Discuss Ezra 10

Page 1.

To share my thoughts on your comment, Jimbob. 2 Peter 1:20,21: in this final letter before his decease, the Apostle Peter is essentially warning believers of what was taking place then & what was to come as far as false teaching was concerned. In this first chapter, Peter cites the Word of God given to His prophets to proclaim to His people. They were not "cunningly devised fables" as others did, constructing their own devilish message by perverting God's Word. But Peter spoke as one being an unquestionable witness to the Lord Jesus, to God's Presence on the Mount & to His Word there ("this is My beloved Son") & to the death & resurrection of Jesus and to His Promise of returning again. So it is a "more sure word of prophecy": prophecy of Jesus in the OT fulfilled, & of His second Coming that will be fulfilled.

As the OT prophets of God spoke God's Word directly, receiving it from the Mouth of God (as opposed to the false prophets of that day; as you rightly quoted Jeremiah chapter 23), Peter confirms that the (true) prophets' word was without the involvement of their Will & perceptions, but came as the Holy Spirit moved in them to hear & record it. So, we know that the LORD from Heaven, His Holy Spirit, & the prophets who doubtless trembled as the Word came to them (as intimated in Jeremiah 5:22 & Ezra 10:3), delivered God's Word accurately & in its entirety.

Then we have the recorders, whether of Moses, David, Solomon & the prophets to write down the message as they were moved by the Spirit to write. Those writings/prophecies had to be meticulously guarded & correctly uttered. As copies were made over the centuries, accuracy was important & was retained. Even as Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1,2 (in Luke 4:17-19), He confirmed the accuracy & currency of the Torah ( Luke 4:21) by calling it "Scripture". So we know that till then, the Word of God was correct in its entirety.

Ezra 5:2,3, this account also in Nehemiah 1:3, Nehemiah 2, Nehemiah 4,

The wall may have actually had the most opposition: Nehemiah 2:10,19,20, Nehemiah 4:7,8,11,15, Nehemiah 6:1-6, Nehemiah 6:9-13, Nehemiah 6:19, the biggest enemy of rebuilding the temple seemed to be complacency Haggai 1:4,5, Haggai 1,

Hopefully these are helpful

Lost it...Chapter verses of those opposing the rebuilding of the temple, Jerusalem?R wilf

Hi Randy. There's only one occasion that I can recall in the Bible of divorce being sanctioned & had taken place, but I may be wrong in this; there may be more than one. You didn't give a full reference to your Scripture quote, so can I assume Matthew 19:7-9? You then may be enquiring for an example of someone in the Bible who fits that situation of divorce & re-marriage. A 'general' event of divorce, is given in Ezra chapter 10.

The account leading up to it, is when the Jews return from their Babylonian captivity under Zerubbabel & the Temple foundation is laid. When Ezra later returns to Jerusalem, he wants to bring about a spiritual revival from the returnees (you can read about it in Ezra chapter 9). Then in chapter 10, as a part of their repentance before God, Shechaniah confessed that many of the people had taken 'strange wives' from the land they were exiled in. As you read chapter 10, you will see from verse 10 that Ezra brings them to confession about their wrong marriages & were called to "put away their wives..and offer a ram (as a sacrifice) for their trespass" ( Ezra 10:19). And then from verse 20 to 44 a very long list of (guilty) men is given, those who must put away (divorce) their strange (Gentile) wives. This is the only occasion that I can recall that shows divorces had to be carried out.

Dear Mark. I am really sorry to read your daughter's sad story. What to say? No words. I pray your daughter listens to your advice and seek the Lord This must be always the first step. Go back to our Fathers house and get blessed.

Now as far as marriage is concerned, in Christianity there are many beliefs, starting from remarriage not permitted to you can separate for any reason and remarry as many times as you like and lately you can marry and remarry male to male or female to female. What can smd say?

The verses you mentioned in simple words say.

1 Corinthians 7: 27-29

27. Are you married? Do not seek to separate. (Because is not permitted)

Are you unmarried ( for men) to a woman?. Do not seek to marry.(Paul implies to choose to devote to God )

28. But if you marry (talks about the unmarried) you have not sinned. If a girl (now for women) marries she hasn't sin....

As i see it nowhere says that the divorced can remarry .

It is very difficult for smd to accept that he/she cannot remarry, especially if he/she is a young person. But i think God gives His grace and strength to follow His Word. I can't find anything else to say.

God bless you all.

