Entanglement of the People
Improper Connections
Read Neh. 8–13 for parallel accounts of the religious revival in Jerusalem. God answered Ezra’s prayer by touching and convicting the hearts of the people. Some of the men came to him openly and confessed that they had married heathen wives and disobeyed the Law of the Lord. They offered to make a covenant with God and to put away their unclean wives. What a great revival would come to our churches today if all God’s people would humble themselves before God, confess their sins, and obey the Word of God!
The result was a proclamation throughout the land, calling the people to gather in Jerusalem to settle this important matter. Whoever was guilty and did not come would forfeit his place in the land. It was on December 20, 457, when the great multitude assembled in spite of the terrible rain that usually fell at that season. But the people trembled not only for the rain, but also because of their fear of the Lord. Ezra presented the ultimatum to the people: confess your sins and put away your wives. This is repentance and restitution, and both must go together. The people agreed to obey, but they admitted the problem was too widespread and complicated to be settled in a day. The people suggested that the rulers straighten out their houses first (v. 14), and then, having made matters right, assist Ezra in the work of purging the nation of sin. Verse 15 tells us that only four men “stood up against” this suggestion (“were employed”); the rest of the leaders approved it. We cannot always expect 100 percent cooperation, especially in matters of discipline.
Bad Connections
Reset
10:1 While Ezra was praying the prayer of 9:6–15, weeping and falling prostrate, a sizable portion of the Jewish remnant gathered to him. This crowd may have been initially attracted by the sound of the scribe’s weeping and the passion of his demonstrative actions. The crowd was made up of men, women, and children. These people were not curious onlookers; they were convicted by Ezra’s spiritual mourning, and they also wept bitterly. The reference to children “introduces a note of tragic gravity as it reminds the reader of the possible social consequences of the proceedings about to be initiated, a point recapitulated in the last verse of the chapter” (Williamson, 149). Unlike Nehemiah (cf. Neh 13:8, 11, 15, 17, 25, 28), Ezra did not need to forcefully rebuke the nation. His actions spoke louder than words. The phrase “before the house of God” is probably a reference to one of the outer courts of the temple.
It should be noted at the outset that Ezra returns to writing in the third person in this chapter to describe his activities (cf. e.g., 7:6–10). Throughout chap. 9, Ezra had consistently written in the first person (1, 3, 4, 5, 6). This fact has been used by many scholars to accept a different source for chap. 10, claiming that it could not have been written by Ezra. However, Ezra is writing in the third person to emphasize the repentance of the nation.
10:2 Shecaniah, evidently one of those who had gathered to the scene, decided to speak on behalf of the remnant. Shecaniah is identified as the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam. There are several other Shecaniahs mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah (cf. Ezra 8:3, 5; Neh 3:29; 6:18; 12:3), but it is difficult to identify this Shecaniah with any of them. The length of Shecaniah’s genealogy indicates that he was a person of some importance, certainly to be identified among the leading men of the remnant (cf. 9:1). The family of Elam had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon with Zerubbabel and Jeshua (cf. 2:2, 7). This family is also mentioned in 8:7 and 10:26, an indication that it was one of the most significant families in the postexilic community.
Shecaniah began his speech to Ezra by acknowledging the sins of the people. He admitted to the fact that the remnant was being מָעַל “unfaithful” to Yahweh by marrying foreign women. This word is a technical term for the violation of an oath, often in the context of a covenant (Clines 126). Note that Shecaniah uses the first person plural much like Ezra did in his prayer of 9:6–15. Since Shecaniah is not listed among those who were guilty of this sin (cf. 10:18–44), it can be assumed that he was simply another faithful Jew like Ezra who had a heart filled with concern for the spiritual welfare of his people. If the Jehiel of 10:26 is to be identified with the father of Shecaniah, then Shecaniah’s own family was involved in this sin. Even though the nation had sinned against God, hope was not lost. The nation could repent of its behavior and take steps to remove its offense. Shecaniah realized that God might refrain from judging the nation if it repented and changed its ways (cf. Joel 2:12–14; Jonah 3:9–10).
Restart
10:3 Shecaniah recommended that the remnant make a covenant with God to יָצַא “put away” all the foreign wives and their children. Shecaniah’s recommendation advocates divorce, not separation. The term used here is the same word as that used in Deut 24:2 (“leaves”) in the context of divorce. Fensham (135) explains,
Foreign women were married contrary to the law of God. The marriages were illegal from the outset. The sending away of the women is to guard the exiles against the continuation of an illegal act. With their foreign wives they lived in sin. It is thus clear from v. 4 that there is a strong legal background against which Shecaniah has formulated his proposal. The dividing line between the permissible and impermissible is strongly emphasized.
In the Ancient Near East, mothers received custody of the children when they were divorced (cf. Gen 21:14). In effect, the Jewish men were divorcing both their foreign wives and the offspring created by their unholy union. Fensham (135) elaborates,
Even the children born from the illegal marriages must be sent away. This proposal is harsh in the light of modern Christian conceptions. Why should innocent children be punished? We must remember that the religious influence of the mothers on their children was regarded as the stumbling block. To keep the religion of the Lord pure was the one and only aim of Ezra and the returned exiles. As a small minority group, the repatriates lived in the Holy Land among a large population of influential people who were followers of various polytheistic religions. Against such larger numbers they had to defend themselves and their religious identity. Thus the drastic measures are understandable.
These marriages were viewed as sinful in the eyes of God. Nehemiah writes, “You have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women” (Neh 13:27).
Shecaniah advocates that these divorces be done “according to the law.” This phrase probably refers to the law recorded in Deut 24:1–4, which provides specific procedures for divorce. According to this passage, the husband is allowed to divorce his wife if he finds “some indecency” in her (24:1). Having been influenced by the preaching of Ezra, the remnant now finds something indecent about being married to foreign women. This passage also requires that the husband provide the wife with a “certificate of divorce” at the time of the divorce (24:1). This certificate renounced the husband’s rights to his wife, and she was then able to get remarried.
The proposal of Shecaniah is reminiscent of the actions taken by the Jews in Joshua’s day (as Fensham [134–36] notes, this is “covenant renewal”). After a somewhat successful campaign to conquer the land of Canaan, the nation congregated at Shechem to make a covenant with the Lord. In that covenant, the nation resolved to put away its foreign gods and serve only the Lord (Josh 24:23–25). Unfortunately, both covenants, Ezra’s and Joshua’s, would prove to be short lived
