Several times Ezra gives us precise “time spans.” Of course, with the man (Ezra) being a “scribe,” he would have been used to such specificity! (Think of court reporters, scientific researchers, skilled lawyers, and such. No, add scholars in religious law, as the Pentateuch of Moses!)
Here’s the Book’s final example of such “dating:” From Ezra chapter 10, as one would suspect. “And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.” Ezra 10:16-17
The “did so” of verse 16 means they “obeyed” the Law of God in the matter of widespread intermarriage. (Which not only diluted the Jewish blood line, but nearly obliterated their national identity!) They truly followed through on the advice of their leaders and of Ezra the Scribe, Ezra the Priest.
A great assembly is underway! What assembly? The one demanded by a binding resolution decided back in Ezra 10:14 … “Let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof,” Well, here they are! (“Taken” is “yashab,” meaning “living with, dwelling among.” And the Hebrew adjective “strange” is expressed by the Hebrew word for “foreign,” in the sense of “non-Jewish” and even more so “idol worshipping,” truly “heathen!” Women not knowing, or even wanting to know, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob!)
Looks like “appointed times“ means they did not all appear the same day! The “sessions” were spread out over a few weeks. The whole (little) nation had to be polled, judged in this matter. And along with the “offenders” (“criminals” in the eyes of Mosaic Law) came the leaders of their various cities! (Back in those days, “elders” could be held accountable by Almighty God for sin in their communities. Especially sin that goes unjudged! Deuteronomy 21 gives a good example of this being the case. Plus, these “elders” often also served as “judges.”)
What then must be done? In today’s Text, verse 17, “They made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives.” That does not mean they executed them! They required them to “separate” from their wives! To quit living in godless situations! They “dissolved” those marriages!
Ezra felt (as did Nehemiah shortly after him) that this was THAT SERIOUS an offense to God, THAT FLAGRANT a violation of the Law. And God Himself seems to have agreed! (The Lord having previously forbidden time and time again such compromising unions!)
And, back to the “point” of today’s lesson … “how long” did it take to so purge the nation, to cleanse Judah? “They sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.” (Verse 17)
Then before we know it … “They made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.”
Do the math, please. Three full months! (The equivalent of our October 1st until January 1st! Although Jewish months and English months do not perfectly correspond, match.)
That many disobedient Jews!
But without that action … that annulling of so many, many marriages … God could not have continued using Judah! God would have in fact … judged the little county. In fact, they felt that such judgment had already begun, the nation essentially being in shambles that very moment! Having been made into slaves for the past 70 years, having lost their liberty! “Until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.” Ezra 10:14 terms the situation.
It may be: if sin HURTS badly enough … we then tend TO DO something about it!
Here’s a prime example of people changing their very lifestyles … in order to fall back into alignment with the ways of God!
Hallelujah!
Selah!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
Oh, this too! “Three months” of a nation judging herself? Yes! The applicable Principle being: Sin often does not develop overnight! And resolving that sin, eliminating that sin, sometimes takes a while as well!
However long it takes, today begin confessing and forsaking some “sin” in your life! (“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13) Confessing may not be enough … forsaking is essential too!
And again I say … Selah!
One meaning of which can be: “PAUSE … AND THINK ABOUT THAT!”