Ezra 10:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we are told, first, what good effect Ezra’s humbling himself and confessing sin had on the people. As soon as it was heard in the city that their new governor, whom they had welcomed with joy, was himself deeply distressed for them and their sin, a large crowd gathered around him, Ezra 10:1. People who weep over the sins of others may stir those sinners to weep for themselves, when they would otherwise stay hard and unmoved.

This shows the good influence that godly leaders can have on those under them. Ezra was a scribe, a learned man, and an officer under the king, and yet he mourned so deeply over the public sin. So the people judged that the sin must truly be serious, or he would not grieve so much over it. Then every eye filled with tears, and men, women, and children wept bitterly as he wept.

Second, Shechaniah, one of Ezra’s companions from Babylon, Ezra 8:3, Ezra 8:5, made a very helpful speech at this moment. The place had become a place of weeping, but there was, so far as we can tell, a solemn silence among them, like Job’s friends who said nothing because they saw how great his grief was. Then Shechaniah stood up and spoke to Ezra.

He first confessed the nation’s guilt in simple words: “We have sinned against our God and have taken foreign wives,” Ezra 10:2. The matter was too plain to deny and too serious to excuse. It does not seem that Shechaniah was personally guilty in this matter, but his father and some of his father’s family were guilty, as appears later, Ezra 10:26. Even so, he counted himself among the offenders, and he did not try to soften the sin, even though some of his own relatives were involved.

Perhaps a foreign wife in his own family had brought him pain and trouble, and that made him more ready to speak against this evil. If so, then this is another case where private hurt was turned by God’s providence to serve the public good. He spoke as Levi did, when he said of his father and mother, “I have not known them” in loyalty to God (Deuteronomy 33:9).

Next, Shechaniah encouraged hope, even though the situation was bad. “Yet now there is hope in Israel,” he said, “concerning this thing.” The case was sad, but not hopeless. The wound was serious, but not beyond healing. There was hope that the people could be corrected, the guilty restored, and the evil stopped before it spread further. Then the judgments deserved by the sin might also be turned away.

He said, in effect, that now was the right time for hope because the trouble had been exposed. The disease was half healed once it was discovered. The people had begun to feel the evil of what they had done, and they were mourning before God. A spirit of repentance seemed to be moving among them, so there was reason to hope that God would forgive and show mercy. The valley of Achor, or trouble, is called a door of hope (Hosea 2:15), because the sin that truly troubles us will not ruin us.

There was also reason for hope because Israel had a wise, godly, and zealous leader in Ezra to handle the matter. In dark times, we must notice what gives encouragement as well as what threatens us. Grace can give good hope, even when we feel deep guilt before God. Where sin is seen, mourned over, and dealt with in a practical way, even sinners should be encouraged. And even great saints must gladly receive timely counsel and comfort from those below them in rank, as Ezra did from Shechaniah.

Finally, Shechaniah advised a prompt and effective way to deal with the problem. Since the matter was clear, what had been done wrongly must be undone as far as possible. Nothing less than that is true repentance. “Let us put away all the wives, and those born of them,” Ezra 10:3.

Ezra knew this was the only way to correct the wrong, but he may have wondered whether it could actually be carried out. He may have thought the people would never agree, which helped bring him into the deep distress described in the previous chapter. But Shechaniah, who knew the people better, said the thing could be done if handled wisely.

For us today, the lesson is clear: sin must be put away. It must be given a bill of divorce, with a firm resolve never to have anything more to do with it, even if it is dear to us as a wife, a right eye, or a right hand. Otherwise there can be no pardon and no peace. What was gained unjustly cannot be kept justly, but must be restored. Yet Shechaniah’s advice about foreign marriages does not carry over in the same way now. Such marriages are certainly sinful and should not be entered into, but once made, they are not dissolved simply because they should never have happened. Our rule under the gospel is that if a brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not put her away (1 Corinthians 7:12, 1 Corinthians 7:13).

He also pointed them to a good method for carrying out the reform. First, let Ezra and all who were gathered there agree together that this must be done, and let it be passed at once. Then it could be said to be done by the counsel of Ezra, with the united support of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, the very people described in Ezra 9:4. In other words, let it be plainly shown that the sober and serious people of the nation were all of one mind.

Second, let the command of God in this matter, which Ezra had already set out in prayer, be laid before the people. Then they would see that the plan was not man-made, but came from the law of God. It was not an added human rule, but the necessary carrying out of what God had already commanded.

Third, while their hearts were still in this good frame, let them bind themselves by a solemn vow and covenant to do it, so that when their present concern had faded, the matter would not be left undone.

Let us make a covenant, not only that if we ourselves have foreign wives we will send them away, but also that if we do not, we will do what we can in our own place to help others send theirs away. Then let Ezra himself lead in this matter. The king had given him authority to investigate whether God’s law was being kept in Judah and Jerusalem (Ezra 7:14), and they should all agree to stand with him in it (Ezra 10:4). “Arise, and be courageous.” In this situation, weeping is good, but reform is better. See what God said to Joshua in a similar case (Joshua 7:10-11).

Then came the good resolve they made in response to this good proposal (Ezra 10:5). They did not only agree that it should be done, but also bound themselves with an oath to act according to this word. What is firmly fastened is firmly held.