Esdras 10:9-15

3. La decisión es aceptada por todos, en asamblea.

TEXTO, Esdras 10:9-15

9

So all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain.

10

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel.

11

Now, therefore, make confession to the LORD God of your fathers, and do His will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.

12

Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, That's right! As you have said, so it is our duty to do.

13

But there are many people, it is the rainy season, and we are not able to stand in the open. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter.

14

Let our leaders represent the whole assembly and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us.

15

Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.

COMMENT

Esdras 10:9 indicates full compliance with this order, from the men throughout the territory of Judah and Benjamin where the exiles had settled. The latter half of the ninth month would be in our December, which was the rainy season in their land. No building would be large enough for the entire male population, so they met in the Temple yard, shivering because of the seriousness of the occasion and the discomfort of the rain.

In Esdras 10:10 Ezra charged them with their sin.

Esdras 10:11 speaks of two groups from which they were to be separated: (1) the people of the land, possibly referring here to the foreign men whom some of the women of Israel had married; and (2) the foreign wives, whom men of Israel had taken. The offense could work both ways (see Esdras 9:12), and both must be corrected.

Esdras 10:12 voices their acknowledgement of the rightness of what had been said, and their decisive acceptance of the need of separation.

In Esdras 10:13 the men point to mechanical problems in carrying out this command: the rain; discomfort of standing in the open; legal complications in correcting such a serious offense.

Their request (Esdras 10:14) was that enough time be given so that orderly procedures may be followed: appointments were to be made for all offending couples to come before the elders and judges of their cities (the elders had always had such responsibilities), till the task was completed. They evidently reasoned that if marriage was a public ceremony, then the separation also was to be made publicly.

Esdras 10:15 gives the names of two who opposed this procedure, though their reason is not stated. We do not know if they objected to the delay, the procedure, or to the action itself, though Esdras 10:12 indicated unanimous agreement up to that point. Their objections were apparently answered satisfactorily by two other speakers, as named.

WORD STUDIES

PACTO ( Esdras 10:3 , Berith): viene del verbo comer. Para hacer (literalmente, cortar) un pacto, las personas descuartizaban y descuartizaban un animal doméstico vegetariano (pacífico) (ver Génesis 15 ) y llegaban a sus acuerdos alrededor de una mesa de buen compañerismo.

Los tratados de paz, las obligaciones religiosas, los contratos personales, todos fueron sellados de esta manera. El pacto de Dios con el hombre siempre tuvo esta connotación de compañerismo o participación, incluida su obligación de bendecir si se guardaba el pacto.

TOMAR JURAMENTO ( Esdras 10:8 , Shaba): jurar, a siete uno mismo. El siete, número sagrado, llama la atención también sobre las ofrendas que se harían para sellar un juramento ( Génesis 21:28 ss).