword.
3. A memory of bondage. Sin is slavery.
4. A memory of loss. Sin spoils men of their best treasures. The history of sin is a history of sorrow, and the sight of sin calls up to the mind of the good man sad memories.
IV. THAT THE SIGHT OF SIN AWAKENS WITHIN THE GOOD MAN THE THOUGHT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD.
1. Its mercy. “And now for a little space grace hath been showed from the Lord our God” (verses 8, 9).
2. Its fidelity. “Yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage” (verse 9).
3. Its forbearance. “Seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve” (verse 13). This life is not the scene of complete punishment.
4. Its delay. “For we remain.” Sin is not immediately punished in this life.
5. Its rectitude. “O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous” (verse 15). “Its retribution. “For we cannot stand before thee because of this” (verse 15). Thus Ezra viewed the sin of Israel in its relation to the moral government of God.E.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD
Ezr 9:6-15
Ezra’s prayer.
While the smoke of the altar rises to heaven from the evening sacrifice, lo! there is Ezra before the temple of the Lord with rent garments and disordered hair, bowed upon his knees, and with lifted hands, pouring out confession of sin in tones of plaintive grief and shame and terror. “O my God,! am ashamed,” etc. In this prayer we mark
I. THE CRIME CONFESSED (verses 11, 12).
1. Here were open violations of the law of God.
(1) The patriarchal law was pronounced against the intermarriages of the holy race of Seth, with whom was the promise of the Holy Seed, with the profane race of Cain the excommunicate. The infraction of this law provoked the Deluge (Ge:2, 3). Abraham, who, like Seth, was the depositary of the Promise, was averse to the intermarriage of his issue with the daughters of the accursed Cainan (Gen 24:3, Gen 24:4; see also Gen 28:1, Gen 28:2).
(2) This patriarchal law became incorporated in the Mosaic system (Deu 7:3).
(3) The prophets also declared against these mixed alliances. In particular, it would seem, Haggai and Zechariah.
(4) This law, in the spirit of it, is still binding upon Christians (1Co 7:39; 2Co 6:14).
2. The reasons given for this law are most weighty.
(1) The holiness of God’s people. This reason holds in all ages.
(2) The tendency to be swayed from true worship to idolatry (Exo 23:32; Exo 34:16).
(3) These reasons were vividly before the mind of Ezra. So should they be ever present with Christians.
3. Nothing should induce men to commit this sin.
(1) The wealth of idolaters is dearly purchased by the imperilling of the inheritance of the saints.
(2) Peace with idolaters is costly at the sacrificing of the peace of God.
II. THE AGGRAVATIONS ACKNOWLEDGED. Ezra confessed for his people
1. That their experiences in the captivity should have taught them differently (verse 7).
(1) Their humiliation was deep. They suffered from the “sword,” viz; of the Babylonians who in the days of Nebuchadnezzar invaded their land. From “captivity,” for their Babylonish victor carried them away. Who can estimate the sufferings entailed by that deportation? From the “spoil” which they suffered from the invaders, and from those who removed them. And from “confusion of face,” viz; in the remembrance that all their sufferings were on account of their sins. This shame they felt in the presence of their Babylonish lords (see Dan 9:7, Dan 9:8). Also before their Persian masters.
(2) Their calamities were sweeping. The people were involved in them. So were their “kings.” What a contrast between the condition of David and Solomon and that of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah (2Ki 25:7)! So were their “priests;” and in the ruin of the priests the ruin of the temple also was involved.
(3) They were also of long continuance. There were the initial sufferings from the time of the first invasion of the Babylonians. Then the interval of seventy years from the date of the captivity to the first year of Cyrus, when Zerubbabel led back the larger body of the restoration. Another period of seventy or eighty years had elapsed before this second contingent was led back by Ezra. What excuse then, after all these sufferings, could be pleaded for their sin?
2. The mercy of God should have been better requited (verses 8, 9). That mercy was shown
(1) In his “leaving a remnant to escape.” That was mercy not only to the individuals spared, but also to the world, for the holy Seed was among them, through whom the blessings of an everlasting salvation were to come.
(2) In “giving them a nail in his holy place.” The margin explains this to be “a constant and sure abode,” and refers to Isa 22:23 in support of this interpretation. The passage in Isaiah points to Christ; so may this point to him.
(3) In this view there is the greater force in what follows, “that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.” And how the mercy of God in all this becomes increased when the spiritual blessings of the gospel are seen in it.
(4) Even in their bondage God had not forsaken them. For he gave them favour in the sight of the kings of Persia. This favour enabled them to return, “gave them a reviving,” and to repair the desolations of the temple, of the holy city, and the wall. Such mercy claimed gratitude, but was requited with rebellion. Ezra is without apology (verse 10).
III. THE SUBMISSION TO THE JUDGMENT OF MERCY (verses 6 and 15).
1. Here he awaits the judgment of the Lord.
(1) He is ashamed to look up. Who can bear to look into the face of an injured friend when we have nothing to plead in apology? That will be the position of the sinner in the great day of judgment.
(2) He is oppressed by the growing weight of accumulating rebellion and ingratitude. He is terrified by the cloud upon the face of God.
(3) He confesses that wrath to the uttermost is deserved.
2. Here is no formal plea for mercy.
(1) There is the silent cry of misery and distress and blushing shame. But who can trust in this? It is only the consciousness of sin.
(2) There is eloquence in the evening sacrifice. The victim slain is a vicarious sufferer. It is the shadow of a better sacrifice.J.A.M.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 1. The people of Israel and the priests, &c. See Deu 7:3. The manner in which Ezra is said to have expressed his concern for the people’s unlawful marriages is, by rending his garment and his mantle, ver. 3 i.e. both his inner and upper garment, which was a token not only of great grief and sorrow, but of his apprehension likewise of the divine displeasure; and by pulling off the hair of his head and beard, which was still a higher sign of exceeding great grief among other nations as well as the Jews; and therefore we find in Homer, that when Ulysses and his companions bewailed the death of Elpenor, “they sat in great grief, and plucked off their hair.” See the conclusion of the xth Book of the Odyssey. Instead of doing according to their abominations, &c. Houbigant reads, their wickedness is such as it was with the Canaanites, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
SECOND SECTION
The Chief Fault of the Time and its Removal
Ezra 9-10
A.THE CHEIF FAULT OF THE TIME EZRAS PENTITENTIAL PRAYER
Ezr 9:1-15
I. The Chief Fault of the Time, and Ezras Sorrow for It. Ezr 9:1-4
1Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. 3And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. 4Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.
II. Ezras Penitential Prayer. Ezr 9:5-15
5And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, 6And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. 7Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. 8And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give 9us a little reviving in our bondage. For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. 10And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments, 11Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. 12Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for eEzra Ezr 9:13 And after all that is come to pass upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; 14Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed 15us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses; for we cannot stand before thee because of this.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Ezr 9:1-4. To a positive strengthening of the life in accordance with the law belonged without doubt a long preparatory activity on the part of Ezra. It could not be accomplished by merely external arrangements or contrivances. Rather it was necessary that Ezra should bring about an internal change, excite a holy zeal for the law, as we see it break forth in fact at a later period (Nehemiah 8-10), and thus above all deepen and render more general the knowledge of the law. But already, at the outset, he had to undertake a negative improvement, the removal of a bad state of affairs that threatened their future. It was again the question as previously in the time of Zerubbabel, respecting their relation to the heathen, which was involved in their present political relations, especially their union with heathen under the same government. If, however, the problem in the time of Zerubbabel had been merely to ward off those who would unite with the congregation on the plea of a common worship of Jehovah, now the question was with reference to the exclusion of those with whom union had been established, notwithstanding difference of religion.
Ezr 9:1. And after the completion of these things,etc. is infin. nomin.=completion. is neuter, referring to the things mentioned in Ezr 8:33-36. This statement of time is somewhat indefiniteyet we are not to suppose that the length of time of the things here narrated was very long after chap. 8. The delivery of the gifts brought with them occurred on the fourth day after Ezras arrival; thus, on the fourth or fifth day of the fifth month (comp. Ezr 8:32 and Ezr 7:9); the bringing of the offerings, moreover, Ezr 8:35, without doubt soon followed, and so also the delivery of the royal decree to the officials (Ezr 8:36); the support on the part of the latter may be very well mentioned in Ezr 8:36 proleptically, or is to be understood of their promise. If a longer time had elapsed between Ezras arrival in Jerusalem and chap. 9, it would not have been necessary for the princes of the congregation to have first made complaint respecting the evil circumstances in question, but Ezra would have observed them himself. Accordingly by the ninth month,on the twentieth day of which, according to Ezr 10:9, the first assembly of the people was held respecting the affair here coming into question,is meant without doubt the ninth of the first year that Ezra passed in Jerusalem.The princes came to me. (with the article) are not the princes as a wholefor according to Ezr 9:2 many of them participated in the guilt, and these would not have given information of themselves,but the princes in distinction from the people. The princes distinguish as such who have not separated themselves, that is, kept themselves separate from the people of the land, three classes, that occur elsewhere, also along side of one another: the people of Israelthat is, the common people ( is in apposition to , comp. Jos 8:33; 1Ki 16:21);the priests and Levitescomp. e.g. Ezr 2:70.The people of the lands are the , and indeed, first of all, those in the vicinity, comp. Ezr 6:21. For the most part there were, without doubt, remnants of the ancient tribes of Canaan, whose abominations, according to the subsequent narrative, were peculiar to them; but probably during the exile other heathen races also had emigrated into the depopulated Palestine. Ezra and the princes thus, when they required a separation from all these heathen,that is, excluded an intermarriage with them,exceeded the letter of the law, which only prohibited intermarriage with the Canaanites (Exo 34:16; Deu 7:3),but not because a certain Pharisaism had already made itself felt among them (O. v. Gerlach in his Biblework), but because it was absolutely necessary now if the congregation was to be preserved from sinking down into heathenism. The heathen dwelling in close vicinity to them, and not being separated in political affairs, the mixed marriages now threatened, if not positively forbidden, to become disproportionately numerous, whilst in former times they could never have been more than exceptional. And besides, these heathen were now essentially the same as the ancient Canaanites.According to their abominations.This briefly = as their abominations required. does not then begin the enumeration of the races in questionwhich is against not only the accentuation which separates this clause so strongly from the nations, but also the position of the word, for the clause according to their abominations would not then have intervened, but should have followed the enumeration; and besides also the before which would have scarcely an analogy in its favor. Rather , belonging to the Canaanites; briefly=as they were peculiar to the Canaanites, the Hittites, etc. The abominations are designated by this clause as the ancient ones, condemned by the prophets, and especially by Moses, long before; and all the various names of nations are mentioned because the abominations had been so many and so different among the different races. It was not the purpose to give a complete statement, else the Hivites (comp. Exo 3:8; Exo 13:5; Exo 23:23) and also the Girgashites (comp. Deu 7:1) would also have been mentioned.
Ezr 9:2. For they have taken of their daughters, etc.namely, wives. comp. chap, Ezr 10:44; 2Ch 11:21, etc. The object is in this connection, to a certain extent, to be understood of itself.And have mingled themselves as the holy seed with the people of the land.This has properly the same subject as the foregoing. The following is to be placed in apposition with the subject, as it seems; that is to say, although they are a new and holy seed, or shoot, which, after the old tree had fallen by the severe judgments of God, was) to grow up into a new and better tree. Since the expression holy seed does not occur again elsewhere, it is not doubtful but that there is here a reference back to Isa 6:13. That at least the better part of the people had not yet by any means forgotten the ancient prophets, but preserved them at the present time to strengthen their faith, follows already from Haggai and Zechariah, where the Messianic promise, on the basis of the more ancient prophecy, yet again brought forth the richest flowers.Yea, the hand of the princesrulers hath been chief in this trespass.In this unfaithfulness the princes had been leaders with their bad example, assuming thereby the responsibility, comp. Deu 13:10. , properly unfaithfulness (comp. Lev 5:15) is spoken of, in so far as they had abandoned the blessing of the purity of Israel and periled thereby the higher blessings connected therewith. = commanders, chiefs, is a word passing over from the ancient Persian into the Hebrew, comp. Isa 41:25.
Ezr 9:3. Ezra could not but express the deepest pain at this information, as well as the greatest displeasure, and indeed with the warmth of Oriental manners; none the less that there must be applied a remedy, only to be carried out with difficulty, and occasioning much sorrow. He expressed his grief by rending (tearing) his under and over-garment (comp. Lev 10:6 and Jos 7:6), his displeasure and anger by plucking out the hair of the head and beard (a part of it), comp. Neb. 13:25; that is to say, he hurt himself and disfigured his appearance (comp. Isa 50:6); if he had only been sad, he would have shaved his head; Job 1:20. In this condition he then sat down staring, in Piel expresses the being stiff and dull (hence also the being waste), comp. Isa 52:14.
Ezr 9:4. Ezras behaviour produced a profound impression upon those who feared Gods word; because of the unfaithfulness of, the people of God living in captivity Ezra continued his behaviour herein even when they assembled themselves unto him. According to Ezr 10:3 we are not to explain: all who trembled at the word of God on account of the unfaithfulness, etc.; although may be connected with (Isa 66:2, where , indeed=, in the sense of trembling towards, comp. Isa 66:5), but: all who allowed themselves to be frightened by Gods words, which referred to the unfaithfulness. God is here called the God of Israel because He had in the words in question called for the purity and dignity of Israel.
Ezr 9:5-15. At the time of the evening sacrifice, however, he arose from his mortification, humiliation, mortification, which had consisted in giving way to sorrow, but had certainly likewise been connected with fasting, and indeed accompanied with the rending of his over or under-garment; that is to say, in that he still continued or repeated the rendingin order now to spread out his hands to God as those who pray usually did (1 Kings 8 :, etc.), publicly uttering a penitential prayer.
Ezr 9:6. This penitential prayer would emphasize throughout what great reasons the congregation had of bewaring of the sins in question. He renders prominent in Ezr 9:6 how great guilt they already had upon them without this, and adds in Ezr 9:7 that sin has been the cause of all the misfortune and misery of Israel. He calls to mind in Ezr 9:9 that Gods grace had preserved only just such a remnant, but by no means had constituted a situation in Which they could dispense with Him. He confesses in Ezr 9:10-12 that God had expressly forbidden the sins now indulged in, and had made nothing less than the strength of the congregation, yea, the very possession of the land, conditional upon their obedience to his command. He then in Ezr 9:13-14 raises the painful and sad question, and draws the inference whether, if after so many chastisements, and after such an exhibition of favor, they should again be guilty of such a transgression of the divine command, whether God would not then really become angry unto their entire destruction. He concludes in Ezr 9:15 with the repenting confession that the Lord is righteous, that the congregation, however, cannot stand before Him. Ezra now prays expressly for forgiveness, as we might expect: he ventures not, he is ashamed, as he himself says, to lift up his face to the Lord. But such a penitential prayer and confession of sin is already in itself a pleading for grace; yea, works more powerfully indeed than a petition expressedly uttered. And, at any rate, it is, just as it is, very well calculated, at the same time, to bring the people to the lively consciousness of the perverseness of their sin.
