All these had married foreign women, and some of the women had even borne children.
The book of Ezra ends with a list, not a celebration. It names men who had married women from the nations around them, and it notes that some of those marriages had produced children. The last verse raises the book's hardest question. What does obedience cost when sin has already reached into a family?
Why these marriages mattered so much
Ezra does not call this a small slip. One writer shows what was at stake for an Israelite who married outside the nation:
William KellyEzra stands up again, and now charges them plainly with their sin. "You have transgressed," he says, "and have taken foreign wives" — the great mark of apostasy for an Israelite, as far as the people were concerned. It was apostasy from God in taking a foreign god, and apostasy from the people by taking foreign wives. It was a complete giving up of their holy place of separateness to the Lord.
What obedience cost
Undoing the wrong hurt real families:
Michael HardtAnd who would say it did not hurt? Over 100 men had offended in this way, and some of the women had borne children (v.44). But it was better to obey God now and bear the governmental consequences of their sin than to continue in it.
These people had come back from exile in Babylon. For them, this break was the mark of faithfulness:
J. N. DarbyFinally there were their own wives, several of whom had borne them children. They have to put them away, and to separate themselves, at whatever cost, from all that was not Israel. This is what marks faithfulness in a position like theirs.
Under grace, a different answer
One writer marks the difference between Ezra's day and the Christian era. The law shut those wives and children out. Grace answers the same situation in another way:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe law required them to send these wives and children away, for they were unclean. Israel's congregation could not receive them. How different it is under grace! In 1 Corinthians 7:10 and following, we read what grace has done even here. The believing wife sanctifies her unbelieving husband, and the believing husband sanctifies his unbelieving wife. Their children are not unclean, but holy.
Names written down, nothing overlooked
Why list the offenders at all, down to which ones had children? Because the record is God's, not just Ezra's:
Edward DennettNothing escapes the eye of God. He weighs and records all our actions. One day He will bring them out, either to magnify His grace, or (if we include unbelievers) as the ground of righteous judgment. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil" (2 Corinthians 5:10).
One writer draws a warning from the first names on the list:
F. B. HoleSome, if not all, of the sons of Jeshua the priest had taken part in this sin. But really, this should not surprise us, for similar tragedies have been all too frequent... It is a sad and humbling fact. Many true and devoted servants of our Lord have had sons who did not follow in their father's footsteps. The recognition of this fact should lead us to be much in prayer for the families of those who serve the Lord Jesus.
Untangling wrong carefully, not recklessly
How they went about it mattered, not only that they did it:
F. B. HoleHad it been done in an impulsive and reckless way, it might have brought further dishonour on the name of the Lord. This too may have a voice for us... we may come to see that something we thought little of is really a spiritual entanglement that holds us back. Let us get out of it in a way that is worthy of the Lord whom we serve and obey. If, for instance, someone must bear a loss, let us take it ourselves instead of putting it on others.
A sombre ending read a second time
The final verse feels like a downbeat close to a book about revival. But you can read the list the other way round:
Michael HardtHow sad, you may say, that a book of revival should end on such a sombre note!... But on the other hand, do not overlook what else this list holds. It names the men who "pledged themselves" and brought "a ram of the flock" as a guilt offering, to put right what was wrong (v.19). In other words, the book of Ezra ends with a list of people who have been restored!
Summary
- Root — these marriages meant leaving both God and Israel's separate standing. They were never a private matter of taste.
- Cost — the children named in the last line show the price of obedience. Bearing that cost was better than staying in the sin.
- Care — never act rashly. End a wrong tie in a way that honours the Lord, and carry the loss yourself.
- Record — every name stands written, because nothing escapes God's eye or His coming reckoning.
- Restoration — the same list names the men who confessed and brought their offering. Ezra ends with people put right.