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Texts -- Ezra 10:1-17 (NET)

Context
The People Confess Their Sins
10:1 While Ezra was praying and confessing , weeping and throwing himself to the ground before the temple of God , a very large crowd of Israelites – men , women , and children alike– gathered around him. The people wept loudly . 10:2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel , from the descendants of Elam , addressed Ezra : “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the local peoples . Nonetheless , there is still hope for Israel in this regard. 10:3 Therefore let us enact a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring , in keeping with your counsel , my lord , and that of those who respect the commandments of our God . And let it be done according to the law . 10:4 Get up , for this matter concerns you. We are with you, so be strong and act decisively!” 10:5 So Ezra got up and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath to carry out this plan . And they all took a solemn oath . 10:6 Then Ezra got up from in front of the temple of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib . While he stayed there , he did not eat food or drink water , for he was in mourning over the infidelity of the exiles . 10:7 A proclamation was circulated throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the exiles were to be assembled in Jerusalem . 10:8 Everyone who did not come within three days would thereby forfeit all his property , in keeping with the counsel of the officials and the elders . Furthermore, he himself would be excluded from the assembly of the exiles . 10:9 All the men of Judah and Benjamin were gathered in Jerusalem within the three days . (It was in the ninth month , on the twentieth day of that month .) All the people sat in the square at the temple of God , trembling because of this matter and because of the rains . 10:10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have behaved in an unfaithful manner by taking foreign wives ! This has contributed to the guilt of Israel . 10:11 Now give praise to the Lord God of your fathers , and do his will . Separate yourselves from the local residents and from these foreign wives .” 10:12 All the assembly replied in a loud voice : “We will do just as you have said ! 10:13 However , the people are numerous and it is the rainy season . We are unable to stand here outside . Furthermore, this business cannot be resolved in a day or two , for we have sinned greatly in this matter . 10:14 Let our leaders take steps on behalf of all the assembly . Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time , and with them the elders of each town and its judges , until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter .” 10:15 Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah were against this , assisted by Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite . 10:16 So the exiles proceeded accordingly . Ezra the priest separated out by name men who were leaders in their family groups . They sat down to consider this matter on the first day of the tenth month , 10:17 and on the first day of the first month they finished considering all the men who had married foreign wives .

Pericope

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Bible Dictionary

  • Shecaniah

    [ebd] one intimate with Jehovah. (1.) A priest to whom the tenth lot came forth when David divided the priests (1 Chr. 24:11). (2.) One of the priests who were set "to give to their brethren by courses" of the daily portion (2 Chr...

  • STRANGER AND SOJOURNER (IN THE OLD TESTAMENT)

    [isbe] STRANGER AND SOJOURNER (IN THE OLD TESTAMENT) - stranj'-er: I. THE GER 1. Legal provisions (1) Principles (2) Rules 2. Relation to Sacrifice and Ritual 3. Historical Circumstances II. THE TOSHABH III. THE NOKHRI OR BEN NEKHA...

  • STRANGE WIFE

    [isbe] STRANGE WIFE - "Strange" as contrasted with "an Israelite." Such wives are spoken of in the King James Version Ezr 10:2,11 (the English Revised Version "strange women," the American Standard Revised Version "foreign women"; ...

  • PEOPLE

    [isbe] PEOPLE - pe'-p'-l: In English Versions of the Bible represents something over a dozen Hebrew and Greek words. Of these, in the Old Testament, `am, is overwhelmingly the most common (about 2,000 times), with le'om, and goy, n...

  • Israel

    [nave] ISRAEL 1. A name given to Jacob, Gen. 32:24-32; 2 Kin. 17:34; Hos. 12:3, 4. 2. A name of the Christ in prophecy, Isa. 49:3. 3. A name given to the descendants of Jacob, a nation. Called also Israelites, and Hebrews, Gen. 4...

  • GENEALOGY, 1-7

    [isbe] GENEALOGY, 1-7 - je-na-al'-o-ji, jen-a-al'-o-ji: 1. Definition 2. Biblical References 3. Importance of Genealogies 4. Their Historical Value 5. Principles of Interpretation 6. Principles of Compilation 7. Sources 8. Principa...

  • Fast

    [ebd] The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called "the fast" (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old Testament is in Zech. 7:1-7...

