EZRA 9
Read Ezra 9:1-15
Almost as soon as the excitement and euphoria had died down after the exiles from Babylon had arrived in Jerusalem there was a problem. Some of the leaders came to Ezra and told him that the people, including priests who should know better, were indulging in detestable practices (v1). What was going on that was so bad? It seems that some of those who had come back were intermarrying with the non-Israelite people living in the area. We might well ask, “what is at issue here?” Is this simply prejudice against foreigners, like we sometimes see in our own times?
The first thing to note is that marrying foreigners was never forbidden by God. And we see many examples of that in the Old Testament; one example being Ruth, a Moabite, who was married to Boaz, and was an ancestor of David and Jesus. The Kingdom of God has never been exclusive to the Israelite people and people have always been welcomed in, such as Rahab in the Book of Joshua. And when we go back to Abraham and the covenant that God made with him we see that the sign of belonging, circumcision, was available for foreigners as well.
What is at issue here is the godliness of the community. At the time of the first exodus when God led his people into the Promised Land, they were instructed not to intermarry with the inhabitants of the land. The reason for this was that if they did they would be turned away from God and they would end up worshipping the idols, the false gods, of the people of that land. And when we look at the books of Judges, Joshua, 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 &2 Kings, we see that is exactly what happened. And that was the root cause of the exile to Babylon in the first place, turning away from God and worshipping idols. Now that they were going back into the Promised Land, surely they couldn’t make the same mistake again, could they?
Well, they could, and that was why Ezra was upset to the extent that he said, “When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled” (v3), all signs of extreme grief. Ezra’s response was the heartfelt prayer from verse 6, acknowledging the sin before God and asking for forgiveness.
It is a constant challenge for God’s community here on earth to be godly, to be different. The apostle Paul tells us, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Once we are God’s people then we should live our lives to a different standard to the rest of the world, the standard of God’s word. It is easy to be drawn into behaving in the same way as everyone else in society but we should try to have the courage to resist what is wrongful behaviour, to go against a way of life which is contrary to what the Bible tells us.