Good morning. I invite you to turn with me to the book of Ezra. We’re going to look at the very last chapter today, chapter 10. We’ve been in this study since the beginning of October. It has been interesting to see some of the terrain of the book.
As we come to this last chapter, we have to remember what we saw last time in chapter 9. Remember that Ezra had come to Jerusalem, and he received this report that there were Jews—even leaders of the covenant community—who had gotten intimately involved with foreign women. They had developed relationships with some of the peoples of the lands. This of course was a great scandal. For it was a disruption of the “holy seed” as they called themselves.
We recognize it wasn’t about racial superiority. It was about purity of faith. These relationships were a great danger because it amounted to an intermingling of paganism and destruction of the gospel.
You remember that in the last chapter we saw Ezra’s reaction to this news. His reaction was one of great grief and frustration. We spent some time looking at the prayer he offered to the Lord, where he confessed the sin of the people.
This morning we’re going to see part 2 of this story. We’re going to read about how things unfolded from there. Please follow along as I read, starting in the first verse of chapter 10.
Let’s pray. “Heavenly Father, we praise you for instructing us and giving us time in your Word. We thank you for this book and the opportunity to study it. We pray that now, as we come to its end, you would impress upon us those things that it teaches. For we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Introduction:
You probably noticed that this book is far from a fairy tale ending. There’s certainly no “happily ever after” and it is probably not the way you expected the book to end. It is a kind of odd ending, especially since the book has had a rather upbeat tone to it throughout. Sure, there has been some drama. There have been some ups and downs, but the majority of the book has been rather upbeat. It’s been a book that has been radiating with optimism—or at least its been a rather strong undercurrent that has driven us along.
But when we get to chapters 9 & 10; its just all bad. But I think that’s the point. We want a different ending. We want happily ever after. We want things to be wrapped up with something like, “They feared God and walked in his ways.”
We know that’s supposed to be the way it ends. And that it doesn’t end that way reminds us of how important it is that we seek that very thing.
But as this passage shows us the conclusion to the whole debacle that had started in chapter 9. You might say, this chapter shows how they dealt with their “foreign affairs.” And basically it comes down to hard core repentance. The people need to get right with God. They know that if they are going to avert God’s wrath, they need to act fast.
The passage lays out a plan for dealing with these people who have sinned in taking foreign women into their homes and for the mixing of the families. The solution was to put away these women and basically to excommunicate them from the covenant community. We’ll talk more about this as we move through the passage. But the place we need to begin is at the beginning.
There’s going to be a lot to say on how they dealt with the defiled, but I want to start with the origin of the plan. The whole of the passage is a difficult one. It’s kind of sad. But there are some glimmers of good things that are found in it. And at least the beginning of the passage gives us a good lesson.
So I want you to see where their plan originates
I. Its origin [1]
The plan is proposed in verses 2-3 by a guy named Shekinah. But we should recognize the role of verse 1. Sheconiah’s proposal comes on the heels of Ezra’s tears and lamentation. We might even say that it arose as a result of Ezra’s grief stricken emotion.
Verse 1 reminds us of Ezra’s lamentation, his tears and his weeping. And it says that many other men, women and children gathered around while Ezra was weeping. They had no doubt, come to see what the problem was. They heard the cries. They noticed something was wrong. And they came to see what was going on and they ended up joining in the pow wow too.
I want you to notice that this is good leadership. You might not expect this half naked fellow to be a good impression for the people; you probably don’t expect it to amount to much in the public eye. But Ezra’s sorrow is what stirs people to action.
Listen to what Matthew Henry says,
“Our weeping for other people's sins may perhaps set those a weeping for them themselves who otherwise would continue senseless and remorseless. See what a happy influence the good examples of great ones may have upon their inferiors.”
And this is where we see the glory of biblical leadership. If it were not for Ezra’s display of emotion, people might have continued as if nothing was the matter. Ezra’s grief inspires people to see the evil of the matter. It is no doubt the spur that makes Sheconiah speak up too.
And this is in contrast to the poor leadership that has been displayed among the people. At the beginning of chapter 9 we were told that the priests, Levites, and chief officials were some of the main offenders in the immorality. And in the long list of names in verses 16-43 present for us all those who had offended. And what is astonishing is that out of the hundred or so names, about 25% of them are people who are part of the leadership.
No doubt, this is why the problem needed to be dealt with so swiftly and severely. If it infects leaders, the trickle down will be detrimental.
As we look at this passage, we have to remember the importance of real, Biblical leadership. Biblical leadership is found, not in executive orders or commanding personalities. It is found in simple faithfulness. It is found in the integrity; in their fear of God. That’s what the Holy Spirit uses.
