Ezra 10

10:1 Ezra’s genuine mourning in response to his people’s sin moved many of them to join him.

10:2 Shecaniah was the first person brave enough to publicly admit that he had been unfaithful to God. Admission of guilt gives the hope of forgiveness for sin.

10:3 A covenant is a binding agreement, in this case specifically to divorce . . . pagan wives that the people of Israel had inappropriately married. By taking this action, they would renew their commitment to the Sinai covenant. • Women were generally given custody of their children when a marriage failed (cp. Hagar and Ishmael, Gen 21:14).

10:4 it is your duty: As an expert in the law (see 7:10), Ezra was responsible for leading the people to a God-honoring solution to the problem of intermarriage. Because the law of Moses did not contain explicit directions for divorcing pagan wives, Ezra needed to develop a plan consistent with the requirements of Scripture and fair to the participants.

10:5 The solemn oath involved both a promise to take action and a self-imposed curse for failure to do what was promised (see Ruth 1:16-17; 1 Sam 14:24-28).

10:8 if the leaders and elders so decided: It was reasonable for Ezra to add this exception clause because it might simply be impossible for some people to come to Jerusalem to participate in settling this matter.

10:9 on December 19 . . . it was raining: The cold and wet weather made an outdoor meeting uncomfortable.

10:15 It is unclear why these four people opposed the plan. Perhaps they wanted a stricter penalty, or perhaps they or members of their families did not want to divorce their foreign wives. That there were only four dissenters shows the overwhelming support the policy had gained among the rest of the exiles. Sadly, a few years later, a similar problem of intermarriage with pagan wives created another crisis within the community (Neh 9–10).

10:44 and some even had children by these wives: The couples who had children had probably married before Ezra came back to Jerusalem; even they were not excused from the decree.