So now I must add the Book of Ezra to my “list.”

The list in my mind of “abrupt endings” in the Bible, in Scripture!

In the New Testament the history oriented Book of Acts, ends in such a fashion. (Incidentally, Ezra is history, too!) Yes, Acts concludes with the Apostle Paul in jail … and we’re pretty sure (???) he was eventually released and preached more, a lot more! But Luke concludes his Story: “And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.” Acts 28:30-31, but then what, Dr. Luke?

Furthermore, the Old Testament Book of Jonah does the very same thing! Chapter 4 (the Book’s finale) portrays Jonah pouting in anger, not shouting for joy, over the salvation of a while city! Did Jonah ever get “straightened out?” Did he ever see things “God’s Way?”

Plus another one, Jesus’ Parable of “The Prodigal Son!” Did that older brother finally get his attitude “right?” Did the prodigal “stay at home,” once he returned? Was he thereafter a faithful worker on his father’s farm? And did he ever go back to that “far country,” trying to make right the many wrongs he no doubt left behind, clearing his conscience and testifying to God’s Grace in his life?

And “the list goes on,” as they say.

But back to Ezra, chapter 10, its final verse: “All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children.” The Book ends with a “list,” of all things! In fact, were it not for the following (in our Bibles) Book of Nehemiah, we’d have no idea how successfully Ezra’s plan ever became!

Why end in such an unexpected way?

1. Maybe to highlight the critical importance of the doctrine of “separation from sin,” that purifying principle in the Eyes of our great God!

2. Maybe to show the accurate historical nature (so interested in statistics) of this part of God’s inspired Word, this genre of Truth.

3. Maybe to reveal the “high price” of backsliding on God! Little innocent “children” losing their Dads … “and some of them had wives by whom they had children.” Yes, sin pays “wages,” painfully so!

4. Maybe again … to reveal (to give) “hope” to those who feel “locked” into some sin pattern! If all these men in Ezra can “obey” God and “forsake” their sins … God can surely help others to do the same!

5. Then lastly, maybe the Book ends so curtly … so that we will better learn to trust God (in giving us what we need to know, but often no more than we need to know) and accept His Word by faith!

Deuteronomy 29:29 often must be cited in cases like Ezra’s … “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Wow!

“Lord, we humbly bow at Thy feet today, thanking Thee for the book of Ezra, including its last chapter. By faith, trusting 2 Timothy 3:16.” Which clearly teaches/promises: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

I am not saying this is absolutely the last Ezra Lesson, there may be another tomorrow. (We have already  invested 9 Studies to Ezra chapter 10 alone!) But I am saying we are nearing the end of our journey through this truly “amazing” little Book of Bible history. Holy Spirit inspired history, and a whole lot more!

After the “devastation” of these “divorces,” necessary but painful … the last verse of Ezra 10 simply says: “All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children.” Verse 44, leaving the Book with a rather “blunt” ending!

“Had taken,” so worded because the unions have now been dissolved. Due to idolatry and disobedience and insubordination, all primarily (or ultimately) directed toward Almighty God.

Best I can tell, only 400-500 people were involved in this “mass divorce” situation. A total of 110 or 111 men were guilty of taking these foreign (“strange” in the King James Version) wives!

But still, that many wives with no where to go? (Show me any provision specified by the Ezra Text to care for them! Show me one red cent these erring husbands were required to pay the women!)

Presumably however, they would have gone back to their fathers’ houses. That would have been the traditional response, anyway. Also … this issue took a while in planning and implementing, so time for them to arrange their “departures” would have been possible.

And look again at today’s verse. “All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives BY WHOM THEY HAD CHILDREN.”

How many boys and girls? I have of course included them in my estimate above, in round figures 400 or 500 total people. So 200-300 children! Are they now orphans?

Answer: we just do not know what happened.

See how sin devastates lives?

Furthermore show me the name of a single woman in this list!

Or a baby, or some little tot’s name, for that matter!

And to be fair, perhaps the men’s names were systematically listed to SHAME them for their wrongdoing!

One writer called this “solution” to the intermarriage violation … an example of the “iron yoke” of the Law of Moses! Then he reminded us of the “easy yoke” of Jesus, mentioned in Matthew 11:30! (What an interesting word picture!) “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Although, Jesus Himself did NOT take a light view of marriage, remarriage and divorce, not by any means.

