We have reached the last chapter of the Book of Ezra.

And a meeting has been called …

“Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away. And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto ALL the children of the captivity, that THEY should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem; and that WHOSOEVER would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, ALL his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away. Then ALL the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.” Ezra 10:6-9, note the pronouns I have emphasized, capitalized please.

A convocation to deal with the rampant sin among the people!

The sin of “mixing” with the ungodly culture that surrounded them!

The sin of not being “separated” from iniquity!

This gathering is “no cozy seminar,” to quote one commentator I read earlier today.

It is assembled “under duress!”

NO CHOICE IS GIVEN TO THE ATTENDEES!

And there’s a penalty for not coming! “Whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.” Loss of personal property … and banishment from the country!

At this meeting … SIN WILL BE CONFRONTED, HEAD-ON!

At this meeting … ACTION MUST BE TAKEN, COSTLY ACTION! (We are talking about the “breaking up” of established families, but “forbidden unions” nonetheless!)

Wow!

Ezra chapter 10 is one of the most unique (and serious) chapters in all the Bible!

The Text today reminds me of some other “forced” meetings in the future of mankind!

Like the “Judgment Seat of Christ” for every believer in Jesus!

Like the “Great White Throne” Judgment for every unbeliever!

No choice!

God ultimately holds His creation RESPONSIBLE for how we have lived our lives!

Are YOU ready for your day of judgment?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Oh, by the way, did you notice the “weather report” at the end of our Text, Ezra 10:9? Read it with me once more … “and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.”

Trembling in fear … not filial fear (reverence for a Father) but servile fear (keen awareness of impending judgment) … but also “for the great rain.”

As if God “matched” the precipitation with the spiritual condition of the people. (And since this whole “mess” is over the Jews marrying ungodly, heathen women … maybe Proverbs 27:15 links the situation to the pouring rain! “A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.” Wow!)

Remember the rain at the Flood, in Noah’s day!

Sodom and Gomorrah too? But there God “rained” fire and brimstone!

Then again, God is fully capable of sending “showers of blessings” too! Ezekiel 34:26 … “There shall be showers of blessing.” A promise to an obedient people!

 

I’m sure many of you are familiar with Barnabas, of New Testament fame. His very name means “son of a prophet,” according to my sources. If that’s accurate, his  father must have been a great man, godly to the core. And very learned in the art of encouragement!

The first three times we meet Barnabas in the New Testament, he is encouraging someone! From the suffering early Church … to the neophyte Apostle Paul! This man was a “supporting” Believer. (The ministry of “helping!”) He easily could have written these words: “Exhort (encourage) one another daily!” Hebrews 3:13

He came to mind earlier this morning as I prepared for today’s Lesson here on the Website. Except Barnabas is not yet the focus, rather a man named Shechaniah and his co-laborers. They told Ezra, concerning a problem among the Jews at Jerusalem (well, throughout the whole little nation for that matter) … “Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.” Ezra 10:4

Ezra, “get up.” (In Hebrew “arise,” spelled “qum.”) It’s time to “do something” about all these sinful alliances in Judah!

Then the noun “matter” translates “dabar,” a “word” must be spoken. We need a leader! And Ezra, you are the (God-chosen, appointed) man!

But you will not have to act alone. “We also will be with thee.” The emphatic preposition “with” is spelled “im,” a word indicating “companionship” first, and then “fellowship!”

Then a preventive piece of advice … “Be of good courage.” And here “chazaq” means “to be hardened, to be strong,” in the sense of battle prepared! Additionally, it is rendered “to prevail” (to win the victory) exactly 10 times in the King James Bible. Wow!

Then finally, “Do it.” The verb here is “asah,” As a command, an imperative! Go out and “accomplish” the task at hand! Still implied, we will be by your side!

Amazing!

Thorough, too!

Folks, this is as good an example of exhortation, encouragement, loyalty as I’ve seen in the Old Testament in quite some time! (Another one; godly Barzillai’s overwhelming kindness to King David as he fled Jerusalem during the Absalom revolt!)

Helping others who also name the name of Christ!

What a noble goal for every single Christian!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

And now, we better know how to do that!

 

His name is Shechaniah.

Watch him in action. “And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.” Ezra 10:2-3

There’s a verb in Hebrew, “shakan,” which means “to dwell.” It is the very heart of the Bible (Old Testament) term “Skekinah Glory,” which described God’s very Presence among His people! THIS IS THE ROOT WORD BEHIND THIS GOOD MAN’S NAME, “SHECHANIAH!”

He’s here the spokesman for the people of Judah, and obviously some kind of leader.

“We have sinned,” he says, actually “We have trespassed against our God!” It’s that godly seed marrying ungodly mates that has again risen in Israel!

“Strange” wives, “nokriy” in Hebrew, means “foreign” wives. Not because of some racial barrier, but because they do not know the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. This is a religious/spiritual issue, definitely not a “color of one’s skin” issue!

But the problem, in Shechaniah’s opinion, is not hopeless! “Yet now there is hope.”

The solution, drastic as it may sound … “Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them.” Wow!

