Did Ezra go too far in breaking up all these marriages?
In the comments on my previous article
on Ezra, on Substack, someone asked me if I had considered whether Ezra went
too far in breaking up the marriages between his people and foreign women. I
answered that I had, but I decided not to add this into my previous article,
because I have written about this in some detail in another context, and it
would have made the previous article too long. But I think it is worth sharing,
so I have decided to share and excerpt from a book I am working on, which
discusses this situation and why we can be certain Ezra went too far.
Here is the excerpt:
Who is Ezra?
For those who do not know who Ezra
was, he was a Levite of the priestly class descended from Aaron the brother of
Moses, who lived in the exilic and post-exilic period. He was sent from among
the Exiles to go and minister amongst the recently returned exiles in
Jerusalem. Ezra himself tells us,
“1
Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of
Seraiah,… son of
Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest— 6 this Ezra went up
from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the
God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the
hand of the Lord his God was on him” (Ezra 7:1, 5-6).
Even though Ezra is never even
mentioned in the New Testament, he is still probably one of the most
influential men to have ever lived, and his influence is noted in the Old
Testament, which is a book that is considered sacred to many faiths, especially
Christianity. However, he often does not get the same credit as a Moses or
Elijah. Yet he should, as he is the likely author of the books of 1 and 2
Chronicles, the book of Ezra and maybe even the book of Nehemiah. In fact,
understanding the context of Ezra’s teachings in the books of 1 and 2
Chronicles will help us with our message in this chapter. This is no light
task, we must tread carefully, wisely and with circumspection.
1st and 2nd Chronicles are powerfully
written and insightful books which show that Israel was only ever granted the
land if they demonstrated true faith and obeyed God. If they did not they would
be vomited out (Lev. 18:26-28). According to Chronicles one of the reasons that
God judged Judah is because it was an ally of Israel who set up Ahab and
Jezebel as their leaders. Many of the bad things which happened in Judah were
because the kings of Judah either married into the family of Ahab, or were
descendants of the family of Ahab. They were the family of Ahab and Jezebel. Think
about that. In fact, I read through these books again recently and I was
shocked to note how influential the family of Ahab and Jezebel was in the falls
of both Israel and Judah, and how much the books of Chronicles focused on this.
A good example of this is displayed
through Jehoshaphat. He was a good king, but look at this dumb mistake he made,
“1
Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance
with Ahab…2 But Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said
to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the
Lord? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the Lord.” (2
Chronicles 18:1, 19:2).
Jehoshaphat is noted as often doing
what is right by the Lord in the Bible. However, this marriage alliance was a
terrible mistake on his part. Jehoshaphat continually aligned himself with
Israel, and God kept judging him for it,
“35
After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined with Ahaziah king of Israel, who
acted wickedly. 36 He joined him in building ships to go to Tarshish, and they
built the ships in Ezion-geber. 37 Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah
prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have joined with Ahaziah,
the Lord will destroy what you have made.” And the ships were wrecked and were
not able to go to Tarshish” (2 Chron. 20:35-37).
Remember, and I have consistently
reiterated this, Jehoshaphat was a good king. But his alliance with Ahab and
Jezebel and Israel brought disaster on his people. Ahaziah, the king he allied
with in this passage, was Ahab’s son.
Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram made the
same mistake,
“4
When Jehoram had ascended the throne of his father and was established, he
killed all his brothers with the sword, and also some of the princes of Israel.
5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight
years in Jerusalem. 6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the
house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did what
was evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Chron. 21:4-6).
In fact, Jehoram was worse than his
father. He not only allied with the kings of Israel, he followed their ways. He
imitated his father-in-law, Ahab more than his own father Jehoshaphat.
You are probably wondering, by this
point, why we are looking at this history of the fall of Israel and Judah in
our discussion about marriage here in this chapter. The answer is simple; Ezra
weaves through his writings how devastating bad marriages can be. It is one of
his most important themes. Bad marriages can even destroy nations.
One bad marriage in Israel, between
Ahab and the Sidonian princess Jezebel, did not just destroy the kingdom of
Israel, it also destroyed the kingdom of Judah. Think about that? Just stop and
think about that for a moment. That is intense. Ezra is famous for his handling
of what he considered illegitimate marriages in the book named after him, but
he also wove this theology through his exploration of the fall of the twin
kingdoms of God’s people.
Some people would rather not consider
the political implications of the Bible. But that is because they have an
unhealthy perspective on the Bible, politics, or usually both. To say politics
should have nothing to do with a book that describes the founding of a nation,
the setting up of political structures, and laws about how to enact justice, is
simply to be dishonest. The Bible reaches into every aspect of life. The
implications in the Bible of bad marriages are spiritual, practical and
political. This is a massively important topic, and Ezra goes out of his way in
his writings to address it directly.
