Testimony in Troublous Times

by Ian McKee (Northern Ireland)

Paper 18 — The Turning of the Tide (Ezra Chapter 10.1-4)

We have witnessed Ezra’s intense sorrow in public in the court of the Temple. He wept, he prayed and he confessed. Ezra appreciated the feelings of God in relation to this sin among the people. And he confessed even though he himself was not personally culpable! He recognised "your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear", Isa.59.2. Also, that "the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise", Ps.51.17.

As knowledge of Ezra’s grief circulated in Jerusalem it had a beneficial effect on others and the number of people who assembled at the Temple increased until there was "a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore", Ezra 10.1. But tears, while genuine, were not sufficient. Sorrow alone will not remedy the wrong. There must also be repentance and forsaking of sin. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up", Jas.4.10. Action is needed.

The intervention of Shechaniah (Ezra 10.2-4)

A voice then speaks with authority to silence the sound of weeping. It is that of "Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam", Ezra 10.2. He acknowledges, "we have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land" and, in so doing, condemns his own father who had also taken a strange wife, Ezra 10.26. It is to their shame that a family so well represented in the return from Babylon under Zerubbabel and Jeshua and, later, under Ezra should be prominent in this sin, Ezra 2.7; 8.7. Shechaniah is not included in the list of names of those implicated, Ezra 10.18-43. However he, like Ezra before him, does not seek to distance himself from this sin.

It should again be noted that these relationships were illegal and illicit from their very commencement. A cursory reading might suggest simply that these Jews had married foreign wives. But the sin is not inter-racial marriage, because the word "taken" used in association with "strange wives" in Ezra 10.2, 10, 14, 17 and 18 is not the usual word for marriage, but rather for causing or making to dwell with. This clarifies what the word for "taking up" in Ezra 9.2, 12 (and 10.44) refers to. The context leads to the meaning that the prevalent sin in the upper strata of Jewish society was therefore cohabitation and concubinage. They had taken mistresses and were living in sin. The fact that so many had done so, evidenced the extent of the moral decadence. Given the inexorable decline in contemporary social standards let no one be in any doubt that the Divine standard has not changed; "marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge", Heb.13.4.

Yet Shechaniah is not despondent. Many others share the grief and confession of Ezra. So Shechaniah says, "yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing", Ezra 10.2. But the hope did not rest on feelings and words. It must be followed by a forsaking of the sin and reformation: "and thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all His commandments which I command thee this day", Deut.30.8.

So Shechaniah proposes a plan of action. "Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my Lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God and let it be done according to the law", Ezra 10.3. While Ezra had not yet given advice on remedial action, Shechaniah proposes a covenant, a solemn promise to be ratified by sacrifice, to bind the people irrevocably to its terms. The renunciation is to be complete. Not only are these women to be put away but also any children born of these illicit relationships. And what was to be discontinued was not marriage, but rather cohabitation. The arrangements to effect recovery are to be proposed by Ezra, who has dual authority as a Persian official and as a scribe. However, it is the latter that is important, "let it be done according to the law".

Care has been taken to emphasise that the situation in Ezra’s day related to the acquisition of concubines or mistresses by, mainly, a proportion of the ruling class among the returnees. Nevertheless, for the sake of certainty, it must be stressed that the action to be taken to correct this evil at the heart of Jewish social life does not provide any justification for a professed Christian to divorce an unsaved spouse and, indeed, is unrelated to it. In that context 1 Cor.7.12, 13 is clear: "If any brother have a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him".

Shechaniah then speaks directly to Ezra. "Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it", Ezra 10.4. He recognises that Ezra alone has the moral authority and spiritual skill to take this matter to its appropriate conclusion. "He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good", Prov.16.20.

It is evident that Shechaniah is aware that he does not have these qualities but he becomes the staunch supporter and encourager of the man who has. He is marked by resolution and action, which is exactly what Ezra requires to complement his forensic and sensitive insight to the law of God. "Be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest", Josh.1.7.

It is good when men of action recognise their limitations and harness their skills to complement and support the wise teaching ministry of skilled, spiritual men.

—to be continued (D.V.)