Ezra 10:4

_NOW THEREFORE LET US MAKE A COVENANT WITH OUR GOD TO PUT AWAY ALL THE WIVES, AND SUCH AS ARE BORN OF THEM, ACCORDING TO THE COUNSEL OF MY LORD, AND OF THOSE THAT TREMBLE AT THE COMMANDMENT OF OUR GOD; AND LET IT BE DONE ACCORDING TO THE LAW._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-5 Shechaniah owned the national guilt. The case is sad, but it is not desperate; the disease threatening, but not incurable. Now that the people begin to lament, a spirit of repentance seems to be poured out; now there is hope that God will forgive, and have mercy. The sin that rightly troubles us, shall not ruin us. In melancholy times we must observe what makes for us, as well as against us. And there may be good hopes through grace, even where there is the sense of great guilt before God. The case is plain; what has been done amiss, must be undone again as far as possible; nothing less than this is true repentance. Sin must be put away, with a resolution never to have any thing more to do with it. What has been unjustly got, must be restored. Arise, be of good courage. Weeping, in this case, is good, but reforming is better. As to being unequally yoked with unbelievers, such marria...

Verse Ezra 10:4. _ARISE; FOR_ THIS _MATTER_ BELONGETH UNTO THEE] By the decree of Artaxerxes, he was authorized to do everything that the law of God required: see Ezra 7:23-15. And all officers were commanded to be aiding and assisting; hence Shechaniah says, _We_ _are with you_....

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

ARISE,.... From the ground, where he lay prostrate: FOR THIS MATTER BELONGETH UNTO THEE; as a priest and scribe of the law, well versed in it, and therefore could direct what was to be done according to it; and as a ruler under the king of Persia, and a commissioner of his, to inquire whether the law of God was observed by the Jews, Ezra 7:14 and so had authority to put the law in execution: WE ALSO WILL BE WITH THEE; to help and assist in the reformation of this evil: BE OF GOOD COURAGE, AND DO IT; do not despair of going through it, though there may be some opposition to it; begin, and doubt not of succeeding....

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

THE PEOPLE SWEAR TO PUT AWAY THEIR FOREIGN WIVES. The narrative now proceeds in the third person. Ezra 10:2. Shecaniah: a common name; not necessarily identical with the person of this name referred to in Ezra 10:26. YET NOW: _i.e._ nevertheless; the evil could be done away by making a covenant with God (see Ezra 10:3). Ezra 10:3. to put away all the wives. them: it does not seem to have struck Ezra that a better and more humane way would have been to receive the wives and children into the pale of Judaism....

ARISE. It would seem that Ezra continued kneeling....

The appeal to Ezra. _Arise_ Not a reference to Ezra's prostration but a summons to energetic action, Joshua 1:2; Judges 4:14; 1 Samuel 16:12 and often. _for_this _matter_belongeth _unto thee_:] R.V. FOR THE MATTER &c. Literally -for this matter is upon thee". Cf. Nehemiah 13:13, -And their business was (lit. and it was upon them) to distribute unto their brethren". Isaiah 9:6, -And the government shall be upon his shoulder". Ezra was marked out for the duty, partly because he had so publicly testified to his condemnation of the

TEXT AND VERSE-BY-VERSE COMMENT D. The community is cleansed, and a list of the offenders is given. 1. A decision is reached by those who heard Ezra pray. TEXT, EZRA 10:1-4 1 Now while Ezra was praying and making confession; weeping and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women, and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly. 2 And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have been unfaithful to our God, and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. 3 So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according t