Ezra 10

To this the congregation answered aloud, ‘“ As thou hast said, so must we do.” They requested, however, on account of the severity of the season, and of the great importance of the work, that the necessary time might be allowed, and that the rulers and elders, some of whom were deeply implicated, would themselves come forward with their brethren of the lower classes. They did so, and the whole of the painful business was got through within three months. What compensation was made to the wives and children thus put away, the latter (at least) perfectly innocent, we are not informed. “That which was done contrary to the law (as Bishop Patrick says) was looked upon as a and therefore these were accounted no marriages; and their children…

were not to be a part of the family, but to be put away with their mothers.” It is reasonable to believe, however, that they were not turned adrift to starve by such a man as Ezra. It is also to be considered, that all who had renounced idolatry and become proselytes, were entitled to the same privileges as those born Jews: but as to the children, we read of none actually put away, and it is probable there were but few, and those af only; for the fathers had but to circumcise their boys, and they became Jewish proselytes immediately. ((Exodus 12:48-49).) It seems, after all, that some of the people were not faithful to their engagement, for we find that long after this there were Jews that had heathen wives of the nations of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

((Nehemiah 12:23).) The concluding verses of this chapter, and of the book, contain only a list of delinquents referred to, among whom it is lamentable to find many of the sons of the priests and Levites. Ver. 44. Some had wives and children.—{This observation was probably inche cupbearer to Artaxerxes king of Persia, hearing of the distressed state of dis countrymen, in great affliction petitions him for leave to go up to Jerusalem as governor, with a commission to rébuild the walls, and to provide for the security and the prosperity of his people, Having obtained his request, he executes his commission for twelve years with great success. After which he returns 1 Nehemiah, understanding by Hanani the misery of Jerusalem, mourneth, fasteth, rayeth.

5 His prayer. WHE words of * Nehemiah the son of Hach- 4 aliah. And it came to pass in the month the gates thereof are burned with fire. } De2ais, | Cup-bearer. 6 Let ‘ thine ear now be attentive, and thine| ”” | presence. nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. 8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If *ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

Notes on the verses

Chap. X. Ver. 1—17. The people greatly affected by Ezra’s prayer, agree to give up their strange wives.—After Ezra’s Chap. X. Ver. 4. Belongeth unto thee.—(By the decree of Artaxerxes, Ezra was authorized to do every thing that the law of God required. (Ezra 7:23)— Ver. 9. Ninth month.—{That is, some time in December, which is the coldest and most rainy time of the year in Palestine. Dr. Russel, in his account of the weather at Aleppo, which very much resembles that in Judea, says, that the 11 Now therefore make confession unto ° the 6 Ezra, mourning, m showers. Lord God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: n caused to dwell, or, and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.

12 Then all the congregation answered and o Pr.28.13. 1 Jn.1.9. said with a loud voice, as thou hast said, so must we do. solemn_ prayer, ‘ a very great congregation of men, women and children, assembled round him, and wept very sore.” Upon this, Shechaniah, a chief | man among them, but not personally implicated in the crime, proposed. entering into a covenant with the God of Israel, to put away their strange and heathen wives; i i Evra accordingly arose up and administered a solemn oath to this effect, to the chief persons, both lay and a sinner, he unites with them ecclesiastical, to bind them to conform thereto. Proclamation was then issued for all the parties concerned to assemble within three days, on the penalty of a confiscation of their goods, They did so in the open street, notwithstandin it was winter and rainy weather, and Ezra himself addresse them as they sion an “sat penpnnae before him, and urged them both to confesreparation for their crime: ‘“ Separate yourselves, (said be,) from the people of the land,”

(the Samaritans,) a mixture of apostate Israelites and idolaters, and “from the natives reckon the severity of the winter, which they call marbania, to lust but forty ies fa beginning from the 12th of December, and ending the 20th of January, and tha n that this computation comes in fact very near the truth 3 and that the air during this time is excessively piercing, even to those that are just come from a cold climate. See Harmer. )|—Bagster. Ver. 12. As thou hast said.—[They all resolved to do what Ezra had commanded; and they did put away their wives, even those by whom they had children, (ver. 44.) each of whom doubtless received a i stances of her husband, and was not turned away desolate.

umanity must portion oocartiaes to the sam have dictated this, and no law of God is contrary to humanity.}—Bagster, Ver, 17. First day of the first month.–{The cases brought before the council were either so many, or so complicated, that, though they separated themselves from other employments, yet they were three whole months in examining into their affairs, and making the necessary preparations required by the Ver. 19. Gave their hands.—{They bound themselves in the most solemn manner to do as the rest of the delinquents had done, and make an acknowledgment to God of their iniquity, by offering each a ram for a trespass-offering. |—Bagster. p: Ver. 25. Moreover of Israzl—That is, of the common Israelites, as distinguished from the priests and Levites.

CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE BOOK OF EZRA. {Tuts book details tae events of a very interesting period of the Sacred Hispeg Sy er according to the decree of PROVIDENCE, the Jewish people were to be delivered from their captivity, at the expiration of seventy years, and restored to the land of their fathers. This book informs us how the Divine goodness accomplished this most gracious design, and the movers and agents He employed on the occasion. Ezra was undoubtedly the chief agent under God _in effecting this arduous work; and his zeal, piety, knowledge, and discretion, appear here in a most conspicuous point of view, and claim our utmost admiration. Descended from Seraiah, in a direct line from Aaron, he seems to have united all the requisites of a profound statesman with the functions of the sacerdotal character.

He appears to have made the Sacred Scriptures, during the captivity, his prion’ study; and, perhaps, assisted by Nehemiah and the great synagogue. corrected the errors which had crept into the Sacred Wribooks of whicn the Sacred Scriptures then consisted, disposed them in their tings, rough the negligence or mistake of transcribers; he collected all the proper order, and settled the canon of Scripture for his time; he occasionally tended to show, that only a few of them had children, and also how rigorously the law was put in execution.—According to a passage in Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, Ezra ofiered a paschal lamb on this occasion, and addressed the people thus:—"‘And Ezra said to the people, This passover is our Saviour and our Refuge; and if ye will be persuaded of it, and let it enter into your hearts, that we are to humble to Him ina sign, and afterwards shall believe in Him, this place shal!

not be destroyed for ever, saith the Lord of Hosts: but, if ye will not believe in Him, nor hearken to his preaching, ye shall be a laughing-stock to the Gentiles.” This was probably a marginal note added by some early Christian. ]}—Bagster. added, under the superintendence of the Holy Spirit, whatever appeared necessary for the purpose of illustrating, completing, or connecting them: he substituted the modern for the ancient names of some places, which had now become obsolete; and transcribed the whole of the Scriptures into the Chaldee character. He is said to have lived to the age of 120 years, and, according to Josephus, was buried in Jerusalem; but the Jews believe he died in Persia, in a second journey to Artaxerxes, where his tomb is shown in the city of Zamusa.

Though not styled a prophet, he wrote under the Divine Spirit; and the canonical authority of his book has never been disputed. It is written with all the spirit and fidelity that could be displayed by a writer of contemporary times; and those parts which chiefly consist of letters, decrees, &c., are written in Chaldee, because it seemed more suitable to the fidelity of a sacred historian to give these official documents, as they may be termed, in the original language, especially as the people, recently returned from the captivity, were familiar, and perhaps more conversant with the Chaldee, than with the Hebrew. ]—Bagster.