Ezra 9 - Introduction
_A.M. 3547. B.C. 457._ Ezra is troubled at the marriages with strange women, Ezra 9:1. His solemn confession to God, Ezra 9:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
_A.M. 3547. B.C. 457._ Ezra is troubled at the marriages with strange women, Ezra 9:1. His solemn confession to God, Ezra 9:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ezra 9:1. _The princes came to me_ Those who feared God, and understood that Ezra was come with a large commission and ample powers from the king, and with a design to reform all disorders, whereof this which they came to complain of was not the least: _saying, The people, and the priests, &c., have... [ Continue Reading ]
_So that the holy seed_, &c. They are called a _holy seed_, because of the covenant which God had made with them, whereby they were constituted a peculiar people, separated from all other nations. _Have mingled themselves with the people of those lands_ Since their return, as may be gathered from Ez... [ Continue Reading ]
_When I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle_, &c. Both my inner and my upper garment. This was a token, not only of his very great grief and sorrow, but of his sense of God's displeasure at their conduct. For the Jews were wont to rend their clothes, when they apprehended God to be hig... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then were assembled unto me_ To join with me, both in lamenting the sin, and in endeavouring to effect the redress of it; _every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel_ Who stood in awe of God and of his word, and durst not violate his commands; or who feared his threatenings against t... [ Continue Reading ]
_I rose up from my heaviness_ From that mournful posture, and put myself into the posture of a petitioner. He did this at the time of the evening sacrifice, because then devout people used to come into the courts of the temple, that, hearing his confession, they likewise might be made sensible of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_O my God, I am ashamed and blush_ “Nothing can be more humble, devout, and pathetic, than this address, in which Ezra acknowledges that he was confounded when he thought of the greatness of their sins, which were ready to overwhelm them, and of the boldness and insolence of them beyond measure, eve... [ Continue Reading ]
_Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass _ We are not purged from the guilt of our fathers' sins, but we are still feeling the sad effects of them; yea, and are repeating the same sins. _And now for a little space grace hath been showed_ It is but a little while since God hath... [ Continue Reading ]
_For we were bondmen_ In greater bondage than that in which we now are. _Our God hath extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia_ Hath given us to find favour in their eyes. _To give us a reviving_ To recover us from the grave of dreadful calamities in which we lay, like dead men and d... [ Continue Reading ]
_And now, what shall we say after this?_ What apology can we make for ourselves, after thou hast conferred such great and high favours upon us, and we have so grossly abused them?... [ Continue Reading ]
_Is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands_ Or, _of these lands_, which are round about it. This expresses the cause or matter of this uncleanness: the land was not unclean of itself, but only polluted by the filthiness of its inhabitants. _Give not your daughters unto their... [ Continue Reading ]
_After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds_ After all our sore sufferings for our sins. _Seeing thou hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve_ After all thy favours shown us in the mitigation of thy judgments. _And hast given us such deliverance as this_ So full, so sudden, so unexp... [ Continue Reading ]
Ezra 9:15. _O Lord, thou art righteous_ A just and holy God, who hatest, and wilt infallibly punish, sin and sinners. Or, _thou art merciful_, for the Hebrew word here rendered _righteous_, often signifies _merciful_. Notwithstanding all our sins, thou hast not utterly destroyed us, but left us a re... [ Continue Reading ]