CHAPTER 10

(457 B.C.)

REPENTANCE RESULTS IN SEPARATION FROM SIN

¹Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the House of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore (in leading the way, Ezra spurred the people to Repentance as well!).

²And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing (if sin is present, without fail, the Holy Spirit will point it out).

³Now therefore let us make a Covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them (the 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 (the Covenant proposed was that which addressed the problem of the heathen wives, and possibly, as well, the heathen husbands, also the children born to these unlawful unions [9:12]).

⁴Arise; for this matter belongs unto you (Ezra): we also will be with you: be of good courage, and do it (the princes of Israel proclaimed to Ezra that he must take the lead in this thing, as distasteful as it was!).

⁵Then arose Ezra, and made the Chief Priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they swore (all of Israel was to act in the matter as Shechaniah had recommended and put away the adulterous wives).

⁶Then Ezra rose up from before the House of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them who had been carried away (the greater sin had to do with Satans efforts through intermarriage to destroy the sacred bloodline through which the Messiah was to come, hence the mourning).

⁷And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem (Ezra and others had greatly sought the Lord; now they will put action to their prayers; they will call an assembly for all in Judah and Jerusalem);

⁸And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those who had been carried away (the command was ironclad; all able-bodied men had to come to Jerusalem, irrespective as to where they lived in Judah).

⁹Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the House of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain (they gathered in the month Chisleu, which corresponds somewhat with our December).

¹⁰And Ezra the Priest stood up, and said unto them, You have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel (the phrase, to increase the trespass of Israel, refers to the fact that Israel must not again travel a strange path; the past 70 years of suffering should be warning enough; Gods Word is not to be trifled with!).

¹¹Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do His pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives (this sin had to be confessed before the Lord).

¹²Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As you have said, so must we do.

¹³But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many who have transgressed in this thing (the phrase, For we are many who have transgressed in this thing, should have been translated, We have greatly offended in this thing).

¹⁴Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them who have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us (each case had to be examined individually; in some cases, the foreign wives may have become proselytes, and the children may have been circumcised, and so accepted into the congregation, which would have given them a claim to remain, which would extend to the mothers as well).

¹⁵Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them (should have been translated, Only Jonathan and Jahaziah stood up against this matter, or opposed it; in other words, they were not happy about this Covenant).

¹⁶And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the Priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter (the people, despite the opposition of Jonathan and Jahaziah, acquiesced to Ezras decision and acted accordingly).

¹⁷And they made an end with all the men who had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month (it took about three months to do this).

THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO HAD MARRIED STRANGE WIVES

¹⁸And among the sons of the Priests there were found who had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, the Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah (Ezra listed the offending Priests first of all, because, of all people, they should have known better than to take strange wives).

¹⁹And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass (the only answer for this sin was the Sacrifice, i.e., the Cross, as the Cross is the only answer for any sin [I Jn. 1:7, 9]).

²⁰And of the sons of Immer; Hanani, and Zebadiah.

²¹And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.

²²And of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

²³Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah, (the same is Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

²⁴Of the singers also; Eliashib: and of the porters; Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.

²⁵Moreover of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.

²⁶And of the sons of Elam; Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Eliah.

²⁷And of the sons of Zattu; Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.

²⁸Of the sons also of Bebai; Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.

²⁹And of the sons of Bani; Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth.

³⁰And of the sons of Pahath-moab; Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.

³¹And of the sons of Harim; Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchiah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,

³²Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.

³³Of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattathah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.

³⁴Of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel,

³⁵Benaiah, Bedeiah, Chelluh,

³⁶Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,

³⁷Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasau,

³⁸And Bani, and Binnui, Shimei,

³⁹And Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,

⁴⁰Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,

⁴¹Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,

⁴²Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.

⁴³Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, and Joel, Benaiah.

⁴⁴All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children. (One may wonder why the necessity of these individuals and their families being listed, even as Ezra did? However, the Holy Spirit wanted this done in order that we may all understand how awful sin really is, and of any description.)