EZRA

Ezra 9 “After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness.” When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of this unfaithfulness of the exiles. And I sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice. Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the Lord my God and prayed: “I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. From the days of our ancestors until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today. “But now, for a brief moment, the Lord our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage. Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage. He has shown us kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia: He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and he has given us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem. “But now, our God, what can we say after this? For we have forsaken the commands you gave through your servants the prophets when you said: ‘The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other. Therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them at any time, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it to your children as an everlasting inheritance.’ “What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins deserved and have given us a remnant like this. Shall we then break your commands again and intermarry with the peoples who commit such detestable practices? Would you not be angry enough with us to destroy us, leaving us no remnant or survivor? Lord, the God of Israel, you are righteous! We are left this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in our guilt, though because of it not one of us can stand in your presence.”

• God’s old covenant was made primarily with Israel at the time, not the surrounding nations - Within the new covenant today we see that Jesus died for all people. But its not that God did not want a relationship with the people of the surrounding nations of Israel at the time in the old testament, because He did!

God actually said to Abraham way back in Genesis 12:1–3 “The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”” 

• So we see that God’s mission has always been GLOBAL from the beginning, all nations will be blessed through Abraham

We see that idea reinforced in Isaiah 49:6 “he says: I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”” 

• This scripture in Isaiah is believed to talk to Israel collectively; to be a holy people set apart and a light to other nations, but also a prophecy to the coming Messiah (Jesus). So God did not choose Israel instead of the nations; He chose Israel for the sake of the nations (that all people will be blessed through them)

Deuteronomy 7:3–4 “Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.” 

1 Kings 11:1–2 “King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.” 

1 Kings 11:4–6 “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.” 

Numbers 25:1–5 “While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them. 

• God’s jealousy is different. God is not envious because nothing belongs to someone else that He lacks.
• Gods jealousy is not the jealousy of insecurity; it is the jealousy of covenant love
• The same God who says “I am holy” also says “My name is Jealous” because He will not share the worship and affection that belong to Him alone.

• Did you know Jesus came from David’s family lineage? 
• Did you know Ruth is David's Great Grandmother?
• Did you know Ruth was a Moabite? (Moabites were one of the nations God told them not to intermarry with)
• It was different because Ruth committed herself to God and left her old ways and old gods behind to follow the God of Israel

Ruth 1:16 “But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” 

• Sin and disobedience does also not just effect your relationship with God, it also effects us in everyday life
• Sin also effects more than you as the individual, it effects many people around you

Ezra 10:1–4 “While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly. Then Shekaniah son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel. Now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all these women and their children, in accordance with the counsel of my lord and of those who fear the commands of our God. Let it be done according to the Law.....

• It also effects the women and children that have to be sent away because of it
• This part of scripture is not primarily a story about divorce; it is a story about how seriously God takes covenant faithfulness. 
• The people's disobedience created a painful situation in which there were no painless solutions. 
• God forgives sin, but forgiveness does not always remove earthly consequences

• The people did not hide their sin
• They didn’t excuse it with lame excuses
• They didn’t blame others for their wrongdoing
• They didn’t sit around with a “woe is me” attitude
• They owned up to it, they brought it into the light and turned back to God and their covenant promises they made to Him previously

Maybe we need to spend some time in prayer with Psalm 139:23–24 “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” 

Maybe we need to spend more time in the word and learning Hebrews 4:12“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” 

• 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 

• When he see’s the people fall into sin he didn’t distance himself
• We may see him distressed and appalled but he doesn’t abandon them
• Instead he intercedes for them in prayer and fasting while crying out to God
• He had the courage to address the difficult deep sin of the people
• He led the charge in seeking restoration for the people and not punishment
• What Ezra started in the people of Israel is what Jesus came to finish once and for all people