When I was a Junior in High School we had an unlikely captain on the football team. His name was Justin Cook. He was not your average football captain. He was quiet. He didn’t rally guys with pep talks or have a commanding presence on the field. He was just a guy who did what he was supposed to do and he did it faithfully. He was what they called a “quiet leader.”
Genuine Biblical leadership is kind of like that. It isn’t about devising great programs or making critical decisions so much as it is being gripped with God and broken for sin. Ezra isn’t the guy who comes up with the plan, he’s a guy on his face before God. But that’s what inspires others and ultimately gives birth to the course of action that needs to be taken.
As an elder, you are the pace setter for the rest of the congregation. As a husband and father, you will leverage how everyone else in the home views or engages in sin. If you weep for sin, those around you and under you will be cautioned against it. If you indulge in it, you will open wide the doors for your children and grandchildren to it as well.
When we look at Ezra, we recognize his actions had wide ramifications. And out of his remorse there came a united effort to put things in order.
So we see that the plan had its origin in godly leadership. The next thing we see is that this plan had its basis in God’s character.
II. Its basis [2]
Look at verse 2. After the tears were shed, this guy named Sheconiah pipes up to propose his plan. And before he pitches the idea he acknowledges that there’s still time to act. He admits, yes, we have broken faith God, but he goes on to say, “Even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.”
Sheconiah seems to be a refreshing wave of optimism. Ezra’s confession (chapter 9) is ominous. It seems despairing and focuses on the doom and gloom of impending judgment. Sheconiah sees rays of hope. He knows that God has been gracious in the past. God has a long track record of faithfulness. Sheconiah knows that as long as they have breath—as long as God’s promises are laid before us, there’s the chance that God will be merciful.
The promise of God is this: “He who comes to be, I will by no means cast out.” Jesus summed up our hope right there. He who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. If you come to God in repentance and faith, then you can be assured that he will accept you, he will pardon you, he will give you eternal life.
Sin is tricky like that. Sin doesn’t offer hope. Its bondage. Its death. Its despair. It is the epitome of hopelessness. And that’s why a lot of people struggle with the assurance of their salvation. They look at the things that they’ve done and they think, “How evil!” They get lost in the labyrinth of sin because they are staring into the abyss of wickedness that it is.
But that’s why your eyes have to be drawn to Christ. You have to look at the gospel and the good news that God offers you in Christ.
That’s part of the reason we have communion every week. It is so that you have a continual reminder of the promise of forgiveness. Mercy is offered to the penitent every week. You have a picture of Christ’s sacrifice laid before your eyes. You have the promises of his grace confirmed over and over. And it is done so that you don’t droop into that black hole of hopelessness.
There is hope and, no matter what our sins may be, we can cling to the fact that God offers mercy to sinners like us.
But here’s where the passage really starts getting sticky. We’ve seen that the plan has its origins in godly leadership and it has its basis in the promise of the gospel. But let’s think about the severity of this plan.
III. Its severity [3-4, 16-43]
In verses 3-4 we get the actual details of the plan. And you will notice that it is a radical step. Sheconiah says that the relationships have to stop. The women and children have to be “put away.” Then at the end of the passage we see that is exactly what they did. We have a list of men’s names who were the offenders and who ended up sending their mistresses away.
Now, there are a couple of different ways to take this. And we have to try to understand it because we know that God hates divorce. Yet what is being proposed here is essentially a mass divorce. So, the question arises: What are we to make of this?
Well, one view says that Ezra and Sheconiah are wrong. They shouldn’t have proposed such a thing in the first place. Now, we should readily admit that there is no clear Scriptural guidance on this. There is nothing in the Pentetuch that speaks to marrying a pagan woman. You could marry a foreigner in some cases, but they had to be converts.
So, while we may say that there isn’t any clear cut guidance, I don’t think that that their course of action was altogether wrong. At least the text doesn’t give us any indication that this is the case.
Another view says that this was an extreme case scenario. The Jewish state at this time was small and the faith of the people could easily be destroyed if they allowed people to mix with pagans. So, you might say, this was a statement. Given the situation, they chose to make examples out of these people and made them divorce their pagan wives.
This may well be the case. And I will even say that I’m friendly to the argument. However, I’m not sure that it solves the dilemma: Divorce is wrong. And two wrongs, still don’t make a right. I seems that if the problem is this extreme, a better solution would be to send them all away—not just the women and children, but the men too. That would be a more thorough cleansing.
Here’s another take on it: Some say that it was permissible in the OT, but it isn’t permissible any more now that the New Covenant has come. In 1 Cor. 7 we have that passage about what to do if you are married to an unbeliever. Paul says that if the unbeliever is willing to stay with you, you should remain married.
