A Remnant to Preserve His Honor - Ezra

Romans 12:1–2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Ezra 9:1–2 “Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.”

Ezra 9:8–9 “And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.”

Cultural Background.Context

Cyrus- A Remnant preserved

The Situation - Ezra receives the news

Jewish men had married foreign women and made the mistake of adopting their wives’ gods (Mal 2:10–16). This opposed God’s desire to be worshiped exclusively and threatened the survival of the nation. Israel as a people set apart for Yahweh.

God has always sought for a people who would be separate from the worldThat relationship is predicated on separation from the world

Love not the world

come from Amon them and be ye separate, I will be a father unto you as a dog returning.

The remnant of Jewish people restored to the land after judgment.

Ezra’s Response

-a astonished -

Ezra’s reaction was astonishment, mixed with deep personal grief.

He instinctively reacted by tearing his outer robe, pulling his hair out, and collapsing in a heap. This was a typical cultural response to astonishing news such as hearing of the death of a close relative

I sat there utterly appalled. The repetition of words of “trembling,” “shocked,” “appalled,” and “outrage” demonstrate that Ezra and his followers were totally baffled and amazed beyond belief at this callous, sinful behavior by the leaders and priests. The emotional response was strong, and it resulted in a trembling desire to seek God’s help. How could these acts of unfaithfulness have happened?

There is a problem if we are not moved by the sin of our day in our churches

couldn’t believe.

This is not outdated, there is not new revelation. The word has not changed.

Ezra 9:6 “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.”

I am ashamed

-He repented identifies even tough he did not sin directly.

we are as guilty as those around us because we sit back and allow it to happen.

God Deserves The Honor

1.Security -He has given us security. The word “security” (yathed [3489, 3845]) means lit., “nail, tent peg.” Clines (1984:123) and Williamson (1985:135) see the rebuilt Temple as that security or nail that firmly established the people in the land.

2.Hope -brightened our eyes. Lit., “made our eyes shine.” These small glimmers of hope were set in stark contrast to the death, robbery, and disgrace that repeatedly came from sin. The grace that caused “a few … to survive as a remnant” stood in sharp contrast with the many forefathers, kings, priests, and people who sinned and were oppressed by foreign kings in 9:7. All the good things were attributed to God’s work of grace to the undeserving people of 9:7. There was no doubt about it; God was good to his people, in spite of their sinful past.

3. GOD DID NOT ABANDON US

9:9 in his unfailing love our God did not abandon us.… He has given us a protective wall in Judah. Sinful people deserve God’s judgment, but God did not abandon his people as they deserved. Instead, in his khesed [2617, 2876] (“unfailing love” or “steadfast covenant love”), God sovereignly (1) directed Cyrus and Darius to “revive” the Jewish nation (ch 1; 6:1–2, 6–7), (2) stirred up the returnees to rebuild the Temple (6:13–18; Hag 1), and (3) provided divine protection for the returnees (6:6–12). The word for “protective wall” (gader [1447, 1555]) referred to a low fence that was built around fields (Allen 2003:78) comparable to the wall around the vineyard in Isa 5:5, and does not refer to Nehemiah’s wall around the small city of Jerusalem (Rowley 1965:147–151). Here it symbolically refers to God’s protection around the whole nation, not just the city of Jerusalem.

What God Requires:

True Repentance

True confession must come first. People can come to God to receive mercy and forgiveness only after they realize that God hates sin and will punish them for their sins. Some may try to seek his mercy without confessing their sins first, but their petition will not be heard or answered while sin blocks their relationship to God (Isa 59:1–2).

Separate Themselves

Response of people

Separate yourselves

Ezra 10:1–9 summarizes how the people responded to Ezra’s mourning and confession of sin; thus, it continues the narrative of 9:3–4. His tears not only made people wonder what was wrong, but his lamentation “proved infectious” (Fensham 1982:133) to the large gathering of men, women, and children. They spontaneously “wept bitterly” (lit., “wept with much weeping”), not because of Ezra’s stern sermon of condemnation but because of Ezra’s evident godliness and commitment to see the transformation of God’s people (McConville 1985:69). By listening to Ezra’s prayer of confession, others came under conviction and recognized their guilt.

