Ob and In:
1. repeated words: Ezra was ...weeping, and throwing himself to the ground...the people wept loudly v.1
Ezra's action attracted the attention and agreement of the people (including children) v.1.
repeated words: unfaithful v.2, 6, 10
The people who came to Ezra agreed that they were unfaithful to God. There was something in their allegiance to God Who brought them back to the land when they took foreign wives.
2. The action Ezra commanded the people to do:
11 Now give praise to the LORD God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the local residents and from these foreign wives.”
give praise= (BDB)in both of praise rendered by acknowledging and abandoning sin
Reflection: Do I feel what the leaders feel? Do I acknowledge my unfaithfulness to God by turning away from His commandments? Do I praise only with my lips, but not in acknowledging and abandoning sin?
3. v.2b Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard.v.4 Get up, for this matter concerns you. We are with you...5 So Ezra got up and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath to carry out this plan...7 A proclamation was circulated throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the exiles were to be assembled in Jerusalem...11 Now give praise to the LORD God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the local residents and from these foreign wives.” 12 All the assembly replied in a loud voice: “We will do just as you have said!...14 Let our leaders take steps...come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter
The order of the event: Someone reported the problem to Ezra, Ezra prayed and let the people know how serious was their problem, a group of people came and wept with Ezra, they stood with Ezra and encouraged him, Ezra made the priests/Levites/people (some of those probably involved with the sin) to take a oath, and then they carried out their plan with the people.
2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, addressed Ezra:
“We have been unfaithful to our God...
(EBC) The Shecaniah here is distinct from that of 8:3 (q.v.). Possibly his father is the same Jehiel mentioned in vv.21 and 26 as he also was of the family of Elam (see comment on 2:7). Perhaps Shecaniah was grieved that his father had married a non-Jewish mother. Six members of the clan of Elam were involved in intermarriages (v.26).
Summary and reflection: Key groups of people: those who reported the problem, Ezra, people who responded to Ezra and encouraged him even their families got involved with the sin, those who sinned and willing to take the oath. Do I have the courage to face sin so that I will report that to the leaders and encourage the leaders or cooperate with the leaders?
3. What they had proposed may or maynot be a Biblical solution, but they had the intention to act according to the law v.3.
(BKC) Shecaniah promised Ezra that the people would stand behind him in such a decision. Shecaniah was calling on the nation to do something distasteful and difficult, something that could cause bitter division between family members and friends. However, he appealed on the basis of the Law of God which was supposed to be the people’s rule of life. The Law also was a safeguard for this situation, for an Israelite could marry a woman from outside the nation if she had become Jewish in faith. Perhaps that is why each marriage was investigated thoroughly (vv. 16–19)—to see if any women had become Jewish proselytes.
Though divorce was not the norm, it may have been preferable in this situation because the mixed marriages, if continued, would lead the nation away from true worship of Yahweh. Eventually they would destroy the nation. On the other hand some Bible students believe this plan was not in accord with God’s desires (cf. Mal. 2:16). Do two “wrongs” make one “right”? Perhaps Ezra wrongly followed Shecaniah’s advice in requiring these divorces. However, no specific support for this view is indicated in Ezra 10.
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