Ezr 9:6. I am ashamed and blush. and are joined together for emphasis, as in Jer 31:10, etc.For our iniquities are increased over our head.Occasioned by the transgression under consideration; all sins and transgressions whatever come to the remembrance of Ezra. He who already has so many sins upon him should take very particular care [ lest a new one should be added, especially when one has already been brought into such deep misery by the previous ones. from has the same meaning as usually from . = upwards, passes over easily in our author to the adverbial sense of very abundantly (comp. 1Ch 29:3), even with (comp. 1Ch 23:17), but here in connection with retains its meaning as a preposition = beyond. The iniquities are regarded as a flood in which man soon perishes [comp. Psa 38:4, and the general use of water to indicate great troubles] [our trespassesunto the havencomp. 2Ch 28:9; thus the mercy of God is compared in extent with the heavens, vid Psa 36:5; Psa 57:10, etc.Tr.].
Ezr 9:7. And for our iniquities we have been deliveredinto the hands of the kings of the lands to the sword,etc.To translate, with Bertheau, through the sword, is remote form the sense, and is not suited to the following into captivity. the shame is called that of the face because it especially works upon the face, as Dan 9:7.As this day, namely, teaches or shows; in connection with is not = about or on, but has a comparative force, as also in Jer 44:6; Jer 22:23; 1Sa 22:8. The present teaches the here asserted delivering over, in so far as the congregation was still a , comp. Ezr 9:4.
Ezr 9:8-9. It is true, the Lord has again allowed His grace to work after His anger, but not so that He could be dispensed with; only through Him has the congregation protection and continuance.And now a little moment (comp. Isa 26:20) hath been grace from the Lord our Godnamely, during the time from Cyrus to the present, which seems short in comparison with the long time of the previous chastisement, especially since the latter had begun already with the Assyrians (comp. Ezr 6:22 and Neh 9:32), and had properly been continued even to the time of Cyrus. Ezra would not so much praise the greatness of the divine grace, as if his thought had been that transgression ought to have been avoided out of thankfulness (for then he would have expressed himself in an entirely different manner), but he would say that the congregation, whatever it might be, was only through grace; and back of this lies the thought that with it they would forfeit their one and all.To leave us a remnant and to give us a peg in his holy place. = us, the people as a whole, in distinction from which the is the congregation of the returned exiles. The peg,, is to be regarded as one driven into the wall, on which domestic utensils of any kind were hung, comp. Isa 22:23 sq.1 Hence we cannot understand thereby, either with Bertheau, the congregation itself (to make us a peg = a congregation of a reliable stock), or, with Keil, the temple, which is opposed by the words, in the holy place; rather to give any one a peg in a house (here in the temple, in the holy place) means to give him a part and right in the house, accept him as a coinhabitant in the house. It comes into consideration that God is often regarded as a Householder, and His people, in a similar manner, often as His family, who dwell with Him in His house (comp. Psa 15:1; Psa 23:6; Psa 27:4, etc.). We have an example in Isa 56:5 : I will give them hand and name in my house, where the explained in so many different ways may be simply activity or right to be active, in general to stir ones self.That our God might lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.The infins. and are subordinated to the foregoing infinitives = that he thereby. The subject appears in an independent position, as especially Isa 5:24; comp. Ewald, 307, c, because the object had preceded and intervened between it and the infin. The eyes enlighten means to remove the night of trouble and weakness resting upon them, which was, according to that which follows, already indeed a night of death, and indeed by reviving, that is, by bestowing salvation, strength, encouragement, comp. Psa 13:4; Pro 29:13, especially also 1 Samuel 14, 27, 29.preservation of life, or as here, reviving (comp. 2Ch 14:12), is used here for the adjective revived, whilst in Ezr 9:9 it retains its abstract meaning. is added, without close connection, as Neh 2:12; Neh 7:4. The idea at the basis is, that national ruin is a death of the congregation, and that the re-establishment is an awakening from the dead. This re-establishment was a very incomplete one so long as the dependence on the powers of the world still endured, and the congregation must still be called . The reference to the prophecies of the prophets is here unmistakable. As the expression holy seed, already in Ezr 9:2, so also leave a remant, and the expression peg, remind us very decidedly of Isaiah, comp. chaps. Isa 1:9; Isa 22:23 sq.; Isa 56:5; the expression revival looks back upon Eze 37:1-14, where the figure on which it is based is carried out with great vividness and power. We see that the pious Israelites subsequent to the exile, Ezra before all, attentively took to heart the ancient prophecies of chastisements, and that which should follow them, in order to apply them without doubt to their own times.
Ezr 9:9. And hath extended mercy unto us before the kings of Persia, to give us revival.The subject of the giving is not the Persian kings (Berth., Keil), which is opposed by the previous verse, and also by the fact itself; but God alone, whose it is alone to slay and make alive. It is not necessary, on this account, to make God the subject of the clause: to set up the house of our God, and erect its ruins. This infin. may be subordinated to the foregoing, so that the Jews become the subject = that we, etc. The subject of the last infin. to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem, is surely again God, and not one of the Persian kings (Berth. and Keil). The expression give a wall leads of itself more to God, for it is naturally to be understood figuratively, and indeed not of the temple, but in the more general sense of the protection which was afforded the congregation in Judah and Jerusalem against their oppressors, comp. Zec 2:5.
Ezr 9:10-12. The transgression here spoken of cannot be excused at all, with the plea, that it was not expressly forbidden.And now, what shall we say?for we have forsaken thy commandments,not: that we have forsaken (Berth. and Keil), which would be weak. Ezra means: I may thus ask, for, etc.
Ezr 9:11 may be translated: thou who, or also, which thou hast commanded by thy servants, the prophets.Ezra does not mention Moses in particular, but the prophets in general, not because the commands of the Pentateuch were not mediated or written down by Moses alone, but also by other organs, as Delitzsch in his introduction to Genesis supposes;whether Ezra knew this, is at least very doubtful,but because his thought is that God by His prophets has given or again enforced the commandments in manifold and oft-repeated ways, comp. Jdg 3:6; 1Ki 11:2. When a truth is under consideration, which is not represented by one prophet, but more or less by all, then it is usual to cite in general, as the author of the book of Kings also does. Moses is meant at any rate, yea chiefly. And this explains the fact that Ezra states the command, not it is true verbally from a passage in the Pentateuch, but yet formularized in a manner only appropriate to the Mosaic period, when they still had to take possession of Canaan. He has in mind before all Deu 7:1-3, as there also the entire manner of expression is undeniably that of Deuteronomy, but he draws into consideration, in a free manner, other passages, and indeed even from Leviticus, comp. especially Lev 18:24 sq. , the abominable, for which in Lev. only and occur, is used in the Pentateuch of the impurity of the issues of blood in women, only subsequently by the prophets of other impurities likewise, especially also of ethical impurities (comp. 1Sa 1:17; Eze 7:20; Eze 36:17). It is preferred to its synonyms as an especially strong expression. , does not mean, certainly: from side to side (Keil), or from one end to another (Berth., A. V.); for neither the one nor the other meaning has been proved, or etymologically established for . In Isa 19:7 it is either the mouth, or the bed of the Nile (later in distinction from the bank, as the ). is easily the equivalent of person, from person to person, is, however = on or in all persons,=throughout and everywhere. Comp. , 2Ki 10:21; 2Ki 21:16. It is worthy of attention, of course, that this method of expression only occurs of objects which hold men, of land, house and city, or of men themselves.
Ezr 9:12. Nor seek their peace nor their wealth forever.These words are from Deu 23:7, where this is said with reference to the Moabites and Ammonites. It almost seems as if Ezra would have justified from the very letter of the law by this citation, his extension of the prohibition of intermarriage to the Moabites and Ammonites. The clause, that ye may be strong, reminds us of Deu 11:8; the next clause, and eat the good of the land, of Isa 1:19; the last clause, however: and possess it, or take possession of it for your children for ever, which does not occur in the Pentateuch in this form, rests on the promise that is often repeated, especially in Deuteronomy, that in case of obedience they would live long in the land that the Lord gave them. means here not give into possession (Berth., Keil), for then it must govern the double accusative (comp. Jdg 11:34; 2Ch 20:11), but take into possession, possess. For the children, posterity, that is, permanently.
Ezr 9:13-14. Thus there can be no question but that the new transgression is to be decidedly condemned. This follows, as well from the punishment for previous sins, as from the way of pardon.And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass.The article before properly represents the relative, as Ezr 8:25; Ezr 10:14; Ezr 10:17; for cannot well be a participle; as such it would be in the plural. The continuation of this clause does not occur already in the second half of the ver. (Berth.); in this case the following would have to be taken in the sense of, in truth (after all, in truth hast Thou, our God, spared us), then Ezr 9:14 would be in too little connection; it would not appear that two kinds of things, that as well punishment as forgiveness formed the foundation of Ezr 9:14. Rather the second half of the verse verifies the thought, which is involved in the first, that the guilt was very great, and that it properly would have deserved still severer punishment, and thus entirely prepares the way for Ezr 9:14. Its sense is, at any rate, that the punishment has been less than the transgression. The words might mean: For thou, our God, hast restrained a part of our sins from below, so that they (namely, through their consequences, the visitations of punishment) have not gone entirely over our head, have not utterly ruined us; for there is no objection to taking partitively. Already Esdras has thus: . In favor of this view is the fact that in this way would come into contrast with in Ezr 9:6, in which it is also found elsewhere, Jer 31:37. At all events, however, we may likewise explain: Thou hast restrained Thine anger or Thy punishment below the measure of our misdeeds, so that the punishment has not been as great as our misdeeds deserved (so J. H. Mich., Gesen., and Keil). , indeed, is nowhere else found with , but perhaps only for the reason that it nowhere else is followed by a noun of closer definition. follows, at least, the corresponding , 1Ch 29:3; the synonymous has usually after it.
Ezr 9:14. Then should we again break thy commandments, and unite ourselves in marriage with, etc.This question appeals to the general sentiment, and serves to emphasize very strongly the blamableness of the new transgression.Wouldst thou not be angry with us, even to destruction?, as 2Ki 13:17; 2Ki 13:19.
Ezr 9:15. Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous.This concluding and confirming confession would not say: Thou art a severe judge, and must interfere against the congregation on account of its decline (Bertheau and Keil). The usual meaning of (graciously righteous), is against this, and then also the following clause, for we have remained over as an escaped remnant, which is not = we have remained over merely as escaped, but: we have not been utterly ruined. Rather Ezra would say, that no one can reproach God for not doing all that could be expected.Behold, we are before thee in our trespasses, etc.This, the second half of the verse, constitutes a very suitable and logically conclusive antithesis to the foregoing. The more blameless God is the more deserving of punishment Israels guilt. The yodh in is found in the edition of R. Norzi and J. H. Mich.; but is missing in some MSS., and the pointing corresponds with the latter. Both methods of writing might in this case easily go on alongside of one another; the singular would be favored by Ezr 9:13, but the plural corresponds with the full-toned style of Ezra.[We cannot stand before thee,e.g., as thy holy people, who are privileged to stand before their king.Tr.]Because of this. = with this new evil deed.
thoughts upon the history of redemption
Ezr 9:1 to Ezr 3:1. If we act upon the supposition that the sacred Scriptures, even the Old Testament already, are to give us warning, exhortation, and instruction with reference to every situation and question of church, civil, or domestic life, yea, that the Old Testament very particularly comes into consideration for the details of life, it is natural that we should find in the opposition that Ezra makes in chapters 9 and 10 to intermarriage with the heathen, a warning or exhortation with reference to intermarriage with those of a different faith from our own. And in fact that which may be urged against such an application, e.g., that as Christians we rejoice in a greater liberty than the Jews; that mixed marriages have not been forbidden of themselves and under all circumstances, that the Christian church is never threatened with as great dangers as the Jewish congregation in the time of Ezra, that besides the piety of the Christian has a mightier protection and help than the religion of the Old Testament piousall this is outweighed by the opposing facts. The wife is now on a greater equality with the husband than in ancient times, has a greater influence upon the man himself, as well as in the training of the children, may thus easily become more dangerous. Besides Christianity is much more internal and deep than Old Testament piety, more influential upon the heart and disposition upon all sides, and hence comes much more into consideration with reference to the married life, that rests upon internal communion. It is true there is very seldom in the mixed marriages of our times a question respecting the difference of religion; usually it is only respecting a difference in the confession of faith, or a different degree of vitality of Christian religiousnessand to place marriages of this kind on the same basis as those intermarriages with the heathen would be premature, yea unfair. Heathendom stood in an essential and indeed very positive contrast to Judaism. The different Christian confessions, on the other hand, have the essential things in common with one another. And between those which are distinguished merely by the degree of the vitality of their Christian religiousness, there is often no positive contrast at all; the less vital Christianity may be awakened and strengthened, especially if treated with love. But we must always recognise and take to heart, with reference to Ezra and his behaviour, the fact, that in the conclusion and conduction of a marriage those considerations which have respect to the interests of religion are more important than all others, and therefore a difference of confession, which threatens not to promote but diminish religious ardor, according to the nature of the case, which besides constantly disturbs or of itself renders impossible the internal living together in the highest and holiest spheres, which then likewise has so much that is unendurable with reference to the training of children, and involves so many difficulties; that likewise in the same manner, a lack of any religious faith, that places itself in open conflict with Christianity, that more earnestly considered, is to be regarded as a positively different religion, or wanders into scornfulness and frivolity,these ought to be real hinderances to marriage for all Christians. As regards the lack of faith, of the kind here referred to, which manifestly must be placed on the same footing at least with heathenism, the apostle did not allow (1Co 7:12-13) that a Christian brother should marry an unbelieving wife, or the reverse, but only that he should retain her if he once had her. That a brother should marry an unbelieving (heathen) wife, he seems not to have regarded as at all possible. With reference to marriage with an unbeliever, we are to take to heart what he says in the subsequent context (1Co 9:16), What knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband, or what knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
2. The question how the congregation was to act towards others of a different faith, was now to be answered for the second time. It is not easy, with reference to this matter, to do exactly the right thing; for Christians, who more decidedly have the task of winning others for their faith, thus in no way should shut themselves off from them, it is still less easy than for the Israelites. But since all depends upon imparting to the others the best that we have, it follows that we must draw back, when this is impossible, especially if we incur the danger of losing this best thing ourselves. Under all circumstances it is self-evident that we should only cherish such an association as we can ever withdraw from if necessary.