10:3 In the ancient Near East, mothers received custody of the children when they divorced (see Gen 21:14). The Jewish men were thus divorcing both their foreign wives and the offspring created by their union.

At this point, Ezra has performed all the typical acts of mourning: torn his garments, pulled out his hair and beard, sat down, fallen on his knees, stretched out his hands, prayed, made confession, wept, prostrated himself, taken an oath, and fasted (see Ezra 9:3, 5; 10:1, 5, 6).

Honor God Through Sancitification

Restoration

Blessings

Romans 12:1–2 KJV 1900

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Soulwinning -

We should not be conformed but we should be transformed to Transform

Kezia Won prayed her friend through To the Holy Ghost today in High School.

Faith

Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

Unity

Romans 12:4“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:”

Love

Romans 12:9 “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”

Praise

Romans 12:12 “Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;”

This chapter describes how one man dealt with a sin that was discovered within the community of believers. Many of the Jews had married pagans, contrary to the law. The requirement to keep “themselves separate from the other peoples living in the land” came from passages such as Deuteronomy 7:1–4. This prohibition was not racially or ethnically motivated, for Abram married Hagar the Egyptian (Gen 16:3), Moses married an Ethiopian (Num 12:1), and Boaz married the Moabite Ruth (Ruth 4). This prohibition was theologically based, because God knew that pagan spouses would lead the people away from him to worship other gods (Deut 7:4). Since Israel was a holy people, they were to separate themselves from the detestable worship practices of pagans (Exod 19:6; Lev 18:24–30). The list of people the Israelites had intermarried with is similar to the lists of native people in Canaan found in Genesis 15:19–21; Deuteronomy 7:1; 23:3–6; this list in 9:1 includes Moabites and Egyptians in order to fit the social situation during the postexilic era (see Neh 13:23–26; Blenkinsopp 1988:175).

Since God called his covenant people to be holy (Exod 19:6), he expected them to reject the abominable beliefs and customs of their neighbors (Lev 19:2–4; 20:6–8, 22–26; Deut 7:6). This pollution of the holy “seed” (zeraʿ [2233, 2446]; 9:2) through intermarriage would defile the holiness of the community by mixing godly with ungodly people, holy with unholy behavior (Ps 106:35). These marriages were part of a pluralistic tendency to accept foreign religious beliefs; but if this process continued, it would soon destroy the unique identity of Israel as a holy people set apart to God. If a few lower-class individuals in the distant hills made this mistake, it might not be so shocking, but when leaders and priests were engaged in this outrageous behavior (maʿal [4604, 5086], “unfaithfulness”; 9:2), it would inevitably have an impact on the whole nation. Spiritual leaders should be held to a higher standard, but these leaders were behaving worse than most common Israelites.

Ezra’s strong negative reaction to this sin suggests that he thought God would deal very seriously with the people and might destroy the nation for this sin. Ezra’s lamenting response also got the attention of those around him and demonstrated to them that he was very upset by this news. Ezra 9:4 says that “all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel came and sat” with Ezra. It was important that Ezra not be alone in his opposition to this sin. There is no indication of the size of this group of like-minded individuals who strictly interpreted and followed the law of Moses (10:3). Their reporting this problem to Ezra shows they opposed this trend of intermarriage, but they did not have the political or religious stature to change the way some Jewish leaders were acting. Ezra solidified this group’s opposition to this unfaithfulness, and his boldness empowered them to take a stand against the broad-minded acceptance of the intermarriage practices of other Jews. Their united public opposition did not directly address the offending parties, but the sincerity of their sorrow and the compassion of their prayers touched the hearts of those who listened. They took the problem to God first, instead of gossiping to their friends about the sins of others.

