After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from 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 hidden evil comes to light
The sin was not new; the arrival of Ezra's company simply brought it into the light.
H. L. RossierBut 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.
Not in Babylon, but in Jerusalem
The failure did not belong to people far from Jerusalem. It sat at the centre, among the priests themselves.
William KellySo 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 command they had broken
The charge has two halves. They did not stay separate, and they copied what the nations did. The law had already forbidden both.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinNot 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.
Marriage as the picture of a divided heart
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.
Edward DennettThese 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.
How low the fall went
The catalogue of nations in the verse is not padding. It measures the spread of the corruption.
Edward DennettSuch 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.
Why it struck at God Himself
Breaking this command was not a small slip. It struck at the Lord's own rights over Israel.
The Bible TreasuryWhat 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.
Where recovery begins
The first move is not action but humbling yourself — and one person alone can begin.
H. L. RossierThe 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.
Summary
- 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.