Do not let my comments suggest criticism of the Word of God! This resolution was necessary! These few Jews, properly called a “remnant,” are the “hope” of salvation. Through them Jesus Christ our Lord came to earth! This heritage absolutely had to be PURE!

Then this too … Ezra (the leaders of Judah, too) … did seem to chart a “balanced” route through this thorny problem! Had they been any more strict, they could have (with the approval of the Law of Moses) conceivably stoned to death these adulterers, idolaters! Yet again had they been any more lenient, disaster would have occurred to the concept of Jewish identity!

Not too legalistic!

Not too easy-going!

Wisdom indeed!

Now here’s a New Testament illustration of such “balance” in approaching problems:

In the little Epistle of Second John the church is warned against false teachers. Do not accept them! Reject them! Then immediately in the little Epistle of Third John the Church is warned to accept true teachers, NOT to reject them!

One Preachers always says: “Blessed are the balanced!”

Amen!

Still … I hear weeping as Ezra ends.

But I trust this Bible principle will apply to this revival effort … “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Psalm 30:5, “in the Lord!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Yes, I will need another lesson tomorrow!

I cannot end on the note I have sounded today!

 

Paul the Apostle, many years after Ezra lived and died, wrote these words: “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” 1 Corinthians 11:27-32

Paul was admonishing the Corinthians NOT to abuse the “Lord’s Supper,” the ordinance we now call “Communion,” when observed in their local Church! Some of those believers it seems were turning the accompanying meal (called back then a “love feast,” as in “agape” love) into a gluttonous affair (apparently eating up all the food before others could approach the table and get a bite), and drinking so much they became intoxicated! (Look: “For in eating every one taketh before another his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.” Verse 21 of 1 Corinthians 11.

Wow!

And God was judging these carnal Corinthians for their misdeeds, their sins, their desecration of the Lord’s Table! “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” That is, many are “dead” (Their bodies now in the grave! Although their spirits would have been with Jesus.)

The solution!

STOP EATING THAT BREAD AND DRINKING THAT CUP SO UNWORTHILY!

Correct the problem!

In two words, “judge yourselves!”

In Paul’s words … “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord ….”

Cleaning up our own lives … before the Lord DOES IT FOR US! (In the fires of adversity, usually!) “Whipping” us, like a good father does his erring son or daughter!

And that thought now brings me to Ezra chapter 10, the last (although 44 verses long) section of that amazing little Old Testament Book of history.

There we have the Jews judging the Jews!

Believers judging themselves in the matter of wrong marriages!

Dozens and dozens of couples separating … because their unions had been wrong in the first place!

Had they not done so … God’s “fierce wrath” would have (even more heavily) fallen upon them! “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, UNTIL THE FIERCE WRATH OF OUR GOD FOR THIS MATTER BE TURNED FROM US.” Ezra 10:14

This is nearly applying (though metaphorically) Jesus’ seemingly stringent word picture given in the Sermon on the mount. “If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” Matthew 5:29-30

Divorcing one’s wife?

Even though the marriage was illegal according to the Law of Moses?

And the offending Jews were required to do this! The men who had married women who worshipped idols were duly (sternly) warned: “Whosoever would not come within three days (to “divorce court”), 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.” Wow, Ezra 10:8.

And when this self-imposed (Judeans to Judeans) judgment had been completed, the Book of Ezra ends … with (presumably) God’s blessings again upon the people, His people. (Then comes Nehemiah … rebuilding the City’s walls, and repairing the 10 gates, in a spirit of great harmony among the citizenry of Judah!)

By the way, the “judgment” upon these unseparated families was applied “across the board.” From leaders to followers! From the Priests to the common people! 

What an unusual chapter!

Folks, as I have already tried to say … this same principle applies to us today. Maybe we all had best finish reading the Lesson, retire to our prayer closets and search our hearts! 

One more time: “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Yes, many Jewish men had (illegally, according to Moses’ Law) married women of heathen descent, people who worshipped false gods at that!

And Ezra and his co-leaders felt they (the erring men) were diluting, compromising, hindering the spiritual progress of the whole (albeit little) nation!

Living in disobedience, later Jesus would have called it living in adultery!

So Ezra chapter 10 gives us a prime example of “naming and shaming!”

Verses 18-43 actually specify the offenders!

And the compilation has “order” to it as well! (God does everything “decently and in order” we are taught (by Paul) in First Corinthians 14:40.

Ezra 10:18-22 … the Priests, even they had transgressed in the matter!

Ezra 10:23-24 … the Levites as well!

