Ezra 10 Devotional
by Pastor Mark Hudson
Ezra 10 is a complicated chapter. We find Ezra praying and weeping with a great assembly of all ages doing the same thing. He is genuine in his confession of sins. Then Shecaniah in v. 2 begins to act. His father is listed in v 26 and those who married foreign women. So Shecaniah takes this personally since this has happened in his own family.
In verse 3, it is Shecaniah that brings the proposed solution to Ezra. “Let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord . . . .” This is a remarkable and drastic decision. Before we delve into this, there are a few caveats to set out. First, this should not be used to cast aspersions of a Chinese marrying an African or a Brit marrying someone from India. The Bible is not against interracial marriages. Next is the issue of divorce. There is no word for wife in Hebrew so when you see wife, the context bears it out or suggests it. The normal words for marriage and divorce are not used here. So, there is considerable ambiguity in this passage regarding legitimate marriages. Could it be that some of the couples are living together? Whatever the case, the issue of children leaving one parent is still distressing. Ezra does not go into detail how the financial issues were resolved. There are so many issues these separations bring up but are not resolved. Maybe this is why the process took so long.
Whatever we think about this, we are told in other passages of the Bible not to divorce unbelieving spouses. Paul teaches that if a believer is married to an unbeliever, they are to stay married ( I Corin. 7:12-16). There is no allowance for a believer divorcing a spouse because, and only because they are an unbeliever.
This is not ammunition for those who attempt to put women down. The problem is not women, and we should caution ourselves if we think women or women of other nationalities, are the problem. Women: sisters, mothers, wives, daughters are a blessing from God. The problem is idolatry.
The issue is a spiritual or religious issue. This is a crucial time for this fledgling nation. They have been beaten down due to their own sin and rebellion. Now they are returning to build the temple and build the city of Jerusalem. They are returning, more foundationally and importantly, to God Himself. Ezra is leading this effort by his study, application of the Scripture to himself and then his effective teaching. They are beginning to understand God’s will as expressed in His law. The relationship between love of God, obedience to the will of God as found in the law weighs heavy on them. Yet, this sin is threatening all the progress they have made.
This sin, although only no more than .05% of the population are involved with it, has the potential to tear this community apart. Having been kicked off the land, seen the 10 lost tribes be removed, this could dissipate and finally destroy their very identity. And that would put the entire plan of salvation in jeopardy. If this nation loses its spiritual moorings and if the center collapses, they have nothing to offer the world.
Now remember, this is not a diatribe against women who are culturally different but the seductive power of ungodly women. There is depravity gravity. The ungodly pull the godly down. One could say this is a diatribe against weak men. Is it the fault of women that men fall sexually? I think not.
Notice the connection between idolatry and immorality. See Ex. 32; Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5; Rev. 2:14, 20; 21:25. Notice Col. 3:5, “Put to death . . . sexual immorality . . . which is idolatry. In Eph 5:5, “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is an idolater), has not inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Ad Dennis P Hollinger writes in The Meaning of Sex: Christian Ethics and the Moral Life “The link between Idolatry and sexual immorality is established by the frequent use of ‘prostituting themselves’ or ‘adultery’ to describe Hebrew idolatry (in the Old Testament). Israel’s unfaithfulness to God was not only a form of spiritual prostitution of adultery, but it also led to the physical act themselves.”
One of the wisest men in the world fell in this very area. In Kings 3, Solomon asks and receives wisdom, and his life is blessed . . . until I Kings 11 where it is recorded that he had 700 “wives’ and 300 concubines. The author quotes God’s command, “You shall not enter into marriage with them (foreign wives), neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. . . . And his wives turned away his heart” (I Kings 11:2-3).
We see the same in the life of Balaam and Israel. Balak, King of Moab, hired this false prophet to curse Israel because of his fear of Israel’s military success. Balaam could not curse Israel (Numbers 22-24) so, at the end of chapter 24, we think this episode is over. It almost seems Balaam is not a false prophet but a friend of Israel. After all, he seems to give up compensation to bless Israel (I Kings 24:11). But then a brazen, outlandish event occurred that Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron the priest stopped in its tracks( Num. 25:6-9). We learn later in Numbers 31:14-18, that Balaam encouraged the Midianite women to seduce the men of Israel to weaken and destroy the nation.
Isn’t this what Ezra knows and is warning Israel against? We must stress there is nothing racial in this command either in Ezra’s time or Paul. We would not counsel a man in the far western part of the UP to marry a woman who grew up in downtown Miami – all things being equal. But our counsel to a “Christian” man who is engaged to a nice Muslim woman is much different. Ezra is not thinking of cultural differences. He is focused on the spiritual effects of these unions. Some of the children did not even speak Hebrew or Aramaic ( Neh 13:24).
Finally, a quick word that may interest you. I listen to as many sermons as I can, read commentaries and try to be prepared prior to writing a devotion. Since chapter 10 of Ezra is challenging, I listened to few sermons on Sermon Audio. I listened to “Repentance in the Rain” by Derek W. H. Thomas and Liam Goligher’s “Be Strong and Act.” Derek Thomas is a teaching fellow at Ligonier and Liam Goligher is the pastor at 10th Presbyterian in Philadelphia, one of the historic Reformed churches in the U.S. Did they ever have different takes on this passage!
Dr. Thomas points out that Ezra’s solution is descriptive not prescriptive. He suggests that Nehemiah’s solution is different and might be preferable. Dr. Goligher leans hard into the fact of Israel’s idolatry. Goligher claims that the future of the Messiah was in the balance at this moment. Ezra knew something was more important than the dissolution of these relationships, as terrible as that was.
Lord, You know all things and You are just, perfect, wise, and loving. We thank You that difficult passages abound in the Bible. Give us wise and godly teachers, the guidance of Your Holy Spirit, and a teachable spirit to learn Your ways. We pray for the expansion of Your Kingdom. We also pray for families who are going through difficulties to trust in You. We also pray that single believers would understand the prohibition of marrying non-believers. In the name of the risen Christ. Amen.