My research was not exhaustive, by any means. But it would seem that this is where most of the commentators fall. This would be the main stream view: that God permitted divorce to pagans in the OT, but not in the New Covenant era.
I appreciate this argument and their trying to recognize all of the Scripture’s teaching and the balance we should have with the coming of the NT. However, I don’t find this sufficient, and for this reason: The New Testament doesn’t change things that are inherently moral. We see that things like circumcision changing to baptism, but there’s nothing inherently moral about that. They are just modes of expressing God’s covenant. In the New Covenant, the day of worship changes from Saturday to Sunday, but the essence of the 4th commandment doesn’t itself change. God still obligates us to set one day apart for him.
Also, 1 Corinthians 7 is dealing with a situation where the two were married prior to the one coming to faith. They were married as pagans and then one of them converted. So the question that they have is, “What do I do now?”
The situation in Ezra 10 is different. We have people who are part of the covenant community going outside the faith to marry.
And it is for these reasons, I don’t line up with the majority view.
Here’s where I do land though. This is the view I take: My view is that these are not divorces, because they are not marriages, at least not in the true sense of the term.
One of the things of note is that the normal word for marriage isn’t used in the passage. I know the ESV uses that language. For instance, in verse 2 the ESV translates it “we have married foreign women.” But the word there literally means “to dwell” or “to dwell with.” Literally it says, “We have dwelt with foreign women.”
If you translate it that way, you have a different view of things. Rather than being married, you can see this more as a mistress with whom they are shacking up. It is a form of fornication, not marriage.
The same can be said about the word that is translated “wives” in this passage. The Hebrew word can actually mean woman or wife. So wherever it uses the word wives, you could translate that as woman.
Finally, you should recognize that the normal word for divorce isn’t used here either. So I believe that what is being suggested here is that these are not marriages that are being terminated. Rather, they are terminating an inappropriate live-in relationship.
I think this does more justice to the text. Moreover, it reinforces the idea that divorce is wrong. It’s never been something that God has endorsed. I don’t want anyone thinking there are any loopholes where you can finagle your way out of a marriage.
But even if that’s the case, it doesn’t make Sheconiah’s proposal any easier. Even though it may not be a divorce, they still have to separate. The women with whom they’ve been living, and no doubt, whom they love still have to be put out. More than that, we’re also told that some of these relationships produced children. So they have to say good bye to their offspring. That would have been a tough move.
But that’s what needs to be done. If their faith--and the faith of the broader, fledgling covenant community--is going to thrive, they have to cut ties with these heathen people.
And that reminds us the drastic measures that are part and parcel with Christianity. Jesus would say, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26.
What is Jesus saying there? Is he telling us that we should literally hate our blood and flesh? No, he’s reminding us of what our priority is to be. God has to be first in our lives. And, if need be, we should be willing to lay down any other relationship if it would get in the way of our relationship to Christ.
IV. Its prolonging (the delay) of the plan [9-15]
It is December and the height of the rainy season. People are chilled to the bone and sopping wet. They recognize that this is a matter that needs time and cannot be solved in an afternoon or two. So they amend the motion so that the leaders make a thorough investigation. But more importantly, they can go home. They can get out of the rain.
Then we read in verses 16-17 that it took around 2 months to execute this plan. Being that there are 110 names listed in the following verses, that would amount to about 2 cases a day that they judicated.
We should appreciate two things about this. First of all, that they were concerned with due process. In an instance like this, where passions are running high and people are full of bitterness, there could have been a mob mentality. They could have acted out of that passion and ran the offenders out of there. The problem with that was that the innocent would have been victims along with the unrighteous. There very well could have been women who had converted. There very well could have been people who had legitimate relationships. But they would have been judged just on the basis of one’s skin or birthplace, and not on the basis of real evidence.
The plan that they interject allows for a thorough investigation; where all the evidence could have been weighed. And, you could even see that the elders come to visit and they start their investigation. And they could ask whether or not this pagan woman wants to convert and become a legitimate citizen of Israel. So it could have been somewhat evangelistic.
If anything we appreciate their seeking to be just. We appreciate the fact that they did things in an orderly way and didn’t act out of passion.
But what is to be appreciated even more is that there was rain; even heavy rain. The rains seem to be a bit of a drag. It seems to make a dreary situation all that much more dreary. But let’s remember that every drop of that downpour is a grace. These people relied on those rains. Those rains made life possible during the rest of the year. Those rains made their crops grow. They gave vegetation for their animals.
You see, they don’t get rain throughout the year. Most of the year it is dry; very dry. And if they don’t get rain during the rainy season, they die. Their whole economy crashes and people die.
