Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib, where he spent the night, neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles.
Ezra has just made the leaders swear to put away their foreign wives, yet he now leaves them, shuts himself in a room, and refuses food and water. Why does his grief grow after the crisis is settled, and what does mourning over another person's sin do?
Sorrow Lasting as Long as the Sin
The leaders had sworn, and the people's hearts had turned. Ezra still grieved, and one writer says why the promise alone was not enough.
H. L. RossierEven after the hearts of the people had changed, and they had decided to act, Ezra does not stop showing his humiliation. The name of the Lord had been dishonoured, and that dishonour still clung to it. Until the cleansing was complete, mourning and fasting suited those who had decided to separate themselves from evil.
The Word "Trespass"
Ezra mourned over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. In the Old Testament that kind of sin is a trespass — a wrong done to God or to a neighbour.
The Christian's FriendA trespass-offering assumed that someone had done something that wronged the Lord or his neighbour... And it was not only one person here and there who was guilty of such a sin. The whole nation was found guilty of it. They were guilty when they turned to idolatry before the Babylonian captivity. They were guilty again when those who came back married into the peoples of the countries around them, after the Lord had in mercy allowed them to return to their land.
Fasting as the Source of Power
Ezra did not shut himself away to escape the problem. One writer ties his fasting to the power God gave him, and points to the disciples who failed to cast out a demon.
Edward DennettEzra felt the sin of his people according to God, and it was in this way God qualified him to separate His people from their sin. When the Lord came down from the mountain and cast out the demon from the afflicted boy, His disciples asked, "Why could we not cast it out?"... And surely we may say that an unclean spirit had entered Israel at this time. It was because Ezra had been before God with prayer and fasting that God could use him to cast it out. Is this not the secret of all spiritual power — to be alone with God like this? There is indeed no power without it.
Note that the older translation Dennett quotes includes "prayer and fasting" in Matthew 17:21; the ESV renders the Lord's answer as "Because of your little faith."
Going Apart, and Staying There
One writer turns Ezra's time alone into advice for us, and sets Daniel beside him.
Leslie M. GrantHow good it is if we take time alone with God, unhurried, searching our hearts, whenever serious trouble comes among God's people. Daniel, when deeply troubled about the low state of his people Israel, "was mourning for three weeks."
Feeling the Sin Afresh in God's Presence
Time in God's presence did not soothe Ezra's conscience. It sharpened it, and one writer contrasts him with Christians today.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHe still mourned because of the transgression of the people. This deeply spiritual man of God sought God's presence, and in His holy presence he felt the sin of the people afresh. What deep exercise of soul Ezra passed through! This is what is so sadly lacking in our own days. So many make light of the sin and worldliness of those who claim the Name of Christ. We see very little heart-searching, true humbling, and self-judgment.
The Sin of Others Taken as His Own
The sin Ezra mourned was not his own. One writer sees here the mark of a person in communion with God, and a faint picture of Christ.
Edward DennettOnly those who are... in communion with the mind of God can weigh their sin as it affects the holy Name by which they are called. They are the ones who share His affections for His own. They are the ones filled first and foremost with zeal for His glory. They can go down, take up the sin, make it their own, and tell it all out before God. Moses, Nehemiah, Daniel and Ezra are all examples of this, each in his own measure. But all of them... are only faint pictures of Him who so identified Himself with His people that in confessing their sins He said, "O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you."
Summary
- Dishonour — Ezra grieved over the stain on God's name, not over whether the people had agreed to act. Mourning suited him until the cleansing was finished.
- Trespass — the sin he wept over wronged God Himself, in the same way a man wrongs the neighbour he robs.
- Alone — he left the crowd for a closed room. Writers commend that quiet, unhurried time with God whenever trouble breaks out among His people.
- Power — his fasting was not a gesture. It was why God could use him to drive the evil out. There is no spiritual power without time alone with God.
- Ownership — he confessed a sin that was not his. In that he is a faint picture of Christ, who made His people's sins His own.