Ezra 9:14

Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations?.... That are guilty of abominable idolatries, and of all uncleanness: wouldest thou not be angry

Should we again break thy commandments? was this a fit and just requital of all thy kindnesses? or was this thy end and design in these actions? or wilt thou take this well from our hands? There should be no remnant nor escaping: can we reasonably expect any thing from thee less than utter ruin?

Ezra 9:14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed [us], so that [there should be] no remnant nor escaping?Ver. 14. Should we again break thy commandments] There is so much unthankfulness and disingenuity in such an entertainment of mercy, that holy Ezra here thinks that heaven and earth would be ashamed of it. And join in affinity with the people of these abominations?] Especially when we may hear God himself screeching out as it were those words of his, Oh, do not this abominable thing! Save yourselves from this untoward generation, &c. Wouldest thou not be angry with us?] i.e. Chide us, smite us, and so set it on, as no creature should be able to take it off? Sin may move God, when we ask bread and fish to feed us, to answer us with a stone to bruise us or a serpent to bite us. Shun it therefore as a serpent in your way, or as poison in your meats. "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way," Psalms 2:12. So that there should be no remnant] So that our late preservation should prove but a reservation to further mischief; as was Sodom’ s, Sennacberib’ s, Pharaoh’ s.

(5-15) Ezra’s prayer of confession and deprecation. (5) And at the evening sacrifice I arose up.—Until the afternoon Ezra had sat silent and in grief before the Temple, and in presence of the people. Then, amidst the solemnities of the sacrifice, he uttered the prayer which he had been meditating. (6) And said, O my God.—The confession begins with “O my God;” but Ezra is the representative of the people, and it proceeds “O our God” (Ezra 9:10), without once returning to the first person. (7) Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass.—In these Common Prayers of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel, the race of Israel is regarded as one, and national sins as one “great trespass.” The repetition of “this day” at the beginning and at the end of the verse is to be observed: in the former place in reference to the sin; in the latter in reference to the punishment. (8) A little space.—The “little” here and at the close of the sentence are emphatic. All the present tokens of mercy are said at the conclusion of the prayer (Ezra 9:14) to be conditional in their continuance. The little space from the time of Cyrus was nearly two generations; but it was a moment only in relation to the past and the possible future. The idea is inverted in Isaiah 54:7 : “For a small moment have I forsaken thee.” Nail in his holy place.—The Temple was itself the sure nail on which all their hopes hung. A little reviving.—Literally, make us a little life. The present revival was but the beginning, and still by manifold tokens precarious. (9) We were bondmen.—Better, we are bondmen. In this lies the emphasis of the appeal. A wall.—Like “the nail,” a figurative expression for security. The literal wall was not yet rebuilt. This completes the description of Divine mercy: first, the people were a delivered remnant; the Temple was a sure nail for the future of religion; and their civil estate was made secure. (10) After this.—But all was a mercy for which there had been no adequate return. (11) Saying.—In the later Old Testament Scriptures the quotation of the earlier is often of this character, giving the substance of many passages. The same style is observable in the New Testament. (12) Give not your daughters.—See Deuteronomy 7:3, the only place where the interdict includes both daughters and sons. It is observable that the giving of daughters in marriage to heathens is not mentioned either in Ezra or in Nehemiah. Nor seek their peace.—An evident echo of that most stern injunction in Deuteronomy 23:6. (15) O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous.—The solemn invocation shows that this is a summary of the whole prayer: God’s righteousness is magnified, as accompanied by the grace which had preserved them, although as only a remnant; and as such covered with their trespasses; and especially with “this” the present trespass, the guilt of which underlies all.

14. should we again, &c.] R.V. shall we again.break thy commandments] The work rendered ‘break’ is found with ‘commandment’ in Numbers 15:31, and is especially frequently found with ‘covenant’, e.g. Genesis 17:14; Deuteronomy 31:16; Judges 2:1; Isaiah 24:5; Jeremiah 31:32; Ezekiel 17:16 in the sense of ‘annul’, ‘violate’. Compare its use in Ezra 4:5 ‘frustrate their purpose’. join in affinity] This word occurs once only in the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy 7:3. with the people of these abominations] R.V. with the peoples that do these abominations. See note on Ezra 9:11. wouldest thou not be angry, &c.] The question expects the answer ‘yes’. Ezra recalls the declarations of God’s displeasure in such passages as Deuteronomy 7:4 ‘For he will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and he will destroy you utterly’, Deuteronomy 11:17; Joshua 23:16. The tense is missed in the LXX. μὴπαροξυνθῇς and the Vulg. ‘numquid iratus es’. till thou hadst consumed us] The precise form of this phrase only occurs elsewhere in 2 Kings 13:17; 2 Kings 13:19 ‘till thou have (hadst) consumed them’; but a very similar form of it appears in 2 Chronicles 24:10 ‘until they had made an end’, 2 Chronicles 31:1 ‘until they had destroyed them all’. It means ‘up to the point of extinction’. Cf. LXX. ἕωςσυντελείας. Vulg. ‘usque ad consummationem’. no remnant nor escaping] R.V. no remnant nor any to escape. It is hard to render the two words in English. ‘Any to escape’ is the same word as ‘remnant’ in Ezra 9:8; Ezra 9:13. The two words occur together in 1 Chronicles 4:43 ‘they smote the remnant of the Amalekites that escaped’. The former word denotes simply the ‘remainder’; the latter has the idea of ‘survival from flight’ (cf. Ezra 9:15). The LXX. distinguishes by ἐγκατάλειμμακαὶδιασωζόμενον. The Vulgate renders ‘reliquias ad salutem’.

14. Wouldest not thou be angry — The question is the strongest possible confession that they merited the Divine anger.