The OT law said that if the people sinned and were not obedient, then God would cut off the rains. There are two passages in the book of Deuteronomy that speak to this. In Deut. 11 God pronounces a curse saying that he would he would “shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you.”
In Deut. 28:23-24 he says that he would turn the heavens into bronze and would make the rain of your land powder.” Instead of rain coming down, they would have dust descending upon them.
These rains might feel like an inconvenience, but they are a mercy.
We should thank God for inconvenient mercies. That God does not give us what we deserve, but rather showers his grace upon us is a reason for praise.
I once knew a guy who was a partier. He liked to drink alcohol and he loved to party. I don’t know if I’d call him an alcoholic. He might have been headed in that direction. But he was a guy who loved pleasure and his life was starting to be destroyed because of it. His relationship with his parents and his sibblings was deteriorating. He was starting to see that his friends were just as self consumed as he was and they were taking advantage of him. Above all, his relationship with the Lord was pretty much non existant. His life was rapped up in the pursuit of fun and feel good and it was starting to lead to anything but fun and good feelings. Add to that the fact that he had loaned his car to a drinking buddy and they had wrecked it. The person was okay, but the car suffered all kinds of damage. So he was out a car.
One day, he had bought a pack of beer and he was headed to his next party. It was raining pretty heavily and the bag was getting soaked. He was thinking about how this lifestyle causing his life to fall apart. The Lord was working on his heart, but his heart was not overly receptive. He still was heading to his party. But since he didn’t have a car, he had to walk in the rain. And the rain sopped the bag that carried his goods, and the bottles of beer ended up ripping through the bottom of the bag. They fell to the ground and broke into pieces. Only one bottle remained in tact, and it sat there spinning on the ground among all the shards of glass.
He sat down on the curb; the rain pouring down on him. He picked up the remaining bottle sat there staring at it. He recognized that the rain that he was not much appreciating at that time was God’s grace. He realized that his life was not much different than all those broken pieces. He understood that this rain was God’s way of telling him that he needed to change. He needed to turn to the Lord and get right with Him.
He took that last bottle and dropped it on the curb. He said it was odd to see how easily it shattered. But right then and there his party life ended.
Like my friend, we should be thankful for odd turn of events. They are oftentimes graces in disguise. Just as the old hymn says, “Behind a frowning providence, there lies a smiling face.”
Now, as we think about the putting away of these women, let’s not forget the disaster of it all.
V. Its disaster [44]
We’ve come to the end of the book of Ezra, and this probably isn’t the way we would have expected it to end. As a matter of fact, Elizabeth and I were talking about the passage together this week and she said, “Is that how it ends?”
Yes. We end with what amounts to a train wreck. We end with a list of people who had sinned, many of whom by the way were leaders in Israel. Some of whom were actually the sons of the Jeshua, the high priest who was part of leading the first wave of captives back to Judah.
And even the last verse is pretty disturbing. It highlights what a disaster this is. It says that some of these relationships had produced children. So the last word of Ezra is that women are abandoned and there are a bunch of children who are orphaned.
It’s almost as if Ezra wants to say, “Look what you’ve done.” Sure, we’re glad that you put these pagans out, but look what you’ve done. Look what your sin has produced. Look at the wreckage of your failure to follow the Lord.
We could look at this with cold hatred towards the pagan women, and say “good riddance to the heathen.” But I don’t think the text allows us to do that. I think the text reminds us that if we act like pagans, we leave a trail of tears and brokenness.
Yes, repentance is good. We need repentance. But let’s have a little forethought. The last word of Ezra is, if I could summarize, “Be careful, you idiots!”
Which kind of brings us back to the overall point of the passage.
VI. Its point [10-11]
If you would, go back to verses 10-11. Its Ezra’s address to the crowd. There’s a lot that can be said about this passage, but its important that we hear Ezra’s proclamation here. Ezra’s words are words we need to hear. He says, “Separate yourselves.” “Separate yourselves from the peoples of the lands.” He says, “Make confession to the Lord and do his will.”
When we look at chapter 10, we have to remember it is a continuation of chapter 9. It is all about being different. It is about being people who do God’s will and not our own.
If you are going to live in the promised land, you have to live like you belong there. We’re told in the new Testament, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may discern the will of God, what is good and acceptable.”
