Ezra 10:11

10:6-14 There is hope concerning people, when they are convinced, not only that it is good to part with their sins, but that it is necessary; we must do it, or we are undone. So rich is the mercy, and so plenteous the redemption of God, that there is hope for the vilest who hear the gospel, and are willing to accept of free salvation. When sinners mourn for their sins, and tremble at the word of God, there is hope that they will forsake them. To affect others with godly sorrow or love to God, we must ourselves be affected. It was carefully agreed how this affair should be carried on. That which is hastily resolved on seldom proves lasting.

Now therefore make confession to the Lord God of your fathers,.... Of their sin, and express their detestation of it, and repentance for it: and do his pleasure; obey his will, and particularly in this case: and separate yourselves from the people of the land; the Canaanites, &c. have no fellowship with them, make no covenants, contracts, and alliances with them for the future: and from the strange wives; they had taken; put them away.

Ezra 10:11-12. Make confession unto the Lord; and do his pleasure — You have sinfully pleased yourselves, now please God, by your obedience to his command. And separate yourselves from your strange wives — There being no mention made here of putting away their children, but only their wives, it has been thought by some that they kept their children, and, by circumcision, dedicated them to God. For, though Shechaniah proposed the putting them away, yet it may seem not improbable that Ezra, to whom the matter was referred, when he came to order what should be actually done, mitigated the severity of the proposal. As thou hast said, so must we do — They saw no other remedy, and so submitted to what he required.

Verse 11. - Make confession . This is undoubtedly the true meaning of t'nu thodah in this place, and not " give praise" ( δότε αἴνεσιν ), as the LXX. render. Separate yourselves from the people of the land . The marriages naturally led on to familiar intercourse with the relatives and friends of the women, and so tended to break down the barrier between Jew and Gentile which it had been the special object of the Mosaic legislation to erect. Ezra 10:11

10-17. Ezra the priest stood up, and said—Having fully represented the enormity of their sin and urged them to dissolve their unlawful connections, he was gratified by receiving a prompt acknowledgment of the justice of his reproof and a promise of compliance with his recommendation. But as the weather was ungenial and the defaulters were too numerous to be passed in review at one time, it was resolved that a commission should be appointed to examine into the whole matter. These commissioners, assisted by the judges and elders of the respective cities, made a minute investigation into every case, and after three months' labor completely removed all traces of the abuse. Doubtless, an adequate provision was made for the repudiated wives and children, according to the means and circumstances of the husbands.

11 . make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers ] R.V. make confession (marg. Or, give thanks ) unto the Lord, the God of your fathers . ‘Make confession’. Literally ‘give thanksgiving or praise’. The substantive is connected with the verb which in its reflexive form means, as in Ezra 10:1 , ‘made confession’. It is found elsewhere in these books ( Nehemiah 12:27 ; Nehemiah 12:31 ; Nehemiah 12:38-40 ; 2 Chronicles 29:31 ; 2 Chronicles 33:16 ) with the meaning of ‘thanksgiving’, which is the general sense of the word in other books ( Leviticus 7:12-13 ; Leviticus 7:15 ; Psalm 26:7 ; Psalm 42:4 ; Psalm 50:14 ; Psalm 50:23 ; Psalm 56:12 ; Psalm 100:4 ; Psalm 107:22 ; Psalm 116:17 ; Psalm 147:7 ; Isaiah 51:3 ; Jeremiah 17:26 ; Jeremiah 30:19 ; Jeremiah 33:11 ; Amos 4:5 ; Jonah 2:9 ). The only possible exception is Joshua 7:19 ‘My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and make confession (marg. Or, give praise ) unto him’. There, as in this passage, ‘make confession’ is a good paraphrase rather than a strict translation. ‘Praise’ was given to God by the utterance of confession. The penitent who renounced his sin and threw himself upon the mercies of God rendered that true praise of trust and love, from which ‘confession’ springs. Cf. Psalm 50:23 ‘Whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth me’. On ‘the Lord, the God of your fathers’, see note on Ezra 8:28 . and do his pleasure ] The words of praise to be verified in action.

The same phrase as in Psalm 40:8 ‘I delight to do thy will , O God’, Psalm 143:10 ‘Teach me to do thy will ’. and … from the people of the land, and from the strange wives ] R.V. from the peoples of the land and from the strange women. See note on Ezra 10:2 . The separation entailed not merely the divorce of the wives but a complete breaking of intercourse with all residents in the land who had not adopted the religion of the Jews.

Ezra then stood up and reproved the assembled multitude, saying: You have brought home (הושׁיב, comp. Ezra 10:2 ) strange wives to increase the trespass of Israel (comp. Ezra's confession, Ezra 9:6-15 ), and exhorted them to give glory to God and to do His pleasure, (viz.) to separate themselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. On תודה תּנוּ, comp. Joshua 7:19 . Separation from the people of the land consisted, under the circumstances, in the dismissal of the strange wives.