3. No error is so conspicuous in the new congregation as that of intermarriage with the heathen. Not only Ezra but Nehemiah had still to contend with it (Neh 10:31; Neh 13:23 sq.), and as the princes, so indeed had the sons of the high-priests taken part in it (comp. Ezr 10:18). Without doubt there was a reason in the circumstances themselves. Usually new tasks are imposed as well upon the congregation as a whole, as also upon the individuals in the new relations. A new end is to be attained, and the difficulty of striving after this in the right manner often involves the temptation of approaching it in a false way. The task of the new congregation was to assume such a relation to the neighboring nations from whom they were no longer separated by political boundaries, as that they might ever be in the position in the fulness of time for fulfilling their missionary calling with reference to them. Accordingly the history itself urged onwards to a sort of approximation. Notwithstanding this, however, the institution of false relations, which could only render the accomplishment of their mission impossible, had no excuse.
4. Having lost their political independence, and reduced to a small number, the congregation, even their leaders or princes might have come upon the thought that it was not only allowable, but indeed was advisable, to enter into, closer relations with the heathen, who now were separated from them by so very little. They might have hoped that their people, on the basis of such a connection, might exercise a good influence with reference to religion and morals, and in consequence of this the congregation would gain the desirable increase; yet this error would not have been possible, if they had had the true singleness of heart towards the divine command. By the lack of this singleness, those who ought to have been to the rest of the congregation guides to good, became guides to evil. Ezra on his part, who did not lack this singleness, recognised in these very circumstances, with which the princes might justify the transgression under consideration, grounds for just the contrary, for a still more careful separation from the heathen. In fact, just because the congregation were without the protection of a political independence, because moreover they had become weak and despised on account of their small numbers, there was scarcely a doubt that the heathen, instead of allowing themselves to be influenced by the Israelites, would have become the influential factor for them, and they would have jeopardized the very existence of the congregation itself.
5. In a similar manner, as after other great judgments, as, for example, after the deluge, it became manifest after the exile likewise that the delivered, however excellent they proved to be at first, were unable to constitute a really new beginning, which should be pure and sinless, but ever only a continuation of the ancient sinful existence; that there was now no more sinless development, that rather sin breaks forth in new forms in the new relations which have been established by the judging and preserving providence of God, so that it needs ever anew a holy reaction against it on the part of the Lord. Nevertheless, of course, the judging and preserving acts of the Lord are not in vain. The congregation advances through them forwards, if not to a pure, yet to a better development, and their course, even if it is never that of a conqueror who has entirely overcome his hereditary enemy, is yet that of a victorious warrior, who at least beholds the complete victory and its noble prize at the end of his course. Nevertheless, the circumstance that among the princes many recognised the wrong as such, and sought to remove it with the help of Ezra, is a proof that the Lord at this time had provided a number of a better element, who already not only constituted a starting-point for His reaction, but also themselves began to react out of their own midst.
Ezr 9:5-15. 1. Before Ezra did anything else he expressed his sorrow for the failure of the congregation from the word of God, and indeed particularly by a penitential prayer, in which he included himself most devoutly within the congregation which had transgressed. The first thing with which to begin a true reformation will ever be the feeling of penitence, and in accordance with this a penitential prayer, which issues from the deepest conviction that we are involved in the sinfulness of the congregation, and which has to share in the fear of the threatening judgments, which, however, none the less manifests; the sharpest contrast to the sin in question. Such a penitential prayer, especially if it is connected with an humble recognition of the justice of the judgment that is feared, already has also the significance of a prayer for forgiveness, help, and preservation, just as the praise of the Lord as the God who hears prayer, affords redemption and salvation, at the beginning of those very Psalms, that are prayed out of deep need, and run out into a petition for redemption and salvation, is itself already a mighty petition, which in spite of every necessity joyfully praising God, is able without doubt to most powerfully move His paternal heart.
2. Ezras prayer very suitably unites various things, which must fill us with holy abhorrence of fresh transgressions after redemption; he reminds us at first of the fact that we are deeply involved in sin from our fathers, we might say, already by nature, and thus can not be too much on our guard against it, and at the same time, that it is our sins that have brought about the misery in which we all more or less live; so then that God has given us grace which certainly appears exceedingly great over against our sins and unworthiness, so that it must fill us with thankfulness and urge us to sanctification, which, however, over against the necessities of earth, is a small beginning of better things, easily lost again; furthermore, that the sin, that we might perchance be guilty of, is against Gods express command, and can never be justified; that Gods visitation of punishment, if we are not warned by His punishment or by His grace unto holiness, must necessarily become greater and more serious. These truths will have a preserving and improving power for the congregation of all times.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Ezr 9:1-2. We have the duty of keeping afar off from others. 1) When? If we can exercise no improving influence, but have to fear lest we be ruined with them. 2) Why ? because we have to preserve great blessings for ourselves and others. 3) How? with renunciation of temporal advantages, especially with self-denial.The importance of a correct choice in marriage: 1) the injury that is done by a bad choice; it is not only temporal, but eternal; 2) the gain that we have in a good choice.Starke: Marriage with an unbelieving woman is very dangerous, for she can convert a man easier than the man can convert her, 1Ki 10:4.What other injuries unequal marriage may accomplish, vid. 2Ch 18:1.The importance of true family life for the furtherance of church life: 1) Church life is a matter of the free resolution, which must be correctly guided by proper training; 2) church life is conditioned upon learning its advantages, as this is possible, first of all, only in the bosom of the family.
Ezr 9:5-15. The fundamental principles of true reformatory activity: 1) True simplicity of heart,we must not allow ourselves to be led astray by the temptations that are often involved with sufficient strength in the relations given by God Himself; we must rather gladly and without reserve bow to the divine word; 2) true sorrow for the present transgressions, however difficult they may be to remove, they must yet be recognized seriously in their true character; 3) true fear of the divine judgmentit is a bitter, but indispensable medicine for the destructive wanderings from duty.Brentius: Exprimitur affectus pietatis, qui in unoquoque debet geri erga proximum suum, videlicet quod unusquisque non debet aliter affici erga peccata proximi sui, quam si ipse ea perpetrasset. Sic affectus erat Abraham, erga Sodomitas, sic Samuel erga Saul, sic Daniel erga populum Judaicum. Et hic affectus multorum bonorum autor est, videlicet ne traducamus proximum nostrum, sed oremus pro eo, et castigemus eum, pro officio nostro.Starke: Pious people laugh not at the sins of others, but are sad at heart on their account, Jeremiah 9; Gen 18:23; 2Sa 15:35; 2Co 11:29.How inexcusable are the fresh transgressions of those who have been redeemed from the misery of sin. 1) Sin has already wrought misery enough. 2) God has shown His grace in delivering from it, which is exceedingly great, but may easily be lost again. 3) He has let us know His will. 4) His visitation of punishment will be still more severe.Starke: The strongest walls and the surest fence about a city and village is Gods gracious care, Psa 3:4-7; Pro 18:10.By the wickedness of the inhabitants is a land defiled; accordingly let us beware of sin. In the judgments of God we have to recognize His moderation, and thank God for it.The true penitential prayer: 1) Recognition of sin in its entire greatness and ruin: 2) recognition of the divine grace; 3) recognition of the cleanness of the divine will; 4) recognition of the justice of the judgment to be feared.Intercession of pastors for their congregations: 1) Out of love in spite of sin; 2) in faith in Gods grace; 3) in hope of a hearing.Starke: Since Ezra in his prayer sets before him the entire people, he includes himself among them and accepts his share in the sins of the people, comp. Isaiah 59; Dan 9:5; Neh 1:6.Teachers should particularly stand in the gap and seek to ward off the punishment of God by prayer. We often know not for the sake of what believers prayer God has spared a people and city.
[Scott: Silent grief and astonishment sometimes form the most expressive protestation against enormous crimes; and when men speak on such occasions it may be more effectual to address themselves to God than to the offender.Henry: A practical disbelief of Gods all-sufficiency is at the bottom of all the sorry shifts we make to help ourselves.The scandalous sins of professors are what we have reason to be astonished at.An eye to God as our God will be of great use to us in the exercise of repentance.There is not a surer or sadder presage of ruin to any people than revolting to sin, to the same sins again after great judgments and great deliverances.Wordsworth: Observe, this confession and prayer of Ezra, the priest and scribe, the friend of the king of Persia, was in a public place, at a time of public resort to the temple. He was not ashamed of repentance and self-humiliation, and he showed publicly that his trust was in Gods help, vouchsafed to fervent prayer at the door of Gods house.Tr.]
Footnotes:
[1][Rawlinson in loco thinks of the tent pin, which is driven into the earth to make the tent firm and secure, Isa 22:23; Isa 22:25.Tr.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
In the prosecution of Ezra’s commission, he makes discovery that the people of God had formed affinity with strangers. This calls forth great distress. Ezra seeketh to God in solemn prayer upon the occasion.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Lord hath expressly commanded (Deu 7:1-4 .) that there should be no intermarriages between Israel and the nations around. Chiefly, no doubt, with an eye to Christ. God’s people were a nation of priests, an holy seed, a peculiar people, a royal priesthood. Therefore this mingling with the heathens was a direct outrage to the divine law. Alas! what are we not capable of doing, when the Lord withholds his grace! And, Reader! have you never remarked in your own instance, how sometimes this is done to teach us what we are, and to cause us to look back again to the hole from whence we were digged. Isa 51:1 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ezr 9
1. Now when these things were done, the princes [native rulers of Jerusalem] came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations [ rather, as it regards their abominations], even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
2. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass [the upper classes were the worst].
3. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle [betokening his horror and grief], and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.
4. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled [in fear of the divine judgments] at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat [before the temple] astonied until the evening sacrifice.
5. And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God,
6. And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
7. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
8. And now for a little [the word little is here emphatic] space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place [the temple itself was a sure nail], that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little [emphatic as before] reviving in our bondage.
9. For we were [are] bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall [a figure expressive of security] in Judah and in Jerusalem.
10. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken thy commandments,
11. Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
12. Now, therefore, give not your daughters [ Deu 7:3 ] unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
13. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;
14. Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? Wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?
15. O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXII
EZRA AND HIS GREAT REFORMATION
Ezra 6-10
In the previous chapter we considered the history on this period up to the time the Temple was rebuilt and dedicated and the first Passover after the return was celebrated. This event occurred about 516 B.C. In this chapter we make a leap of nearly sixty years. This is ascertained by comparing the dates in Persia. The first verse of the seventh chapter begins thus: “After these things” and goes on to record the events which occurred about 458 B.C. In the meantime the work had lagged. The people had become lax. Numbers of foreign marriages had been contracted; many moral delinquencies had crept in.
In Persia several events of importance had transpired. Xerxes had become king (488-465 B.C.) . Esther had become queen, the incidents of Mordecai and Haman had taken place and Artaxerxes Longimanus (465-425 B.C.) had succeeded Xerxes on the throne. So we are now to consider the events in Judah during the reign of Artaxerxes of Persia, to whom Nehemiah was cupbearer.
First, we will consider the person and character of Ezra, 7:1-10. We have the record of his genealogy from Ezra himself. He traces his lineage back directly to Aaron, the brother of Moses. He is thus of genuinely priestly blood. His business was that of a scribe: a writer, a recorder, a codifier of the laws. He was an expert in Jewish law. He was doubtless a teacher and a man of high personal character and scholarship. There had been no revival during this period of nearly sixty years among the colonists in Judah and Jerusalem, and when God would stir up a revival among them, he began by arousing a man in faraway Babylon. He impressed upon this man the importance of the work, and stirred him up to lead the people into the complete adoption of the law of Moses among the Jews in Judah. They had no great leaders there. Ezra was among the exiles in Babylon and as a result of long and profound study of the matter, determined that the complete law of Moses must be made effective in Judah and Jerusalem, which was over eight hundred miles away and required about four months for the journey.
Next comes the decree of Artaxerxes (Ezr 7:11-26 ). Ezra must have been a man of great reputation and influence, highly respected by the king and nobility, for in some manner, we know not how, he secured from Artaxerxes the king this remarkable decree. He granted Ezra his whole request. We find two kinds of provisions in this decree, viz: the temporary and the more permanent ones. The following were the temporary provisions:
1. Like Cyrus, his predecessor, he made it a matter of choice to every one as to whether he would return or not.
2. He was to carry the silver and the gold which the king had freely offered for the establishment of the Law.
3. He was to buy with this money all the animals which he required for the performing of the sacrifices and ceremonies.
4. The money not required for this they were at liberty to use as they thought best.
5. The vessels were given them to be brought back to Jerusalem.
6. What other money was required Ezra was at liberty to draw upon the king’s treasure house.
7. All the treasurers who are beyond the rivers are commanded to give Ezra whatever he may require of them, with no restrictions as to the amount of salt he should need.
The following constitute the permanent provisions:
1. Priests and Levites and Temple officers were excused from taxation.
2. Ezra was empowered to appoint magistrates and judges to enforce the law of God, and to teach those who might not know it.
3. Whoever refused to obey this law might be punished by death or banishment or the confiscation of his goods or imprisonment.
The date of this decree is 457 B.C. and it is the most liberal decree yet. No wonder that Ezra breaks forth into that matchless song of thanksgiving! What marvelous powers had been granted to him by the great king of Persia! He blessed God that he had put such things into the king’s heart.
In Ezr 8:1-14 we have the genealogy of those who returned with Ezra. This account is taken from the personal memoirs of Ezra himself. Here he uses the first personal pronoun. Comparing this list with Zerubbabel’s list we find 17,073 males, making in all, perhaps 9,000 people; fewer families, though three new ones added, instead of eleven chiefs, or heads of families, we find eighteen, and there appears one remarkable name, “Hattush,” a descendant of David and the great-great-grandson of Zerubbabel.
In Ezr 8:15-36 , Ezra describes how he himself gathered the caravan together on the banks of a certain river, how he found no Levites among them, how he found certain Levites at a place called Casiphia and thus adds to his company a considerable number of Levites and singers. He proclaims a fast of three days at this camping place, and doubtless the fast was accompanied by earnest prayer. There was a long and dangerous journey before him, and he fully realized it. Ezra knew that a considerable portion of that desert would be infested by roving bands of robbers who would watch for just such caravans as his. He had a large amount of money with him and might have asked for a band of soldiers to accompany them, but he says, “I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against enemies in the way, because we had spoken to the king saying, The hand of our God is upon all those who serve him.” Such faith could not fail, and the journey was safely made, requiring about four months. It was in 458 B.C. The first thing they did was to turn over the money; the next thing was to offer sacrifices, and the third thing was to deliver the king’s commission.
