Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary: Ezra 10

Bible Text: Ezra 10:16-44

¹⁶ Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men, heads of fathers’ houses, according to their fathers’ houses, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter; ¹⁷ and by the first day of the first month they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women.

¹⁸ Now there were found some of the sons of the priests who had married foreign women: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah, some of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers. ¹⁹ They pledged themselves to put away their wives, and their guilt offering was a ram of the flock for their guilt. ²⁰ Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah. ²¹ Of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah. ²² Of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

²³ Of the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. ²⁴ Of the singers: Eliashib. Of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

²⁵ And of Israel: of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Hashabiah, and Benaiah. ²⁶ Of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah. ²⁷ Of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza. ²⁸ Of the sons of Bebai were Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai. ²⁹ Of the sons of Bani were Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth. ³⁰ Of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh. ³¹ Of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, ³² Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah. ³³ Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei. ³⁴ Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, ³⁵ Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, ³⁶ Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, ³⁷ Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu. ³⁸ Of the sons of Binnui: Shimei, ³⁹ Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, ⁴⁰ Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, ⁴¹ Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, ⁴² Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph. ⁴³ Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah. ⁴⁴ All these had married foreign women, and some of the women had even borne children.

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 10:16-17

• Consider the manner in which the work was carried out by the committee responsible for identifying those who had intermarried. What can I learn about how I should struggle against sin?

Ezra 10:18-19

• What lessons can I learn from the men of Jeshua about the proper response to sin? How does this compare with my response to sin?   
• Are there certain things in my life that I need to “put away”?

Ezra 10:23

• What warning can I take from the fact that even the Levites, who were appointed as God’s priests, were guilty of intermarrying foreign women?

Prayer 

Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary: Ezra 10

10:1–2 […] While Ezra’s initial reaction attracts an inner circle of sympathizers who sit in silence (10:3–4), his subsequent—equally emotional—outburst of contrition now draws a large cross-section of the community (“men, women, and children”) to the outer courts of the temple, where the people weep in solidarity with him (10:1). The community’s confession of marrying foreign women is voiced by Shecaniah, one of the sons of Elam from the first return. He himself is not named as an offender (10:18–44), nor would the implication of Jehiel (10:26) necessarily implicate Shecaniah or exclude him from the community, even if this Jehiel was his father (10:2). While echoing Ezra’s corporate confession of the community’s “faithlessness” (so the chiefs in 9:2), Shecaniah also suggests that there may yet be “hope for Israel.”

10:3–4 Shecaniah’s proposed solution is to enter into a “covenant” with God (see, e.g., 2 Chr 15:8–15; 29:10) and to “send away” all the women and their children—terminology that is atypical of Jewish divorce and possibility pejorative (see footnote to commentary on 10:1–2). Only now is it made clear that at some point in the preceding four months, Ezra had evidently pointed the way toward this solution. That this solution is in accordance with the counsel of Ezra and “the (Torah) Tremblers” is thus less surprising than Shecaniah’s insistence that it is also in accordance with “the law.” There is no legal requirement to divorce foreign wives, but if Deut 24’s provision for divorce in case of “something objectional” (24:1–4) is in view here, then the women might be eligible to marry again. If what is in mind is another more specific precedent or injunction instead, then this will be testimony to the evolution of the legal tradition within a particular stream of postexilic Judaism. In either case, while Shecaniah clearly hands the initiative back to Ezra (Ezra 10:4: “it is your task”), his additional encouragement (“we are with you”) suggests that the community’s continuing solidarity will be as important as Ezra’s willingness to “be strong.” […]

10:10–11 Ezra begins by clarifying the accusation that was already expressed in his prayer, before insisting on a confession that follows the form of “giving thanks/praise” found elsewhere only in Joshua’s exhortation of Achan to confess his sin (Josh 7:19). This further resonance with the exodus/ settlement/ conquest tradition foregrounds the conviction that the returnees’ sin, like Achan’s, has the potential not only to compromise the divine intention to install his people in the land, but also, as Ezra’s prayer indicates, to undermine the very existence of the community. That praise cannot be disconnected from—and indeed must be intimately connected to—practice is demonstrated by Ezra’s clarification of the requirement that follows from this confession: “do his will”—defined here as the separation from the peoples of the land and, more to the point, in the case at hand, from “the foreign wives.”

