(5-15) Ezra’s prayer of confession and deprecation.
(5) And at the evening sacrifice I arose up. — Until the afternoon Ezra had sat silent and in grief before the Temple, and in presence of the people. Then, amidst the solemnities of the sacrifice, he uttered the prayer which he had been meditating.
(6) And said, O my God. — The confession begins with “O my God;” but Ezra is the representative of the people, and it proceeds “O our God” (Ezra 9:10), without once returning to the first person.
(7) Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass. — In these Common Prayers of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel, the race of Israel is regarded as one, and national sins as one “great trespass.” The repetition of “this day” at the beginning and at the end of the verse is to be observed: in the former place in reference to the sin; in the latter in reference to the punishment.
(8) A little space. — The “little” here and at the close of the sentence are emphatic. All the present tokens of mercy are said at the conclusion of the prayer (Ezra 9:14) to be conditional in their continuance. The little space from the time of Cyrus was nearly two generations; but it was a moment only in relation to the past and the possible future. The idea is inverted in Isaiah 54:7 : “For a small moment have I forsaken thee.”
Nail in his holy place. — The Temple was itself the sure nail on which all their hopes hung.
A little reviving. — Literally, make us a little life. The present revival was but the beginning, and still by manifold tokens precarious.
(9) We were bondmen. — Better, we are bondmen. In this lies the emphasis of the appeal.
A wall. — Like “the nail,” a figurative expression for security. The literal wall was not yet rebuilt. This completes the description of Divine mercy: first, the people were a delivered remnant; the Temple was a sure nail for the future of religion; and their civil estate was made secure.
(10) After this. — But all was a mercy for which there had been no adequate return.
(11) Saying. — In the later Old Testament Scriptures the quotation of the earlier is often of this character, giving the substance of many passages. The same style is observable in the New Testament.
(12) Give not your daughters. — See Deuteronomy 7:3, the only place where the interdict includes both daughters and sons. It is observable that the giving of daughters in marriage to heathens is not mentioned either in Ezra or in Nehemiah.
Nor seek their peace. — An evident echo of that most stern injunction in Deuteronomy 23:6.
(15) O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous. — The solemn invocation shows that this is a summary of the whole prayer: God’s righteousness is magnified, as accompanied by the grace which had preserved them, although as only a remnant; and as such covered with their trespasses; and especially with “this” the present trespass, the guilt of which underlies all.