Ezra 10 describes the two most powerful agents of change the world has ever known. Confession and repentance together will change a life, a family or a nation. The chapter begins, “While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites men, women and children gathered around him. They too wept bitterly“. Remember in the previous chapter that Ezra did not condemn the people for their sin. Instead he interceded in prayer, fully trusting in the mercy of God. When the Holy Spirit of God comes upon a person seeking forgiveness, they are changed and those around them are powerfully affected. It is important to remember repentance is an internal turning toward God which results in changed in behavior. Immediately one of the leaders (Shecaniah) spoke up, “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel“. The forgiveness of God provides hope to every situation. He continued, “Now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all these women and their children, in accordance with the counsel of my lord… Let it be done according to the Law“. Difficult situations require godly wisdom.
We must pause for perspective. We know that according to Malachi 2:16, God said, “I hate divorce” but God allowed for divorce in certain limited circumstances. I believe the Bible is clear that God allows for divorce in situations involving abuse, abandonment or infidelity, but it is never required. Divorce is a tearing apart of more than a financial and legal union, it is a tearing of hearts. Jesus explained it this way, “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law” (Matthew 19:8). Divorce should never be taken lightly. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, the apostle Paul teaches followers of Christ about marriage. He says, in part: “If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her… But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart… God has called us to peace. For how do you know… O husband, whether you will save your wife?”. There is no provision for “irreconcilable differences”. What about those that have already divorced or widowed? I believe there must be a time of healing. In most cases, the apostle’s advice is for a time, “Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called“.
Back to Ezra, this issue had to be dealt with as a nation. “A proclamation was then issued throughout Judah and Jerusalem for all the exiles to assemble in Jerusalem. Anyone who failed to appear within three days would forfeit all his property. Within the three days, all the men of Judah and Benjamin had gathered in Jerusalem“. They could not allow the nation to be turned away from honoring God. Ezra and the priest proclaimed to the people, “You have been unfaithful; you have married foreign women, adding to Israel’s guilt. Now make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples around you and from your foreign wives“. In careful reading, it appears that each family was interviewed. I believe that the women that had chosen to honor God and turn from pagan worship were allowed to stay. “On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to investigate the cases… they finished dealing with all the men who had married foreign women.” One of my favorite verses in all of scripture comes after a list of all the vile sin that we are surrounded with every day. “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). This verse reminds us that all of us are imperfect and we become useful only through God’s unlimited mercy.