At this time a considerable amount of laxity prevailed among the priestly families of Judah and Jerusalem. Many of the princes and the chiefs and priests had married daughters of the alien tribes that settled in and around Judah. The law of the priesthood was that they should marry only among the priestly families, and they were violating the law openly and flagrantly. For such a state of affairs to continue would mean the entire dissolution of the race and the obliteration of their religion. The princes, the civil heads, made the complaint because the priests and Levites were guilty. Ezra was dumbfounded. His actions are described in Ezr 9:3 where he says, “I rent my garments and my mantle and plucked out the hair of my head and beard and sat down astounded.” In this attitude he attracted a great deal of attention. And in spite of the crowd that collected about him, he remained in this position until the time of the evening oblation. That hour arriving, it was time for prayer. He stretched forth his hands in an earnest confession. That confession gives a glimpse into the heart of the man. It shows us his whole intense honesty and integrity of purpose. It shows how he identified himself with the people, for in his confession of the sins of the people he included himself with the others. He realized that if this state of affairs continued, the race would deteriorate, the religion of Jehovah would be lost among the foreign elements; that it would be practically impossible for him to impress the law of Moses upon the community; that the nation would justly die, for God would drive them into exile again. As might be expected, a great awe-stricken crowd gathered about the man so humiliated and grieved. They knew full well the cause. One young man, named Shecaniah, speaks. He thinks there is hope for Israel concerning this thing; that all that is necessary is for these men to put away their wives and the children born of such wives; only let it be done in a legal fashion, according to the law of Moses. Ezra revived. He roused himself up and issued a proclamation, calling an assembly of the people to consider the matter. He commands that they make confession of their guilt and separate themselves from the strange women, whom they have married. A divorce court is appointed whose duty it is to carry into effect this command. Two men refuse to obey (Ezr 9:15 ) and the same verse tells us that they had their friends. The work is completed. Homes are broken up. Wives are torn from their husbands and sent back to their homes. Children were torn from their fathers; husbands sat in the gloom of their homes, childless. It is difficult for us to even imagine the full results of such a rigid decree. According to the law of Moses it was the only thing that he could do to save the race and the law of God. The list of those who were guilty of this sin was formidable, but this radical measure was necessary to preserve Israel for her mission in giving the religion of Jehovah to the world.
QUESTIONS
1. What was the time period between the events of Ezra 6-7, how ascertained and what changes occurred during this period?
2. Who was Ezra, what did he do for Jerusalem and how long on the journey?
3. What was the nature of the decree of Artaxerxes concerning Ezra, what was the temporary provisions, what was the more permanent provisions, what date and how does this decree compare with the two preceding ones?
4. What of Ezra’s exultation in Ezr 7:27-28 ?
5. Compare the list of those who returned with Ezra with Zerubbabel’s list as to number, as to families, as to the chiefs, and as to the remarkable names.
6. What was the course of Ezra’s journey and what were the incidents and details of the journey?
7. Upon their arrival at Jerusalem what were the first things they did?
8. What immoral condition did Ezra find in Israel when he arrived in Jerusalem, who made the complaint and why, how did it affect Ezra, and how did he manifest his grief?
9. What course did he pursue and what are the striking features of his prayer?
10. How did God answer his prayer and what measures recom
11. How then did they proceed and what was the details of the work?
12. What do you think of the list of those who were guilty of this
13. What was the ground of justification for this radical measure by Ezra?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Ezr 9:1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, [doing] according to their abominations, [even] of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
Ver. 1. Now when these things were done ] Here are post maxima gaudia luctus, Heaven’s joys are without measure or mixture; but this present life is overspread with sins and miseries, as with a filthy morphew. Of good Ezra, we may say as Pliny doth of Metellus, Metellus infelix dici non debet, felix non potest, Unhappy we may not call him, happy we cannot; witness the doleful discourse of this chapter.
The princes came to me
The people of Israel
And the priests, and the Levites
Have not separated themselves
Doing according to their abominations
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ezra Chapter 9
When Ezra found himself in the midst of the people, there was a solemn and painful sight that met him (Ezr 9 ). There was this humiliation even in the captivity before he entered the land; but when he comes into the land it is a most painful sight. Those that had already returned from the captivity – those that were gathered towards the name of Jehovah in Jerusalem – he found in the most painful circumstances. He found sources of shame and sorrow. He found cases of evil. He found the most grievous sights and sounds among them.
Oh, beloved friends, what a sad thing for the heart of the man that had been afflicting himself before God away from the land among some of the people that were there. Now he came up and found that those that ought to have been so impressed with the sense of the grace of God, and so resting upon His protecting hand, were themselves in a state of carelessness, laxity, departure inwardly from His ways. They are outwardly near Him, but inwardly far from Him. So we are told. “Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites” (Ezr 9:1 ). It was not even so with the Samaritans. Positively, here were persons that were in Jerusalem, and not only people, but priests, doing after the abominations of the Canaanites. And you are sometimes surprised, beloved friends, that among those that are gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus there should be distressing developments of evil. Why, it must be so. They were not walking with God. The very worst forms of evil will be found where you are closest to the Lord if you are not walking with Him – if you are not kept by Him; because Satan’s great effort is against that. It is that which he hates above all that is on the face of the earth.
When people are walking hand in hand with the world, Satan can leave them. He knows where the world will lead them, and if flesh and spirit are joined hand in hand it is always flesh that gets the uppermost. The only way to walk in the Spirit is to judge the flesh – to have nothing to do with it, but denounce it – to mortify our members that are upon the earth. But all attempts to have a friendly harmony between the flesh and the Spirit is vain. Therefore Satan can leave that harmony to take its course. He knows right well that that which is fleshly will always break down in the things of God, whatever there may be of the Spirit connected with it. But where persons come out from the world and are on the professed ground of the judgment of the flesh, if the world is allowed by the heart, or the flesh is tampered with, and, above all in the worship of God – in the meeting of His people – if we indulge any personal feelings, or allow our own thoughts to govern us or our own feelings – what can it come to but the most distressing and unnatural sights? It is even worse than in the decent world. The decent world will, at any rate, keep an appearance; but where we have learned the vanity of appearance, and where it must be either Spirit really or flesh really, if there is a tampering with evil there, and the allowance of it there, flesh will come out in its worst form and Satan will bring the deepest dishonour on the name of the Lord.
So it was here. It was not in Babylon, but in Juda, that they were doing after the manner of the Canaanites. It was not the persons that were far away from Jerusalem. It was the people and the priests here who had slipped away from the will of the Lord. It was they that were “doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the head of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.” Oh, think of that! “The head of the princes and rulers have been chief in this trespass.” And do you suppose, beloved brethren, that we are clear from such dangers? In no wise. Let us then look earnestly to God; but let us remember this, that all true blessing for us must begin with individual blessing, and that the secret of individual blessing will always be found to have its root in self-judgment before God. We shall find that this is exactly so with Ezra who had been afflicting his soul and getting others to afflict their souls down in the captivity. So also in Jerusalem.
“And when I heard this thing I rent my garment, and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto Jehovah my God, and said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. And now for a little space grace hath been showed from Jehovah our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place.” And thus, you see, Ezra takes a place of deeper humiliation than that. It was not merely a fast now, but there is this sign of more profound humiliation – the rending his garments – the sitting astonished even till the evening sacrifice, and only then spreading out his hands to the Lord to pray for his people as well as to confess.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Ezr 9:1-4
1Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. 2For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness. 3When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled. 4Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.
Ezr 9:1 Now when these things had been completed This could refer to Ezr 8:36, which would explain the four and one-half month period between Ezra’s arrival and these charges. Many scholars have assumed that Neh 7:73 to Neh 9:37 fits historically between Ezra 8, 9. However, they seem to be separated in time. Ezr 9:1-15 is also recorded in 1Es 8:68-90.
NASBprinces
NKJV, TEVleaders
NRSV, NJBofficials
The Hebrew term (BDB 987) has a wide range of meaningchieftain, chief, ruler, official, captain, priest. Here it refers to religious leadership (cf. Ezr 8:24; Ezr 8:29; Ezr 10:5; 2Ch 36:14) or leaders of Jerusalem (cf. Ezr 8:10; Ezr 8:14; Neh 4:10; Neh 10:1; Neh 11:1). Apparently Ezra’s teaching of the Torah had an affect. This is a recurrent theme in both Ezra and Nehemiah.
the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites This three-fold division of the Jewish returnees is consistent throughout Ezra and Nehemiah.
had not separated themselves This VERB (BDB 95, KB 110) is a Niphal PERFECT (cf. Ezr 6:21). Some of the returning Jews married the indigenous population. This was especially problematic because this was the very issue which the Jewish leadership used to reject the help of the surrounding nations in Zerubbabel’s day (cf. Ezr 4:1-5). This issue is also dealt with by Nehemiah (cf. Neh 13:23-29, also note Mal 2:10-16).
the peoples of the land The list is Mosaic (cf. Exo 34:11-16; Deu 7:1-4). These nationalities no longer had their identity (except Egypt, Ammon, Moab) in the post-exilic Persian period. However, it shows that Ezra was trying to relate to the Mosaic covenant. This chapter has nothing to do with the issue of interracial marriage, but of religious corruption.
abominations This term (BDB 1072, see Special Topic: Abomination ) denotes a violation of YHWH’s covenant requirements, especially as it related to the fertility practices of the tribes of Canaan (cf. Deu 18:9; 1Ki 14:24; 2Ki 16:3; 2Ki 21:2; 2Ch 28:3; 2Ch 33:2; 2Ch 36:14; Ezr 9:1; Ezr 9:11; Ezr 9:14 and it is implied in Lev 18:26-27; Lev 18:29-30; Deu 18:12; Deu 20:18).
Canaanites This word (BDB 488, see Special Topic: Pre-Israelite Inhabitants of Palestine ) literally meant to bundle and came to refer to all the tribes of Palestine (Canaan). Some assert that the term meant land of purple (as does Phoenicia) and refers to the making of purple dye from sea shells. Even before this time period one of Ham’s sons was named Canaan. He was cursed by Noah because of his father’s sin (cf. Genesis 9) and became an ancestor of the Canaanites and Phoenicians (this is why this term often means trader or merchant). This cursing and later, Moses’ warnings to kill all of the Canaanites (e.g., Deu 7:1-5; Deu 20:17; Psa 106:34-39), caused this word to become a metaphor of evil, corruption, and abhorrence. These native tribes of Canaan were fertility worshipers (i.e., their abominations, cf. Ezr 9:1; Gen 15:16). God knew they would compromise His people, therefore, many of the laws of Leviticus deal with separation from these groups. Now again, God’s people had disobeyed and compromised their faith by marrying pagan women.
Hittites These were Kanesian-speaking descendants of a people who dominated central Turkey. Their kingdom was centered at Hattusas in Anatolia and was very involved in Mesopotamia and Palestine from 1800-1200 B.C.
Jebusites These were the inhabitants of Jerusalem until the conquest of David (cf. 2Sa 5:6-10). Remember, Jerusalem was originally called Salem (cf. Gen 14:18) and later Jebus (e.g., Jos 18:16; Jos 18:28; Jdg 19:10-11). David made it his capital because of the proximity to Mt. Moriah, the place where YHWH caused His name to dwell (i.e., the temple mount).
the Ammonites and Moabites These were relatives of the Jews, the descendants of Lot, and his own daughters (cf. Genesis 19).
Egyptians This racial group did not live in Palestine, but in northeast Africa. It must be remembered that Solomon, 1Ki 3:1, and Joseph, Gen 41:45, married Egyptians with no hint of condemnation involved. We must balance this chapter with Deu 21:10-14, which seems to allow foreign marriages. The problem was not foreign marriages, but religious amalgamation or eclecticism.
Amorites 1Es 8:69 has Edomites (but not Ammonites or Amorites) instead of Amorites. In Gen 15:16, it is a collective term for all of the peoples of Palestine (cf. Gen 15:16). Sometimes they are referred to collectively as Canaanites or Amorites, but often they are divided into ten groups (Gen 15:19), seven groups (Deu 7:1; Jos 3:10; Jos 24:11), six groups (Exo 3:8), five groups (Exo 3:17; Num 13:29), or three groups (Exo 23:28). See Special Topic: Amorite .
Ezr 9:2 for they had taken some of their daughters It must be remembered that Moses (Exo 2:21; Num 12:1, and David, 2Sa 3:3) had foreign wives, as well as Joseph (Gen 41:50) and Solomon (1Ki 7:8). The holy race is not primarily racial, but religious (cf. Jdg 3:4-7). The problem was not blood, but faith in YHWH (monotheism).
and for their sons Arranged marriages were the only cultural option. These returning Jews were putting their male children in danger by divorcing their wives in order to marry Canaanite women within established families.
the holy race This is an idiom (i.e., The seed of holiness) for a people who were meant to reflect God’s character (e.g., Exo 19:6; Isa 6:13). There is no special race because all humans are made in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26-27). However, in this context it refers to the people group out of which will come the Messiah (i.e., Jews, e.g., Gen 12:3; Gen 28:14).
NASB, NKJVintermingled
NRSVmixed
TEVbecome contaminated
NJBhas been contaminated
The Hebrew VERB (BDB 786 II, KB 876, Hithpael PERFECT) meant to take or give a pledge, which was an idiom of identifying with someone (cf. Psa 106:35; Pro 20:19; Pro 24:21).
the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness The leaders of the returning Jews were the very ones who were acting in such disobedient ways!
The term unfaithfulness (BDB 591) means a treacherous act or a breach of interpersonal trust, usually with God (e.g., Ezr 9:2; Ezr 9:4; Ezr 10:6; Lev 5:15; Num 5:12; Jos 22:22; 1Ch 9:1; 2Ch 29:19; 2Ch 33:19). Biblical faith involves (1) personal commitment, (2) covenantal commitment, and (3) faithfulness.
Ezr 9:3 I tore my garment This verse describes a series of Jewish acts of mourning (e.g., Ezr 9:5; Ezr 10:1; Ezr 10:6; Jos 7:6; 2Sa 1:11-12; 2Ch 34:27; Est 4:1; Isa 36:22; Jer 41:5). Apparently, Ezra did not know about these foreign marriages and was greatly appalled when he heard about it. His shock and sincerity also moved the exiles to reform their practices. See Special Topic: Grieving Rites
my garment and my robe The first term (BDB 93 II, the last entry) simply means the outer piece of clothing. It can refer to common clothing or special clothing.
The second term (BDB 591) denotes a special robe worn by the leading people of society or religion (cf. NIDOTTE, vol. 2, p. 1018). There is a possible word play between these terms and unfaithfulness (BDB 591) of Ezr 9:2.
and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard One sign of mourning was the shaving of the head (cf. Job 1:20; Isa 22:12; Jer 7:29; Jer 16:6; Jer 41:5; Jer 48:37; Mic 1:16), but Ezra’s grief was so intense he pulled out hair from his head and face. This is the only occurrence of this act in the OT.
sat down Sitting on the floor was also a sign of mourning (e.g., 2Sa 12:16; 2Sa 13:31; Neh 1:4; Isa 47:1; Eze 26:16).
