9/07/2004 07:26:46 AM|||Laura|||Ezra was "a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD the God of Israel had given."
For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do
it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. (Ezra 7:10)
Ask, and you shall recieve. Ezra was commissioned by King Artaxerxes to do that very thing. Ezra aspired to a position of leadership (to teach) and consequently chose his companions with care:
I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me. These are the heads of their fathers' houses, (Ezra 7:28 - 8:1)
Having arrived, Ezra found that the people he had so wanted to teach, were sorely in need of it. They - especially the officials - had intermarried with the local population. This was not a problem of snobbery or marrying beneath themselves, after all, plenty of people in the Bible married foreigners including Moses. The problem was that the women they married were worshippers of other gods. The problem was that they were again committing the very sin that caused them to be ejected from the promised land in the first place! Because he knew the Word, Ezra immediately understood the problem, and was grieved:
As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. 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. 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, 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. 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. But now for a brief moment favor 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. 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. "And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 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. 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.' 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, 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? 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 9:3-15)
Ezra may not have personally committed the sin, but as a man in a position of leadership, began to repent of it - he took responsibility for those under his care. God blessed this, because the people repented also, divorced the women and sent them away, returning to God's ruling authority.
As Christians and God's elect, aren't we called to the same thing? Shouldn't our hearts be breaking, and shouldn't we be repenting the sins of our nation? I think the reason we are not, is that we aren't Ezra - we're the officials who have intermarried. What would it take to be another Ezra? Being steeped in the Word so we can clearly identify sin, and fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. Choosing our companions with care, that they support and build us up, not drag us down. Courage to confront sin when we see it. Loving the sinner so much that we pray for them and grieve for their sins as if they were ours.
|||109456344541494033|||Wanted: Ezra