Ezra 10:19

_AND THEY GAVE THEIR HANDS THAT THEY WOULD PUT AWAY THEIR WIVES; AND BEING GUILTY, THEY OFFERED A RAM OF THE FLOCK FOR THEIR TRESPASS._ They gave their hands - i:e., came under a solemn engagement, which was usually ratified by pledging the right hand (Proverbs 6:1; Ezekiel 17:18). The delinquents of the priestly order bound themselves to do like the common Israelites (Ezra 10:25), and sought to expiate their sin by sacrificing a ram as a trespass offering. According to the opinion of the Jews at Yemen-all of whom speak beautifully the Hebrew language, and are thought to be descendants of the ten tribes-the Afghans are the progeny of the strange and repudiated wives referred to in this chapter (Joseph Wolff,

15-44 The best reformers can but do their endeavour; when the Redeemer himself shall come to Zion, he shall effectually turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And when sin is repented of and forsaken, God will forgive it; but the blood of Christ, our Sin-offering, is the only atonement which takes away our guilt. No seeming repentance or amendment will benefit those who reject Him, for self-dependence proves them still unhumbled. All the names written in the book of life, are those of penitent sinners, not of self-righteous persons, who think they have no need of repentance....

Verse 19. _THEY GAVE THEIR HANDS_] They bound themselves in the most solemn manner to do as the rest of the delinquents had done; and they made all acknowledgment of their iniquity to God by offering each a _ram_ for a trespass-offering....

Compare with the list in Ezra 2. Ezra 10:19 THEY GAVE THEIR HANDS - i. e., “solemnly pledged themselves” (compare the marginal references). Ezra 10:44 The guilty persons, it would seem, were 113 in number. They comprised 4 members of the high priest’s family, 13 other priests, 10 Levites, and 86 lay Israelites belonging to at least 10 distinct families. The fact noted in the second clause of the verse must have increased the difficulity of Ezra’s task....

EXPOSITION REPENTANCE OF THE PEOPLE, AND COVENANT SWORN TO, ON THE RECOMMENDATION OF SHECHANIAH (Ezra 10:1). While Ezra was uttering his prayer aloud, upon his knees, in front of the temple, where the evening sacrifice was being offered upon the great brazen altar (Ezra 3:2), the people gathered about him, heard what he said, and had their feelings so stirred that numbers of them burst into tears and "wept very sore" (Ezra 10:1). When he had ended, Sheehaniah, the son of Jehiel, took the word, and suggested an

Ver. 19-43. AND THEY GAVE THEIR HANDS THAT THEY WOULD PUT AWAY THEIR WIVES,.... They proposed to do it, and actually did it: AND BEING GUILTY; of which they were fully convinced: THEY OFFERED A RAM OF THE FLOCK FOR THEIR TRESPASS; to make atonement for it, and thereby set an example to others to do the like. Aben Ezra observes, that we do not find that the trespass offering was a mulct to such who married strange wives, and conjectures, that it was the advice of the chief men to do it. From hence, to the end of Ezra 10:43, is a list of the men that had married strange wives, and put them away; those in Ezra 10:20, were priests; in Ezra 10:23, Levites, and those of them who were singers or porter

CHAPTER 10 _ 1. The effect of Ezra's prayer on the people (Ezra 10:1)_ 2. Ezra summons an assembly (Ezra 10:5) 3. The gathering, confession and the evil judged (Ezra 10:9) 4. The register of those who had married strange women (Ezra 10:18) Ezra 10:1. Ezra's prayer, confession and humiliation were before the house of the LORD.” The people saw his great sorrow and his tears, they heard his words confessing the nation's sins. It produced a wonderful effect among the people. “There assembled unto him out of Israel a great congregation of me

A LIST OF THOSE WHO HAD MARRIED FOREIGN WIVES. These include seventeen priests, together with Levites, singers, and doorkeepers, and also laymen....

GAVE THEIR HANDS. Hebrew idiom for giving their word. Compare 2 Kings 10:15. BEING GUILTY. Compare Leviticus 5:1. A RAM. See Leviticus 5:14....

Priests 18. _that had taken strange wives_ R.V. THAT HAD MARRIED STRANGE WOMEN: the R.V. puts a colon after -women", and a comma after -brethren". The -Jeshua the son of Jozadak" here mentioned is clearly the High-priest, the contemporary of Zerubbabel. In chap. Ezra 2:36 we have mention of -the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three". It is to the house of Jedaiah that these four priests belonged; for in that passage as in this, the houses of Immer, Harim and Pashur are mentioned immediately afterwards. Whether Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah were grandsons or only kinsmen of Jeshua the son of Jozadak we are not told....