Ezra’s prayer of confession and intercession fills the rest of this chapter (9:5–15). Surprisingly, there was no direct request for forgiveness. Ezra identified with the plight of the community; he was one of them, and their judgment would be his judgment. This is a reminder that as a community we are responsible for one another; we are not just individuals who can do our own thing (Breneman 1993:152). Ezra did not talk about what “they” did, but about “our” guilt and shame. Although Ezra was innocent of any sin, he, like Moses (Exod 32), Jeremiah (Jer 14:19–22), and Daniel (Dan 9:4–19), confessed the sins of the nation and looked to God for mercy. The structure of the prayer includes a lament for past failures (9:6–7), a recognition of God’s past grace (9:8–9), a confession of ignoring what God said (9:10–12), and a recognition of unworthiness (9:13–15). The prayer was indirectly aimed at causing the sinful people, who were listening to Ezra pray, to turn from their sinful ways and repent (see 10:1–2; Blenkinsopp 1988:181).

The prayer focused on shame and the pain of guilt first, because people must begin to see themselves as sinners deserving God’s judgment before they can truly repent and seek forgiveness. There was no attempt by Ezra to pass blame on others, society, or circumstances, just an honest admission that “we” have sinned. They were caught doing something God despised, so there was some embarrassment in coming to God. But that was their only hope. Ezra blushed from shame because these sins were not hidden at all; they were fully known to God in heaven. Ezra was also ashamed because there were so many sins. Admitting guilt and accepting the shame of doing wrong are painful steps, but they are helpful if they motivate people to turn from evil and confess their sins to God. Although not all sins should be confessed so publicly, public sins that affect a large group of people need to be dealt with publicly before that group.

Ezra’s theological interpretation of the nation’s history was characterized by two acts: (1) their persistent bent to sin and (2) their consequent punishment by other nations (9:7). At this point, Ezra did not say God judged them, but that is implied in the rest of the prayer. His purpose at the beginning of the prayer was to remind himself and his listeners that throughout their history (lit., “since the days of our fathers until this day”), iniquity, infidelity, and guilt had happened again and again. Ezra saw this sinful pattern being passed down from generation to generation: We ourselves, our kings, and our priests have followed the sins of our fathers (9:7). Everyone, even the leaders, was part of the problem—even those who tolerated others who did these shameful things (Clines 1984:120). There was no excuse for such repeated sinfulness, and there was no doubt about why the people were killed, oppressed, ruled, disgraced, and exiled by foreign kings. Ezra seemed to be saying that it just did not make any sense for them to destroy themselves like this again and again. Although unstated, the obvious question is, “Will this disgrace ever end?”

In light of the facts, the Jewish people had absolutely no excuses. As Ezra confessed, he wanted his listeners to admit their wrong and to see their action as another in a long series of failures to pay attention to what God said. God’s covenant agreement was clear then, as it is today (1 Cor 7:39; 2 Cor 6:14). They were not to intermarry with the people groups living in the land or promote their peace and prosperity. The reason for this was that these people were impure because of their detestable pagan ritual and immorality, and the land was filled with corruption (lit., “uncleanness”). The advantages of keeping God’s covenant would be that Israel would “be strong” (tekhezqu [2388, 2616]), enjoy the fruit of the land, and be able to leave the land to their children as an everlasting inheritance (9:12). This potential was not realized because the people rebelled against God’s instructions, were defeated by other nations, and lost their own land (9:5–7). God had graciously brought them back to their land after the Exile, and the people were beginning to commit the same sins as their parents. As Ezra said, there was no excuse for such idiotic behavior. The people knew what the problem was, and they knew what the punishment would be, so why go down this road to destruction again?

