And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.
Shechaniah ... answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed. This was one of the leading men, who was not himself a delinquent in the matter, because his name does not occur in the following list. He spoke in the general name of the people, and his conduct evinced a tender conscience as well as no small fortitude in making such a proposal; because, since his father and five paternal uncles (Ezra 10:26) were involved in the guilt of unlawful marriages, he showed, by the measure he recommended, that he deemed it better to obey God than to please his nearest relatives.
Yet now then is hope in Israel concerning this thing. This hope, however, depended on timely measures of reformation, and, therefore, instead of surrendering themselves to despair or despondency, he counseled them to amend their error without delay, relying on God's mercy for the past. Though the proposal may seem harsh and cruel, yet, in the special circumstances of the Jews, it was just as well as necessary; and he urged the duty of seeing it executed on Ezra, as the only person competent to carry it into effect-being possessed of skill and address for so delicate and difficult a work, and invested by God, and, under Him, by the Persian king (Ezra 7:23-28), with the requisite authority to enforce it.