Wrong Marriages (Ezra 9:1-4)
Now that we understand Ezra’s reading
of Israel’s history this really frames what he writes in Ezra 9,
“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.”
Ezra’s perspective on Ahab and Jezebel
adds real weight to our understanding of why he found this situation so
concerning in his day. One of the advantages of reading through the Bible from
cover to cover again and again is that as you go through it you make
connections you did not really notice before. This is one thread I only noticed
recently myself. Ezra continually weaves through 1 and 2 Chronicles how much
damage to Israel the wrong marriages did. Imagine how a man with this
perspective felt when we saw Israel doing this again? After everything they had
gone through, they were making same mistakes on his watch.
He tells us exactly how he felt,
“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” (Ezra 9:6).
Ezra would have been terrified that
they would be expelled from the land again. Because, in his view, his people
had fallen into the same errors that brought them down in the past.
The whole point of the exile was not
to destroy Judah, but to refine her, discipline her, teach her humility and the
importance of abiding in God’s law and God’s ways. As Hebrews tells us, God
disciplines those he loves. God used Babylon as a refining fire to teach his
people to appreciate him and his commands. But many had not learnt the correct
lessons. So, these marriages with foreign women horrified a good man like Ezra,
and he was a good man, one of the true greats of the Bible and indeed of all
history. Ezra deserves to be ranked up there with the topline heroes in
history. It also should not surprise us that a man who had this perspective
encourages what we see next.
Wrong Marriages Ended (Ezra 10:1-5…44)
We read in Ezra 10,
“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 an oath that they would do as had been said. So
they took the oath…44 All these had married foreign women, and some of the
women had even borne children.”
The whole assembly came together and
decided to end these marriages. Not every single person in Israel, of course,
but are large proportion of them. This solution is pretty intense, and they
followed through on it as well. The foreign women and their kids were cut off
from the people. What happened to them is anyone’s guess. One can hope God
provided for them like he did for Hagar and Ishmael. One wonders if they took
into account what God did for Harag and Ishmael while deliberating on this
issue.
It must also be noted that Ezra did
not enforce this on the people like some dictator or tyrant. He and the people
agreed on this,
“3
Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and
their children,... 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 an oath that they would do as had been said.”
The congregation of the people came to
this decision, and then they put the responsibility for executing it on Ezra
and the other leaders. The passage mentions that a few people opposed this
measure, including some priests (v.15). But it was obviously a popular measure.
The exile had clearly changed the Israelites, even if they did not fully apply
their lesson straight away, still it had refined them. They realized that they
needed to take God’s law and wisdom more seriously.
How often do we have to learn the hard
way that we should have listened to God?
How many people have given you
biblical counsel over the years, but you ignored it and then you learnt the
hard way that you should have listened?
The people of Judah had learnt the
hard way.
But to wrestle with our topic for this
chapter, we need to ask the question: did they do the right thing? Do not
misunderstand me, I am not going to argue that Ezra was a bad guy. He was truly
a great leader and he was also in a high-pressure situation. We should not be
so unfair as to expect perfection from God’s men in the Bible. The Bible is
honest about the faults of its leaders. This should give us pause before we
seek to imitate the men of the Bible. Just because a man in the Bible is a
great man and does something does not mean he did not make serious mistakes. We
need to evaluate their actions in light of the wider witness of the scriptures.
Did Ezra
Go Too Far?
Did Ezra go
too far in sending these all these foreign women and children away? I think the
answer is yes, he did, and I think the text makes this clear for us. If you
don’t read chapter 9 carefully, or know the law of Moses very well, you can
miss it. But look at what we read in verse 1,
“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.”
Ezra is here
listing the nations from which the people of Judah have married foreign women.
But do you see the issue there? He has added to the law. It is easy to miss
this if you do not carefully examine what he said.
Ezra is
referring to a couple of different passages from Deuteronomy here. The first
one is in Deuteronomy 7:1-4,
“7
When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take
possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the
Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the
Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you,…3 You shall not
intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their
daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following
me, to serve other gods….”
If you look
carefully, you will see that the list in Ezra and one in Deuteronomy are not
the same. Moses does not mention the Moabites or the Ammonites in his list. In
fact, the Moabites and Ammonites are kin to the people of Israel. They
descended from Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew. However, they were warned about
making alliances with them.
The second
passage Ezra refers to is in Deuteronomy 23:3-8,
“3
No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth
generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever,…6 You
shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever. 7 “You
shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an
Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land. 8 Children born to them in
the third generation may enter the assembly of the Lord.”
