An amazing thing happened while Ezra was praying – a very large number of people, men, women and children, gathered to him and wept bitterly (v1). Someone has said that confession of sin has been neglected in our teaching. It is something that comes from conviction brought about by The Holy Spirit in a person’s life. Jesus said that when The Holy Spirit comes, He will convict of sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). This is the work of The Holy Spirit.
Confession must be made to God and God alone, maybe sometimes public, and sometimes we may need to confess sin against a particular person or body, to that person or body, but essentially it is to God. All sin is against God as David said in Psalm 51, “Against You only have I sinned”. Yes, he had sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba, but his main concern was that it was against God. Maybe he had confessed it to Bathsheba, he certainly couldn’t to Uriah for he had had him killed.
In verses 2-4, Shechaniah, the son of Jehiel, son of Elam, spoke up for the people, “We have trespassed against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel despite this. Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them, according to the advice of my master and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you. Be of good courage and do it.”
Shechaniah acknowledged the sin, but he realised there was hope. He stated that they should make a covenant with God and put away the wives and the children born to them. Ezra had not command that, it came from Shechaniah, and the people and he encouraged Ezra to take action. Seemed to be quite drastic but it was action upon repentance. The question arises whether God was going to allow that. Divorce was permitted by God (Deuteronomy 24) but that was because of the hardness of their hearts. It was not God’s original plan and Malachi 2:16 tells us that God hates divorce. However, it was permitted in certain very limited circumstances. However, some marriages were strictly prohibited like those with close relatives e.g. those listed in Leviticus 18 where sexual relations with those were sinful and more so if they married each other. It is probable that those marriages would be void and not subject to divorce.
At the end of this chapter we will see that it was a relatively small number who had intermarried. Their names are listed, and it came to 112 out of approximately 50,000 quoted in chapter 2. It was thought that the number of children involved would be quite small. Verse 44 says, “Some of them had wives by whom they had children”: One commentator observes that this statement implies that most of the wives were barren. Thus, it was a small percentage. Whilst the number was small it was important that things were put right. It might seem to be hard, and we could ask why they did not simply ask for forgiveness and seek God’s mercy. It has been said that the greater good was to be considered and obedience to God was of paramount importance.
We are not told whether some of these wives had already forsaken their pagan ways and trusted in the God of Israel. If they had, could it be that they would be exempt and forgiven just as Ruth came to trust in the living God and turned from Moab? Some commentators would say that this was the case and the list at the end of the chapter was of those who had not ‘converted’ but continued in their pagan religion.
Ezra made the leaders of the priests, the Levites and all the people swear an oath that they would do according to God’s word (v5-8). They did, then Ezra went into the chamber of Jehohanan into the house of God and fasted, mourning for the guilt of the people. A proclamation was issued to all descendants of the captivity, that they must gather at Jerusalem and whoever would not come in three days, he would be separated from the assembly and his property would be confiscated. In verses 9-11 all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within three days. It was 20th day of the ninth month and all the people sat in the open square of God’s house. It was heavy rain, and they sat and trembled because of their situation. Ezra told them that they had transgressed, to make confession and separate from the people of the land and from their pagan wives.
This was truly a move of The Holy Spirit that they all came and sat outside in pouring rain. This was true repentance, not just to confess or be sorry but to leave behind their sinful behaviour. That’s what repentance is, a complete about turn. It has been observed that repentance is not just something that happens at conversion, but it is an on-going action throughout our Christian lives.
In verses 12-15 we see that the assembly agreed with the action and said with a loud voice, “Yes, as you have said, so we must do.” Understandably, they said that this might take a little while for those who had been guilty in this, but they were in agreement. However, there were a few objectors and they are named, “Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite gave them support.”
We are not told why these four opposed the action, however, the descendants of the captivity did as they were commanded (v16,17). Ezra and the heads of the households and examined the matter. It took from the first of the tenth month until the first of the first month to finish questioning those who had taken pagan wives. This seems to agree with the earlier suggestion that some had forsaken their pagan religion and were following the God of Israel. Those who had come to follow the true God would be exempt from the order to put them away. And they could continue to live with their husbands in the community. It has been calculated as a small percentage, but it still had to be strictly adhered to.
All believers are to follow the Word of God and to marry fellow believers. The Apostle Paul stresses this in his letters to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 6; 1 Corinthians 7). Even where a believer was married to an unbeliever, if the unbeliever chose to stay, the believer was not permitted to divorce the other but to win the other by their Christian life and especially to protect the children. If the unbeliever chose to leave, the believer could let them go.
In verses 18-44 we have listed all those who had taken pagan wives and those wives had not forsaken their pagan religion. Interestingly, I can only find Meshullam in this list of the four who objected, so maybe the other three were just supporting those listed. There were sons of the priests and Levites in that list who had not ‘converted.’
No-one was exempt whatever their position in life, priests and Levites, who should have known better and set an example.
Ezra showed his faithfulness to The LORD even in doing something which was unpleasant and probably unpopular. He simply wanted to uphold The LORD’s name and lead his people to do the same and for God to pour His blessing upon them. Ezra does appear again the book of Nehemiah.
Lessons can be learned from the book shows us that there is always hope and restoration. When we have sinned, there is forgiveness with God when we seek Him in repentance and faith. Our lives can be rebuilt by The Lord just as the temple was. God is in the business of rebuilding lives that have been broken by sin.
There will be opposition, the devil will seek to destroy the work, but through Jesus Christ we have the victory. We are to be on guard against deceivers who might come to us with fine sounding words and respond to them as the Israelites did and refuse to be fooled by their smooth words and false professions of faith.
Ezra’s leadership proved crucial to Israel’s renewal and spiritual advancement.