  • Ezra

    [smith] (help), called ESDRAS in the Apocrypha, the famous scribe and priest. He was a learned and pious priest residing at Babylon in the time of Artaxerxes Longimanus. The origin of his influence with the king does not appear, but ...
    [nave] EZRA 1. A famous scribe and priest, Ezra 7:1-5, 6, 10, 21; Neh. 12:36. Appoints a fast, Ezra 8:21. Commissioned by Artaxerxes, returns to Jerusalem with a large company of Jews, Ezra 7:8. His charge to the priests, Ezra 8...

  • EXCOMMUNICATION

    [isbe] EXCOMMUNICATION - eks-ko-mu-ni-ka'-shun: Exclusion from church fellowship as a means of personal discipline, or church purification, or both. Its germs have been found in (1) the Mosaic "ban" or "curse" (cherem, "devoted"), ...

  • ESDRAS, THE FIRST BOOK OF

    [isbe] ESDRAS, THE FIRST BOOK OF - ez'-dras, es'-dras: 1. Name 2. Contents 3. Relation to Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah 4. Versions 5. Date and Authorship LITERATURE 1. Name: In some of the Greek uncials (Codex Vaticanus, etc.) of the...

  • ELDER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

    [isbe] ELDER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT - el'-der, (zaqen): Among primitive peoples authority seems naturally to be invested in those who by virtue of greater age and, consequently, experience are best fitted to govern thus Iliad iii.149...

  • Dedication, Feast of the

    [ebd] (John 10:22, 42), i.e., the feast of the renewing. It was instituted B.C. 164 to commemorate the purging of the temple after its pollution by Antiochus Epiphanes (B.C. 167), and the rebuilding of the altar after the Syrian i...

  • Covenant

    [ebd] a contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means "to cut," and hence a covenant is a "cutting," with reference to t...

  • Church

    [nave] CHURCH, the collective body of believers. Miscellany of Minor Sub-Topics Called in the O.T., The Congregation, Ex. 12:3, 6, 19, 47; 16:1, 2, 9, 10, 22; Lev. 4:13, 15; 10:17; 24:14. Called in the N.T., Church, Matt. 16:18; ...

  • COURAGE

    [isbe] COURAGE - kur'-aj: Hebrew chazaq, "to show oneself strong" (Nu 13:20; 2 Sam 10:12; 1 Ch 19:13; 2 Ch 15:8; Ezr 10:4; Ps 27:14; 31:24; Isa 41:6); ruach, "spirit," "animus" (Josh 2:11 the King James Version); 'amats, "to be ale...

  • Benjamin

    [ebd] son of my right hand. (1.) The younger son of Jacob by Rachel (Gen. 35:18). His birth took place at Ephrath, on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, at a short distance from the latter place. His mother died in giving him ...

  • Backsliders

    [nave] BACKSLIDERS. Lev. 26:14-42; Deut. 4:9; Deut. 8:11-14; Deut. 28:58, 59, 63 vs. 15-68;; 1 Kin. 9:6-9; Deut. 29:18 vs. 18-28.; Deut. 32:15-30; Josh. 24:27 vs. 20-27.; 2 Chr. 15:2-4; Ezra 8:22; Job 34:26, 27; Psa. 44:20, 21; Ps...

  • BACCHURUS

    [isbe] BACCHURUS - ba-ka'-rus: Bakchouros: One of the "holy singers" who put away his "strange wife" (1 Esdras 9:24). Omitted in Ezr 10.

  • AZAELUS

    [isbe] AZAELUS - az-a-e'-lus (B, Azaelos; A, Azael; omitted in Ezr 10): Azaelus, son of Ezora, put away his "strange wife" (1 Esdras 9:34).

  • ACCURSED

    [isbe] ACCURSED - a-kurs'-ed, a-kurst': In the Book of Josh (6:17,18; 7:1,11,12,13,15) and 1 Ch (2:7) "accursed" (or "accursed thing" or "thing accursed") is the King James Version rendering of the Hebrew word, cherem. The the Revi...

