Ezra 9:7

_AND SAID, O MY GOD, I AM ASHAMED AND BLUSH TO LIFT UP MY FACE TO THEE, MY GOD: FOR OUR INIQUITIES ARE INCREASED OVER OUR HEAD, AND OUR TRESPASS IS GROWN UP UNTO THE HEAVENS._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

5-15 The sacrifice, especially the evening sacrifice, was a type of the blessed Lamb of God, who in the evening of the world, was to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Ezra's address is a penitent confession of sin, the sin of his people. But let this be the comfort of true penitents, that though their sins reach to the heavens, God's mercy is in the heavens. Ezra, speaking of sin, speaks as one much ashamed. Holy shame is as necessary in true repentance as holy sorrow. Ezra speaks as much amazed. The discoveries of guilt cause amazement; the more we think of sin, the worse it looks. Say, God be merciful to me sinner. Ezra speaks as one much afraid. There is not a surer or saddler presage of ruin, than turning to sin, after great judgments, and great deliverances. Every one in the church of God, has to wonder that he has not wearied out the Lord's patience, and brought destructi...

Very similar in tone to this are the confessions of Nehemiah Nehemiah 9:29 and of Daniel (see the marginal references). The captivity had done its work by deeply convincing of sin the Jewish nation that had previously been so proud and self-righteous....

§ 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

SINCE THE DAYS OF OUR FATHERS HAVE WE BEEN IN A GREAT TRESPASS UNTO THIS DAY,.... The sins they were guilty of had been long continued in, which was an aggravation of them: AND FOR OUR INIQUITIES HAVE WE, OUR KINGS, AND OUR PRIESTS, BEEN DELIVERED INTO THE HAND OF THE KINGS OF THE LANDS; the ten tribes and their king into the hand of the king of Assyria, the kings of Judah, Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, into the hands of the king of Babylon, with the priests and people: TO THE SWORD, TO CAPTIVITY, AND TO A SPOIL; some were slain with the sword, others carried captive, and the houses of them all plundered and spoiled: AND TO CONFUSION OF FACE, AS IT IS THIS DAY; being filled with shame when they reflected on their sins, the cause of those evils; and besides, the captivity of the ten tribes continued, and of many others, which exposed them to shame among their neighbours....

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

EZRA'S CONFESSION. Ezra 9:5. at the evening Oblation: therefore in the presence of the assembled worshippers. Ezra 9:7. from the days of our fathers: _i.e._ from the times of the patriarchs onwards. Ezra 9:8. a nail in his holy place: lit. - a tent-peg in, etc.; the rendering in the Greek Ezra is to be preferred, viz.: a root and a name in the place of thy sanctuary. IN OUR BONDAGE: the expression is a strong one; the Jews, though dependents of the Persian king, were not in servitude in the sense that their fathers had been in Egypt. Ezra 9:9. a wall: lit. a fence; _cf._...

BEEN DELIVERED. For these selfsame sins! as in Ezra 9:2. confusion of face. Compare Daniel 9:5....

Ezra's Confession 5. _And at the evening sacrifice_ R.V. AND AT THE EVENING OBLATION, i.e. at the time of its being offered. _I arose up from my heaviness_ R.V. I AROSE UP FROM MY HUMILIATION. Marg. _fasting_. The Hebrew word -Taanith" occurs only here in the O.T.: in later Hebrew it became the accepted for religious fasting. This passage favours the original application to general humiliation rather than to abstinence from food. So the LXX. ταπείωσις. _and having rent my garment and my mantle_ R.V. EVEN WITH MY GARMENT AND MY MANTLE RENT; AND. There is no need to render as the A.V. and most commentators, as if Ezra for a second time rent his clothes. He calls attention to the fact that in the presence of the assembled people he stood before them with these evident signs of his grief and dismay, and thus by a mute appeal united them with him in his act of prayer. fell upon my knees, a...

2. Ezra's prayer is set down for us. TEXT, EZRA 9:6-15 6 and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to Thee, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens. 7 Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day. 8 But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. 9 For we are slaves; yet in our bondage, our God has not forsaken us, but has extended loving-kindness to us in the