Deuteronomy
23 does not actually say that Israelites could not marry a Moabite or an
Ammonite. But even though this is the case, Ezra adds these two passages
together, “12 Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take
their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity…” (Ezra
9:12) and extends the ban on marriage to more nations. Do you see that? Ezra is
here mixing Deuteronomy 23:8 with Deuteronomy 7.
Ezra clearly
has good intentions, and he clearly loves the Lord and loves his people.
However, he appears to have gone beyond the law on this point. His inclusion of
Egyptians makes this even more clear. God said, “You shall not abhor an
Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land.” Yet Ezra is horrified that
some of his people had married Egyptians.
The Spirit
of the law
We need to be
really careful here. We are talking about one of Israel’s great leaders who may
have written 3 or 4 books of the Bible, including the masterpieces of 1 and 2
Chronicles. But remember the Bible is honest about its heroes and shows us
their good and their bad qualities. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate author of
the word and he always brings us powerful truth. What we see here is that there
appears to have been an over-correction.
Consider
this. Who was David’s great-great grandfather? Boaz, who was married to Ruth
the Moabite. We read in the book of Ruth, named after this Moabite, “21 Salmon
fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered
David” (Ruth 4:18-22). Ruth, as the wife of Boaz was the mother of Obed, the
grandmother of Jesse, and the great grandmother of David himself. In fact, the
book of Ruth is fascinating, because it starts off by showing us that both
Naomi’s husband and sons had probably been not all that wise, as they moved
into Moab and the boys marry Moabite women. But by the end of the book Boaz,
who is obviously a very kind, gracious and generous man, marries a Moabite and
this is looked on favourably. And she is an ancestor of both David and Jesus on
top of that.
This helps us
to understand that there is the Spirit of the law and letter of the law. The
Spirit of the law was meant to protect Israel from idolatry and sexual
immorality. The letter of the law was a guide in that. The law was meant to be
applied with skill and an understanding of the Spirit of the law. When Ruth
abandoned her gods to follow Naomi’s God, she was no longer a threat to the men
of Israel, because he had abandoned her own idols.
Ezra appears
to understand the Spirit of the law very well. He cares about the spiritual
state of his people, “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 9:15). Of course he
cares. He is a good man and one of Levitical priests, a descendant of Aaron
trained in the scriptures. He appears to understand the letter of the law
reasonably well, as well.
But I think
we are right to question if he went too far. The Old Testament did not
prescribe what should happen in this situation. In one situation a man kills a
Hebrew man who has a Moabite wife and is rewarded for it. In that context, what
Ezra proposes is relatively mild. But separating wives and children from their
provider in this ancient world is a harsh response, “All these had married
foreign women, and some of the women had even borne children” (Ezra. 10:44).
There is no mention or any indication in the book of Ezra that the leaders of
Israel sought to sit down and examine the faith of these women and children.
The lessons of the book of Ruth should have indicated that this was an
important step.
Ezra’s
motives are pure. There is no doubt about that. His theology is solid, he
understands the danger of corruption from other religions. But it is not an
accident that some scholars see the beginning roots of Jewish separatism and
what would later become the Pharisees in this era. Don’t misunderstand me, I am
not saying Ezra was a Pharisee, they came later. But we do see an
over-correction to what had happened in the past, and an overly suspicious
attitude to foreigners developing in this book, that would continue to harden
over time. We may see here the beginnings of the trajectory that produced the
Pharisees of Jesus’ day.
We are not
here to condemn Ezra, though, but to learn from him. In him we see a good man
who loves his God, loves his people and takes his faith seriously. He is a man who
is seeking to protect his people as best as he can. But I think we also see in
him that all too human tendency to swing the pendulum too far. Even the
expositor’s commentary[1] agrees that he went beyond
the law here.[2]
Hence that is not just my opinion.
Getting
marriage wrong is so common in human history that those of us who want to
recorrect things can be prone to over-corrections, we can swing too far the
other way. Those who are horrified at the immoral state of our country can
become too legalistic, we can become too strict, too condemning, too guilt
riddled. And getting the balance right is often very difficult for us. But I
think we can settle our difficultly here with some help from Paul, the great
Holy Spirit trained Apostle…
…For the rest
you will have to wait for the full book. I am close to finishing it, and it is
shorter than either of my previously published works.
Bless you.
[1]
Need to confirm this source.
[2]
“Ezra was going even further than the Book of Deuteronomy, which had allowed
marriages with the heathen, (Deu_21:13) and (Deu_23:1-8).”