In summary, this chapter describes how one man dealt with a sin that was discovered within the community of believers. Once he knew it was there, he did not rationalize it away, ignore it, make excuses for it, try to redefine it as something that was not that bad, sweep it under the rug, or claim that it was someone else’s problem. Ezra knew sin must not be ignored, but squarely and honestly faced. The consequences of sin for the individual and the community must be fully understood and owned. Only a fool would ignore a cancer that would soon bring death. Tolerating sin, especially among leadership, only condemns the community to destruction and permits people to redefine sin for themselves. People need to know what God has said about sin, and they need to understand why God calls certain acts sin. Sin is rebellion against God’s words, impurity that defiles the holy people of God, and unfaithfulness or wickedness that is characterized by despicable moral and ritual behavior. Sometimes sin is not intentional, but other times people make decisions that are a rejection of the warnings of Scripture or the admonitions of a fellow believer (9:11). Of course, some sins are more dangerous because they lead down a slippery slope into more and more unfaithfulness to God. Marriage to an unbeliever is one such example, because if a believer marries an unbeliever, there will be a continual negative influence on the believer. Over time the temptation to accept what is wrong will be very strong. The holy state of marriage is defiled and complete unity is impossible when one partner is not committed to God.

When sin is encountered, it should drive people to their knees in prayer and lamentation. If the sinner does not acknowledge something as sin, then spiritual people who tremble at the words of God (9:4) need to confess the offender’s sins and intercede for God’s grace. The intercessor needs to see these sins as “our sins,” not “his sins,” because God will deal with the community as a whole—both the praying and the offending brother. How can God bless the praying brother if he allows his offending brother to continue in his sin unchallenged? Once the sin is known, the first step is to confess it to God, not to attack the errant brother. Our hatred of sin should embarrass us and shock us so much that we are ashamed and appalled that it exists in our midst. This astonishment will partly arise because it is so unreasonable and treasonous to reject God after he has been so gracious to us (9:8–9). It makes no sense to be enjoying God’s blessings, enlightenment, love, protection, and deliverance and then ignore all that God has asked us to do. When such unfaithfulness to God becomes apparent, it must be openly admitted, and its dire consequences must be recognized (9:5–7).

Although we may deserve the wrath of God’s justice because of our guilt (9:8, 15), sometimes God deals with us graciously, not as we deserve (9:13). After a brief period of past punishment, God may allow us to prosper and protect us. When such things happen, a return to our old sinful ways is inexcusable. When a nation has all of God’s glorious promises open before it, how could these same people turn their backs on God again?

Finally, this chapter suggests that our prayers may do as much, if not more, to reach and transform another believer as our nagging and accusing. We must be broken by sin and not proudly condemn the other person. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore or condone sin; it must be called sin and confessed. Once the house of God is pure, it will be a shining light to the grace of God. God’s unfailing love and grace bring hope, but sin brings death and hopelessness.

Gary V. Smith, Ezra-Nehemiah & Esther, vol. 5b, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2010), 90–93.

Ezra 10:1–9 summarizes how the people responded to Ezra’s mourning and confession of sin; thus, it continues the narrative of 9:3–4. His tears not only made people wonder what was wrong, but his lamentation “proved infectious” (Fensham 1982:133) to the large gathering of men, women, and children. They spontaneously “wept bitterly” (lit., “wept with much weeping”), not because of Ezra’s stern sermon of condemnation but because of Ezra’s evident godliness and commitment to see the transformation of God’s people (McConville 1985:69). By listening to Ezra’s prayer of confession, others came under conviction and recognized their guilt.

The first to do so was Shecaniah, who was a member of the family of Elam and who most likely came with the first group of returnees (2:7) rather than with the second group that came with Ezra (8:7). Shecaniah knew the seriousness of the problem, for his relatives and his own father Jehiel were among those who confessed that they had married foreign women (10:26). But in spite of the seriousness of the problem, Shecaniah believed there was a possibility of hope for the guilty community if they would make some drastic changes in their behavior. This demonstrates that Ezra did not present a hopeless situation that made people give up and conclude they were too sinful for God to forgive them. Ezra’s confession noted that in the past God had forgiven the people and blessed them after they confessed their sins; therefore, it was logical to believe there was hope for God’s grace again, if they would truly confess their sins now.

