Ezra 9

1 doing according to their abominations. Rather, “as they should have done with respect to their abominations,” etc. The accusation is not that they had actually joined in idol-worship, but that they did not keep themselves separate from idolators, allowing their children to intermarry with them: a practice which had always led to idolatry. This is given as the reason for the prohibition in almost every place where it is repeated: see Deut. vii. 3, 4, etc.

2 the holy seed. So the Israelites were called, because of God’s covenant with them, by which they were separated from all other nations, specially set apart to Himself, and entrusted with peculiar religious privileges.

3 plucked off the hair, etc. These were the customary tokens of deep grief and displeasure.

6 and said, etc. Ezra was not personally guilty in this matter; but he spoke and acted as the representative of the whole people: cp. Dan. ix. 3.

8 a remnant. The returned exiles were but a remnant of the whole nation, the bulk of the people still remaining in their dispersions; and those who returned were in an impoverished and abject state, compared with their ancestors.

to give us a nail. This refers to the nails or pins by which the Oriental tents were fastened to the ground, and conveys the idea of habitation.

K

9 wo were bondmen. “Are” should be supplied, as R.V. The people were still under foreign masters.

a wall in Judah. The term here translated “wall” signifies the fence of a sheep-fold; and here represents the Divine protection.

12. Now therefore, etc. The language of the first clause is derived from Deut. vii. 3; that of the second closely follows Deut. xxiii. 6, where it is applied to the Ammonites and Moabites. The inducements recall the promises in Deut. xi. 8; Isa. i. 19; Ezek. xxxvii. 25.

13 such deliverance as this. Rather, “such a remnant” (R.V.): see vers. 8, 14.

14 the people of these abominations. More exactly, as R.V., “the peoples that do these abominations.”