A Pain felt for sin - Woman & Children gather [1]
B Plan concocted to put away women [2-6]
C People Assemble /heavy rain [7-9]
D Ezra’s Declaration: Separate yourselves! Do his will [10-11]
C’ Assembly Responds / Heavy rain [12-15]
B’ Plan executed: List of men who put away women [16-43]
A’ Women & children outed – (implied: pain felt by them / for them) [44]
As we come to this last chapter, we have to remember what we saw last time in chapter 9. Remember that Ezra had come to Jerusalem, and he received this report that there were Jews—even leaders of the covenant community—who had gotten intimately involved with foreign women. They had developed relationships with some of the peoples of the lands. This of course was a great scandal. For it was a disruption of the “holy seed” as they called themselves.
We recognize it wasn’t about racial superiority. It was about purity of faith. These relationships were a great danger because it amounted to an intermingling of paganism and destruction of the gospel.
You remember that in the last chapter we saw Ezra’s reaction to this news. His reaction was one of great grief and frustration. We spent some time looking at the prayer he offered to the Lord, where he confessed the sin of the people.
This morning we’re going to see part 2 of this story. We’re going to read about how things unfolded from there. Please follow along as I read, starting in the first verse of chapter 10.
Let’s pray. “Heavenly Father, we praise you for instructing us and giving us time in your Word. We thank you for this book and the opportunity to study it. We pray that now, as we come to its end, you would impress upon us those things that it teaches. For we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Introduction:
You probably noticed that this book is far from a fairy tale ending. There’s certainly no “happily ever after” and it is probably not the way you expected the book to end. It is a kind of odd ending, especially since the book has had a rather upbeat tone to it throughout. Sure, there has been some drama. There have been some ups and downs, but the majority of the book has been rather upbeat. It’s been a book that has been radiating with optimism—or at least its been a rather strong undercurrent that has driven us along.
But when we get to chapters 9 & 10; its just all bad. But I think that’s the point. We want a different ending. We want happily ever after. We want things to be wrapped up with something like, “They feared God and walked in his ways.”
We know that’s supposed to be the way it ends. And that it doesn’t end that way reminds us of how important it is that we seek that very thing.
But as this passage shows us the conclusion to the whole debacle that had started in chapter 9. You might say, this chapter shows how they dealt with their “foreign affairs.” And basically it comes down to hard core repentance. The people need to get right with God. They know that if they are going to avert God’s wrath, they need to act fast.
The passage lays out a plan for dealing with these people who have sinned in taking foreign women into their homes and for the mixing of the families. The solution was to put away these women and basically to excommunicate them from the covenant community. We’ll talk more about this as we move through the passage. But the place we need to begin is at the beginning.
There’s going to be a lot to say on how they dealt with the defiled, but I want to start with the origin of the plan. The whole of the passage is a difficult one. It’s kind of sad. But there are some glimmers of good things that are found in it. And at least the beginning of the passage gives us a good lesson.
So I want you to see where their plan originates
I. Its origin [1]
The plan is proposed in verses 2-3 by a guy named Shekinah. But we should recognize the role of verse 1. Sheconiah’s proposal comes on the heels of Ezra’s tears and lamentation. We might even say that it arose as a result of Ezra’s grief stricken emotion.
Verse 1 reminds us of Ezra’s lamentation, his tears and his weeping. And it says that many other men, women and children gathered around while Ezra was weeping. They had no doubt, come to see what the problem was. They heard the cries. They noticed something was wrong. And they came to see what was going on and they ended up joining in the pow wow too.
I want you to notice that this is good leadership. You might not expect this half naked fellow to be a good impression for the people; you probably don’t expect it to amount to much in the public eye. But Ezra’s sorrow is what stirs people to action.
Listen to what Matthew Henry says,
“Our weeping for other people's sins may perhaps set those a weeping for them themselves who otherwise would continue senseless and remorseless. See what a happy influence the good examples of great ones may have upon their inferiors.”
And this is where we see the glory of biblical leadership. If it were not for Ezra’s display of emotion, people might have continued as if nothing was the matter. Ezra’s grief inspires people to see the evil of the matter. It is no doubt the spur that makes Sheconiah speak up too.
And this is in contrast to the poor leadership that has been displayed among the people. At the beginning of chapter 9 we were told that the priests, Levites, and chief officials were some of the main offenders in the immorality. And in the long list of names in verses 16-43 present for us all those who had offended. And what is astonishing is that out of the hundred or so names, about 25% of them are people who are part of the leadership.
No doubt, this is why the problem needed to be dealt with so swiftly and severely. If it infects leaders, the trickle down will be detrimental.
As we look at this passage, we have to remember the importance of real, Biblical leadership. Biblical leadership is found, not in executive orders or commanding personalities. It is found in simple faithfulness. It is found in the integrity; in their fear of God. That’s what the Holy Spirit uses.