10:12–15 Like their forefathers at Sinai (Exod 24:3), the people respond (Ezra 10:12) clearly (“with a loud voice”), decisively (“we must do”), and apparently collectively (“all the assembly”). While they are conscious—and quite reasonably so—of the impracticality of a group so large trying to resolve the problem then and there, their awareness of the seriousness of the situation (“for we have greatly transgressed”) leads them to an alternative proposal. Given that the leaders have been engaged from the beginning (9:1; 10:5), it is not surprising that they are commissioned to form a representative committee to adjudicate the cases of intermarriage brought before them by those concerned, in the company of local authorities who might speak on their behalf. Once completed, it is hoped that the process will be sufficient to assuage the divine wrath that it is assumed will otherwise destroy the community (cf. 8:22; 9:14). […]

10:18–19 As is common in Ezra, the book here includes a list apropos of the foregoing narrative. Like the list of Ezra’s returnees, this one begins with the priests. Unsurprisingly, it is the sons of the house of Jeshua, listed in the first return (2:36), who are indicted, rather than the Aaronic priests who had only just returned to the province with Ezra. Also unsurprising, given the seriousness of the trespass, is that the sending away of the wives was accompanied by a guilt offering.

10:20–24 […] The absence of temple servants from the list suggests to some that intermarriage was more prevalent among the upper echelons of the community, where both the temptation and opportunity to secure the societal advantages of such matches may have been greater (cf. 9:2). Alternatively, it may be that the problem among the upper classes was not more prevalent, but simply more relevant to the writer—on the assumption that once the practice was addressed and eliminated among the so-called leaders, the rest of the community would soon follow suit. ^[1]

[1] Sherpherd, David J. and Christopher J.H. Wright, Ezra and Nehemiah, The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018) 27-29.

Bible Text: Ezra 10:1-15

¹ While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly. ² And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. ³ Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law. ⁴ Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it.” ⁵ Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath that they would do as had been said. So they took the oath.

⁶ Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib, where he spent the night, neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles. ⁷ And a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles that they should assemble at Jerusalem, ⁸ and that if anyone did not come within three days, by order of the officials and the elders all his property should be forfeited, and he himself banned from the congregation of the exiles.

⁹ Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. And all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain. ¹⁰ And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have broken faith and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel. ¹¹ Now then make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” ¹² Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “It is so; we must do as you have said. ¹³ But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand in the open. Nor is this a task for one day or for two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. ¹⁴ Let our officials stand for the whole assembly. Let all in our cities who have taken foreign wives come at appointed times, and with them the elders and judges of every city, until the fierce wrath of our God over this matter is turned away from us.” ¹⁵ Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported them.

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 10:1-2

• What does this passage show about the potential of one person’s response to sin clarifying the spiritual or moral dimensions of a situation for others?
• In what ways does this apply to me as I live out my Christian identity?
• What does Shecaniah’s statement, “But even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this,” reveal about their understanding of God? How do I view God when sins are exposed in my life?

Ezra 10:10-12

• What can I learn from the response of the assembly?
• How do I respond when some sin is pointed out to me?

Prayer 

Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary: 

Ezra 9

9:1–2 […] The problem voiced by the chiefs (9:1a) relates to the intermarriage of Israelites, including primarily or initially some of their fellow chiefs (9:2b) with the “peoples of the land” (9:2). That such a practice represents “faithlessness/sin” (9:2) in their own eyes is explained by their association of the “peoples of the land” (i.e., those who were not identified with the returnees) with the abominations of a list of nations that is generally familiar from the Pentateuch (e.g., Gen 15:19–20; Exod 3:8). The tradition assumed here seems to be drawing upon a combination of Deut 7:1–3, which proscribes intermarriage with the usual seven nations indigenous to Canaan, and Deut 23:2–7 which excludes from the community Edomites and Egyptians up to the third generation and Ammonites and Moabites altogether. […]

9:3–5 […] If he had offered instruction on the passages of which the chiefs seem to be aware, but was himself -unaware of the scale or existence of the problem, Ezra’s dramatic reaction here may well be intended to suggest the strength of his own personal shock and dismay. If, however, as is perhaps more likely, Ezra was already specifically aware of the problem, the strength of Ezra’s response here will be primarily for the benefit of galvanizing the community into the appropriate response.