NASB, NRSVappalled
NKJVastonished
TEVcrushed with grief
NJBin honor
This VERB (BDB 1030, KB 1563, Poel PARTICIPLE) means to be appalled, awestruck, horrified. It is used in Ezr 9:3 and Ezr 9:4. Its use is common in the seventh-century prophets and Daniel. Sin horrifies God and should horrify His people. It brings death and destruction. The Jews should have known this from their recent experience of the exile.
Ezr 9:4 everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel This is a powerful metaphor for God’s faithful people (cf. Ezr 10:3; Isa 66:2; Isa 66:5)!
The term (BDB 353) is used of people being afraid (cf. Jdg 7:3), but also of God and those things connected to Him (e.g., Exo 19:16; Exo 19:18; Deu 5:23-27).
1. the ark (1Sa 4:13)
2. His word (Isa 66:2; Isa 66:5; Ezr 9:4)
3. His commandments (Ezr 10:3)
4. His judgment (Isa 41:5; Eze 26:16; Eze 26:18; Eze 32:10)
until the evening offering The morning offering was at 9 a.m., the evening offering was 3 p.m. (cf. Exo 12:6; Dan 9:21; Act 3:1). Ezra sat appalled in the company of others sensitive to God and His word all day long. In a sense this is a confession of corporate sin (cf. Ezr 9:5-9), like that of Moses and Daniel.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the princes. Not all of them. Compare Ezr 9:2.
People of Israel. See note on Ezr 2:2 and 1Ki 12:17.
people = peoples, or nations.
Canaanites. Contrary to the law (Exo 34:12-16. Deu 7:1-3). See App-23and App-25.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 9
Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass ( Ezr 9:1-2 ).
Now they came to Ezra and they gave to him this awesome report. For God said to them when they had come in to the land that they weren’t to take any of the daughters for their own sons or give their daughters to their sons to be married. That they were to be a separate people, a holy people unto God. And they weren’t to have any intermarriages with the other tribe. The reason being that God was preserving the holy seed for the coming of His Son. Also, they were, there was the danger that they would begin to worship the gods of the Canaanites and the Perizzites and all. So God forbid inter-racial marriages only for the Jews. And I think that it’s important we point this out.
God did not make a general prohibition of inter-racial marriages. There are those who try to make out that inter-racial marriages are against the Scriptures. That is not so. It was only for the Jews that God commanded them not to marry inter-racially with those inhabitants of the land. But even Boaz, the great grandfather of David, married a Moabitess. And from that, of course, Christ was in that line. But the prohibition was not to marry the people of the land, lest you turn to their gods and turn away from the living God.
So they bring the report to Ezra now, “Since they’ve returned, these guys haven’t been keeping the law of God. They’ve been marrying these gals and actually the priests and the chief leaders are some of the worst offenders.” Now the effect that this had on Ezra was just overwhelming. You see, Ezra had come back to teach them the law of God. He was a teacher and a ready scribe, and his whole purpose in returning was to teach the people the law of God. And here they had been for seventy years in captivity in Babylon because of their idolatry, because of their disobedience to God, and now they’ve been in the land again for just about eighty years, but they’re right back in their old idolatry. And it’s just more than Ezra can believe. He’s just astonished.
When I heard this thing, I tore my clothes and my mantle, I pulled my hair out of my head and off my beard, and I sat down astonished ( Ezr 9:3 ).
“I can’t believe this!” And so he pulls out his hair, beard, tears his clothes and just sits down there astonished.
And then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having torn my garment and my mantle, I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God, and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and I blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. For since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. And now for a little space grace hath been showed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God might lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments, which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this ( Ezr 9:4-15 ).
So Ezra’s tremendous prayer unto God. Shows that he does have a good knowledge of the law of God which he came to teach the people. Shows that he does have a good concept of the will of God and of the purpose of God for the people, and offers his prayer before God, acknowledging that the judgments of God really were merciful. He did not judge them as much as they deserved. And here they’re going right back and doing the same thing. “God, what can I say? We are lucky that you haven’t wiped out us completely. We’re fortunate that we still exist.” And so he calls out unto God for the people. And so they come to him, the leaders and the people and they said, “We’ve done a terrible thing.” And so this was the remedy.
Those who had married wives from the land were to put them away and the children. It seems like a very harsh measure indeed. But they were to divorce all of those wives that were not Israelites. And all of the children that were born of them were to be put out. They said, “Hey, give us a little time to do it because there’s quite a few of us that have trespassed in this thing.” And so they took this very stringent measure in putting them out.
Now I did mention that inter-racial marriages were only forbidden to the Jews, but there is for we, Christians, the injunction: “Be not unequally yoked together with an unbeliever.” So you should never go into a marriage with an unbeliever. You’re just violating the law of God. “What fellowship hath light with darkness? What communion, concord hath Christ with Belial?” ( 2Co 6:14 , 2Co 6:15 ) “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Ezr 9:1-2
Introduction
EZRA’S PRAYERFUL RESPONSE TO THE MIXED MARRIAGES OF ISRAEL WITH PAGANS
Actually, both of these final chapters of Ezra are devoted to the solution of the problem presented by Israel’s intermarriage with foreigners. It is easy for us to see how this problem developed. In the first place there might have been a shortage of women in that company of returnees which came with Zerubbabel; and again, the great men of Israel’s history had repeatedly taken foreign wives. Both Abraham and Joseph had married Egyptians; Judah also married a Gentile; Moses married a Cushite; one of David’s wives was a foreigner (2Sa 3:3); and Solomon’s harem was apparently dominated by pagan wives. Under the circumstances, therefore, it is easy to see how this problem developed.
Nevertheless, in spite of what some view as the violation of human rights, and the incredible grief, sufferings, and emotional distress that resulted from Ezra’s drastic solution of this crisis, it needed to be corrected; and there can be no doubt whatever that God’s will was accomplished in the epic severance of Israel from their idolatrous wives. “There is no doubt that if the practice of intermarriage had continued and extended, then the Jews would have lost their national identity; and it is of the greatest significance that the New Testament warns against marriages with unbelievers (2Co 6:14).”
In this connection, we must reject the liberal view that, “The Israelites did not originally condemn intermarriage.”; Deu 7:3 specifically forbade intermarriage with non-Israelites; and it is a gross mistake to identify that restriction with some alleged “Deuteronomist.” The prohibition against Israel’s mingling with non-Israelites in marriage was an integral part of the entire Mosaic covenant, as taught in Exo 23:32, where God forbade making “any covenant” with the pagan populations, a restriction which absolutely included the marriage covenant as well as all other covenants. Again, “Is it not that we are separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth” (Exo 33:16)? The wholesale violation of God’s law in this matter by many of Israel’s famous leaders in no way invalidated God’s specific orders.
Before proceeding to examine the text of this chapter, we notice another liberal viewpoint which we must reject. It seems to be a presumptive privilege falsely arrogated to themselves which prompts many critical scholars to proceed with rearranging the Biblical text to conform to their imaginative theories and prejudices, apparently overlooking the fact that they are absolutely without any divine mandate to do any such rearranging of the Biblical text.
We thank God that the custodianship of the Sacred Scriptures was not entrusted to the radical critical enemies of the Bible whose writings have proliferated during the current century. The inspired writings of the apostle Paul tell us exactly who received that commission of custodianship. Here it is:
“WHAT ADVANTAGE THEN HATH THE JEW? … MUCH EVERY WAY; FIRST OF ALL BECAUSE THEY WERE ENTRUSTED WITH THE ORACLES OF GOD” (Rom 3:1-2).
Well, there we have it! The Jews were entrusted with keeping the Sacred Scriptures of the O.T.; and because of that, we cannot receive the proposition that, “The story of the reading of the law and its aftermath (Neh 7:73 to Neh 9:37) originally stood between the Ezra 8 and Ezra 9.” There are excellent explanations of the gap of several months between Ezra’s arrival in Jerusalem and his getting down to the problem of the mixed marriages; and we shall note these below.
This is a remarkably interesting and important chapter. There are ten divisions in these final two chapters, three of which appear in this chapter. These are: (1) “The complaint of the princes regarding the mixed marriages (Ezr 9:1-2); (2) Ezra’s astonishment and horror (Ezr 9:3-4); and (3) Ezra’s confession and prayer to God (Ezr 9:5-15).”
Ezr 9:1-2
EZRA GETS THE BAD NEWS ABOUT THE MIXED MARRIAGES
“Now when these things were done, the princes drew near unto me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the peoples of the lands: yea the hands of the princes and the rulers have been chief in this trespass.”
“Now when these things were done” (Ezr 9:1). Hamrick wrote that, “These words seem to imply that the controversy over mixed marriages occurred immediately upon Ezra’s arrival in Jerusalem.” A number of current scholars take the same view; and then, because Ezra’s action to correct the situation did not take place until the twentieth day of the ninth month (Ezr 10:9), the critical scholars at once account for this “gap,” as they call it, by supposing that, “The story of the reading of the law and its aftermath (Neh 7:73 to Neh 9:37) should be inserted into the Book of Ezra, between Ezra 8 and Ezra 9.”
As noted above, we believe in the integrity and authenticity of both Ezra and Nehemiah; and we do not accept the assumed authority of 20th century scholars to revise the Holy Bible and to do any kind of a scissors and paste job on it that pleases them.
Their error here is in the failure to see that “after these things” in the text says nothing about Ezra’s actions being “immediately after his arrival in Jerusalem.” It simply means that Ezra received the word about the mixed marriages after he had completed his assignment from the king. And how long was that?
Keil explained that several months elapsed before the word about the mixed marriages came to Ezra. “The delivery of the king’s commands to the satraps and governors … occupied weeks, or months; because the king’s command was not merely to transmit the royal decree, but to come to such an understanding with them as would secure their goodwill and support in furthering the people and the house of God.” In view of the vast distances involved in Ezra’s delivery of the king’s decree to all the satraps and governors beyond the River, it is surprising that he confronted the mixed marriage situation as early as he did.
“The Canaanites, the Hittites, Perizzites, …” (Ezr 9:1). There were seven of the Canaanite nations (Exo 3:8; Exo 23:23; Deuteronomy 7), five of whom are mentioned here. The Ammonites, Moabites and Egyptians are here mentioned in addition to five of the seven Canaanite races. “If any effectual check was to be put upon Israel’s relapse into heathenism, the prohibition against marriages with all of these groups, under existing circumstances, was absolutely necessary.”
The problem was aggravated and intensified by the violations of many of the princes and rulers of the Israelites by such marriages.
E.M. Zerr:
Ezr 9:1. One of the most outstanding predictions that appear in the writings of the prophets is that the Jews would be cured of idolatry by the captivity. That subject will be given complete discussion when writing on the prophetic books. This verse might seem to contradict that prediction by its charge that they were doing according to the evil ways of the heathen nations. The group named were the ones of old whose idolatrous practices had led the people of God into the condition that resulted in their downfall. But take note that the verse does not specify what the abominations were, except that some unlawful connection had been formed.
Ezr 9:2. This is the place that tells us what was meant in the first verse of the chapter. The marriage between God’s people and those of other nations had been forbidden by the law of Moses (Exo 34:16; Deu 7:3). That law had been violated by the Jews who had been living in Palestine. The reader will remember that a great many of the children of Israel had gone up there from Babylon in the days of Zerubbabel, 75 years before this period of which we are studying, and in that time these unlawful intermarriages had taken place. Holy seed means the children of Israel because they alone composed the nation that had been recognized as the people of God.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
On Ezra’s arrival at Jerusalem complaint was made to him of the failure and sin of the people. What an appalling story it was, that during these sixty years, even though there had been no return to heathen idolatry, God’s law against intermingling with the people of the land had been willfully broken, the chief offenders being the princes and rulers.
The picture of Ezra in the presence of this confession is very fine. It is that of a man so stirred with righteous indignation that he had rent his garments and plucked off his beard. As the storm of his passion subsided he sank in silent astonishment until the evening oblation. Then he fell on his knees before God, and poured out his soul in prayer. It was a wonderful prayer. Beginning with confession of his personal shame, he at once gathered into his outcry the whole of the people, identifying himself with them as he spoke of “our iniquities . . . our guiltiness,” and so forth. He went back over all the history in imagination as he knelt before his God, and clearly saw that it had been one long story of failure and of consequent disaster. He then spoke of his consciousness of the grace of God manifest in making possible the return of a remnant of the people through favor of the kings of Persia. Then the surging sorrow of the new failure found expression in free and full confession, until at last, without any petition for deliverance, he cast the people before God with a recognition of His righteousness and of their inability to stand in its presence.
It is a fine revelation of the only attitude in which any man can become a mediator. There is first an overwhelming sense of sin. This is accompanied, and perhaps caused by, that deeper sense of the righteousness and grace of God. It finds expression in agonized and unsparing confession. The passion of the whole movement is evidence of its reality. No man can really know the righteousness of God, and in its light see sin, and remain quiet and calculating and unmoved.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
a Leaders Sorrows for His Peoples Sins
Ezr 9:1-15
The mingling of the holy seed with heathen peoples was always the curse of Israel, and it has been the temptation of Gods children in every age. Do we sufficiently tremble at the words of the God of Israel because of our sins or those of others? The humiliation and anguish of soul experienced by Ezra and his associates are a great rebuke to us. We are indignant, but we do not view sin from Gods standpoint. Notice the humility of his prayer, I blush to lift up my face; its vicarious confession of sin; its acknowledgment of Gods grace in giving a little reviving; its recital of the aggravation which had dyed their sin of a deeper hue. Israel was intended to live in Canaan as a separated people. The land itself could not yield its good, or remain their permanent inheritance on condition of their fidelity to God. When confession of sin has been made, let us stand before God claiming forgiveness, acceptance, and cleansing, through the precious blood of Christ, 1Jn 1:7.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter 9
The Break-Down By Amalgamation
There is perhaps no greater trial a man can be called upon to face, than to take, through grace, a position he has seen from the word of God to be scriptural, and then to be rudely awakened to the realization that the people who were in that position before him, are not what he had hoped to find them. Yea, that they are even less spiritual, less devoted, less zealous for God, than some he has left behind him in systems where quasi-darkness prevailed. Then indeed one needs to be firmly held by truth, or he is likely to be altogether overcome and completely disheartened. Many an unstable soul has, by such a test, been utterly swept away from his moorings. Such often go back in despair to the unscriptural positions they had abandoned, and give out a bad report of the land, thus hindering others from following the light vouchsafed to them. While some, with too much conscience to build again the things they had destroyed, become what one might call spiritual free lances-and sometimes, alas, spiritual Ishmaelites, their hand against every man, and every mans hand against them; criticizing, fault-finding, restless and unhappy; occupied with evil; lamenting the conditions of the times; bewailing the unfaithfulness of anybody and everybody but themselves; and so falling into a spirit of Pharisaism that is helpful to no one, and a hindrance to all they come in contact with.
