Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware.
Ver. 5. Then arose Ezra] According to the counsel of Shechaniah, Ezra 10:4. "How forcible are right words!" Job 6:25. One seasonable speech, falling upon a prepared heart, hath oft a strong and sweet operation; as that similitude used by Peter Martyr, reading upon the First to the Corinthians, had upon Galeacius Caracciolus, that noble Italian convert; and as some speeches of Staupicius had upon Luther, who was likewise much confirmed and cheered up by conference with an old priest at Erfurt, who largely discoursed about justification by faith, and explained the articles of the Creed to him (Life of Luther, by Mr Clark).
And made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel] Oρκος, ερκος. An oath is a fence; and, added to a vow or covenant, it doth notably conduce (as a holy exorcism) to conjure down our rebellious wills, and, as cords or chains, to hamper our treacherous hearts, that they backslide not, like backsliding heifers. Moist bodies, as water, must be put into close vessels; so must man's heart be bound together by strongest helps and resolutions. Neither cast we any new snare hereby upon ourselves, 1 Corinthians 7:35, but rather a new provocation to the payment of an old debt we owe to God. Such was that of Jacob, Genesis 28:20; Genesis 31:13; of David Psalms 119:106; of the Nazarites, Num 6:2-3 Rechabites, Jeremiah 35:6. This shows a very earnest desire to obey; it sharpeneth also our prayers, and disheartens the devil; who, seeing us thus peremptory and resolute, will despair, and depart.