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, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.
Ver. 8. And that whosoever would not come, &c.] Laws, if they be not penal and compulsory, will soon be slighted by lawless, aweless persons. Howbeit, flies must not be killed upon men's brows with beetles; peccadillos must not be punished as heinous crimes. Draco made it a capital offence to be idle, to steal pot herbs, &c. Of his laws Aristotle saith that they were not worthy of remembrance, but only for their too great severity; Ezra's laws were more mild.
All his substance shall be forfeited] This, to men of their metal, was a forcible motive. When some have a loss in their riches, it is, as it were, raked out of their bellies; a piece of their very heart goes with it, Job 20:15, and they are filled with unmedicinable sorrows, Ecclesiastes 5:12 .
And himself separated from the congregation] Banished the land, or at least cast out of the Church. Woe be to those that separate themselves, Judges 1:19, Cainites you may call them, Genesis 4:16; our church forsakers, worship scorners, that last brood of Beelzebub.