The moment of truth and real leadership had arrived for Ezra. It was time to take a difficult but courageous step of obedience that might be controversial and divisive. Ezra had probably never encountered a similar situation while living in Persia, but now the expert on interpreting the law of God had to decide how the community should proceed in implementing God’s will in this practical matter. The problem was that there is no explicit information in the law about how to proceed in such a situation. So Ezra needed to firmly but sensitively construct a process that would be true to God’s ideals and acceptable to his audience. Ezra had to act while the people were under conviction and willing to cooperate with him.

Ezra had heard one man’s confession of guilt, but he did not know how many others felt this way. This change of heart happened very quickly, so Ezra’s plan was to initially determine if the spiritual leaders among the priests, Levites, and people supported Shecaniah’s proposal. Because of the seriousness of this proposal, Ezra had these leaders swear by an oath that they favored this solution to the problem (10:5). He did not want halfhearted support or uninformed, fuzzy thinking floating around when the public ceremony was conducted. The oath the people made was a promissory statement about future action that was ensured by a curse for noncompliance. (See Blank 1950:73–95 and examples of oaths in 2 Sam 3:35 and Ruth 1:17.) Thankfully, everyone there swore this oath, so Ezra knew he had community support, represented by this large crowd of people, to move ahead.

Ezra immediately withdrew from this meeting and spent the night in prayer and fasting in a nearby Temple chamber (10:6). Total fasts (no food or water) were rare (Exod 34:28; Jonah 3:7), and this one probably expresses the seriousness of Ezra’s mourning for the nation’s “unfaithfulness” (maʿal [4603, 5085], as in 9:4; 10:2) and the depth of his intercession for the people who would have to decide if their wives were more important than God. Although it might appear from the preceding agreement that the battle was already won, Ezra knew that some wives would oppose this action and that many husbands did not want to lose the wife they loved or their children.

Ezra 10:8 tells us that “those who failed to come within three days would, if the leaders and elders so decided, forfeit all their property and be expelled from the assembly.” The three days gave time for the messengers to travel throughout the territory and for people to respond and get to Jerusalem. The penalty for noncompliance was severe but was within the power the Persian king granted to Ezra and the judges he appointed (7:26). The punishment was not automatic, however, or administered without grace, for at their discretion, the leaders of the community could grant exceptions in cases of sickness, old age, or other extenuating circumstances. “Forfeit all their property” literally refers to the property being “devoted” to God, “put under the ban” by destroying it or giving it to the Temple treasury. Being “expelled from the assembly” excluded a person from owning property, worshiping at the Temple, and having an influence among friends and neighbors. These strong punishments for noncompliance showed how serious the matter was in the eyes of the leaders of the community.

A specific group of leaders was chosen to investigate and decide each case. This commission arranged a time when they would hear what each family had to say; then they verified this information, and if necessary, arranged divorce terms in consultation with the local leaders and judges in each village. The issues that the judges decided are not defined. Likely, the judges would need to discover the true lineage of various wives, judge if each foreign woman was still worshiping pagan gods, and arrange for proper financial support for divorced wives and children. Although this was a terrible experience for the husbands, the wives, and the children, the spiritual motivation for these difficult actions was to remove the wrath of God caused by the people’s unfaithfulness. This kind of “discipline” was what kept the people of God a holy people, separated unto God.

When leaders bend the rules and do not challenge sinful people to repent and change, the instructions in God’s word are not followed, and an opportunity to restore a brother is missed. If sin becomes acceptable behavior for a few, it will tend to spread to the rest of a community. When this happens, that community ceases to be the holy people of God, and God’s judgment is not far off.

The marital problems and subsequent divorces were difficult issues to deal with from both theological and practical points of view. In order to survive and prosper in Judah, the returnees naturally drifted into social, business, and political relationships with people from other nations who worshiped other gods. Being without good biblical exposition of the laws of Moses from people like Ezra, relationships with neighboring peoples developed from a stage of fear, to respect, to appreciation, to full acceptance. Soon it became common practice to intermarry with these neighbors, particularly if one’s social or financial situation could be measurably improved through intermarriage with an upper-class family.

