Ezra 10
After Ezra has confessed the sins of the Israelites before God weeping and literally falling down before him, a great number of equally remorseful people came to him. They admitted their guilt but a man called Shechaniah encouraged Ezra that there was hope - he suggested they promised God that they would 'put away' their heathen wives and any children that had resulted from their marriages. The chief priests, Levites and people present all swore by oath that they were willing to do this so Ezra sent out a message to all the surrounding Jews that they should come to Jerusalem in the next three days or they would be cut off and their property confiscated.
All the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered outside the temple and sat in the street trembling because of their guilt before God and the heavy rain which God had sent.
Ezra told them they had sinned in intermarrying and should confess their sin before God and then separate themselves from their wives. They agreed but asked that because of the great rain and the work that this was going to entail that set times should be made in the different cities at which they could come and confess. This was agreed to and a couple of months later it had all been sorted. The remainder of the chapter records the names of 17 priests, 10 Levites and 86 men of the congregation (as determined by my study bible) who promised to put away their heathen wives, children and offered trespass offerings to God.
In the last verse at the end of the list of those who had intermarried we read, 'All these had taken strange wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had children'. Earlier in the chapter, following prayer and confession before God, Shechaniah had said, 'Let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and such as are born of them...according to the law'.
This separation cannot have been easy. Men were separating (divorcing) themselves from their wives AND their children that were born from those wives. Although marriage in these times often seemed to be one of convenience, arranged and sometimes polygamous, there was no doubt those who really loved their wives and children and this act would have caused much heartache, grief and tears.
By committing to divorcing their heathen wives, (which was also allowed by the law Deuteronomy 24:1,2) the people were demonstrating their heartfelt repentance before God. They felt the enormity of their sin, they trembled at the expected wrath and judgement from God and were made tender and willing before him to make these great sacrifices. It was a visible token of their return to God.
Today, we learn from Jesus in Matthew 19:4-6 that divorce is not something which gives God pleasure; he only allowed it because of the 'hardness' of their hearts. And the Apostle Paul further instructs new believers that if they are married to unbelievers they should not divorce them as their life as a Christian may be a witness and the means of bringing their spouse to believe.
The principle of this account though can be applied to us today. It speaks to us of a separation from those things which take our hearts and minds from serving the Lord. Things which are so important or close to us that they are like part of us - like our families. I think we each probably know what our personal idols are - may we be given tender hearts before the Lord to do all things in moderation, to keep him first in our lives, to know the continual sense of doing all things as unto him, the driving force within us to be one of living to and glorifying him rather than one of self-indulgence and spending too much time or effort on those things which take our hearts from him.
May the Lord bless and help us in giving up these hard things and reward us abundantly with his love, which gives a inner fulfilment, peace and joy which nothing on this earth compares to.
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