A GRIEVOUS TRESPASS
‘We have trespassed against our God.’
I. It was, without doubt, a very grievous sin.—The people had acted in direct violation of the express commandment of God, and nothing would tend to hinder the testimony and impede the influence of the chosen people more fatally than this intermarriage with heathen and strange women. We know how perniciously the counterpart of this reacts on the children of households, where believers and unbelievers are unequally yoked together.
II. At the same time Ezra’s measures were very drastic, and the weight of suffering must have fallen very heavily on the poor wives and mothers, divorced from their husbands, and separated from their children. In missionary policy one would rather follow the wise counsels given by the Apostle to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 7:12-16).
III. It must have required a large amount of courage for Ezra to take the course he did.—The matter certainly ‘belonged’ unto him, but many a man would have flinched. Probably, however, the way was made easier for him by his very deep and evident concern. He took the sin of the people home to himself, as though it were his own, and they respected him for doing so. There is nothing that so moves people as to see another moved for their sins, and they will bear almost anything from one whose motive is transparently pure. Would that our hearts were as sensitive as Ezra’s, and that we could induce in others, through our tears, a trembling on account of sin!
Illustration
‘From our point of view, the dismissal of strange wives with their children seems extravagantly severe—without doubt there were also many in the congregation of that time who found the demand of Ezra beyond measure hard, many who might be ruined by this proceeding. Notwithstanding, if we properly estimate all the circumstances of that period, and especially the great dangers that threatened the very existence of the congregation, we shall be obliged to regard Ezra as in the right. We are not always to avoid that which may be a stumbling-block. The point of view which alone decides at last, is ever that the communion with the Lord must be re-established or furthered; all communion and friendship with men must stand in the background.’