Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Reflections on Ezra 9


    Ezra 09 (Contemporary English Version)
  1. Later the Jewish leaders came to me and said: Many Israelites, including priests and Levites, are living just like the people around them. They are even guilty of some of the horrible sins of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
  2. Some Israelite men have married foreign women and have let their sons do the same thing. Our own officials and leaders were the first to commit this disgusting sin, and now God's holy people are mixed with foreigners.
  3. This news made me so angry that I ripped my clothes and tore hair from my head and beard. Then I just sat in shock
  4. until time for the evening sacrifice. Many of our people were greatly concerned and gathered around me, because the God of Israel had warned us to stay away from foreigners.
  5. At the time of the evening sacrifice, I was still sitting there in sorrow with my clothes all torn. So I got down on my knees, then lifted my arms,
  6. and prayed: I am much too ashamed to face you, LORD God. Our sins and our guilt have swept over us like a flood that reaches up to the heavens.
  7. Since the time of our ancestors, all of us have sinned. That's why we, our kings, and our priests have often been defeated by other kings. They have killed some of us and made slaves of others; they have taken our possessions and made us ashamed, just as we are today.
  8. But for now, LORD God, you have shown great kindness to us. You made us truly happy by letting some of us settle in this sacred place and by helping us in our time of slavery.
  9. We are slaves, but you have never turned your back on us. You love us, and because of you, the kings of Persia have helped us. It's as though you have given us new life! You let us rebuild your temple and live safely in Judah and Jerusalem.
  10. Our God, what can we say now? Even after all this, we have disobeyed the commands
  11. that were given to us by your servants the prophets. They said the land you are giving us is full of sinful and wicked people, who never stop doing disgusting things.
  12. And we were warned not to let our daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters. Your prophets also told us never to help those foreigners or even let them live in peace. You wanted us to become strong and to enjoy the good things in the land, then someday to leave it to our children forever.
  13. You punished us because of our terrible sins. But you did not punish us nearly as much as we deserve, and you have brought some of us back home.
  14. Why should we disobey your commands again by letting our sons and daughters marry these foreigners who do such disgusting things? That would make you angry enough to destroy us all!
  15. LORD God of Israel, you have been more than fair by letting a few of us survive. But once again, our sins have made us ashamed to face you.

    Emotions must have been running high for the Israelites with the completion of the rebuilt temple and the return of another group of exiles, bringing with them more priests and Levites to administer the sacrificial system and maintain the temple. They were being restored to their homeland though they were still under the rule of a foreign king. But given what God had already done for them in allowing this remnant to return and to rebuild the temple, having complete freedom and rule would surely come.

    However, the mood took a sudden turn when the leaders approached Ezra, soon after his arrival in Jerusalem, and reported that the people had not "separated themselves from the surrounding peoples whose detestable practices are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites." (9:1) And it was not just the ordinary Israelites doing this. It included the priests and Levites, those who should know the law and lead the rest in obedience to it. Ezra's response was immediate: "I tore my tunic and robe, pulled out some of the hair from my head and beard, and sat down devastated." (9:3) Others who "trembled at the words of the God of Israel" gathered around him as he sat devasted until the evening offering.

    Ezra was a true intercessor for the community of Israel. Though he was not guilty he took the guilt of those who were upon himself, falling on his knees before the Lord in shame, confessing the sin of the people. It was because of their disobedience to God's laws that they had been "handed over, along with our kings and priests, to the surrounding kings." Now God had extended grace to them "in the presence of the Persian kings, giving us new life, so that we can rebuild the house of our God," (9:9) and yet they were still disobedient. What now could be said? There were no excuses, only the confession, "we have abandoned the commandments." (9:10)

    Though separating themselves from other nations and strictly forbidding intermarriage with them may appear on the surface to be holy snobbery, it was a kingpin in maintaining a single-mindedness toward God and being faithful to the stipulations of their covenantal relationship with Him. All relationships we forge have the potential of either strengthening or tearing down our relationship with God, but none so much as the marriage relationship. And once a man, who should lead the home in worshipping God, opens the door to disobedience by marrying outside the faith community, he will even more easily be influenced by his wife to follow the pagan religious practices of her upbringing rather than him influencing her. Once the spiritual underpinnings of the family have eroded, the spiritual foundation of the whole community will erode.

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