Ezra 9:3

_AND WHEN I HEARD THIS THING, I RENT MY GARMENT AND MY MANTLE, AND PLUCKED OFF THE HAIR OF MY HEAD AND OF MY BEARD, AND SAT DOWN ASTONIED._ When I heard this ... I rent my garment and my mantle ... - the outer and inner garment, which was a token not only of great grief, but of dread at the same time of the divine wrath; "plucked off the hair of my head and my beard," which was a still more significant sign of overpowering grief. In order to enter into the causes of this intense sorrow and disappointment, we must endeavour to realize the position of a devout patriot like Ezra, and remember that, though he anticipated many irregularities and disorders in Jerusalem, he was not at all prepared for the awful extent of their prevalence. 'That which a pious pilgrim to Rome, in the time of its most shameless corruptions, would experience, will illustrate the experience of this earnest and fait...

1-4 Many corruptions lurk out of the view of the most careful rulers. Some of the people disobeyed the express command of God, which forbade all marriages with the heathen, Ezra 9:7. Disbelief of God's all-sufficiency, is at the bottom of the sorry shifts we make to help ourselves. They exposed themselves and their children to the peril of idolatry, that had ruined their church and nation. Carnal professors may make light of such connexions, and try to explain away the exhortations to be separate; but those who are best acquainted with the word of God, will treat the subject in another manner. They must forebode the worst from such unions. The evils excused, and even pleaded for; by many professors, astonish and cause regret in the true believer. All who profess to be God's people, ought to strengthen those that appear and act against vice and profaneness....

Verse Ezra 9:3. _I RENT MY GARMENT AND MY MANTLE_] The _outer_ and _inner_ garment, in sign of great grief. This significant act is frequently mentioned in the sacred writings, and was common among all ancient nations. _PLUCKED OFF THE HAIR_] _Shaving_ the head and beard were signs of excessive grief; much more so the _plucking off the hair_, which must produce exquisite pain. All this testified his abhorrence, not merely of the act of having taken strange wives, but their having also joined them in their _idolatrous_ abominations....

Plucking out the hair with the hands, so common among the Classical nations, is, comparatively speaking, rarely mentioned as practiced by Asiatics....

§ 2. REFORMATION OF RELIGION ACCOMPLISHED BY EZRA AT JERUSALEM. EXPOSITION IN the interval between Zerubbabel's rule and the coming of Ezra from Babylon with a special commission appointing him governor of Judaea, the Jews seem to have been left without any strong controlling authority. The civil administration devolved upon a certain number of chiefs or "princes," who maintained order in Jerusalem, collected and remitted the tribute due to the Persian crown, and held courts to decide all causes, criminal and civil, in which only Jews were concerned. Tranquillity and order were sufficiently maintained in this way; but the governing power was weak, and in matters outside the range of the civil and criminal law men did pretty nearly "as it seemed good in their own eyes." During this interval of governmenta

AND WHEN I HEARD THIS THING, I RENT MY GARMENT AND MY MANTLE,.... Both inward and outward garments, that which was close to his body, and that which was thrown loose over it; and this he did in token of sorrow and mourning, as if something very dreadful and distressing, see Job 1:20 AND PLUCKED OFF THE HAIR OF MY HEAD AND OF MY BEARD; did not shave them, and so transgressed not the law in Leviticus 19:27 but plucked off the hair of them, to show his extreme sorrow for what was told him: which has frequently been done by mourners on sorrowful occasions in various nations, see Isaiah 15:2. So in the apocryphal "addition" to Esther, "And laid away her glorious apparel, and put on the garments of angu

CHAPTER 9 _ 1. Ezra's astonishment and grief (Ezra 9:1)_ 2. Ezra's confession and prayer (Ezra 9:5) Ezra 9:1. When all these things had been done (that are related in chapter 8:33-36) Ezra was confronted by a very sad condition of the people, and even the priests and the Levites. The princes (civil leaders) came to Ezra and told him that the demanded separation according to the law, between God's people and the Canaanitish inhabitants of the land, had not been obeyed. The people had taken of their daughters for themselves and of their sons “so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of the lands; yea the hand of the princes and rulers hath been first in this trespass.” Not alone had they intermarried, b

REPORT IS MADE TO EZRA OF THE MARRIAGES OF JEWS WITH THE HEATHEN. Ezra's zeal in this matter resulted in his going beyond the requirements of the Law (_cf._ Deuteronomy 23:7). Ezra 9:1. the Canaanites. Amorites: with the Gentiles here enumerated _cf._ Deuteronomy 7:1. Ezra 9:2. holy seed: _cf._ Isaiah 61:3....

RENT MY GARMENT, &C. These were signs of inward mourning. See Ezra 9:5. Jos 7:6. 1 Samuel 4:12; 2 Samuel 1:2. 2Sa 13:31. 2 Kings 18:37; Job 1:20; Matthew 26:65. ASTONIED: i.e. causing astonishment in such as saw me....

_I rent my garment and my mantle_ Ezra's conduct betrays his surprise, his grief, and his indignation. The rending of the clothes is frequently mentioned in Scripture as a sign of grief: Ezra here is described as rending the under-garment or tunic (the -begedh") and the long loose robe (the m-îl) in which he was attired. Reuben rent his -clothes" (plur. of -begedh") on not finding Joseph (Genesis 37:29): Jacob rent his -garments" (plur. of -simlah") on seeing Joseph's blood-stained coat (Genesis 37:34): Joseph's brethren rent their clothers (plur. of -simlah") when the cup was found in Benjamin's sack (Genesis 44:13): Joshua rent his -clothes" (plur. of -simlah") after the repulse at Ai ...