Ezra 10:16

And the children of the captivity did so,.... Put away their strange wives: and Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names,

And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the

Were separated, i.e. sequestered themselves from all other business, and gave themselves wholly to this.

Ezra 10:16 And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, [with] certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by [their] names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.Ver. 16. And the children of the captivity did so] Appointed such a course should be taken. And so it was a plain Plebiscitum, resolution of the people, and accordingly executed.

(7-17) Conference of the people and commission to try individual cases. (8) Forfeited.—This, as also what precedes and what follows, again recalls the express commission of Ezra 7. But “according to the counsel” removes all appearance of arbitrariness on the part of Ezra. (9) Within three days.—From the time of hearing the summons. No town was more than forty miles distant; and of course only those would come that were able, and who came within the scope of the proclamation, the precise terms of which are not given. They were not more than could assemble “in the street,” or open court of the Temple. The minute specifications of date, and the two reasons for the trembling of the people, and the whole strain of the narrative, bear witness to the veracity of an eye-witness. It was the ninth month.—Chisleu, our December, the rainy month in Palestine. (10) Ezra the priest.—He stood up, not as the commissioner of Artaxerxes, not at this moment as the scribe, but as the representative of God. (11) Do his pleasure.—This procedure, humanly severe, is connected with the Divine will. From the people of the land, and from the strange wives.—The marriages were but a subordinate branch, though a very important one, of the wider sin: that of confederacy with idolators. (13) We are many.—Better, we have greatly offended in this thing. The greatness of the offence of course implied the number of the offenders. (14) Stand.—As a representative body in session. Until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.—A difficult verse, owing to a slight peculiarity in the original. The meaning seems to be: until the fierce wrath of our God—fierce while this matter lasts—be turned away from us.(15) Were employed about.—Rather, stood against. Nothing is said as to the reason for opposition on the part of these and the two who abetted them. But the reason is obvious enough. Some modern expositors are of their mind, and regard the act of Ezra as remedying one sin by another still greater. They bring Malachi (Ezra 2:15) to their support; but nothing in his prediction about “the wife of thy youth,” rightly understood, tends to condemn the conduct here described. (16) By their names.—As in Ezra 8:20, the names were before the writer, but are not given. And sat down.—That is, held a session. This was ten days after the general assembly. (17) And they made an end.—Though the number of transgressors was only one hundred and thirteen, two months were occupied, which shows the care taken to do justice, especially to the claims of the women put away.

16, 17. The Commission at work16. the children of the captivity did so] For this expression cf. Ezra 10:7. The proposal was no sooner made than it was carried into execution. The personal influence of Ezra must account for the ready acquiescence of the people generally. And Ezra the priest] Ezra is here mentioned first, and it is probable that he presided over the court of enquiry. On his title ‘the priest’, cf. Ezra 7:11. with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers] R.V. with certain heads of fathers’ houses, after their fathers’ houses. The word ‘with’ does not appear in the Hebrew, but, if the existing text be correct, we clearly need some such copula, which is supplied in the LXX. and Vulg. The phrase ‘certain heads of fathers’ houses, after their fathers’ houses’ seems to mean that each ‘father’s house’ (cf. Ezra 2:3, &c.) was represented on the commission by its chief or head. Literally rendered, the Hebrew runs, ‘Ezra the priest, men, heads of fathers’ houses, &c.’ all of them by their names] A full list of the households being furnished, the representative chiefs of certain ‘houses’ were required by name to attend. Cf. ‘were expressed by name’, Ezra 8:20. were separated] i.e. were set apart for the work. The use of this word ‘separated’ shows that a certain number and not all of the chiefs were employed on this occasion. The text is not quite free from suspicion. The absence of the copula before ‘men (or, certain) heads’ taken in conjunction with the reading of the Syriac Peshitto favours another rendering ‘And Ezra the priest separated (or set apart for the work) certain men (that were) heads &c.’ In other words Ezra made the necessary selection. Not all the heads of the great houses were summoned to sit on the commission. We read of ninety-eight in, Ezra 2:3-61, and this number would have been far too unwieldy for the purpose. Certain of them were therefore to be set apart from the whole number. And Ezra was the natural person to make the selection. Having recently arrived from Babylon, he would be impartial, while the fact of his having originated the whole movement marked him out to be head of the enquiry. , and sat down] R.V.; and they sat down. The R.V. separates the clause more-definitely from the preceding one. The Hebrew phrase is the same as the English ‘and the commission held its first sitting’. in the first day of the tenth month] The first of Tebeth (see Esther 2:16), the Assyrian Tibi-tuv, about the same as our January. to examine the matter] The Hebrew word ‘to examine’ is of very strange form, and looks as if the name of ‘Darius’ had been carelessly introduced by a copyist in the place of the similar word ‘to examine’. He was perhaps reminded, by the look of the letters, of the word similarly formed composing the familiar name of the king.

16. Children of the captivity did so — That is, the persons implicated, and the whole people, adopted the plan arranged by Ezra. After the house of their fathers — So that every father’s house was represented.