Then Ezra 10:25-43 … the common people, the laymen!

(Looks like the so-called “leaders” again set the example, here in a bad sense!)

Wow!

But still … “divorce?”

And God in Heaven not seeming to raise His voice against this “forced” procedure? (On the contrary, God seems to have approved this unique plan, in this case.)

One Preacher put it this way. Divorce is bad … but the annihilation of the Jewish nation would have been worse, much worse! And that well may have been what was at stake here! That is … Ezra 10, marital separation … the lesser of two evils!

By the way, the Old Testament is filled with many “less than ideal” situations! God works with people “where they are” along the continuum of spiritual growth, in the progress of their faith. Think of Jephthah’s vow, Gideon’s fleece, Naaman’s pile of dirt … and even some of the (silly) actions you and I have perpetrated “in the name of faith!”

There are two ways I’ve notice that people view these “divorces.”

1. One group calls them indicators of real Revival in Israel, getting right with Almighty God! Separation from sin, victory over carnality! Averting the wrath of God, His judging Hand (again) on Judah!

2. Another outfit calls them cruel and heartless acts, leaving wives homeless and children orphans! A woman-hating society, the feminists howl! Needless procedures!

By the way, the consequences of sin (even these intermarriages) always hurt! Sin does pay “wages!”

There is truth in both the above readings (Revival and Cruelty) … but forsaking sin always bears “double fruit!” One is getting “closer” to God (revival) and another (at the same time) “mortifying” (painful excision) some part of the flesh!

Wow!

But, bottom line, it is this very Jewish remnant (handful of believers) through whom the Messiah (Jesus) would come some day, about 400 years later to be more exact. And had this line been polluted (by these intermarriages) the results could have been CATASTROPHIC!

Jesus, the Saviour of our lost souls!

Because of Calvary!

The Power of His Blood!

Selah.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Yes, Ezra is known for its lists, at least to some degree.

There was a list of returning (to Judah from Babylon) captives way back in Ezra chapter 2, under Zerubbabel’s (among others) leadership.

Then another such list (still of returnees) under Ezra’s direction appears in chapter 7 of this little Book.

But now, today (actually for several days) we analyze Ezra chapter 10, with its third and final list, but not of families coming back “home” … but of families who have sinned against God by marrying idolatrous wives!

In fact, according to Malachi chapter 2, dozens and dozens of the Judean men may have divorced their Jewish wives in order to “pick up” some of these foreign beauties! “Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god (these very marriages which Ezra is attempting to dissolve). The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob  (impending judgment) ….“ verses 11 and 12. But then verse 14 adds, when God refused the “sacrifices” (worship) of these worldlings … “Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.” Mistreatment of their (Jewish) wives! Then God adds, warns: “Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away (divorce).” verses 15 and 16. Again, they are divorcing their (older, but godly) wives!

That set of circumstances (the context of Malachi, a contemporary of Ezra-Nehemiah) makes this Ezra chapter 10 situation much more palatable, to me anyway!

Oh, back to this “list.” Including some of the very same people who were mentioned back in Ezra 2, that first list. Note: but this list is not as long as the other “lists” in Ezra. Indicating, I think, that the sin of idolatrous intermarriage (bad as it was) had not yet filtered (spread) through the whole Jewish populace. Ezra and the leaders were thus “nipping it in the bud,” so to speak. Before things got any worse, before God’s judgment really fell (again)!

The experts say 110 or 111 (depending on how one calculates the names) families are involved! That means the same number of “wives” were “sent away,” essentially divorced.

Tomorrow morning (if not then, Monday) we may need to take a whole lesson and discuss the “ethics” of this chapter, this “drastic” action. (One feminist-leaning author says here that 111 women, idolatrous though they may have been, could have posed NO REAL THREAT to the welfare of that little nation! But that view is wrong! A LITTLE SIN OFTEN BECOMES A LOT OF SIN! Paul twice reminded us: “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Yes, iniquity spreads, permeates, infiltrates, and ultimately kills! (Galatians 5:9 and 1 Corinthians 5:6)

The first two lists in Ezra … those men and women who were heroic, patriots, bold and intrepid!

The last list in Ezra, those who had sinned, compromised, taken the “easy way” out, the carnal life!

God has “lists” too, you know.

I sure want to be on the right one!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Revelation 21:27 … “And there shall in no wise enter into it (New Jerusalem) any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE.” Consisting of a “list” of names! Of the redeemed!