Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

“After finishing these things the officials approached me saying, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated from the people of the lands with their detestable things, and from the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.” (Ezra 9:1)

Chapter eight is a list of those who went back with Ezra, a record of their prayers as they sought for guidance about routes back to Jerusalem and their trust in God for protecting them on the journey. There is a list of the treasures they were taking back with them – weighing it before they left and when they arrived. And also a record of the sacrifices they performed in the Temple when they got to Jerusalem.

Chapter nine shows that in six months (four in travel, six in residence, so nine months from when Ezra started) there was a real change in the people. Even though there were clear commands against it (Exodus 34:12-16; Deuteronomy 7:1-4), the people had intermarried with the other residents in and around the Land. They were bringing into their homes and families people who didn’t believe in Yahweh. Who didn’t worship Him. And who had idols of their own. This was EXACTLY the kind of behaviour that got them kicked out of the Land for their disobedience. Here they were back and starting all over again. Ezra takes a hard line over this. He shows that compromise is wrong. And that even if it hurts, it is worth it to repent and turn to the Lord COMPLETELY. Ezra tore his clothes and went into mourning publicly. Then he went to the Temple and prayed to God, ashamed of this sin and feeling it as if he had performed it. He apologized to the Lord for what was happening. For the lack of pure worship. He confessed the sin, humbled himself, wept before the Lord, and showed the heart He had for obedience to the Lord and His Word.

Chapter ten is the response of the people when they saw his heart. Ezra repented, people saw that, and they followed him. They saw the hurt they had caused and how wrong it was. The people (Shechaniah headed them up) proposed a total turn. It would be hard. It would hurt. And it would cost them, but they saw that no matter their FEELINGS, they had a NEED to obey God completely. They chose to change their lives to conform to what God said was right. It was the PEOPLE’s idea. The people made covenant with God to put away the wives and children who were from the outside nations. It took three months. It was hard on everyone. But THEY chose to do it and align themselves with what God said was right. A total of 42,360 Jews had returned from exile. Of those, 113 had taken foreign wives. But the entire nation banded together in seeing this as a blot on the whole nation. A nation who had chosen to follow God, but then had some of them decide to do things their own way. These women and children were not bad people. But they did not worship Yahweh. And a nation who declared their dedication to Yahweh had to stay pure. They had chosen not to and were experiencing the consequences. If they had obeyed in the first place, this never would have happened. Ezra didn’t tell them to do this. God didn’t tell them to send them away. The PEOPLE saw this was the ONLY right thing to do if they were going to conform to the Law. The PEOPLE told Ezra to lead them, to do what needed to be done, and to proclaim the rightness of doing it (Ezra 10:2-4). The PEOPLE chose to shoulder the burden and do the thing they should have done in the beginning: seek the Lord with their WHOLE hearts and keep to HIS commandments above all. This was a HUGE revival of TOTAL worship to God. [Note that it was 99% of the people who supported this. Ezra 10:15 lists the two men and the two Levite priests who dissented.]

Summary

Key Players: God, Ezra, Shechaniah, the People.

Key Verse(s): Ezra 8:31-36; 9:1-5; 10:1-4, 12-15