Ezra 9
In chapter 9 we come to one of the great prayers of the Bible. In three of the postcaptivity books there are three great ninth chapters which record prayers:
Note that the Egyptians are mentioned and so are other pagan peoples. The Hittites were a great people. Information on the Hittite nation was discovered after I was in school, and I have been interested in reading about them. Throughout Asia Minor, especially along the coast, great cities like Ephesus, Smyrna, and Troy were first established by the Hittites. They were indeed a great people, but they were heathen. The people of Israel had not separated themselves from these folk.
When the first delegation of Jews returned to the land, they met discouragement. We will learn more about this when we come to the prophecy of Haggai. We will see how he helped them overcome the hurdles of discouragement that were before them. Believe me, they ran a long line of hurdles, and through Haggai they were able to clear them. With the help of Nehemiah, the active layman, the walls and temple of Jerusalem were rebuilt; but there was discouragement on every hand. It is at times like this that you let down. It has happened to many Christians.
Someone has said that discouragement is the devil’s greatest weapons. The Jews let down their guard and intermarried with the surrounding heathen and enemies of God and Israel. That in turn led to a practice of the abomination of the heathen. The lack of separation plunged them into immorality and idolatry. In some cases I don’t think these people took the trouble to get married because the heathen of that day did not pay much attention to the formality of marriage any more than the heathen in our contemporary society pay attention to it. We are told that we live in an advanced age. We have new freedom. We are a civilized people. My friend, we are not different from the pagan peoples of Ezra’s day.
Even the leadership was involved in this. They were all the more guilty before God, because privilege always increases responsibility. The returned remnant is in a sad, sordid, and squalid condition. Now there are several things Ezra could have done in this situation. He could have broadcasted a program on patriotism, run up the Israeli flag, displayed the Star of David, and held great rallies on patriotism. But he did not do that. He might have delivered a withering blow against the intermarriage and immorality and idolatry by making speeches, but Ezra did not do that either. Or he could have followed another procedure: he could have formed an organization and become involved in trying to recover these couples who had gone into this immorality. That, my friend, is how we do it today. But Ezra was not familiar with our modern way of doing things. But I want you to notice what he did. It is something that we don’t see much of in our day.
Remember that Ezra did not arrive in his native land until about seventy–five years after the first delegation of fifty thousand led by Zerubbabel. When Ezra arrived with his delegation of two thousand, he found that the temple had been rebuilt, but not the walls of the city. And the population was in a sad and sordid condition. They had intermingled and intermarried with the heathen. Immorality and idolatry were running rampant. There was a lack of separation, and the Jews were a miserable and bedraggled lot. When all of this was brought to Ezra’s attention, and he found that it was accurate, he was absolutely overwhelmed and chagrined that God’s people would drop to such a low level.
Today we talk about the apostasy of the church—at least I do. But I wonder if we are as exercised about it as we should be. Since I have retired and am on the outside looking at the condition of the church from a different view, I must confess that I would like to wash my hands of it and say, “Well, it is no affair of mine.” But it is an affair of mine. And, friends, it is so easy for you and me to point an accusing finger at that which is wrong, but notice what Ezra did. He was so overwhelmed by the sin of his people that he tore his clothes and tore out his hair. Instead of beginning a tirade against them (which would have been characteristic of many people today), notice the next step Ezra took.
“Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of God.” I love that. Now let me pause here for just a moment. How many people really take the Word of God seriously? I think I know the fundamental church fairly well. I know many wonderful fundamentalists. They are the choicest people. They are my crowd, and I love them. However, there are many who profess to have a love for the Word of God, and they have notebooks and marked–up Bibles to prove it. The interesting thing is that their own lives are marked up and fouled up, and they are doing nothing about it. They say that they believe the Word of God, but it has no effect upon their lives whatsoever. They do not tremble at the Bible. Like the man of the world, they say, “God is love.” And He is—it is wonderful to know that God is love. But He is more than that. Our God is a holy God. He will punish sin, and that is the thing that is troubling Ezra.
Ezra sat astonished “until the evening sacrifice” because of the transgression of those who had been carried away. Ezra was shocked by this. Does this concern us? Really, today, how much are we involved? How much do we believe the Word of God? My Christian friend, it would pay you and me to go to a solitary place and ask ourselves these questions: “Do I really believe God’s Word? Do I really obey it?” The Lord Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (
What does it mean to spread out your hands to God? It means that you are not concealing anything. It means when you go to God in prayer, friend, that your mind and soul stand absolutely naked before Him. Ezra went to God with his hands outspread. He was holding nothing at all back from God. The apostle Paul put it this way, “I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting” (
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Listen to Ezra. This is a great prayer. He knew what it was to be a captive in a foreign land. He either had been born in captivity or had been taken captive as a little boy, and he knew what it meant. That is why he trembled when he recognized that God would judge him.
My friend, there are many people today being judged of God. I could give instance after instance. Several years ago a man came to me who was eaten up with venereal disease. He said, “I thought I got by with it. Now I am going to have to die from this dirty, filthy disease.” And he did. Someone says, “Well, God should have extended mercy to him.” Yes, God would have extended mercy to him, but the interesting thing is that this man was guilty. Our God is a holy God and He judges sin. It is too bad that more of us don’t tremble at the Word of God
This is a great verse. Ezra says, “We have had just for a little space grace.” The seventy years of captivity is over. God has permitted His people to return to their land, and off they go again, following the heathen—doing the very thing that had sent them into captivity in the first place.
Ezra says, “There is just a remnant of us.” These Jews obeyed enough to return to the land—most of the Jews did not return to the land; those who did were just a remnant.
“To give us a nail in his only place”—do you know what that “nail” is? That nail is Christ. “My anchor holds within the veil.” Do you know why? Because I am nailed there. Christ was nailed on the Cross down here that I might be nailed yonder at the throne of God for eternity. Consider what
In other words, Ezra is saying, “We did not get all that was coming to us. We deserved more punishment for our sins than we received.”
Only the mercy of God, the confession of sin, the sacrifice of Christ, and the grace of God could make it possible for Him to save these people, restore and revive them. God is going to do all of these things because of the prayer of Ezra. The remnant that was there will cry out to God for mercy.
When we take that position, God is ready to hear.
