Now when these things were completed, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, [even] of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites;
Ezra has just arrived in Jerusalem with a fresh company of exiles. The officials meet him with bad news. The people who came back have not kept themselves apart from the nations around them, and they have copied their evil practices. Even the priests are involved. How could a rescued people slide so far so fast?
The sin was not new; the arrival of Ezra's company simply brought it into the light.
But the arrival of this new reinforcement will show the state of the people who had earlier rebuilt the temple of the Lord. It is what brings to light the hidden evil that eats away at the people and holds back their spiritual growth... The surrounding world had invaded the assembly of Israel little by little. If they were not all contaminated, they were in great danger of it, because their leaders had been the first to make unholy alliances.
The failure did not belong to people far from Jerusalem. It sat at the centre, among the priests themselves.
So it was here. It was not in Babylon, but in Judea, that they were behaving like the Canaanites. It was not the people far away from Jerusalem. It was the people and the priests here who had slipped away from the will of the Lord... You will find the very worst forms of evil where you are closest to the Lord, if you are not walking with Him — if He is not keeping you. Satan aims his greatest effort against that.
The charge has two halves. They did not stay separate, and they copied what the nations did. The law had already forbidden both.
Not only had they intermarried, but they were also copying their abominations. In doing this they chose to break the command of the Lord as given in Exodus 34:12-16. God's people were to be holy, a separated people... It was an alliance with the world. God demanded separation of Israel; He demands the same of His people in the New Testament... That God's people could sink so low shows what the heart of man is. It equally shows His infinite patience and long-suffering, bearing with them instead of judging them at once.
These marriages were more than a broken rule. They stand for friendship with the world, and the New Testament warns against that in strong terms.
These marriages are a picture of alliances with the world — the besetting sin of God's people in every age. The apostle James says, "You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?" and the apostle Paul cries, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?" For if the Lord was pleased to say that He was married to Israel, believers now are said to be married to Christ.
The catalogue of nations in the verse is not padding. It measures the spread of the corruption.
Such is man! Rather — such are the people of God when they follow the inclination of their own hearts instead of walking in obedience to His word! In the case before us it was not only the abominations of the Canaanites, the earlier people of the land. It was also those of the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites — that is, every possible form of corruption.
Breaking this command was not a small slip. It struck at the Lord's own rights over Israel.
What evil could be more deadly for a Jew, unless it were worshipping other gods? And it always tended that way. In itself it broke the Lord's will at the root. It gave up the separateness to Himself from the nations, and that separateness was essential to their standing as His people. They did not only throw away their privilege as the one nation of His choice. They rebelled against the rights and glory of the God who had so favoured them.
The first move is not action but humbling yourself — and one person alone can begin.
The first thing, then, is individual humiliation. It comes while we wait for the people as a whole to recognise their fault and humble themselves. This must always be so. When the sin of the people of God comes to light, we are not called first of all to take action. We are called to humble ourselves. Even if we stand alone... let us not fail to take this attitude before God. He looks on the heart that is humbled and broken, and He answers its cry.
- Report — The officials' news did not create the evil. Ezra's arrival brought a hidden growth into the open.
- Ruin — The evil was in Jerusalem, not Babylon, among the people and the priests themselves.
- Root — They broke a written command on purpose. That was rebellion against the God who had chosen them.
- Reach — Leaders led the way, and the sin spread until it covered every form of corruption around them.
- Response — Humbling comes before action. God is patient with His people, and He answers a broken heart, even one heart alone.
for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and have mingled the holy seed with the peoples of the lands; and the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this unfaithfulness.
Ezra came to Jerusalem to teach God's law, and bad news met him at once. The returned exiles — priests, Levites and rulers among them — had married into the surrounding nations, and the leaders had led the way.
The ESV calls them a holy race; older translations read holy seed. One writer builds on that word: it marks them out as God's by birth, and it brings an obligation with it.
There is a reason for the introduction in this place of the word seed. It is to point out that they were a holy people, separated to God. They were born of His people Israel, whom He had redeemed to Himself on the ground of the blood of the Passover Lamb. They were therefore a "holy seed" (Ezra 9:2; compare 1 John 3:9), and as such were to maintain their holy character... No doubt this was narrowness in man's eyes, and it was sure to bring on them the charge of being unloving. But what did that matter, as long as they were acting according to God? If God sets the feet of His people in a narrow path, it is their part to keep in it if they would be in the path of blessing.
Their whole standing rested on belonging to God alone. Marrying into the nations struck at His claim on them.
What evil more deadly for a Jew, unless it were worshipping other gods? And to this it habitually tended. In itself it was a basic violation of Jehovah's will. It gave up that separateness to Himself from the nations, which was essential to their standing as His people. They not only surrendered their own privilege as the one nation of His choice. They rebelled against the rights and glory of God, Who had so favoured them.
Commentators read these marriages as a picture of something that outlives Israel's history.
It was therefore in wilful disobedience that they had contracted these shameful alliances with the world; for this is what these marriages typify — the besetting sin of God's people in every age. The apostle James says, "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?" (James 4:4); and the apostle Paul cries, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers... What accord has Christ with Belial?" (2 Cor. 6:14-15.)
Commentators differ on how wide Paul's words reach. One reads them of every alliance with the world; another draws a line.
2 Cor. 6:14, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers," is often applied to marriage with unbelievers. But this is an error, though marriage ought to be "only in the Lord," as 1 Cor. 7 urges. The subject is the ministry or service of Christ.
The verse ends by tracing the trail back to those at the top, and that detail changes the weight of the sin.
It would seem then that the princes and rulers had first set the example, and that the others had only been too ready to follow. "One sinner destroys much good," especially when that one has a place of position and influence. When a standard-bearer faints in the day of battle, the soldiers are often discouraged and quickly defeated. In the same way, once Satan has trapped a leader among God's people, he often finds it easy work to ensnare many who are less prominent.
The same pattern shows up wherever God revives His people. The world does not storm in; it seeps in.
The surrounding world had crept into the assembly of Israel. Even if they were not all contaminated, they were in great danger of it, for their leaders had been the first to make profane alliances. It is a sad thing to note that all revivals are ruined one after another by alliance with the world.
When Ezra hears the report he does not organise a reform. He tears his clothes and sits down.
The first thing, then, is individual humiliation, while waiting for the people to recognise their fault and humble themselves in a general way. This must always be so. When the sin of the people of God comes to light, our first call is not to take action, but to humble ourselves. Even if we stand alone, let us not fail to take this attitude before God. He looks on the heart that is humbled and broken and He answers its cry.
One writer turns the verse on his readers.
"And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost." And do you suppose that we are clear from such dangers? Not at all... all true blessing for us must begin with individual blessing, and individual blessing always has its root in self-judgment before God.
- Seed — the word marks a people born into redemption and bound to keep the holy character that came with it.
- Separateness — mixing gave up the one thing their standing rested on. It also rebelled against the God who had chosen them.
- Slippage — the world crept in; it did not attack. Commentators note that this ruins one revival after another.
- Standard-bearers — the leaders went first. One sinner with influence destroys much good, because others copy the example.
- Self-judgment — Ezra began with humiliation before God, not with a reform programme. All blessing starts there.