I was warned this chapter was a tough one. I was seeking the Lord as to what He’d have me bring, and I felt Him direct me to keep it simple. This chapter has two main sections, so Lord willing, I plan on covering two main topics.
Ezra Appalled by Intermarriage
Chapter 9 verses 1 through 4, Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. 2 For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.” 3 When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled. 4 Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.
I’m going to ask the question; Why would God forbid the Israelites from marrying Canaanites? You might think God regards the Jewish race above the Canaanite people. So is God a bigot? Does God hate people based on genetic traits, like skin color or hair texture or the shape of one’s nose or eyes? I’m going to say this as emphatically as I can; NO. Let me explain; God indeed forbids the Israelites to marry outside the family, so-to-speak. The reason I raise this issue is because this very scripture has been used as a justification against interracial dating (have you ever heard of Bob Jones University?). Down through the ages, this prohibition against Israelite-Canaanite intermarriage has been used to justify racisim, bigotry, racial exclusivitiy and ethnic division. I’ve even heard “God wanted to keep the bloodline of the Messiah pure”, from at least one Calvary Chapel pastor and another very respected speaker associated with Calvary Chapel, but the reason for the prohibition against intermarriage can’t have anything to do with DNA or genetics Because there are a couple of very prominent non-Jewish names in the lineage of our Lord Jesus; namely, Rahab and Ruth.
Let’s take a look at the prohibition against intermarriage in Deuteronomy 7:1-4, “When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, 2 and when the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. 3 Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. 4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you. 5 But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire. 6 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
The issue here is not one of genetics or ethnicity, it is solely a spiritual/heart issue. God wanted to spare the Israelites the heartbreak of marriages that would separate them from Himself. God was keeping the Israelites from falling into the abominable practices of the Canaanites. The word abomination in Hebrew is
תּוֹעֵבַה tôwʻêbah, to-ay-baw'; or תֹּעֵבַה tôʻêbah; and it has to do with disgusting things, either in a ritual sense like unclean foods, idols, mixed marriages, or in an ethical sense, as in wickedness. By prohibiting intermarriage, God wanted to prevent the Israelites from having their hearts turned away from Him to the Canaanite idols. We can easily think of at least one example, that being Solomon, who was the most well known person in the Bible, who fell away from devotion to God due to intermarriage.
So, let me just say it again, God is against racism, and any kind of prejudice or bigotry. God gave us a glaring lesson about this when Mirriam and Aaron spoke against Moses’ ethiopian wife. Let’s read Numbers 12; Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman); 2 and they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And the Lord heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) 4 Suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them came out. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, 6 He said,
“Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream.
7 “Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household;
8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?”
9 So the anger of the Lord burned against them and He departed. 10 But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous. 11 Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12 Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!” 13 Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!” 14 But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.” 15 So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again.
16 Afterward, however, the people moved out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.
So let’s turn this towards ourselves; there is no place for prejudice, or bigotry in the life of anyone who names Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We are told to love our neighbor as our self, no matter our neighbors ethnic background.
In this day and age though the word racism comes with a whole bunch of additional unnecessary and invalid assumptions and connotations. I’m not going to get into the modern theories of race here. Just to be clear though, biblically, there is only one ‘race’; the human race. Acts, chapter 17 verses 26 and 27 and He [GOD] made from one man [blood] every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
So what we commonly call race in modern parlance, really ought to be called ‘ethnicity’. The root of the sin of bigotry is selfishness, pride, arrogance and malice. It’s been said, the problem isn’t skin, it’s sin.
Okay, so all of that was what this section is NOT about. What is it about? Sin is appalling. Do we get offended if we see or hear something unseemly? Do our cheeks go red because we’re embarrassed by something wicked? Do we take it personally when we hear the Lord’s name used irreverently, or disrespectfully. Further, are we honest with ourselves when we’ve committed some sin? If there’s iniquity in us, are we ashamed of it? We’re supposed to be “in Christ” and have the Holy Spirit “in us”. Are we uncomfortable with our sin? As David said in Psalm 51, “my sin is ever before my eyes”. Thankfully, gratefully, Psalm 103:12-14 says, As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.
As Christians, What principle can we derive from this prohibition against intermarriage? Because First Corinthians 10:11 says, of all the stories in the old testament, “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
Here are a few principles around Christian marriage:
Genesis 2:24 - Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Hebrews 13:4 - Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Proverbs 18:22 - He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.
2 Corinthians 6:14 - Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
Ezra’s Prayer of Confession
5 But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the Lord my God; 6 and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens. 7 Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day. 8 But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. 9 For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
10 “Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, 11 which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and with their impurity. 12 So now do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and never seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ 13 After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us an escaped remnant as this, 14 shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? 15 O Lord God of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this.”
It is really difficult to stop right there. Chapter 10 really goes with chapter 9, but let’s work with what we have. We’ll stay right here and try to extract every last nugget the Lord has hidden in this chapter.
Notice first, Ezra’s posture in prayer. He’s all torn up over the Israelites disobedience; literally, he ripped up his own clothes. Melodramatic, maybe, but he’s just showing outwardly what is going on inwardly. He falls to his knees, and raises his hands. This is a position our hearts need to assume. Not necessarily physically on our knees, but we need to recognize how low we are and how high God is.
He’s totally humiliated, and ashamed and grieved over the sin of the people. I can’t really say, I live up to Ezra’s heart for his people. I can tell you for sure though, because I’ve seen it first hand, that pastor Shane is every bit this kind of a leader. His heart is for you and your obedience to God and holiness toward God and walk with God. Shane is very jealous that we as a body of believers would be completely sold-out for the Lord. This is the mark of a great leader. As I think of it, I’m not indifferent to the moral failings of God’s people. More often, my reaction is one of anger, and dismay but I do grieve as well.
One person who was a leader in the Bible who really portrayed this characteristic of wanting his people to wholeheartedly and obediently follow God was Samuel in First Samuel 15:22 he says, “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat or rams.
Another aspect of this passage is confession, I just want to give a few verses for us to consider, related to Christian confession.
First John chapter 1 verses 5 through 10 say, This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
James 5:16 says, Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Proverbs 28:13 Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Psalm 32:5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Let’s meditate on Psalm 51 to close the evening out
Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.
4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise.
16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
18 By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, In burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.
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