We take a step forward as Ezra records his personal account of what led up to his departure from Babylon and his eventual arrival at These last two chapters contain valuable lessons about holiness and the God we serve.
Ezra 9: Ezra Prays About Intermarriage
1 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, "The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from 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 to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost."
3 As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled.
4 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice.
5 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God,
6 saying: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for 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, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.
8 But now for a brief moment favour has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery.
9 For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.
10 "And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments,
11 which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness.
12 Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.'
13 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this,
14 shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape?
15 O LORD, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this."
Ezra 10: The People Confess Their Sin
1 While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly.
2 And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: "We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.
3 Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law.
4 Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it."
5 Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take oath that they would do as had been said. So they took the oath.
6 Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib, where he spent the night, neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles.
7 And a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles that they should assemble at Jerusalem,
8 and that if anyone did not come within three days, by order of the officials and the elders all his property should be forfeited, and he himself banned from the congregation of the exiles.
9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. And all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain.
10 And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have broken faith and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel.
11 Now then make confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives."
12 Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, "It is so; we must do as you have said.
13 But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand in the open. Nor is this a task for one day or for two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.
14 Let our officials stand for the whole assembly. Let all in our cities who have taken foreign wives come at appointed times, and with them the elders and judges of every city, until the fierce wrath of our God over this matter is turned away from us."
15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported them.
16 Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men, heads of fathers' houses, according to their fathers' houses, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter;
17 and by the first day of the first month they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women.
Those Guilty of Intermarriage
18 Now there were found some of the sons of the priests who had married foreign women: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah, some of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers.
19 They pledged themselves to put away their wives, and their guilt offering was a ram of the flock for their guilt.
20 Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.
21 Of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah.
22 Of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.
23 Of the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.
24 Of the singers: Eliashib. Of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.
25 And of Israel: of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Hashabiah, and Benaiah.
26 Of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah.
27 Of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza.
28 Of the sons of Bebai were Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.
29 Of the sons of Bani were Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth.
30 Of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh.
31 Of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,
32 Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.
33 Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.
34 Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel,
35 Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi,
36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,
37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu.
38 Of the sons of Binnui: Shimei,
39 Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah,
40 Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
41 Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah,
42 Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.
43 Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah.
44 All these had married foreign women, and some of the women had even borne children.
Things to think about…
1. These last two chapters in Ezra are some of the most grieving and difficult to read in the entire bible. There is a parallel of these events given in Nehemiah 13 as well as Nehemiah’s response to the men who had married foreign women. Suffice to say the men got the message that they had transgressed the God of Israel. Judah was taken captive to Babylon initially for going against the law of Moses and breaking the Levitical law. Here we see they had returned from Babylon and Ezra has just found out that they have broken the law by intermarrying with foreign women. They were to be separate from the nations they drove out of Canaan initially and now they were aligning themselves with them through marriage. The modern equivalent would be a believer intentionally marrying an unbeliever even though the NT is very clear on this subject, 1 Cor 7:39; 2 Cor 6:14-18. We all know of sorry situations where this has been the source of much grief. Pray for those in this situation, that the peace of Christ overrules in their marriages.
2. It should be noted that God was against the rebellion of the men. He is certainly not racist including against some of these nations mentioned. Remember Rahab who had helped the spies was a Canaanite woman and would ultimately be in the line of Christ. Ruth was a Moabite woman, as some of the women mention here, Ez 9:1, yet Ruth also was blessed due to her faith in the Lord and was also part of the line of Christ. The men who had married these women were effectively saying holiness doesn’t matter and we can do and marry whomever we like. Not true, not even for the Christian.
3. Ezra responds by fasting, praying, plucking his beard, tearing his clothes as he expresses his state of grief openly, Ez 9:3-5. Where there is such ingrained sin it often requires drastic actions to be taken. Drug and alcohol abuse, abortion, domestic violence and a very high divorce rate are shameful and largely go unnoticed in our day. But in the end can we legislate morality? We can guide morality through laws, but the heart can only be changed by grace. Pray for God’s grace to be over our nation.
