Verses 1-6, “Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept very bitterly. And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, 'We have trespassed against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of 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.' Then Ezra arose, and made the leaders of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel swear an oath that they would do according to this word. So they swore an oath. Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib; and when he came there, he ate no bread and drank no water, for he mourned because of the guilt of those from the captivity.”
The children of Isreal fell under the conviction of God, confessing and weeping in humility. They were not just speaking the words of sorrow over their sin, but were demonstrating their willingness to repent through their actions. When we are caught in our sin, we must repent and get right with God, or else we remain separated from Him. Saying you are sorry and admitting guilt means nothing if you are unwilling to leave your iniquities behind. But not many pastors today do not even teach the importance of confessing sins and repenting. Some even train the sheep to overlook sin in each others' lives, for the sake of unity. This might help you avoid conflict with man, but you certainly do not have unity with God in your sin state.
Verses 7-15, “And they issued a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the descendants of the captivity, that they must gather at Jerusalem, and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the instructions of the leaders and elders, all his property would be confiscated, and he himself would be separated from the assembly of those from the captivity. So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month; and all the people sat in the open square of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of heavy rain. Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, 'You have transgressed and have taken pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel. Now therefore, make confession to the Lord God of your fathers, and do His will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the pagan wives.' Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, 'Yes! As you have said, so we must do. But there are many people; it is the season for heavy rain, and we are not able to stand outside. Nor is this the work of one or two days, for there are many of us who have transgressed in this matter. Please, let the leaders of our entire assembly stand; and let all those in our cities who have taken pagan wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of their cities, until the fierce wrath of our God is turned away from us in this matter.' Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite gave them support.”
Those who were unwilling to follow through with the covenant to remove the pagan wives and children, would be separated from the assembly. This is because enabling others to continue in their sin is sharing in their guilt, and they wanted to be guiltless in this matter before God. We also see the painful consequences of sin here, because not only did they need to divorce their wives, but also remove their children born to them. This would not be easy to do, but necessary in their efforts to get right with God. Matthew 10:37-39, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Verses 16-19,44, “Then the descendants of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain heads of the fathers’ households, were set apart by the fathers’ households, each of them by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. By the first day of the first month they finished questioning all the men who had taken pagan wives. And among the sons of the priests who had taken pagan wives the following were found of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. And they gave their promise that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they presented a ram of the flock as their trespass offering [...]. All these had taken pagan wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.”
The list of men who had taken foreign wives shows us the extent of the sin of this nation. It would have been much easier to deal with it on a small scale, but because they had allowed it to grow so big, it would be much more painful to reverse their direction now. Wives without husbands and fatherless children is quite a consequence to bear, but it was God's will nonetheless. Sometimes people presume to know the will of God based on their view of who He is. God allows us to suffer the consequences of our sin in order to teach us, because He loves us. What we do not think about while we are sinning, is how our actions are going to affect those around us that we supposedly love. Sin is selfishness...your desires and will above all else.
In this chapter, the Israelites gathered together around Ezra, and they confessed their sins in marrying pagan women. This was true revival led by the Holy Spirit. They were broken over their sin, which shows true godly sorrow. It's not just enough to be broken over our sin, but there needs to be that repentance and change in our lives. Shechaniah spoke to rid themselves of the pagan wives and children, and all Israel agreed. Ezra encouraged them to make a covenant with the Lord to do as they said.
ReplyDeleteAs believers, we should be truly broken over our sin against God. When we sin, we dishonor God, and we should be broken over the fact that we dishonored our heavenly father!! Many times, people are just sorry they got caught, and sorry that they have to face the consequences of their sin, but that is just worldly sorrow. Only godly sorrow leads to true repentance! II Corinthians 7:10-11- "For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter."
God strictly warns us about marrying an unbeliever. We are to stay away from ungodly men and women and not yoke up in that way! II Corinthians 6:14- "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?" If we are single, we must be careful that we choose to marry a godly man or women who will help us do God's will in our lives.
The Israelites issued a proclamation that everyone needed to gather together within 3 days or else their property would be confiscated and they would be separated from the Israelites. Again, because of the Holy spirit, all the men gathered even when the weather was terrible. They truly wanted to make things right with God! They Israelites agreed they needed to get rid of the pagan wives and children, but this took time. There were many people who has sinned in doing this, and it took 3 months to question everyone who had taken a pagan wife. There were about 114 wives who refused to forsake their customs and serve the Lord. This was a small portion of the women who were taken as wives. This meant that most of them converted to following and serving the Lord.
God warns us about pagan men and women. Although we may think it isn't that big of a deal, over time, they start to influence your decisions. The ungodly always affect the godly in a negative way. This is why God calls us to be separate! Even Solomon fell because of pagan women! We need to be careful that we don't think we are that exception that will be able to stand, because we won't! It's a slow fade, and we may not even see how far we've gone! This is why we need to choose a spouse carefully, and seek the Lord and wait for Him to bring us that spouse!