Much like the term “Quakers” of the more recent past, “all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel” (Ezra 9:4; Isa 66:2, 5) evidently became a way of referring to a party within the returnees distinguished by their particular reverence for and interpretation of the Torah (Ezra 10:3). Their sympathies may well have been wholly or partly prompted by Ezra’s ministry, but their solidarity with him is unmistakably expressed here by their sitting “appalled” with Ezra, in much the same manner as Job’s friends do (2:13).

9:6–7 Now that others have expressed their solidarity with him, Ezra commences his confession by identifying with the community’s sin (“our iniquities”) in spite of his own individual innocence. It is precisely because the community’s sins and iniquities have “climbed to the heavens” (9:6) that Ezra is ashamed to “show [lit., lift] his face” (Job 22:26) to the God of the heavens (Ezra 1:2; 5:11–12; 6:9–10; 7:12, 21, 23). […] Ezra here insists that the sins of his own generation have added height to the tower of trespasses already erected in the preexilic period.

9:8–9 The guilt of Ezra and his contemporaries is all the greater, he admits, because of the grace that the “remnant” (i.e., the community associated with the returnees) has experienced “for a brief moment” (i.e., since the edict of Cyrus). The “givenness” of this grace is expressed in the gift of “a stake” (NRSV; lit., “a tent peg”) in the holy place, which likely intends a contrast to the nomadic transience of exile (see, e.g., Isa 33:20). […] . While Ezra’s prayer acknowledges that the “bondage” (Ezra 9:8–9) of exile is not ended, God’s graciousness is seen in the extension of love to them, such that their Persian overlords (as in 7:28) have in turn allowed them a minirevival (9:8–9) defined in terms of restoring the ruins of the temple and setting up a “wall” in Judea and Jerusalem. […]

9:10–15 […] Like the prayers of lament found in the Psalms, Ezra’s prayer displays a profound awareness of the problem in the relationship between God and his people. […] Ezra’s prayer includes features such as a request for attentiveness, a historical recital/reflection, and rhetorical questions toward its conclusion. Given Ezra’s role and activities as described earlier in his memoir, it is hardly surprising that even when praying, he is also preaching/teaching Torah (primarily as mediated by Deuteronomy). [1]

[1] Sherpherd, David J. and Christopher J.H. Wright, Ezra and Nehemiah, The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018) 26-27.

Bible Text:

Ezra 9:1-15

¹ After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from 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 to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.” ³ As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. ⁴ Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. ⁵ And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, ⁶ saying:

“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. ⁷ From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. ⁸ But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. ⁹ For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.

¹⁰ “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, ¹¹ which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. ¹² Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ ¹³ And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, ¹⁴ shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? ¹⁵ O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 9:1-2, 10-14

• What was the Israelites’ crucial mistake? In what ways have I “not separated [myself] from the peoples of the lands with their abominations”? How is God warning me through this passage?
• What is especially tragic that “in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost“?

Ezra 9:13-15

• Based on this passage, what are the components of genuine repentance? What is the proper posture when coming into the presence of God?

Prayer 

Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary: Ezra 8

Bible Text:

Ezra 8:21-36

²¹ Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. ²² For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” ²³ So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

²⁴ Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. ²⁵ And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered. ²⁶ I weighed out into their hand 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels worth 200 talents, and 100 talents of gold, ²⁷ 20 bowls of gold worth 1,000 darics, and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold. ²⁸ And I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. ²⁹ Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of the house of the Lord.” ³⁰ So the priests and the Levites took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

³¹ Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. ³² We came to Jerusalem, and there we remained three days. ³³ On the fourth day, within the house of our God, the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed into the hands of Meremoth the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui.  ³⁴ The whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded.

³⁵ At that time those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. ³⁶ They also delivered the king’s commissions to the king’s satraps and to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and they aided the people and the house of God.

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 8:21-23

• How is “proclaim[ing] a fast” a way to “humble ourselves before our God”?
• Are there situations in my life that require this kind of humility and fasting?

Ezra 8:24-34

• Why did they go through such care to ensure that “the whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded”?
• What does this reveal about Ezra’s character?

Prayer