When I was a Junior in High School we had an unlikely captain on the football team. His name was Justin Cook. He was not your average football captain. He was quiet. He didn’t rally guys with pep talks or have a commanding presence on the field. He was just a guy who did what he was supposed to do and he did it faithfully. He was what they called a “quiet leader.”
Genuine Biblical leadership is kind of like that. It isn’t about devising great programs or making critical decisions so much as it is being gripped with God and broken for sin. Ezra isn’t the guy who comes up with the plan, he’s a guy on his face before God. But that’s what inspires others and ultimately gives birth to the course of action that needs to be taken.
As an elder, you are the pace setter for the rest of the congregation. As a husband and father, you will leverage how everyone else in the home views or engages in sin. If you weep for sin, those around you and under you will be cautioned against it. If you indulge in it, you will open wide the doors for your children and grandchildren to it as well.
When we look at Ezra, we recognize his actions had wide ramifications. And out of his remorse there came a united effort to put things in order.
So we see that the plan had its origin in godly leadership. The next thing we see is that this plan had its basis in God’s character.
II. Its basis [2]
Look at verse 2. After the tears were shed, this guy named Sheconiah pipes up to propose his plan. And before he pitches the idea he acknowledges that there’s still time to act. He admits, yes, we have broken faith God, but he goes on to say, “Even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.”
Sheconiah seems to be a refreshing wave of optimism. Ezra’s confession (chapter 9) is ominous. It seems despairing and focuses on the doom and gloom of impending judgment. Sheconiah sees rays of hope. He knows that God has been gracious in the past. God has a long track record of faithfulness. Sheconiah knows that as long as they have breath—as long as God’s promises are laid before us, there’s the chance that God will be merciful.
The promise of God is this: “He who comes to be, I will by no means cast out.” Jesus summed up our hope right there. He who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. If you come to God in repentance and faith, then you can be assured that he will accept you, he will pardon you, he will give you eternal life.
Sin is tricky like that. Sin doesn’t offer hope. Its bondage. Its death. Its despair. It is the epitome of hopelessness. And that’s why a lot of people struggle with the assurance of their salvation. They look at the things that they’ve done and they think, “How evil!” They get lost in the labyrinth of sin because they are staring into the abyss of wickedness that it is.
But that’s why your eyes have to be drawn to Christ. You have to look at the gospel and the good news that God offers you in Christ.
That’s part of the reason we have communion every week. It is so that you have a continual reminder of the promise of forgiveness. Mercy is offered to the penitent every week. You have a picture of Christ’s sacrifice laid before your eyes. You have the promises of his grace confirmed over and over. And it is done so that you don’t droop into that black hole of hopelessness.
There is hope and, no matter what our sins may be, we can cling to the fact that God offers mercy to sinners like us.
But here’s where the passage really starts getting sticky. We’ve seen that the plan has its origins in godly leadership and it has its basis in the promise of the gospel. But let’s think about the severity of this plan.
III. Its severity [3-4, 16-43]
In verses 3-4 we get the actual details of the plan. And you will notice that it is a radical step. Sheconiah says that the relationships have to stop. The women and children have to be “put away.” Then at the end of the passage we see that is exactly what they did. We have a list of men’s names who were the offenders and who ended up sending their mistresses away.
Now, there are a couple of different ways to take this. And we have to try to understand it because we know that God hates divorce. Yet what is being proposed here is essentially a mass divorce. So, the question arises: What are we to make of this?
Well, one view says that Ezra and Sheconiah are wrong. They shouldn’t have proposed such a thing in the first place. Now, we should readily admit that there is no clear Scriptural guidance on this. There is nothing in the Pentetuch that speaks to marrying a pagan woman. You could marry a foreigner in some cases, but they had to be converts.
So, while we may say that there isn’t any clear cut guidance, I don’t think that that their course of action was altogether wrong. At least the text doesn’t give us any indication that this is the case.
Another view says that this was an extreme case scenario. The Jewish state at this time was small and the faith of the people could easily be destroyed if they allowed people to mix with pagans. So, you might say, this was a statement. Given the situation, they chose to make examples out of these people and made them divorce their pagan wives.
This may well be the case. And I will even say that I’m friendly to the argument. However, I’m not sure that it solves the dilemma: Divorce is wrong. And two wrongs, still don’t make a right. I seems that if the problem is this extreme, a better solution would be to send them all away—not just the women and children, but the men too. That would be a more thorough cleansing.
Here’s another take on it: Some say that it was permissible in the OT, but it isn’t permissible any more now that the New Covenant has come. In 1 Cor. 7 we have that passage about what to do if you are married to an unbeliever. Paul says that if the unbeliever is willing to stay with you, you should remain married.
