2 for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and have mingled the holy seed with the peoples of the lands; and the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this unfaithfulness.
In those days also I saw Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, [and] of Moab. And their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.
And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken foreign wives, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren: Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. And they gave their hand to send away their wives; and they offered a ram of the flock, as trespass-offering for their guilt. And of the children of Immer: Hanani, and Zebadiah. And of the children of Harim: Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah. And of the children of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah. And of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. And of the singers: Eliashib. And of the doorkeepers: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri. And of Israel; of the children of Parosh: Ramiah, and Jizzijah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah. And of the children of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Elijah. And of the children of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza. And of the children of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai. And of the children of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth. And of the children of Pahath-Moab: Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh. And the children of Harim: Eliezer, Jishijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Simeon, Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah. Of the children of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei. Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, and Uel, Benaiah, Bediah, Cheluhu, Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasai, and Bani, and Binnui, Shimei, and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah, Machnadbai, Shashai, Sharai, Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah, Shallum, Amariah, Joseph. Of the children of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, and Joel, Benaiah. All these had taken foreign wives; and there were among them wives who had had children.
When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations from before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou, and when Jehovah thy God shall give them up before thee and thou shalt smite them, then shalt thou utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them. And thou shalt make no marriages with them: thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor take his daughter for thy son; for he will turn away thy son from following me, and they will serve other gods, and the anger of Jehovah will be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly.
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Commentary on Ezra 9 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 9
Ezr 9:1-4. Ezra Mourns for the Affinity of the People with Strangers.
1, 2. Now when these things were done—The first days after Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem were occupied in executing the different trusts committed to him. The nature and design of the office with which the royal authority had invested him was publicly made known to his own people by the formal delivery of the contribution and the sacred vessels brought from Babylon to the priests to be deposited in the temple. Then his credentials were privately presented to the provincial governors; and by this prudent, orderly proceeding he put himself in the best position to avail himself of all the advantages guaranteed him by the king. On a superficial view everything contributed to gratify his patriotic feelings in the apparently flourishing state of the church and country. But a further acquaintance discovered the existence of great corruptions, which demanded immediate correction. One was particularly brought under his notice as being the source and origin of all others; namely, a serious abuse that was practised respecting the law of marriage.
the princes came to me, saying—The information they lodged with Ezra was to the effect that numbers of the people, in violation of the divine law (De 7:2, 3), had contracted marriages with Gentile women, and that the guilt of the disorderly practice, far from being confined to the lower classes, was shared in by several of the priests and Levites, as well as of the leading men in the country. This great irregularity would inevitably bring many evils in its train; it would encourage and increase idolatry, as well as break down the barriers of distinction which, for important purposes, God had raised between the Israelites and all other people. Ezra foresaw these dangerous consequences, but was overwhelmed with a sense of the difficulty of correcting the evil, when matrimonial alliances had been formed, families had been reared, affections engaged, and important interests established.
3. when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, &c.—the outer and inner garment, which was a token not only of great grief, but of dread at the same time of the divine wrath;
plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard—which was a still more significant sign of overpowering grief.
4. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, &c.—All the pious people who reverenced God's word and dreaded its threatenings and judgments joined with Ezra in bewailing the public sin, and devising the means of redressing it.
I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice—The intelligence of so gross a violation of God's law by those who had been carried into captivity on account of their sins, and who, though restored, were yet unreformed, produced such a stunning effect on the mind of Ezra that he remained for a while incapable either of speech or of action. The hour of the evening sacrifice was the usual time of the people assembling; and at that season, having again rent his hair and garments, he made public prayer and confession of sin.
Ezr 9:5-15. Prays to God.
5-15. I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God—The burden of his prayer, which was dictated by a deep sense of the emergency, was that he was overwhelmed at the flagrant enormity of this sin, and the bold impiety of continuing in it after having, as a people, so recently experienced the heavy marks of the divine displeasure. God had begun to show returning favor to Israel by the restoration of some. But this only aggravated their sin, that, so soon after their re-establishment in their native land, they openly violated the express and repeated precepts which commanded them to extirpate the Canaanites. Such conduct, he exclaimed, could issue only in drawing down some great punishment from offended Heaven and ensuring the destruction of the small remnant of us that is left, unless, by the help of divine grace, we repent and bring forth the fruits of repentance in an immediate and thorough reformation.