Ezra 10:6-17 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

The Jews Assemble in Jerusalem; Officers are Appointed from each City to See that the Foreign Wives are Put away.

Ezra 10:6. Jehohanan: cf. Nehemiah 12:13. and when he came thither: read, and he lodged there (mg.), i.e. spent the night there.

Ezra 10:8. forfeited: devoted, i.e. put under a religious ban (see pp. 99, 114, Deuteronomy 2:34 * Joshua 6:17 *). separated from the congregation: equivalent to the later put out of the synagogue; cf. John 9:22.

Ezra 10:9. within. of the month: Chislev was the ninth month = December approximately, in the rainy season. Ezra arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month of the seventh year of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:8 f.); after three days a great burnt sacrifice was offered (Ezra 8:32 ff.); immediately after this (Ezra 9:1) the matter of the mixed marriages was brought to Ezra's notice; this culminated in the calling of the assembly (Ezra 10:7 ff.), which took place three days after having been proclaimed, on the twentieth day of the ninth month! Clearly the sources have been somewhat mixed up. the broad place before the house of God: i.e. the open space before the water gate (see Nehemiah 3:26; Nehemiah 8:1). trembling because of this matter and. : the conjunction of these two thoughts is somewhat incongruous; it is possible that the words because of this matter and are a later addition. The parallel passage in the Greek Ezra (Ezra 9:6) runs more naturally: trembling in the broad place before the Temple because of the present foul weather; by trembling we must understand shivering, not the result of fear, but the physical discomfort of standing in the rain.

Ezra 10:10. Ezra the priest: cf. Ezra 7:11; Ezra 7:21; Nehemiah 12:26.

Ezra 10:11. make confession: see Ezra 10:1, where the ordinary word for making confession is used; the Heb. word here means lit. give praise, but that is incongruous in this connexion. If the text is out of order the corruption must be old, for the same reading occurs in the Greek Ezra. Perhaps Batten is right in saying that the idea may be that praise was due to God because the culprits were brought to a state of amendment. the God of your fathers: read, with the Greek Ezra, our fathers.

Ezra 10:12. As thou hast said... do: the LXX has what certainly seems to be a more natural reply, viz. Great is this thy demand for us to do, i.e. thou hast asked a hard thing of us.

Ezra 10:15. Only: better, but. stood up against this matter: the RVm, were appointed over this, may be disregarded; for the Heb. phrase cf. Leviticus 19:16; 1 Chronicles 21:1. Although here only a few are mentioned who withstood Ezra's tyranny, it is clear (Ezra 10:17 *) from the Book of Neh. that they were followed by many others who protested against their homes being broken up.

Ezra 10:16. the tenth month: Tebeth = January approximately.

Ezra 10:17. This does not agree with what is said in Nehemiah 9:2; Nehemiah 13:23; Nehemiah 13:26-28. the first day of the first month: i.e. the 1st of Nisan, in the eighth year of Artaxerxes; the matter, therefore, took about three months.

Related Commentaries of Ezra 10:6

Ezra 10:6-17

6 Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.

7 And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;

8 And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited,b and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.

9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.

10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have takenc strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.

11 Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.

12 Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.

13 But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are manyd that have transgressed in this thing.

14 Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.

15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.

16 And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

17 And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.