This “watering down” of Judah’s faith must stop! Should this blatant lack of separation continue … Judah’s very existence as a nation could be threatened!

The verb “put away” is “yatzsa,” and means “to cause to depart.” This will, essentially, be “sanctioned divorce!” Extremely rare in the Bible!

Surely this nearly unthinkable “solution” shows how critically life-threatening the “problem” had become, in the eyes of Judah’s leadership anyway!

But, Shechaniah cautions, let us only do so … “according to the counsel of my lord (Ezra), and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God (other holy God-revering people); and let it be done according to the law (of Moses).”

He advocated several checks-and-balances to be sure things were kept “right!”

This is nearly as draconian as Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 5:29. “If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee.” And the very next verse as well: “And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee.” Over matters of life or death, survival! Over eternal matters like heaven and hell!

But, Shechaniah adds, “Let it be done according to the law.” Not simply as an overreaction or in some sort of emotional upheaval!

Let’s consult the Word of God!

More about this tomorrow … but (since God did not in the least rebuke their decisions here) looks like their plan of action is sound, in such critical times as they lived!

They seems to be retroactively obeying Texts such as 2nd Corinthians 6:14. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I wish they had thought of “purity” before those little children had been born, not afterwards!

 

As we have discovered (in Ezra chapter 9), there is “sin in the camp!” (Read it again: “The princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.” Ezra 9:1-2, intermarriage with their heathen neighbors!)

Now … what to do about it?

So Ezra 10:1 begins: “Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, WEEPING and CASTING HIMSELF DOWN before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.” Ezra 10:1, the Book’s very last chapter.

Why such sorrow?

Again, SIN!

Broken over such disobedience (flagrantly so) of God’s Word, Ezra physically responds!

Emotionally!

That’s how highly the man exalted God’s Word, obedience to God’s Word!

Remember Ezra 7:10? “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord AND TO DO IT, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” Disrespect to the Commands of Almighty God, serious business … dangerous even!

But my point today is this:

Note the influence this holy man (Ezra) had on the people of Judah, the rank and file. “Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.”

Ezra was disturbed.

Then shortly, so were the people!

Oh, the IMPACT of a godly life!

Even the words of Jesus are coming to mind, where He said (prayed to His Father) … “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” (John 17:19) Jesus’ here believes that His pristine Example of godly living would clearly impress His followers, believers, disciples! So much so that they would follow in His Steps … seek (via the Presence of the Holy Spirit) to live like Him!

(1st Peter 2:21, in part … “Because Christ … leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.” My secondary proof Text!)

Wow!

Paul to Timothy, obviously trusting to influence that young Preacher … “But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience …” Wow, 2nd timothy 3:10.

Ezra was demonstrably brokenhearted over the unconfessed, unforsaken sins of the people of Judah!

And soon … they (the general population) were as well!  

Again I say it, observe it … the POWER of a godly life to influence others for the Cause of Christ!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Are YOU impacting anyone for Jesus’ Sake?

 

Once Ezra and his compatriots arrived back home, they found things “worse” than they had ever imagined!

The sin of intermarriage (the Jews with the heathen all around them) was rampant!

Apparently idolatry was still in vogue, as well.

The one sin invariably led to the other in ancient Israel.

Ezra immediately learned … “The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons (intermarriage with the wicked): so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.” Back to Ezra 9:1-2, a blatant lack of separation!

And (spiritually sensitive) Ezra is stunned by the severity of the situation. “And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God, and said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.” Ezra 9:3-6

The RIGHT WAY to respond to sin!

What sin?

“We have forsaken thy commandments, which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying: The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons.” Verses 10-12, in part anyway.

Very clear!

These very violations are WHY God sent Judah into (Babylonian) Captivity in the first place! And Ezra returns (after that 70 year Captivity) only to find the same sins still being perpetrated?

Yes!

And now we are nearing the “clause” that constitutes the “core” of today’s lesson. Still Ezra taking: “And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?” Verses 13-14, still Ezra chapter 9.

“Should Judah persist in these abominable sins, might not God wipe her off the face of the earth?” So (correctly)reasoned Ezra.

But did you note the words … “our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve” … Ezra prayed to God, or spoke concerning God?

“Thou hast punished us LESS that our iniquities deserved!

Wow!

But I suspect, when dealing with his own children (believers in Him) … God nearly ALWAYS chastens and disciplines us LESS than our sins deserve!

It is just a token of His grace!

2nd Timothy 2:13 … “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”

Or Romans 5:20 … “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

As described in Habakkuk 3:2, God had once again “in wrath remembered mercy!”

Lamentations 3:22 … “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”

Psalm 103:10 … “He (the Lord) hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” Due to His great mercy, His leniency!

Amazing!

“Less than we deserve!”

Think about it today.

All the while remembering how our sin(s) deeply grieve the heart of the God we love.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

A vainly PROUD Ezra would have minimized the violations Judah had committed.

But our HUMBLE Ezra said: “Our God has punished us less than our iniquities deserve.”

Wow!