Ezra 9
Ezra doesn’t get long to savour the amazing goodness of God in granting him favour before the Persian king and bringing the exiles safely back to Jerusalem. Four months after the sacrifices are offered (compare 7:8 and 10:9), some of the officials approach him to report disastrous news: “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the land with their abominations” (9:2).
In the eighty years since Zerubbabel’s group had first arrived back home, many of the Jews and their children had intermarried with local people from the surrounding nations (9:2). To make matters worse, “in this faithlessness, the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost” (9:2). Even some of the sons of Jeshua, the high priest who had helped lead the Temple rebuild (5:2), were implicated in this sordid compromise (10:18).
This news devastates Ezra: “As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled” (9:3). Those who shared Ezra’s reverence for God and His Word (“all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel”), gathered round him in solidarity (9:4). At the time of “the evening sacrifice”, Erza fell on his knees and spread his hands out to the Lord as he offered an impassioned prayer (9:5).
“O my God,” Ezra cries, “I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you” (9:6). Ezra acknowledges the great sinfulness of the remnant, describing their iniquities as having risen “higher than our heads” and their guilt as mounting up “to the heavens” (9:6). Ezra admits this guilt before God is no new occurrence: “from the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt” (9:7). Their collective sins had been the cause of their national demise. Because of their waywardness, God had given them over “to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame” (9:7).
What disheartens Ezra most is that this recent rebellion against God occurred in the “brief moment” when He was showing favour to the remnant, giving them a “secure hold” in a newly rebuilt Temple (9:8). Just when God graciously brightened their eyes and granted them “a little reviving in their slavery”, just when he showed He had not forsaken them, just when He extended His steadfast love by moving the Persian king to support and protect them, at this very time, the Jewish remnant had chosen to forsake His commandments (9:8-10).
Ezra refers to the Law of Moses where God clearly forbids the Jews from intermarrying with the inhabitants of Canaan due to their idolatrous worship and abominable practices (Exodus 34:11-16; Deut 7:1-4). By remaining separate from the pagan nations, Israel would not mix the “holy race” with the idolatrous “peoples of the lands” (9:2). Instead, they would grow “strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance” to their children (9:12).
Ezra laments that the Jews had not learned from the suffering and slavery they experienced for their “evil deeds” and “great guilt” (9:13). So far, God had not punished them as fully as their “iniquities deserved” but had left “a remnant” to return to the land (9:13). Ezra fears God’s justice may now bring Him to consume them entirely, leaving “no remnant nor any to escape” (9:13-14). His prayer ends with an expression of guilt and shame: “Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this” (9:15).
Knowing God: Understanding His Person and Ways
God’s justice brings judgment on His sinful people. Ezra links the Jews’ slavery and suffering to their sinful ways: “And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of other kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today” (9:7). Ezra’s consternation when hearing about the intermarrying of the remnant with the neighbouring nations is due to his realization that God could bring more judgment on the Jews, leaving them no remnant at all. God’s people today must realize that our God remains righteous (“you are just”—9:15), willing to bring stern discipline on us if we willfully wander from His Word and ways.
God’s steadfast love grants favour to His sinful people. Ezra acknowledges the shameful truth that the Jews had been unfaithful to God, both in the past and at the present (9:7). For their iniquity, they had experienced God’s righteous judgment in the form of foreign conquests. Yet, even in their captivity, the Lord did not abandon them: “Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery” (9:9). In His steadfast love, the Lord had chosen to favour His people once again, leaving a remnant and returning them to their homeland. Because God does not change, believers today can still hope and trust in His favour. When we confess and repent of our sinful ways, we will find mercy and grace in our time of need.
Joining God: Moving with God on Mission
God’s commandments must guide and guard our heart’s passions and desires. The returned exiles followed their heart’s desires in the matter of marriage, choosing wives from “the peoples of the land” (9:1). Marrying a foreign bride was permitted only when the woman had come to embrace the one, true God (for example, Ruth, who was a Moabite). The Jews who had come back to Jerusalem indiscriminately married women from a host of surrounding nations, without regard for God’s laws. Ezra’s devastated response indicates that God’s commandments were not to be set aside for human passions and desires. His Word is to guide and guard the lives of His people, even in areas where our passions and inclinations pull us strongly in another direction (as can be in the case of love and marriage).
Godly leaders deal decisively with ungodly actions in the people they lead. As soon as Ezra hears the news of the disobedience of the returned exiles, he acts. He begins by expressing his shock and dismay, taking time to lament the faithlessness of his people (9:3-4). Then he offers an emotional prayer of contrition and confession to the Lord (9:6-14). In the next chapter (Ezra 10), we watch him take decisive action to correct the situation. Christian leaders today must learn from his example. Even when we would rather be rejoicing in recent victories, we must decisively respond to the realities of sin in the lives of those we lead.
Humble, contrite prayer is the right way to respond to wrong situations. The humility in Ezra’s prayer comes through in several poignant ways. First, he doesn’t downplay the disaster that has occurred. Instead, he acknowledges the magnitude of the nation’s sin: “our iniquities have risen higher that our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens” (9:6). Second, he includes himself in the company of those who are guilty before God. Though he had not personally taken a wife from the surrounding nations, he includes himself when confessing the nation’s sins: “Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this” (9:16). Godly leaders pray with humility when dealing with the sins of others, knowing they too stand in need of God’s grace and forgiveness.
Trembling at God’s Word helps us reject spiritual compromise. As Ezra mourns, weeps, and prays, he is surrounded by “all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel” (9:4). Evidently, the Jews with a reverence for God’s Word sided with Ezra in resisting spiritual compromise. God sees and supports those with a healthy fear of Him and a reverence for His Word. “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2). A holy reverence for God and His Word strengths the resolve of God’s people to follow His ways.
Rick and Linda Reed 