The problem with this trend was that it introduced people who did not worship the God of Judah into the very fabric of Jewish families. This was contrary to God’s earlier covenant instructions (Deut 7:1–5) and threatened to defile the holy nation that was supposed to be separated from the pagan customs (9:1–2). The problem was defined by earlier tradition in the Mosaic laws, so there was not much theological debate about what God really wanted. It was plain for everyone to see: They were not to marry pagans. Although God’s word does not speak to every modern issue as clearly as this one (for example, the problems of genetic engineering and cloning), it is very clear on many issues. The known will of God on clear issues allows the believer to create appropriate theological doctrines and principles of conduct for those areas that are less clear.

Although God’s will was clear, the solution to this problem was not clearly defined. What should be done if someone did marry a foreigner? Who would judge the case, and what should be the penalty? Since the political and religious leaders were also intermarrying with pagan women, there was a real danger that the identity of God’s people was going to dramatically change if reform was not introduced quickly. Israel could not function as God’s elect nation that would bless the rest of the world if it lost its connection to God. Something radical has to be done anytime believers make sinful behavior normative. Change, repentance, and transformation must be attempted.

Ezra perceived the seriousness of the problem and proposed a solution (9:3–15; 10:3). He did not impose this solution on the populace, but through his intercession and weeping, this single dedicated man impressed on many the seriousness of the problem (10:1). But how does one right a wrong that will seriously affect so many families? Families, children’s lives, and sacred marriages were involved. Was it excessive to suggest that the foreign wives should be divorced? Was it too radical to put faithfulness to God above family solidarity and marriage vows? What human person is able to judge who should be divorced and whose word people should trust?

Ezra wisely worked with the community of repentant sinners to discover a method or procedure that would protect the holiness of the nation and deal fairly with those involved in mixed marriages, in which a Hebrew was married to an unbeliever. Ezra set a good example for all who are dealing with sin in the community of believers:

1. He took the matter to God, identified with the troubles of his audience, and squarely faced the failures of the community (9:1–15).

2. He waited until some repented and confessed their unfaithfulness to God (10:2), saw their need for renewing their covenant with God, decided to obey God’s word, and were willing to submit themselves to the spiritual leaders in the community (10:3–4). Ezra could not force revival, but he could show the way and invite others to follow.

3. He made sure that the leaders were repentant before he began to address the problem throughout the community (10:5).

4. He invited the whole community to consider the problem and develop a workable, practical solution that was fair and took the evidence into consideration (10:7–8).

5. He unambiguously communicated the fundamental problem without muddying the waters with other complicating factors (“you have committed a terrible sin”), identified the first step toward resolution with God (“confess your sin”), and outlined the basic changes needed if a resolution to the problem was desired (“separate yourselves from the people of the land”) in 10:10–11. All the other factors could be worked out later, if everyone could agree on these few basics.

6. He listened to suggestions about creating proper procedures that were fair and orderly so that the people could avoid God’s wrath (10:13–14).

7. He was aware of opposition (10:15) but did not let a minority prevent the community from moving forward with the plan that most people accepted.

8. He shared authority with other leaders in deciding what to do with mixed marriages (10:16).

9. He completed the task in relatively short order and helped the unfaithful ones to right their relationship with God (10:17–19).

The care with which Ezra dealt with this conflict is often overshadowed by the larger question of whether people today should argue for similar procedures when a believer and unbeliever marry. Should spiritual people try to break up marriages? Jesus allowed for divorce in a few cases (Matt 5:32; 19:8–9), but both Jesus and Paul discouraged divorce (1 Cor 7:10). Paul wanted believers to have a positive influence on an unbelieving spouse (1 Cor 7:12–15), but he recognized that sometimes the unbelieving spouse may divorce the believer. In the end, following God is more important than remaining married, and living a holy life is more important than having the social or financial stability of marriage.

Gary V. Smith, Ezra-Nehemiah & Esther, vol. 5b, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2010), 98–101.