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Ezra 10:2
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Confession of Improper Marriages

1 Now awhile Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down bbefore the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept very cbitterly.  
2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, “We have atrespassed against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this.  
3 Now therefore, let us make aa covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them, according to the advice of my master and of those who btremble at cthe commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the dlaw.  
4 Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you. aBe of good courage, and do it.”  
5 Then Ezra arose, and made the leaders of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel aswear an oath that they would do according to this word. So they swore an oath.  
6 Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib; and when he came there, he aate no bread and drank no water, for he mourned because of the guilt of those from the captivity.  
Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
<< Ezra 10:1   Ezra 10:3 >>


Ezra 10:2-4

Shechaniah . . . answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed—This was one of the leading men, who was not himself a delinquent in the matter, for his name does not occur in the following list. He spoke in the general name of the people, and his conduct evinced a tender conscience, as well as no small fortitude in making such a proposal; for as his father and five paternal uncles (Ezra 10:26) were involved in the guilt of unlawful marriages, he showed, by the measure he recommended, that he deemed it better to obey God than to please his nearest relatives.

yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing—This hope, however, depended on timely measures of reformation, and therefore, instead of surrendering themselves to despair or despondency, he counselled them to amend their error without delay, relying on God's mercy for the past. Though the proposal may seem harsh and cruel, yet in the peculiar circumstances of the Jews it was just as well as necessary; and he urged the duty of seeing it executed on Ezra, as the only person competent to carry it into effect, being possessed of skill and address for so delicate and difficult a work, and invested by God, and under Him by the Persian king (Ezra 7:23-28), with the requisite authority to enforce it.




Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Ezra 10:2:

1 Kings 3:1
Malachi 2:11

 

<< Ezra 10:1   Ezra 10:3 >>

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