My research was not exhaustive, by any means. But it would seem that this is where most of the commentators fall. This would be the main stream view: that God permitted divorce to pagans in the OT, but not in the New Covenant era.
I appreciate this argument and their trying to recognize all of the Scripture’s teaching and the balance we should have with the coming of the NT. However, I don’t find this sufficient, and for this reason: The New Testament doesn’t change things that are inherently moral. We see that things like circumcision changing to baptism, but there’s nothing inherently moral about that. They are just modes of expressing God’s covenant. In the New Covenant, the day of worship changes from Saturday to Sunday, but the essence of the 4th commandment doesn’t itself change. God still obligates us to set one day apart for him.
Also, 1 Corinthians 7 is dealing with a situation where the two were married prior to the one coming to faith. They were married as pagans and then one of them converted. So the question that they have is, “What do I do now?”
The situation in Ezra 10 is different. We have people who are part of the covenant community going outside the faith to marry.
And it is for these reasons, I don’t line up with the majority view.
Here’s where I do land though. This is the view I take: My view is that these are not divorces, because they are not marriages, at least not in the true sense of the term.
One of the things of note is that the normal word for marriage isn’t used in the passage. I know the ESV uses that language. For instance, in verse 2 the ESV translates it “we have married foreign women.” But the word there literally means “to dwell” or “to dwell with.” Literally it says, “We have dwelt with foreign women.”
If you translate it that way, you have a different view of things. Rather than being married, you can see this more as a mistress with whom they are shacking up. It is a form of fornication, not marriage.
The same can be said about the word that is translated “wives” in this passage. The Hebrew word can actually mean woman or wife. So wherever it uses the word wives, you could translate that as woman.
Finally, you should recognize that the normal word for divorce isn’t used here either. So I believe that what is being suggested here is that these are not marriages that are being terminated. Rather, they are terminating an inappropriate live-in relationship.
I think this does more justice to the text. Moreover, it reinforces the idea that divorce is wrong. It’s never been something that God has endorsed. I don’t want anyone thinking there are any loopholes where you can finagle your way out of a marriage.
But even if that’s the case, it doesn’t make Sheconiah’s proposal any easier. Even though it may not be a divorce, they still have to separate. The women with whom they’ve been living, and no doubt, whom they love still have to be put out. More than that, we’re also told that some of these relationships produced children. So they have to say good bye to their offspring. That would have been a tough move.
But that’s what needs to be done. If their faith--and the faith of the broader, fledgling covenant community--is going to thrive, they have to cut ties with these heathen people.
And that reminds us the drastic measures that are part and parcel with Christianity. Jesus would say, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26.
What is Jesus saying there? Is he telling us that we should literally hate our blood and flesh? No, he’s reminding us of what our priority is to be. God has to be first in our lives. And, if need be, we should be willing to lay down any other relationship if it would get in the way of our relationship to Christ.
IV. Its prolonging (the delay) of the plan [9-15]
It is December and the height of the rainy season. People are chilled to the bone and sopping wet. They recognize that this is a matter that needs time and cannot be solved in an afternoon or two. So they amend the motion so that the leaders make a thorough investigation. But more importantly, they can go home. They can get out of the rain.
Then we read in verses 16-17 that it took around 2 months to execute this plan. Being that there are 110 names listed in the following verses, that would amount to about 2 cases a day that they judicated.
We should appreciate two things about this. First of all, that they were concerned with due process. In an instance like this, where passions are running high and people are full of bitterness, there could have been a mob mentality. They could have acted out of that passion and ran the offenders out of there. The problem with that was that the innocent would have been victims along with the unrighteous. There very well could have been women who had converted. There very well could have been people who had legitimate relationships. But they would have been judged just on the basis of one’s skin or birthplace, and not on the basis of real evidence.
The plan that they interject allows for a thorough investigation; where all the evidence could have been weighed. And, you could even see that the elders come to visit and they start their investigation. And they could ask whether or not this pagan woman wants to convert and become a legitimate citizen of Israel. So it could have been somewhat evangelistic.
If anything we appreciate their seeking to be just. We appreciate the fact that they did things in an orderly way and didn’t act out of passion.
But what is to be appreciated even more is that there was rain; even heavy rain. The rains seem to be a bit of a drag. It seems to make a dreary situation all that much more dreary. But let’s remember that every drop of that downpour is a grace. These people relied on those rains. Those rains made life possible during the rest of the year. Those rains made their crops grow. They gave vegetation for their animals.
You see, they don’t get rain throughout the year. Most of the year it is dry; very dry. And if they don’t get rain during the rainy season, they die. Their whole economy crashes and people die.
The OT law said that if the people sinned and were not obedient, then God would cut off the rains. There are two passages in the book of Deuteronomy that speak to this. In Deut. 11 God pronounces a curse saying that he would he would “shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you.”
In Deut. 28:23-24 he says that he would turn the heavens into bronze and would make the rain of your land powder.” Instead of rain coming down, they would have dust descending upon them.
These rains might feel like an inconvenience, but they are a mercy.
We should thank God for inconvenient mercies. That God does not give us what we deserve, but rather showers his grace upon us is a reason for praise.
I once knew a guy who was a partier. He liked to drink alcohol and he loved to party. I don’t know if I’d call him an alcoholic. He might have been headed in that direction. But he was a guy who loved pleasure and his life was starting to be destroyed because of it. His relationship with his parents and his sibblings was deteriorating. He was starting to see that his friends were just as self consumed as he was and they were taking advantage of him. Above all, his relationship with the Lord was pretty much non existant. His life was rapped up in the pursuit of fun and feel good and it was starting to lead to anything but fun and good feelings. Add to that the fact that he had loaned his car to a drinking buddy and they had wrecked it. The person was okay, but the car suffered all kinds of damage. So he was out a car.
One day, he had bought a pack of beer and he was headed to his next party. It was raining pretty heavily and the bag was getting soaked. He was thinking about how this lifestyle causing his life to fall apart. The Lord was working on his heart, but his heart was not overly receptive. He still was heading to his party. But since he didn’t have a car, he had to walk in the rain. And the rain sopped the bag that carried his goods, and the bottles of beer ended up ripping through the bottom of the bag. They fell to the ground and broke into pieces. Only one bottle remained in tact, and it sat there spinning on the ground among all the shards of glass.
He sat down on the curb; the rain pouring down on him. He picked up the remaining bottle sat there staring at it. He recognized that the rain that he was not much appreciating at that time was God’s grace. He realized that his life was not much different than all those broken pieces. He understood that this rain was God’s way of telling him that he needed to change. He needed to turn to the Lord and get right with Him.
He took that last bottle and dropped it on the curb. He said it was odd to see how easily it shattered. But right then and there his party life ended.
Like my friend, we should be thankful for odd turn of events. They are oftentimes graces in disguise. Just as the old hymn says, “Behind a frowning providence, there lies a smiling face.”
Now, as we think about the putting away of these women, let’s not forget the disaster of it all.
V. Its disaster [44]
We’ve come to the end of the book of Ezra, and this probably isn’t the way we would have expected it to end. As a matter of fact, Elizabeth and I were talking about the passage together this week and she said, “Is that how it ends?”
Yes. We end with what amounts to a train wreck. We end with a list of people who had sinned, many of whom by the way were leaders in Israel. Some of whom were actually the sons of the Jeshua, the high priest who was part of leading the first wave of captives back to Judah.
And even the last verse is pretty disturbing. It highlights what a disaster this is. It says that some of these relationships had produced children. So the last word of Ezra is that women are abandoned and there are a bunch of children who are orphaned.
It’s almost as if Ezra wants to say, “Look what you’ve done.” Sure, we’re glad that you put these pagans out, but look what you’ve done. Look what your sin has produced. Look at the wreckage of your failure to follow the Lord.
We could look at this with cold hatred towards the pagan women, and say “good riddance to the heathen.” But I don’t think the text allows us to do that. I think the text reminds us that if we act like pagans, we leave a trail of tears and brokenness.
Yes, repentance is good. We need repentance. But let’s have a little forethought. The last word of Ezra is, if I could summarize, “Be careful, you idiots!”
Which kind of brings us back to the overall point of the passage.
VI. Its point [10-11]
If you would, go back to verses 10-11. Its Ezra’s address to the crowd. There’s a lot that can be said about this passage, but its important that we hear Ezra’s proclamation here. Ezra’s words are words we need to hear. He says, “Separate yourselves.” “Separate yourselves from the peoples of the lands.” He says, “Make confession to the Lord and do his will.”
When we look at chapter 10, we have to remember it is a continuation of chapter 9. It is all about being different. It is about being people who do God’s will and not our own.
If you are going to live in the promised land, you have to live like you belong there. We’re told in the new Testament, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may discern the will of God, what is good and acceptable.”
A Pain felt for sin - Woman & Children gather [1]
B Plan concocted to put away women [2-6]
C People Assemble /heavy rain [7-9]
D Ezra’s Declaration: Separate yourselves! Do his will [10-11]
C’ Assembly Responds / Heavy rain [12-15]
B’ Plan executed: List of men who put away women [16-43]
A’ Women & children outed – (implied: pain felt by them / for them) [44]