4. Ezra was the man for the season to take the lead on this national problem. In what areas are you taking the lead in dealing with the fruit of unbelief in your sphere of influence? The Lord is a God of peace, comfort and grace. Pray that many will hear and embrace the gospel of Jesus.
5. Have a look at all these names in Ez 10:18-44. Thes is like the opposite to Hebrews 11 – the hall of faith. This chapter of Ezra 10 is the hall of shame. Each name will represent a broken home due to the folly of the men. In some cases children were involved, vs 44. They brought this judgement upon themselves. God is holy. We cannot dull down the fact that the Lord requires us to be holy as He is holy. Let’s not only encourage each other to maintain godly marriages in our church but check on one another and bother to ask how we are going in our marriages. May we see godly, healthy marriages in our church and community. We should set apart times during the day and week to read and pray together as well as spending some social time together.
6. Consider how the book of Ezra started – with hope, expectation and a future for God’s people. Here the book ends with despair, rebellion and sin that needed to be dealt with, least judgement and captivity should happen again. We know this period in Israel’s history would be short lived and they would once again be overtaken by a foreign power – the Greeks. May our lives in Christ on this earth end with obedience, love, grace and blessing.
Vision statement for CBC
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Sermon:-“Behold the Nazarite” – Num 6:1-21
a. Jay shared a bit about his weirdness on Sunday with his sucrose intolerance. We are all weird/different to others in some way. What is weird/different about you?
b. The Nazarite vow could be taken by a male or a female, what are some of the things that were required of them? What was the purpose of the Nazarite and their vow?
c. As Christians we stand out more and more in our society due to our values and belief system. What are the ways that we stand out as modern day Nazarites. Samson was a Nazarite and he fell to worldly passions and it cost him dearly. What does it cost the Christian when we fall morally or get dragged back into the world?
d. Pray for our witness with our friends, workmates, family and neighbours who are outside of Christ. Would they come to a Community Day – June 24th Saturday @ Church.
Prayer Points
1. Continue to pray and Andy in Ipswich hospital and for Sally as she continues to battle Alzheimer’s. Give thanks for a loving husband and example of Christ – Richard.
2. The two young people that broke into our church early Friday morning. It was the same ones that broke in 10 weeks ago. A police report with video evidence has been submitted.
3. That those who are new to the church are encouraged and settle in well into the church.
4. That we be bold in our witnessing for Christ. Pray for a heart to see those around you saved.
5. Pray for Kids@church and our Youth group.
6. Pray for Chuwar Youth and Jarrod’s ministry. Pray as he meets with youth at Westside, this week as well as the growing young adults ministry.
7. How you can serve in ministry this year.
8. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to remain and increase.
Praise Points
1. Leaders meeting on Saturday thankyou to all those involved – Especially Shaun and Erika Newberry for their amazing hospitality.
2. Young adult’s ministry is growing – keep praying as Jarrod develops this ministry.
3. Kids@Church and Youth ministries are a great blessing. Pray for Rosie and Jarrod as they start out for term 2.
4. Joy, peace and grace we see at CBC. Thankyou Lord
Announcements
1. Mother’s Day High Tea. Sat 13th May 10am Church. Speaker and pampering, 13th May RSVP Suzanne 1/5/2023. Ph:- 0418 889 683.
2. Church information session 28th May after the morning service.
3. Remember to check your duty rosters for term 2.
4. Community Day Saturday 24th June at Church. More details to follow.
5. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
6. Tune in again this week on our youtube page. Subscribe to the CBC channel Chuwar Baptist YouTube channel.
Catechism questions for May...
Q. 8. Who are they? A. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Bible References – Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Peter 1:2; Jude 20-21.
“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” Jer 33:3
