Ezra and Nehemiah (NICOT) by F. Charles Fensham

Author:F. Charles Fensham [Fensham, F. Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, Biblical Commentary, Old Testament
ISBN: 9780802825278
Google: IfxMeDl6BZgC
Amazon: 0802825273
Barnesnoble: 0802825273
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Published: 1983-02-23T16:00:00+00:00

4. Assembly's Decision (10:7-17)

7 So a message was sent through Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles to gather in Jerusalem.

8 "Anyone who does not come within three days, according to the demand of the chiefs and leaders, will have all his property confiscated and he will be excluded from the community of the exiles."

9 So all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled in Jerusalem after three days-that was on the twentieth of the ninth month-and all the people sat in the square of the temple of God; they were trembling on account of this matter and on account of the heavy rain.

io Then Ezra the priest stood up and said: "You have committed treason by marrying foreign women and have added to the guilt of Israel.

ii But now, thank the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from the foreign wives."

12 The whole congregation responded with a loud voice: "Yes! We shall do as you say!

i3 But the people are many, besides it is the time of heavy rains; we are not able to remain in the open, nor is it a work for a day or two because many have transgressed in this respect.

14 Let our chiefs stand in for the whole congregation. Let all who are in the towns and who have taken foreign wives come on appointed times and with them their leaders and judges of every city so that we can avert God's anger from us about this matter."

15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, but Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported the proposal.

16 And so it was done by the exiles. Ezra the priest selected men as heads of families according to the house of their ancestors, and all were registered by name. The representatives set aside the first of the tenth month to investigate the matter.

17 On the first of the first month they concluded their investigation into all the men who had married foreign women.

7-8 It is obvious that Ezra stayed in the background, because here the initiative was taken by the leaders. Ezra's reticence might have been for diplomatic reasons. He was a Persian official and should not act overtly lest he create a feeling against Persian authority. We have here a kind of democratic instrument,' which Ezra used effectively. A message was sent. Some want to give the "message" more emphasis and translate "procla- mation."2 The message was carried by messengers to all the exiles in Judah. Such a message was proclaimed loudly in the streets of the smaller towns and also in the streets of Jerusalem. The exiles. As we have seen already (cf. our discussion of 9:3-5), the exiles were only those who had returned. All the men were called on to appear in Jerusalem for an investigation. If anyone disobeyed this message, his property would be confiscated and he would be banned out of the community of exiles.

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