Ezra 9:2 - Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

Ezra 9:2

Intermarriage with Pagans

1 When these things were done, the leaders came to me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not ^aseparated themselves from the peoples of the lands, ^bwith respect to the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

2 For they have ^ataken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the ^bholy seed is ^cmixed with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the leaders and rulers has been foremost in this¹ trespass.”

3 So when I heard this thing, ^aI tore my garment and my robe, and plucked out some of the hair of my head and beard, and sat down ^bastonished.

4 Then everyone who ^atrembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled to me, because of the transgression of those who had been carried away captive, and I sat astonished until the ^bevening sacrifice.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Ezra 9:1-2

EZRA MOURNS FOR THE AFFINITY OF THE PEOPLE WITH STRANGERS. (Ezra 9:1-4)

Now when these things were done—The first days after Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem were occupied in executing the different trusts committed to him. The nature and design of the office with which the royal authority had invested him was publicly made known to his own people by the formal delivery of the contribution and the sacred vessels brought from Babylon to the priests to be deposited in the temple. Then his credentials were privately presented to the provincial governors; and by this prudent, orderly proceeding he put himself in the best position to avail himself of all the advantages guaranteed him by the king. On a superficial view everything contributed to gratify his patriotic feelings in the apparently flourishing state of the church and country. But a further acquaintance discovered the existence of great corruptions, which demanded immediate correction. One was particularly brought under his notice as being the source and origin of all others; namely, a serious abuse that was practised respecting the law of marriage.

the princes came to me, saying—The information they lodged with Ezra was to the effect that numbers of the people, in violation of the divine law (Deuteronomy 7:2-3), had contracted marriages with Gentile women, and that the guilt of the disorderly practice, far from being confined to the lower classes, was shared in by several of the priests and Levites, as well as of the leading men in the country. This great irregularity would inevitably bring many evils in its train; it would encourage and increase idolatry, as well as break down the barriers of distinction which, for important purposes, God had raised between the Israelites and all other people. Ezra foresaw these dangerous consequences, but was overwhelmed with a sense of the difficulty of correcting the evil, when matrimonial alliances had been formed, families had been reared, affections engaged, and important interests established.

Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Ezra 9:2:

Ruth 1:2
Ezra 9:1-2
Isaiah 6:13
Malachi 2:10-16
Malachi 2:11
Malachi 2:11

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Intermarriage with Pagans

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