Now all this results from occupation with persons instead of with Christ. It is supposed that because people occupy a position of peculiar favor, and have been blessed with special light, they must needs be personally more to be relied on than the generality of Christians, and that the flesh is less likely to act in them than in others. Often one hears of people coming out to certain brethren, or joining this or that company of saints. All this is bound to result in disaster.
It is to Christ alone we are called to go forth, without the camp, bearing His reproach. He, blessed be God, never disappoints. If the eye be fixed on Him-if the heart be occupied with Him-if He be recognized as the one only Centre-then, let saints be what they may as to their spiritual state, there can be no lasting disappointment, for Christ abides.
If I see it to be according to Scripture to gather with fellow-believers to the name of the Lord Jesus, owning that there is one body, and one Spirit, the behaviour of those already so gathered cannot alter the truth for one moment. Rather does it call for exercise of soul on my part that I may be a help to them, stirring them up to fresh devotedness and renewed zeal in self-judgment.
It is far easier to stand aside and point out the low state of the rest-even to withdraw altogether from their company-than to emulate Ezra who, by his personal faithfulness, lifted the whole company to a higher plane. There will be less trouble, less perplexity, less concern, if one simply turns away and leaves the rest to go on as they will; but God is not, thereby glorified nor are failing saints recovered.
The position of gathering to the name of the Lord in simplicity as members of the one body, is not one in which there is no trouble. Far from it. But it is a place where all trouble can be set right and every difficulty met by the word of God alone; and this is what cannot be said of any sect in Christendom. There human ingenuity, man-made regulations, carnal laws and ordinances are relied on to keep things in order and to settle disputes. But those who turn, in faith, from all this to Christ alone as Centre and the Word alone for guide and disciplinary instruction, find that Word all-sufficient if there be but obedience to its principles. Of all this the present and the last chapters furnish us with a most blessed illustration.
The first burst of praise and worship over, for Ezra there came this rude awakening to which I have referred above. One can imagine the awful disappointment, the poignant grief that were his when the sad state of affairs that had developed among the separated Jews was revealed to him. No description can bring it before us more vividly than his own words.
Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons; so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the peoples of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass: and when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied (vers. 1-3).
Devoted and faithful steward of God! How our hearts are moved by his bitter grief when he is thus brought to realize the low condition of the people who are in the only right position. Could one be astonished if he had turned heartsick away from them all, and in lofty seclusion of spirit endeavored to go on alone with God, giving up all hope of corporate testimony?
But this he does not do. In faithfulness to God he cannot forego the position, and he loves the people of the Lord too much to give them up.
One thing is encouraging to begin with. While, alas, the nobles and princes were chief in this trespass, yet there were princes who were, clearly, not of the mind of the rest, but who sought and cried because of the abominations done in their midst. The very fact that these men sought Ezra out to lay the true condition of affairs before him, was evidence of their desire to help and deliver the rest.
It is pitiable indeed when among those outwardly separated, links are formed and maintained that deny the integrity of that separation; and it is unspeakably sad when the leaders fail in this very thing and thus encourage the simple in departure from God. More than once have we seen people who would not tolerate an ecclesiastical yoke with unbelievers, yet uniting with the world in business, even in marriage, and in kindred ways. This is similar to what we have here in Ezra.
The people were out of Babylon as to their bodies, but the spirit of Babylon possessed them still. This it was led to amalgamation with the uncircumcised nations of the land. The same evil principle frequently works in a directly op- posite way. Often have we seen those who were supposed to have judged the sin of sectarianism and left human systems, yet maintain as sectarian a spirit when gathered out as any could possibly have who contended for the most rigid denominationalism. It is related of Luther that he said in the beginning he had spent much time in denouncing the people of Rome, until he found every man had a greater pope in his own heart than ever sat in the papal chair. This is the fruit of legality; while what we have in our chapter is rather an unholy license-a turning the grace of God into lasciviousness-an utter misuse of that grace.
Almost heart-broken, Ezra manifested all the signs of deepest distress of spirit, and sat down in bitter astonishment. That such things prevailed in Babylon would not have amazed him. That they could be tolerated among those gathered to the place of the Name, dumbfounded him.
But at once the news of his grief spread among the people with a blessed and soul-cheering result. That all were not in sympathy with the looseness that had come in soon became evident. Then were assembled unto me, he tells us, everyone that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice (ver. 4). God had said, long before, by Isaiah, To this man will I look; to him that is humble and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word (Isa 66:2). Such there were still among the remnant, and upon them the Lord could look in blessing. These men and Ezra, acting with God, would be a majority, however few in number. Such men are likely to be regarded by the un-spiritual as troublers and old fogies; but where there is real exercise of soul, God can be depended on to show whom He recognizes, in due time.
It was at the evening sacrifice that Ezra arose from his heaviness and was uplifted in spirit above the depressing circumstances that had so bowed him with grief. The evening sacrifice speaks of the cross. It was the continual burnt offering-Christ the holy One doing the will of God even unto death-a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor. As this blessed odor greets Ezras nostrils, he is delivered from his speechless anguish and enabled to pour out his soul in confession and prayer.
And is it not ever thus? As Christ and His cross are before the soul one is raised above occupation with evil and depression of spirit because of failure on the part of ones brethren.
Falling upon his knees, and spreading out his hands-holy hands, without wrath and doubting-before God, he opened his mouth in a petition that is most affecting in its humility, its regard for Gods holiness and truth, and the wonderfully blessed way in which he, personally pure (as Daniel, in his ninth chapter, and Nehemiahs companions in his), identifies himself with the people in all their failure and sin.
The balance of the chapter is entirely devoted to this prayer; it will repay the closest study and meditation: O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to Thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day (vers. 6, 7). In these words, observe, how far back Ezra goes in tracing the present evil to its source. It was the sin that had resulted in the captivity which had never been really judged, and had been the parent sin of all the rest. The low state of the whole nation affected even the returned remnant. And so it is in Christendom. We have sinned since the days of our fathers. First love was left at the very beginning and true recovery there has never been. Who has really felt the sin of the Church in turning from her glorified Head and linking herself with the world? Here and there the Spirit of God produces contrition and some sense of the failure, but who has fully fathomed it? Yet ever and anon God works in revival, drawing a few back in heart to Christ; but declension almost invariably follows. It has been said that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, and it is as true in spiritual things as in carnal.
Ezra details before God the work His grace had wrought; only the more to emphasize the insubordination that had misused that grace so sadly. And now for a little space grace hath been showed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in His holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For we are [not were] bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem (vers. 8, 9). The reference to the nail is doubtless a recognition of Isaiahs prophecy of the nail in a sure place, upon which Jehovahs glory was to hang, which is, in the full sense, Christ Himself (Isa 22:21-25). A partial fulfilment had already been given; God had acted in great grace in thus giving a little reviving, though they were still bondmen; for they share in the failure of the whole nation. It was no time for fleshly exultation, no time for pride of position; but only for lowliness of spirit and humiliation of soul because of the dark record of evil in which all had their share.
Ezra next recalls the special sin of the remnant, and here again he confesses all as his sin. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken Thy commandments (yet he who so speaks had possibly been less than a week among them. What an example for any who would walk with God to-day, and what a rebuke to the Pharisaism that would coldly point out the failure of others, while professing to have no part in it oneself!)-we have forsaken Thy commandments, which Thou hast commanded by Thy servants the prophets, saying, The land unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncle an-ness. Now, therefore, give not your daughters unto their sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth forever; that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever (vers. 10-12). Thus had God spoken. Alas, how had this word been forgotten by those who had in other respects honored His truth, by returning to the divinely-appointed Centre. Separation would have been their strength. Amalgamation was likely to be but their ruin; unless, indeed, the evil were judged and put away from their midst. And this snare of amalgamation with the ungodly is ever a lurking danger to the children of God. I do not for a moment speak of the coming together of believers, who have been kept apart by dissension and unscriptural judgments, as amalgamation. God forbid! When that which is of the same nature flows together, it is not amalgamation but unity. Things different in character are amalgamated to form a union which can never be a true unity. It is against such amalgamation we are warned in 2 Cor. 6: Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath a believer with an unbeliever? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said: I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be My people (vers. 14-16). In the beginning God divided the light from the darkness, and it has been the business of the devil ever since to seek to link the twain together.
Feeling in his soul the seriousness of so unholy a union, Ezra goes on to own Gods justice in visiting them with His displeasure. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that Thou, our God, hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this, should we again break Thy commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples of these abominations, wouldst not Thou be angry with us till Thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? (vers. 13, 14). Light obeyed, results in greater light; but if the light that is in thee become darkness how great is that darkness. God must visit those in chastisement who trifle with His truth. The more truth, the greater the responsibility, and the more severe the displeasure of the Lord if it be set at naught or spurned.
Feeling all this deeply, Ezra can only conclude with a fuller expression of confession than ever, and a throwing himself and the people, in all their wretched condition, right into the arms of the God they have sinned against. O Lord God of Israel, Thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold we are before Thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before Thee because of this (ver. 15). And so he concludes his prayer and leaves the case in the hands of God, who, though Ezra knew it not, had even then begun to work, as the concluding chapter gives abundant witness.
How much greater might be the blessing in many a similar time of distress, were there more of such dealing with God and less of appeal to man; more humiliation and confession and less publishing the sorrows abroad; more spreading out the hands unto the Lord and less pamphleteering. Oh for grace to hearten unto the lesson here given for our learning!
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
CHAPTER 9
1. Ezras astonishment and grief (Ezr 9:1-4)
2. Ezras confession and prayer (Ezr 9:5-15)
Ezr 9:1-4. When all these things had been done (that are related in chapter 8:33-36) Ezra was confronted by a very sad condition of the people, and even the priests and the Levites. The princes (civil leaders) came to Ezra and told him that the demanded separation according to the law, between Gods people and the Canaanitish inhabitants of the land, had not been obeyed. The people had taken of their daughters for themselves and of their sons so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of the lands; yea the hand of the princes and rulers hath been first in this trespass. Not alone had they intermarried, but they were also doing according to their abominations. Not alone had they fallen into the evil things of the former inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, but they were also contaminated with the wicked things of the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. In doing this they had wilfully broken the command of the Lord as given in Exo 34:12-16. Gods people were to be holy, a separated people. Israel was married unto Jehovah; their marriage to the heathen was disobedience to the law and unfaithfulness to Jehovah. It was an alliance with the world. God demanded separation of Israel; He demands the same of His people in the New Testament. But as He who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy (1Pe 1:15-16). Like Israel, believers in the New Testament are said to be married unto Christ (Rom 7:4; 2Co 11:2). And therefore Gods Spirit warns against alliance with the world. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers (2Co 6:14). Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world (1Jn 2:15). Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world, maketh himself an enemy of God (Jam 4:4). That the returned remnant, after a few years of the completion of the temple and after the gracious and remarkable deliverance from Babylon, could plunge into such depths of degradation, shows what the heart of man is. As it has been said, when saints fall into sin, it is sometimes into worse and grosser forms of sin than those committed by the people of the world. It equally manifests the infinite patience and long-suffering of God, in bearing with His people and not dealing with them at once in judgment.
Let us listen to the words of pious Ezra, what he said and did after receiving this sad report. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. He was seized with horror. The rending of his garments was the outward expression of his indignation and grief (Gen 37:29; Lev 10:6; Jdg 11:35; Est 4:1). The plucking of the hair is also a sign of sorrow (Job 1:20; Eze 7:18). But how his heart must have felt the dishonor done to Jehovahs holy Name! How he was deeply affected by the sins of the people. Would to God such a spirit of deep grief and humiliation were more manifested today over the sad and worldly conditions of those who profess that worthy Name! His grief and sorrow brought others, who were also trembling at the words of God, to his side, and he sat in their presence astonished till the evening sacrifice.
Ezr 9:5-15. When the evening sacrifice came he arose from his deep affliction and sorrow, with his garments rent. It is the sacrifice, the burnt offering, which leads him to approach God; he trusted in the efficacy of the sacrifice as the ground on which he could appear before God. He knew by sacrifice he could come near to God and receive the answer. All this blessedly foreshadows the sacrifice of Christ and our approach to God through His finished work on the cross. The prayer which follows is like Daniels great prayer (Dan 9:4-19). Daniel also received his answer at the time of the evening sacrifice. Ezra fell upon his knees and spread out his hands unto the LORD. What a confession of sins and deepest humiliation breathe in the opening sentences of this remarkable prayer! He is ashamed and blushes to lift his face up to God. Iniquities are owned as covering the head of the people and the guiltiness is grown unto the heavens. Not alone is the present guilt acknowledged, but he owns the guilt of the nation from its very start. Furthermore he declares Gods righteousness and justice in dealing with them in judgment. For our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hands of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to spoiling, and to confusion of face, as it is today. He confessed the sins of the people and owned it all in His presence. Such humiliation and confession is always pleasing to God, for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble (Jam 4:6).
Then, after having confessed and owned the sins of his brethren and justified God in His judgment upon them, he mentions the grace which had been manifested towards the people in bringing back the remnant from the captivity. The remnant through His mercy had escaped, and God had given them a nail in His holy place (Isa 22:23). Like a nail in the wall fixed and immovable, so God had established them in Jerusalem. And after the recital of all these mercies, he brings into the light of Gods presence their sin, their disobedience and ingratitude once more (Ezr 9:10-12).
It should also be observed that Ezra does not once pray for forgiveness. Nay, with any intelligence of the mind of God, it was impossible that he should do so. When there is known evil in our hearts or in the assembly, our first responsibility is to judge it, not to pray for forgiveness. Thus, when Joshua lay on his face before the LORD, after the defeat of Israel by the men of Ai, the LORD said, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, etc. And yet how often does Satan beguile the LORDs people, in a time of manifested evil, by suggesting through one or another, Let us pray about it. Confess our sins we surely should, but even then only as seeking grace and strength to deal with the evil, and to separate ourselves from it; for if Ezra lay before the LORD in this chapter owning his peoples guilt, we shall see him in the next energetic in dealing with the sin he had confessed, and resting not until it had been put away. (E. Dennett, Exposition of Ezra.)
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
the princes: Ezr 10:8, Jer 26:10, Jer 26:16
have not separated: Ezr 6:21, Ezr 6:22, Ezr 10:10, Ezr 10:11, Exo 33:16, Num 23:9, Neh 9:2, Neh 13:3, Isa 52:11, 2Co 6:14-18
doing according: Lev 18:3, Lev 18:24-30, Deu 12:30, Deu 12:31, Deu 18:9, 2Ch 33:2, Psa 106:35, Rom 2:17-25
of the Canaanites: Gen 15:16, Gen 15:19-21, Exo 23:23, Deu 20:17, Deu 20:18
Ammonites: Deu 23:3-5, 1Ki 11:1, 1Ki 11:5-7, Neh 4:3, Neh 4:7, Neh 13:1-3
Moabites: Num 25:1-3
Reciprocal: Gen 6:2 – and they Gen 24:37 – And my Exo 8:26 – we shall Num 25:6 – weeping Deu 7:3 – General Jos 5:1 – Canaanites Jos 17:15 – the Perizzites Jos 23:12 – shall make Jdg 2:2 – but ye have Jdg 16:1 – and went Ezr 9:11 – The land Ezr 10:18 – the sons Neh 10:28 – all they Neh 10:30 – General Neh 13:7 – understood Eze 16:3 – Hittite Eze 16:44 – As is Hos 7:8 – he hath Mal 2:11 – and hath 1Co 7:14 – the unbelieving husband 2Co 11:29 – is weak
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE HISTORY OF all the revivals, that God grants in His mercy, seems to be the same: a bright beginning, followed by declension more or less rapid. There is this constant tendency to forsake the fountain of living waters, and hew ourselves out broken cisterns that can hold no water (see Jer 2:13). Thus it has been from ancient times to our own day. Many of us may have inherited good things from more recent revivals, granted in the mercy of God; but how are we holding and profiting by these things? Or, are we neglecting them and letting them slip away?
Ezra had been so prospered of God in the enterprise he had undertaken that he may well have arrived in Jerusalem with high hopes. If so, the information he at once received must have come to him with very painful force. Among the people then in the land, there were certain princes who realized the sad declension that had taken place. That which had started so brightly under Zerubbabel and Jeshua had been gravely marred. Not only the com. mon people, but also priests, Levites, and even princes and rulers, had been involved in the trespass. They had failed to maintain the necessary separation from the varied heathen nations that surrounded them. Intermarrying with them, they had learned their customs and had practised their abominable sacrifices and ways.
If we read the first six verses of Deu 7:1-26, we find that seven nations, who were greater and mightier than Israel, were in the land that God had given to them; they were to destroy them and contract no marriages with them, so that they might not be perverted to their ways. Even under the faithful Joshua this was only partially done, and now many centuries later we see the effects of their failure. In the first verse of our chapter the nations mentioned are almost the same as those we find in Deu 7:1-26, and to them the Egyptians are added, making eight in all.
The people had been warned through Moses of the disastrous effects that would flow from alliance with these peoples, and those effects had come to pass in the history of both the ten tribes and the two, and had led to the scattering and the captivity. Now once again the same snare had entangled the returned remnant, in spite of a bright start, and hearing of it, Ezra was overwhelmed.
And we have painfully to reflect that the same snare, though it is mainly exercised in a rather different way, underlies much of the almost apostate conditions that prevail in Christendom today. The evil set in when there was the merging of the Church and the world under the Roman Emperor Constantine, which in the course of a few centuries led to the rise of the Papacy as a great world-power. And later again, after the Reformation, state churches came into existence, in which those truly converted and the unconverted are mixed together, and so on. The damaging effect of this is all too evident on every hand.
Have our eyes been opened to see the terrible failure that has marked the church in this thing? And if we have seen it, have our reactions been at all similar to that displayed by Ezra? We fear it has not been so. We shall do well to take very careful notice of the effect which the sad discovery had upon him.
Here was a man singularly free from the evil that was uncovered before him, yet he smote himself, instead of starting to smite the guilty parties. According to the customs of those days, he rent his clothes, but not content with this he smote himself, by plucking out hair from his head and beard – a painful process. Having done so, he sat down ‘astonied’, or ‘overwhelmed’. He began with himself in humiliation before God.
Starting thus, the effect was immediate. Amongst the returned remnant there were those who were conscious of the widespread transgression of the law in this matter, but who had not the energy, and perhaps not the position among the people, to do anything about it. These were at once stirred up by Ezra’s drastic action, and identified themselves with him, as verse Ezr 9:4 records. They were those who ‘trembled at the words of the God of Israel’, and these, being like Ezra, are just the people to whom God will look in His mercy, as stated in Isa 66:2.
At the time of the evening sacrifice, when there was a small typical representation of the sacrifice of Christ, Ezra arose with his rent garments and fell on his knees to approach God in the remarkable prayer, which is recorded in verses Ezr 9:6-15; a prayer in which no actual request was made; consisting as it did from first to last in humble and heartbroken confession of sins, in which he personally had not shared.
One remarkable feature, characterizing the whole confession, is that he identified himself with the people, and confessed the evils as though they were his own. From beginning to end he uses ‘we’ and ‘us’, where we might have expected ‘they’ and ‘them’ to appear. Moreover he acknowledged that the evils that had confronted him were a reviving of the sins that had defiled his people from the outset, or as he put it, ‘since the days of our fathers’, but aggravated by the fact that they were being repeated after God had shown such mercy in relieving them of the governmental consequences of their former sins.
This prayer of Ezra contains admonition for ourselves of a solemnizing kind, so we do well to consider it. In the history of Christendom great mercy has been shown, and from the time of the Reformation revivings have taken place, but only to be marked by this same tendency to revert to former evils. It would indeed be well if every true saint today was on his or her knees before God with words like Ezra’s, springing from convictions and a heart like his. And all too often we should have to make our confession as having been involved in the sin and defilement, and not, like Ezra, as identifying ourselves with those who have done so.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Ezr 9:1. The princes came to me Those who feared God, and understood that Ezra was come with a large commission and ample powers from the king, and with a design to reform all disorders, whereof this which they came to complain of was not the least: saying, The people, and the priests, &c., have not separated themselves from the people of the lands From the heathen nations round about them, which God had expressly commanded them to do, (Deu 7:2-3,) but have associated with them both in trade and in conversation; have made themselves familiar with them; and, to complete the affinity, have taken the daughters of these heathen in marriages to their sons. Doing according to their abominations Marrying promiscuously whomsoever they liked, as the heathen are wont to do, and imitating them in some of their wicked practices, into which they have been drawn by their heathenish affinities. To do abominations, is an expression, which, in Scripture language, generally means worshipping of idols; but here it seems only to signify imitating the heathen in promiscuous marriages with any nation whatsoever, a practice which, however, would soon have led them to commit idolatry.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ezr 9:2. The holy seed have mingled with the people. The distinction of the Jews from the heathen was not by nature, but by grace. Their nobility lay in adherence to the covenant of God, and so they became his sons and daughters. Therefore to marry with idolaters was a total breach, and caused Ezekiel to call them descendants of the Amorites: chap. 16. The idolaters must first be proselyted to righteousness, and their household baptised; then the Jews, but not the priests, might marry them.
Ezr 9:5. I fell upon my knees, trembling and weeping, lest the calamities of Baalpeor should overtake the Sadducean profligates which had escaped from Babylon.
REFLECTIONS.
Ezra had scarcely visited his country, and rejoiced in all the hallowing prospects of Israels hopes, before he was made sad by a gloomy recital of the morals and degeneracy of his people. The faithful who feared the Lord, and spake often one to another, gathered round him; for they trembled at the terrific denunciations of the law, and for fear lest the late judgments experienced by their country should be repeated. They told this faithful prince, that many, and not a few of the nobles, the priests and levites, were leaders in the crimes, had intermarried with women of the seven devoted nations, and even put away, or cruelly treated their lawful wives, to gratify a lawless concupiscence. They added further, that they lived in all the abominations of the heathen in regard to idolatry, to drunkenness, and other impurities; they insolently said also, what profit is there in the Lord that we should serve him? In short we have a full account and confirmation of their insolence and crimes in the prophet Malachi.
This awful complaint made manifest the deep piety and zeal of Ezra. He rent his raiment, plucked hairs from his beard, and sat on the ground, besmeared with blood till the time of evening sacrifice. That is true piety which weeps for the wickedness of the land, and interposes between the offended God and a guilty people. He is a fallen and lukewarm professor who regards crimes with indifference, and feels no zeal for God, nor love to a fallen world. Ezra was not only a pious and feeling man, but a man of fervent prayer. The effusions of his soul on this occasion are worthy of the first prophets. He associates himself in the number of this guilty crowd. He neither extenuates nor palliates the greatness of the sin, but views it as heightened by the consideration of recent mercies and of past punishments. And surely no considerations can give a greater atrocity to sin than when it flies in the face of mercy and of judgment. So this blessed man who began his arduous journey at the river by fasting and prayer, began his public reformation by the same exercises of piety. Let christians, who tremble at the curses of the law, and at the threatenings of the gospel, gather together for counsel and support, for by united and vigorous efforts they may do much towards suppressing vice, and shaming the wicked. And after doing in private and in associate bodies their utmost, though with little fruit, they will at last have the approbation of their own heart.
We ought here especially to remark, that the grand causes of all this wickedness were impure and carnal marriages. Against these the reflections of this work have often raised a firm voice; and oh that this additional instance might fall with full weight of conviction on every mind. May we ever save those in danger of the sin, by fear, pulling them out of the fire.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ezr 9:1-4. Report is Made to Ezra of the Marriages of Jews with the Heathen.Ezras zeal in this matter resulted in his going beyond the requirements of the Law (cf. Deu 23:7).
Ezr 9:1. the Canaanites . . . Amorites: with the Gentiles here enumerated cf. Deu 7:1.
Ezr 9:2. holy seed: cf. Isa 61:3.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
HUMBLED BECAUSE OF MIXED MARRIAGES
(vv. 1-4)
If Ezra expected to engage in the pleasant work of the priesthood, it must have been a keen disappointment to find soon after his arrival that there was very unpleasant work to do.For the priest’s work was not only to offer sacrifices to God.He must deal with failure and sin among the people, and such cases were soon brought to his attention by the leaders(v. 1).They reported that, not only had the common people mixed with the peoples of the land, to practice the abominations (idolatry) of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perezzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites; but the priests and Levites had done so also.This involved even more nations that had been in the land when Israel first came there.Linked with this idolatry they were practicing was the fact that the Jews had taken some women from those nations as wives. Is it not always true that bad associations will lead to a bad attitude toward God? — that is, idolatry. But Ezra was told that the leaders and rulers had been foremost in this trespass (v. 2). Certainly, if leaders do it, the people will follow, and it is easier to follow a bad example than a good one.
But how good to see the effect this had on Ezra! It caused no bitter anger, no panic, no precipitate actions, but rather a humble, self-judgment expressed in tearing his robe, even plucking out some of the hairs of his beard, and sitting down in deep dismay (v. 3).
This brokenness and humility of the man of God had some serious effect on others who trembled at the words of God, and they assembled to him.If we have any regard for God Himself, His word will certainly make us tremble as we contemplate men’s haughty defiance of that word, for a haughty attitude will bring down the awful judgment of the God they defy, and we should desire to see that averted if it is possible.
But Ezra knew how to wait upon God for an answer.His deep distress continued till the time of the evening sacrifice (v. 4).Then he arose, his garment and his robe having been torn, and spread out his hands to pray to the Lord his God.
EZRA’S PRAYER
(vv. 6-15)
How different is Ezra’s prayer from that of Elijah some years before, when he told God how unfaithful Israel had been while he (Elijah) had alone remained faithful (1Ki 19:10). Instead of this Ezra prayed as though he was just as guilty as others of Israel in this sad mixture of the Jews with the nations.He confessed the sin of all just as though it had been his, though he was not personally involved in the sin.He discerned this, that Israel had sinned, and he was part of Israel.As God’s priest, he was eating the sin offering (Lev 6:25-26), which involves feeling before God the seriousness of Israel’s sin, in which the priest was to consider himself involved.We see this most strikingly in the words of the Lord Jesus in Psa 69:5, “O God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hidden from You.”Certainly the Lord Jesus had no sins of his own, but He took the responsibility on His own shoulders for the sins of Israel, confessed them before God, and in fact bore them “in His own body on the tree” (1Pe 2:24).
It is lovely to see this same spirit in Ezra, confessing before God, “O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens (v. 6). In other words, their sin was far beyond their control or their ability to check it.But he does not confine his thoughts to the guilt then present, rather he confesses it had been there “since the days of our fathers’ (v. 7).In speaking thus, he remembered that it was such guilt that had led to their captivity, their kings and priests being delivered into the hands of foreign kings because of this guilt, and brought down to shameful humiliation.
“And now for a little while grace has been shown from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape.” Ezra deeply appreciated the great kindness of God in the small measure of recovery He had given His people, though only a remnant.He had given them “a peg” in His holy place, a small support on which to hang their confidence, to have enlightened eyes to discern more clearly the truth of God, to be in some measure revived, though still in bondage.For verse 9 is rightly translated, “we areslaves.”In spite of this, God had not forsaken them in their bondage, but had extended mercy in the sight of the kings of Persia, that they might at least be lifted in spirit above their circumstances, to have the temple of God repaired and the wall of Jerusalem rebuilt.Does this not show us that, even in a sadly confined state, God is able to provide grace to rightly worship Him (of which the temple speaks) and also to be in some true measure separate from the world (which the wall pictures)?
But now, after God had shown such grace, Ezra says, “We have forsaken Your commandment.” God’s command to them had been accompanied by His warning to Israel against idolatry and against giving their daughters as wives to the inhabitants of the land they entered(v. 12).
Ezra continued his prayer with the reminder that God had warned Israel against intermarrying with the nations of the land, and even against their seeking the peace of those nations, that is, to make them comfortable in the fact of living together. This is a warning for believers today, not to intermarry with unbelievers and not to make unbelievers feel as though there is no difference between us and them.Today, however, we have a positive gospel to unbelievers, to seek to win them to the Lord, that they may be saved, by which means they may be blessed with the same blessings we have.
After all the disobedience and guilt of Israel, Ezra considered that God had punished them less than their iniquities deserved (v. 13).It was true that God had punished them, but with the purpose of driving them back to Him, not with the mere object of punishing them. Then He had wonderfully delivered them from the rigor of that punishment by restoring them to their land.
After such kindness shown by God, Ezra asks, “should we again break Your commandments and join in marriage with the people committing these abominations?This he realized to be a most ungrateful way of responding to God’s grace, and therefore he expected God to intervene in anger, to consume Israel so that no remnant at all would be left (v. 14).
Let us observe that Ezra does not ask for forgiveness of the people, but simply confesses Israel’s guilt before the Lord, leaving God to do as He sees fit with them.He declares that God is righteous in having left the few Jews only as a remnant, but because of God’s righteousness, no one of the remnant could stand before Him on account of their guilt (v. 15).
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
9:1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not {a} separated themselves from the people of the lands, [doing] according to their abominations, [even] of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
(a) From the time they came home under Zerubbabel until the coming of Ezra, they had degenerated contrary to the law of God, and married where it was not lawful, De 7:3.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The news of apostasy 9:1-4
The Mosaic Law strictly forbade intermarriage with the native Canaanites (Exo 34:11-16; Deu 7:1-5). Furthermore, intermarriage with other non-Israelites had resulted in tragic consequences in Israel’s earlier history (cf. 1Ki 11:1-8).
"Thus the action in Ezra 10 is not directed against inter-Israelite marriages between the returnees and the ’peoples of the land’ but specifically against Israel’s old wilderness and early conquest enemies, namely, the Canaanite, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Amorites, Egyptians and Moabites (Ezr 9:1). It is upon this note of the ’conquest re-established’ that the Book of Ezra ends." [Note: Dumbrell, p. 69.]
