Ezra 10

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, however.  They 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 many pastors today do not even teach the importance of confessing sins and repenting. Some even train the sheep to overlook the 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 state of iniquity.

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 (including turning a blind eye) 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 own view of who He is...not the reality. God allows us to suffer the consequences of our sin in order to teach us, because He loves us. What we iften avoid thinking 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. Therefore, we do best to avoid self-seekers who refuse correction, knowing they are under the influence of demonic wisdom.