3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my mantle and my garment, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down overwhelmed.
And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat and wept, and mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of the heavens,
And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of Jehovah until the evening, he and the elders of Israel, and threw dust upon their heads.
Make thee bald, and poll thee for the children of thy delights; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, for they are gone into captivity from thee.
And I Daniel fainted, and was sick [certain] days: then I rose up, and did the king's business. And I was astonished at the vision, but none understood [it].
Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spoke and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, nor its interpretation, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and its interpretation to thine enemies!
And they shall gird on sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
And I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river Chebar, and I sat where they sat; and I sat there astonied among them seven days.
For every head is bald, and every beard clipped; upon all the hands are cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth. It is wholly lamentation upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the public places thereof; for I have broken Moab, like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith Jehovah.
They shall not make any baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corners of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
Cut off thy hair, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the heights; for Jehovah hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
And my spirit is overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.
Say unto God, How terrible are thy works! because of the greatness of thy strength, thine enemies come cringing unto thee.
And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice and wept. And they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward the heavens. And they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights; and none spoke a word to him; for they saw that [his] anguish was very great.
And Job rose up, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshipped;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezra 9
Commentary on Ezra 9 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 9
The affairs of the church were in a very good posture, we may well suppose, now that Ezra presided in them. Look without; the government was kind to them. We hear no complaints of persecution and oppression; their enemies had either their hearts turned or at least their hands tied; their neighbours were civil, and we hear of no wars nor rumours of wars; there were none to make them afraid; all was as well as could be, considering that they were few, and poor, and subjects to a foreign prince. Look at home; we hear nothing of Baal, or Ashtaroth, nor Moloch, no images, nor groves, nor golden calves, no, nor so much as high places (not only no idolatrous altars, but no separate ones), but the temple was duly respected and the temple service carefully kept up. Yet all was not well either. The purest ages of the church have had some corruptions, and it will never be presented "without spot or wrinkle' till it is "a glorious church,' a church "triumphant,' Eph. 5:27. We have here,
Ezr 9:1-4
Ezra, like Barnabas when he came to Jerusalem and saw the grace of God to his brethren there, no doubt was glad, and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord, Acts 11:23. He saw nothing amiss (many corruptions lurk out of the view of the most vigilant rulers); but here is a damp upon his joys: information is brought him that many of the people, yea, and some of the rulers, had married wives out of heathen families, and joined themselves in affinity with strangers. Observe,
Ezr 9:5-15
What the meditations of Ezra's heart were, while for some hours he sat down astonished, we may guess by the words of his mouth when at length he spoke with his tongue; and a most pathetic address he here makes to Heaven upon this occasion. Observe,