"Under these circumstances the spirit of the law demanded an application broader than its original application. Hence Ezra was justified in applying a law limited to Canaanites to all pagan foreigners, even the Egyptians who were originally explicitly excluded." [Note: Joe M. Sprinkle, "Old Testament Perspectives on Divorce and Remarriage," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:4 (December 1997):537.]
Pulling out one’s hair (Ezr 9:3) was and is an expression of extreme grief, violent wrath, or intense moral indignation (cf. Isa 50:6). Ezra was not alone in his distress (Ezr 9:4). Ezra pulled out his own hair, but Nehemiah later pulled out the hair of his enemies (Neh 13:25).
"A man’s attitude toward God’s Word is one of the ultimate criteria of his spirituality." [Note: Whitcomb, p. 431.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
FOREIGN MARRIAGES
Ezr 9:1-15
The successful issue of Ezras undertaking was speedily followed by a bitter disappointment on the part of its leader, the experience of which urged him to make a drastic reformation that rent many a happy home asunder and filled Jerusalem with the grief of broken hearts.
During the obscure period that followed the dedication of the temple-a period of which we have no historical remains-the rigorous exclusiveness which had marked the conduct of the returned exiles when they had rudely rejected the proposal of their Gentile neighbours to assist them in rebuilding the temple was abandoned, and freedom of intercourse went so far as to permit intermarriage with the descendants of the Canaanite aborigines and the heathen population of neighbouring nations. Ezra gives a list of tribal names closely resembling the lists preserved in the history of early ages, when the Hebrews first contemplated taking possession of the promised land, {Ezr 9:1} but it cannot be imagined that the ancient tribes preserved their independent names and separate existence as late as the time of the return-though the presence of the gypsies as a distinct people in England today shows that racial distinction may be kept up for ages in a mixed society. It is more probable that the list is literary, that the names are reminiscences of the tribes as they were known in ancient traditions. In addition to these old inhabitants of Canaan, there are Ammonites and Moabites from across the Jordan. Egyptians, and, lastly, most significantly separate from the Canaanite tribes, those strange folk, the Amorites, who are discovered by recent ethnological research to be of a totally different stock from that of the Canaanite tribes, probably allied to a light-coloured people that can be traced along the Libyan border, and possibly even of Aryan origin. From all these races the Jews had taken them wives. So wide was the gate flung open!
This freedom of intermarriage may be viewed as a sign of general laxity and indifference on the part of the citizens of Jerusalem, and so Ezra seems to have regarded it. But it would be a mistake to suppose that there was no serious purpose associated with it, by means of which grave and patriotic men attempted to justify the practice. It was a question whether the policy of exclusiveness had succeeded. The temple had been built, it is true, and a city had risen among the ruins of ancient Jerusalem. But poverty, oppression, hardship, and disappointment had settled down on the little Judaean community, which now found itself far worse off than the captives in Babylon. Feeble and isolated, the Jews were quite unable to resist the attacks of their jealous neighbors. Would it not be better to come to terms with them, and from enemies convert them into allies? Then the policy of exclusiveness involved commercial ruin, and men who knew how their brethren in Chaldaea were enriching themselves by trade with the heathen, were galled by a yoke which held them back from foreign intercourse. It would seem to be advisable, on social as well as on political grounds, that a new and more liberal course should be pursued, if the wretched garrison was not to be starved out. Leading aristocratic families were foremost in contracting the foreign alliances. It is such as they who would profit most, as it is such as they who would be most tempted to consider worldly motives and to forego the austerity of their fathers. There does not seem to have been any one recognised head of the community after Zerubbabel; the “princes” constituted a sort of informal oligarchy. Some of these princes had taken foreign wives. Priests and Levites had also followed the same course. It is a historical fact that the party of rigour is not generally the official party. In the days of our Lord the priests and rulers were mostly Sadducean, while the Pharisees were men of the people. The English Puritans were not of the Court party. But in the case before us the leaders of the people were divided. While we do not meet any priests among the purists, some of the princes disapproved of the laxity of their neighbours, and exposed it to Ezra.
Ezra was amazed, appalled. In the dramatic style which is quite natural to an Oriental, he rent both his tunic and his outer mantle, and he tore his hair and his long priestly beard. This expressed more than the grief of mourning which is shown by tearing one garment and cutting the hair. Like the high-priest when he ostentatiously rent his clothes at what he wished to be regarded as blasphemy in the words of Jesus, Ezra showed indignation and rage by his violent action. It was a sign of his startled and horrified emotions, but no doubt it was also intended to produce an impression on the people who gathered in awe to watch the great ambassador, as he sat amazed and silent on the temple pavement through the long hours of the autumn afternoon.
The grounds of Ezras grief and anger may be learnt from the remarkable prayer which he poured out when the stir occasioned by the preparation of the vesper ceremonies roused him, and when the ascending smoke of the evening sacrifice would naturally suggest to him an occasion for drawing near to God. Welling up, hot and passionate, his prayer is a revelation of the very heart of the scribe. Ezra shows us what true prayer is-that it is laying bare the heart and soul in the presence of God. The striking characteristic of this outburst of Ezras is that it does not contain a single petition. There is no greater mistake in regard to prayer than the notion that it is nothing more than the begging of specific favours from the bounty of the Almighty. That is but a shallow kind of prayer at best. In the deepest and most real prayer the soul is too near to God to ask for any definite thing; it is just unbosoming itself to the Great Confidant, just telling out its agony to the Father who can understand everything and receive the whole burden of the anguished spirit.
Considering this prayer more in detail, we may notice, in the first place, that Ezra comes out as a true priest, not indeed officiating at the altar with ceremonial sacrifices, but identifying himself with the people he represents, so that he takes to his own breast the shame of what he regards as the sin of his people. Prostrate with self-humiliation, he cries, “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to Thee, my God,” and {Ezr 9:6} he speaks of the sins which have just been made known to him as though he had a share in them, calling them “our iniquities” and “our trespass.” {Ezr 9:6} Have we not here a glimpse into that mystery of vicarious sin-bearing which is consummated in the great intercession and sacrifice of our Lord? Though himself a sinful man, and therefore at heart sharing the guilt of his people by personal participation in it, as the holy Jesus could not do, still in regard to the particular offence which he is now deploring. Ezra is as innocent as an unfallen angel. Yet he blushes for shame, and lies prostrate with confusion of face. He is such a true patriot that he completely identifies himself with his people. But in proportion as such an identification is felt, there must be an involuntary sense of the sharing of guilt. It is vain to call it an illusion of the imagination. Before the bar of strict justice Ezra was as innocent of this one sin, as before the same bar Christ was innocent of all sin. God could not really disapprove of him for it, any more than He could look with disfavour on the great Sin-bearer. But subjectively, in his own experience, Ezra did not feel less poignant pangs of remorse than he would have felt if he had been himself personally guilty. This perfect sympathy of true priesthood is rarely experienced, but since Christians are called to be priests, to make intercession, and to bear one anothers burdens, something approaching it must be shared by all the followers of Christ; they who would go forth as saviours of their brethren must feel it acutely. The sin-bearing sacrifice of Christ stands alone in its perfect efficacy, and many mysteries crowd about it that cannot be explained by any human analogies. Still, here and there we come across faint likenesses in the higher experiences of the better men, enough to suggest that our Lords passion was not a prodigy, that it was really in harmony with the laws by which God governs the moral universe.
In thus confessing the sin of the people before God, but in language which the people who shared with him a reverence for The Law could hear, no doubt Ezra hoped to move them also to share in his feelings of shame and abhorrence for the practices he was deploring. He came dangerously near to the fatal mistake of preaching through a prayer, by “praying at” the congregation. He was evidently too deeply moved to be guilty of an insincerity, a piece of profanity, at which every devout soul must revolt. Nevertheless the very exercise of public prayer-prayer uttered audibly, and conducted by the leader of a congregation-means that this is to be an inducement for the people to join in the worship. The officiating minister is not merely to pray before the congregation, while the people kneel as silent auditors. His prayer is designed to guide and help their prayers, so that there may be “common prayer” throughout the whole assembly. In this way it may be possible for him to influence men and women by praying with them, as he can never do by directly preaching to them. The essential point is that the prayer must first of all be real on the part of the leader-that he must be truly addressing God, and then that his intention with regard to the people must be not to exhort them through his prayer, but simply to induce them to join him in it.
Let us now inquire what was the nature of the sin which so grievously distressed Ezra, and which he regarded as so heavy a slur on the character of his people in the sight of God. On the surface of it, there was just a question of policy. Some have argued that the party of rigour was mistaken, that its course was suicidal, that the only way of preserving the little colony was by means of well-adjusted alliances with its neighbours-a low view of the question which Ezra would not have glanced at for a moment, because with his supreme faith in God no consideration of worldly expediency or political diplomacy could be allowed to deflect him from the path indicated, as he thought, by the Divine will. But a higher line of opposition has been taken. It has been said that Ezra was illiberal, uncharitable, culpably narrow, and heartlessly harsh. That the man who could pour forth such a prayer as this, every sentence of which throbs with emotion, every word of which tingles with intense feeling-that this man was heartless cannot be believed. Still it may be urged that Ezra took a very different view from that suggested by the genial outlook across the nations which we meet in Isaiah. The lovely idyll of Ruth defends the course he condemned so unsparingly. The Book of Jonah was written directly in rebuke of one form of Jewish exclusiveness. Ezra was going even further than the Book of Deuteronomy, which had allowed marriages with the heathen, {Deu 21:13} and {Deu 23:1-8} It cannot be maintained that all the races named by Ezra were excluded. Could it be just to condemn the Jews for not having followed the later and more exacting edition of The Law, which Ezra had only just brought up with him, and which had not been known by the offenders?
In trying to answer these questions, we must start from one clear fact. Ezra is not merely guided by a certain view of policy. He may be mistaken, but he is deeply conscientious, his motive is intensely religious. Whether rightly or wrongly, he is quite persuaded that the social condition at which he is so grievously shocked is directly opposed to the known will of God. “We have forsaken Thy commandments,” he exclaims. But what commandments, we may ask, seeing that the people of Jerusalem did not possess a law that went so far as Ezra was requiring of them? His own language here comes in most appositely. Ezra does not appeal to Deuteronomy, though he may have had a passage from that book in mind, {Deu 7:3} neither does he produce the Law Book which he has brought up with him from Babylon and to which reference is made in our version of the decree of Artaxerxes: {Ezr 7:14} but he turns to the prophets, not with reference to any of their specific utterances, but in the most general way, implying that his view is derived from the broad stream of prophecy in its whole course and character. In his prayer he describes the broken commandments as “those which Thou hast commanded by Thy servants the prophets.” This is the more remarkable because the prophets did not favour the scrupulous observance of external rules, but dwelt on great principles of righteousness. Some of them took the liberal side, and expressed decidedly cosmopolitan ideas in regard to foreign nations, as Ezra must have been aware. He may have mentally anticipated the excuses which would be urged in reliance on isolated utterances of this character. Still, on a survey of the whole course of prophecy, he is persuaded that it is opposed to the practices which he condemns. He throws his conclusion into a definite sentence, after the manner of a verbal quotation, {Ezr 9:11} but this is only in accordance with the vivid, dramatic style of Semitic literature, and what he really means is that the spirit of his national prophecy and the principles laid down by the recognised prophets support him in the position which he has taken up. These prophets fought against all corrupt practices, and in particular they waged ceaseless war with the introduction of heathenish manners to the religious and social life of Israel. It is here that Ezra finds them to be powerful allies in his stern reformation. They furnish him, so to speak, with his major premiss, and that is indisputable. His weak place is in his minor premiss, viz., in the notion that intermarriage with Gentile neighbours necessarily involves the introduction of corrupt heathenish habits. This he quietly assumes. But there is much to be said for his position, especially when we note that he is not now concerned with the Samaritans, with whom the temple-builders came into contact and who accepted some measure of the Jewish faith, but in some cases with known idolaters-the Egyptians, for instance. The complex social and moral problems which surround the quarrel on which Ezra here embarks will come before us more fully as we proceed. At present it may suffice for us to see that Ezra rests his action on his conception of the main characteristics of the teaching of the prophets.
Further, his reading of history comes to his aid. He perceives that it was the adoption of heathenish practices that necessitated the severe chastisement of the captivity. God had only spared a small remnant of the guilty people. But He had been very gracious to that remnant, giving them “a nail in His holy place”; {Ezr 9:8} i.e., a fixture in the restored sanctuary, though as yet, as it were, but at one small point, because so few had returned to enjoy the privileges of the sacred temple worship. Now even this nail might be drawn. Will the escaped remnant be so foolish as to imitate the sins of their forefathers, and risk the slight hold which they have as yet obtained in the renewed centre of Divine favour? So to repudiate the lessons of the captivity, which should have been branded irrevocably by the hot irons of its cruel hardships, what was this but a sign of the most desperate depravity? Ezra could see no hope even of a remnant escaping from the wrath which would consume the people who were guilty of such wilful, such open-eyed apostasy.
In the concluding sentences of his prayer Ezra appeals to the righteousness of God, who had permitted the remnant to escape at the time of the Babylonian Captivity, saying, “O Lord, the God of Israel, Thou art righteous, for we are left a remnant that is escaped, as it is this day.” {Ezr 9:15} Some have supposed that Gods righteousness here stands for His goodness, and that Ezra really means the mercy which spared the remnant. But this interpretation is contrary to usage, and quite opposed to the spirit of the prayer. Ezra has referred to the mercy of God earlier, but in his final sentences he has another thought in mind. The prayer ends in gloom and despondency-“behold, we are before Thee in our guiltiness, for none can stand before Thee because of this.” {Ezr 9:15} The righteousness of God, then, is seen in the fact that only a remnant was spared. Ezra does not plead for the pardon of the guilty people, as Moses did in his famous prayer of intercession. {Exo 32:31-32} As yet they are not conscious of their sin. To forgive them before they have owned their guilt would be immoral. The first condition of pardon is confession. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” {1Jn 1:9} Then, indeed, the very righteousness of God favours the pardon of the stoner. But till this state of contrition is reached, not only can there be no thought of forgiveness, but the sternest, darkest thoughts of sin are most right and fitting. Ezra is far too much in earnest simply to wish to help his people to escape from the consequences of their conduct. This would not be salvation. It would be moral shipwreck. The great need is to be saved from the evil conduct itself. It is to this end that the very passion of his soul is directed. Here we perceive the spirit of the true reformer. But the evangelist cannot afford to dispense with something of the same spirit, although he can add the gracious encouragements of a gospel, for the only true gospel promises deliverance from sin itself in the first instance as from the greatest of all evils, and deliverance from no other evil except on condition of freedom from this.