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Israelite men could marry women from distant conquered cities taken as prisoners of war provided they did not already have a wife. Such a woman had to shave her head and cut her nails. These were rituals of purification custo...
  • The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
  • The title in the English text comes from the main character in the second part of the book (chapters 7-10). In the Septuagint translation this book also bore the name of Ezra or Esdras, the Greek transliteration of "Ezra.""Ez...
  • Due to the ancient tradition that the same writer composed both parts of the book (chapters 1-6 and 7-10), many scholars believe Ezra produced all of it.5A passage in the Talmud credits Ezra with the authorship of Ezra-Nehemi...
  • The earliest historical reference in Ezra is to the decree of Cyrus that he issued in his first year on the throne (1:1), 538 B.C.12The latest historical reference was just prior to Nehemiah's first trip to Jerusalem (4:21-23...
  • I. The first return under Sheshbazzar chs. 1-6A. The return from Babylon chs. 1-21. The edict of Cyrus and its consequences ch. 12. The exiles who returned ch. 2B. The rebuilding of the temple chs. 3-61. The beginning of cons...
  • The Assyrian government encouraged its residents to move to Israel and to settle there after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. This was official government policy during the reigns of the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon ...
  • "When he [the writer] discussed the problems of the building of the temple in 4:1-5, it reminded him of later similar troubles with the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, and so 4:6-23 has been inserted, almost parenthetica...
  • In 458 B.C. God moved Ezra, a Jewish priest and scribe who was living in Babylon, to lead another group of exiles back to Judah. In Jerusalem Ezra's ministry consisted primarily of leading the people to return to observance o...
  • The immigrants assembled on the banks of the Ahava waterway that flowed through the district of Babylon that bore the same name. The site is presently unknown.". . . Babylonia was crisscrossed by a network of irrigation canal...
  • The Mosaic Law strictly forbade intermarriage with the native Canaanites (Exod. 34:11-16; Deut. 7:1-5). Furthermore intermarriage with other non-Israelites had resulted in tragic consequences in Israel's earlier history (cf. ...
  • The writer did not list Shecaniah among those who had married foreign wives (cf. 10:18-44). He appears to have been another faithful Jew like Ezra. The present situation distressed him. He too identified himself with the unfa...
  • Ezra first secured the cooperation of Israel's leaders (v. 5). The Eliashib of verse 6 was not the same Eliashib who was the high priest in Nehemiah's day (Neh. 3:1; 13:4, 48).140Ezra executed the power over the exiles that h...
  • This general assembly took place in late November or early December of 458 B.C. The people who were guilty agreed to divorce their foreign wives and to do this in various local towns that were convenient to their homes in the...
  • The people were able to complete the divorce proceedings in three months (vv. 9, 17). A total of 113 Israelites had married and now divorced their foreign wives, only a fraction of the total number of Jews then living in Juda...
  • "The reading of Scripture (Neh 8) and the act of prayer (Neh 9) followed by community commitment (Neh 10) is a model for worshiping communities."62This was another instance in Israel's history of a covenant renewal accompanyi...
  • Nehemiah confronted this problem as Ezra had several years earlier (Ezra 9-10). The text records only Nehemiah's words to the people, but since we know what kind of person he was we can safely assume that he followed up his w...
  • The Book of Nehemiah records the fortification of Jerusalem and the restoration of the Jews, two essential steps that were necessary to reestablish God's people in His will and in their land.Nehemiah continued the good work t...
  • 11:14-15 The Lord then replied that many of the Jews in Jerusalem were saying that the Judahites who had gone into captivity were the ones that God was judging. They believed that the Jews left in Jerusalem were the remnant t...
  • 5:29 Belshazzar kept his promise (v. 16) though Daniel's honors only lasted a few hours at most, typical of the honors of this world. The king's response is surprising. We might have expected him to execute Daniel for confron...
  • 1:2-3 Joel called on everyone, from the most respected ruling elders of the land (cf. 1 Sam. 30:26-31; 2 Sam. 19:11-15; 2 Kings 23:1; Ezra 10:8; Prov. 31:23; Jer. 26:17; Lam. 5:12, 14) to the ordinary inhabitants, to pay atte...
  • Malachi was one of the three post-exilic writing prophets along with Haggai and Zechariah, and he was quite certainly the last one chronologically, even though we cannot be dogmatic about a date for his writing.The first grou...
  • "The style of the third oracle differs from the others. Instead of an initial statement or charge followed by a question of feigned innocence, this oracle begins with three questions asked by the prophet. However, as at the b...
  • This pericope describes the character of the kingdom's subjects and their rewards in the kingdom.236"Looked at as a whole . . . the Beatitudes become a moral sketch of the type of person who is ready to possess, or rule over,...
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