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!

 

I am trying to be ever so careful as I comment on this 10th chapter of Ezra, its grand finale! And I’ve learned early this morning that I may have overlooked an issue! (Surprise: human commentators are not infallible!)

It’s just a single verse, Ezra 10:15 … “Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.” Looks to me like we’re just being given the names of four more men, leaders in Israel, who “assisted” Ezra in this matter of illegal (and ungodly) intermarriage.”

The verb used in our King James Bible is translated “were employed.” Those good scholars in the early 1600’s were working with the little Hebrew word “amad,” a verb. Now “amad” is found 521 times in the Old Testament. In roughly 300 of those instances it means something like “stand, stay, remain,” or even “continue, wait, establish.” This is good.

But it is also rendered “to withstand” (literally “withstood”) 6 times in our King James Bible! Furthermore, this is the ONLY TIME in all Scripture, our Text here today, where “amad” means “were employed!” (I checked that fact carefully.) Wow!

I am NOT criticizing the King James Bible. I love it dearly. It’s the only Bible I carry to the pulpit, or ever have. I am simply saying that “amad” as used here could imply that 4 men (our Text again: “only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.”) withstood (were employed against Ezra and his plan) this separation of men and their wives.

This is also the view most commentators take of this quartet of possible objectors!

By the way, sanctioned “divorce” is a novel idea, even in the Old Testament! Only in this Ezra-Nehemiah era do we find it, period! Some could have misunderstood, disagreed!

We don’t know if Jonathan and his brethren withstood the idea because they thought the plan was too harsh … or because they thought it did not go far enough, not as strict as it should have been!

No matter, the men who passionately believed in “separation unto God” carried the day! Better yet, who believed in “separation from heathenism.”

My “point” this morning?

Always in God’s work, expect it, opposition will arise!

Some of the criticism we elicit may be good, to help us fine-tune our actions, our motives, our plans!

Some may be satanic, destructive, designed to get us out of the will of God, to walk the wrong path!

We need discernment here!

And love for the detractors!

All of which Ezra had, exhibited.

And the (if there at all) disagreeing men … soon fell into line and helped with the task at hand!

The spirit of Philippians 3:15 may have prevailed in this situation: “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: AND IF IN ANY THING YE BE OTHERWISE MINDED, God shall reveal even this unto you.”

Wow!

So … the work of separating the Jews from the idolaters (yes, even believing husbands from unbelieving wives) went forward … apparently with God’s blessings upon it … and judgment was averted!

Opposition!

Just like churning the milk brings the cream to the top … so the turmoil of opposition can bring the “loyal men” to the top! Read 1 Corinthians 11:19 for this idea expressed a little differently. “For there must be also heresies (divisions) among you, that THEY WHICH ARE APPROVED may be made manifest among you.”

Wow again!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Some day we might even say, “Blessed opposition,” it merely made me stronger in my faith!

 

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!”

 

The problem has been identified.

But it is overwhelming, too big to be solved in a single session!

Yet the people agree … the sin has to be removed!

So “all the congregation” purposed:

“The people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing. Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and 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. Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them. And the children of the captivity did so.” Ezra 10:13-16

That rain, again!

Look at the honesty here: “For we are many that have transgressed in this thing.”

The Hebrew verb used for “transgress” is “pasha,” meaning “to rebel!” That’s what sin is, rebellion (revolt) against God’s Law, God’s Word! Insurrection against the Lord Himself, in reality! (1st John 3:4 teaches us: “Sin is the transgression of the law.” To the point!)

Yes, God had sternly warned the Jews … “Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God. Else IF YE DO IN ANY WISE GO BACK, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and SHALL MAKE MARRIAGES WITH THEM, and go in unto them, and they to you: know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.” Joshua 23:11-13

Such a dire situation demands action!

Thus … “Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and 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.”

This strategy implies that God, just knowing the Israelites plan to extirpate the iniquity, that they hope to nullify these forbidden intermarriages, just might “turn His Wrath!”

These good men presume that sin brings with it consequences!

Wages!

The withdrawing of God’s good Hand of protection, for example! (Please read Joshua 23:11-13 again, printed earlier in the Lesson. To see one of these dangers!  If you do so intermarry … “know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.” Frightening!)

Next, today’s Text begins a list of names! The last such list in the Book of Ezra. “Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them. And the children of the captivity did so.”

Here one word applies, “obedience,” Did you notice? “And the children of the captivity did so.”

The “offenders” will now be identified. And required to renounce these (illegal) relationships!

Marriages annulled!

Some children essentially orphaned!

Nearly unprecedented in Scripture (though repeated in Nehemiah), that drastic a solution!

Still, action (it seems) sanctioned by God the Father, nonetheless. The great God Who “hates divorce!” (Malachi 2:16 says so. “For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away ….” And Jesus even further intensified this tenet!)

Sad.

But necessary.

If Israel plans to continue being Israel!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell