Ezra 10:6 - Meaning and Application

Here we see what happened after the people had agreed to deal with the matter of the foreign wives. No time was wasted. They acted while the matter was still fresh, and quickly got the work of reform moving.

Ezra went to the council room, where the priests likely met for public business. He did not eat or drink until he got there and saw that something was being done, and that more could be done, to correct this wrong. He kept on mourning. Sorrow for sin should stay with us until the sin is put away.

He then sent word to all the returned exiles to come to Jerusalem within three days (Ezra 10:7, Ezra 10:8). The king had given him authority to enforce his orders with penalties (Ezra 7:26), so he warned that anyone who refused would lose his property and be cast out. The person who would not come for this religious duty would have his goods set apart for the service of their religion, and he himself would be shut out from its honors and privileges. In other words, he would be put under excommunication, cut off from the community.

Within the set time, most of the people gathered at Jerusalem and stood in the open square by God’s house (Ezra 10:9). Some of them may not have had any zeal for this work, and some may even have disliked it, since they were guilty themselves. Still, they respected Ezra’s authority and feared the penalty enough not to stay away.

God also gave them a sign of his displeasure in the heavy rain that fell then (Ezra 10:9, Ezra 10:13). That rain may have kept some away, and it was very hard on those who had to stand outside. While they wept, the heavens seemed to weep with them. This showed that God was angry about their sin, yet pleased with their repentance. It also pointed to good fruit from repentance, since rain can make the earth fruitful.

Ezra then spoke to the people at this great gathering. He told them why he had called them together. Since they had returned from captivity, they had added to Israel’s guilt by marrying foreign wives. This new sin could bring idolatry back in among them, the very sin they had suffered for and, he hoped, been cured of during the captivity. He called them to confess their sin to God and, after that, to show that they were ready to do what God wanted, as soon as his will became clear to them. That meant, above all, separating themselves from all idolaters, especially idolatrous wives (Ezra 10:10, Ezra 10:11). On these points, he likely spoke at length, and probably made another confession of the sin, much like the one in Ezra 9:1-15, to which he expected them to agree.

The people did more than accept Ezra’s general authority, they also accepted his handling of this case. They said, “You have spoken well, and we must do it” (Ezra 10:12). They admitted that they had sinned by mixing with the nations, and that this had put them at risk. They could be corrupted by such people, since human nature is weak, and they could also be lost among them, since their own nation was small. So they became convinced that they had to separate from them again. There is real hope when people see not only that it is right to give up sin, but that it is absolutely necessary. We must do it, or we are lost.

It was then agreed that this matter should not be handled in a single public meeting or rushed through all at once. Instead, a court of delegates would be appointed to hear complaints and decide each case. That could not be done immediately, partly because everything had not yet been arranged in order, and partly because the rain made it hard for the people to remain. There were many guilty men, and it would take time to find them and examine the facts. Some cases would also need careful thought and discussion (Ezra 10:13).

So the crowd was dismissed, and the rulers were told to receive reports. They were to proceed city by city, with offenders judged before the local judges and elders of each city, and with those leaders seeing that the orders were carried out. This slower method would actually get the work done sooner. If they hurried, they would only do part of it (Ezra 10:14). If, by this careful process, a thorough reformation was made, God’s fierce anger would turn away from them, since they knew that it was ready to break out against them because of this sin. Ezra was willing for his zeal to be guided by the people’s wisdom. He was not ashamed to admit that the plan came from them, and he was just as willing to follow it.