My daughter divorced her husband for having sex with their daughter. I told her that God made allowances for divorce in such cases of fornication. I also told her that God allows remarriage in cases like hers but that she needs to be careful to seek His will in the matter because remarriage is not something that is encouraged in the Bible, even if not always discouraged.

1 Corinthians 7:27-29

King James Version

27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.

There are two types of people in view here. The divorced and virgins are not wrong if they marry, but only in the Lord.

Hello Richard, Those Israelites good ol' boys just could not stick with God's explicit commands to refrain from taking wives from the idolatrous nations surrounding them. It seems that both male and female Israelites were very easily swayed by the "customs" of the surrounding pagans and repeatedly fell into idolatry despite having the history of God's miraculous deliverances (through the waters and from attackers), providence (manna and quail), displays of God's presence (pillar of fire and cloud, glory filling the tabernacle, Mount Sinai "shock and awe"), the giving of the Law. This makes me think that the ways (and women) of the pagans must have been very alluring.

This makes me think how people can become so enamored and intrigued by "exotic" or "new" trends. This is true in the church as well. These "baubles" can make our daily walk in godliness and fellowship with the Spirit seem somewhat "boring", especially when we are called to live a quiet and godly lifestyle. But I haven't really minded what most would consider boring, because I love to follow God's ways. I find them satisfying. But we live in a culture that glorifies risk taking behavior (rock climbing, extreme sports) and fancy, shiny celebrity lifestyles. But as believers, I think it is wise to heed what Jesus taught about being in the world but not of the world, so to speak ( John 17:15, 18)

And Paul says for us to not be conformed to the world, but to be transformed.. ( Romans 12:2) and John says to love not the world or the things of the world... which is passing away...but he who does the will of the God abides forever ( 1 John 2:15-17)

And we are told by Peter to lives such good lives among the pagans .. ( 1 Peter 2:11-12) as we should live like sojourners.

Unlike the Israelites, let's hope we do better to resist worldliness and pagan influences.

Dear Richard.

I absolutely agree with you. Separation is not permited unless one goes with another woman/man. Matthew 5:31-32. But even if so remarriage is not permitted. 1 Corinthians 7:10-11.

Now the verse in 1 Corintians 7:15 . The original Greek text says word by word " if the unbeliever separates let him/her separate. The brother or sister is not enslaved INTO THESE". What this "into these" stand for. Why enslaved? Marriage is not slavory, it was blessed by God. The explanation given in my church is that it refers to sexual acts. So lets take it from the beggining." If the unbeliever wants to separate let him do that, there is no problem you not having sex, you are not enslaved to it" It is not the usual explanation but it fits with Matthew that forbids divorse no matter if man or woman are unbelievers or not, only for adultery is permitted. It also agrees to 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 that forbids remarriage.

GBU

Thank you for all that info Richard . I believe that a child was only considered to be part of Israel if it's mother was Jewish , I think that's still the case even today .

The subject of "strange wives." 1 Cor. 7:15-16 addresses a similar admonition; in a way as Ezra 10:44. Ezra 10:3 concerns those who are born to them; and since a child isn't supposed to be judged for the sins of the Fathers ( Ezekiel 18:20); this could be an added concession by the people themselves to what God and Ezra commanded. The descendants of certain nations at that time were not allowed in the Temple for corporate worship as well; but there are certainly instances (such as with Ruth the Moabitess; and with Uriah the Hittite which demonstrate there are certainly those who CHOOSE to serve the God of Israel who are accepted into the beloved.

We need to examine carefully what is being said here. In Corinthians; clearly the N.T. states that an unbelieving wife should STAY in the marriage if she is so disposed; which of course would apply to the believing husband; or vice versa depending on who is of faith. The concept here is of a seductress; so to speak-whatever was drawing them to marry these foreign women was ultimately whatever entity was causing them to be attracted to someone following doctrines of demons; and making them irresistible. There appears to be no protest here of women who wish to follow the God of Israel; rather the emphasis is on those drawn away; which those influences ultimately will do if we allow them in our lives.

It needs to be noted that SEPARATION; not divorce is mentioned. Even if divorce is implied; there is NO scripture that gives permission to remarry; and also perhaps most noteworthy is that there is NO RECORD of ANY Bible character in the O.T. divorcing. This truly parallels Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9 where those who are remarried are said to commit adultery right after the "exception clause". God is not the author of confusion; apparently contradictory texts have unified meanings; at least in the same circumstances.

Ishmael the son of Abraham :

Genesis 25:13-18, 1Chronicles 1:29-31,

Genesis 16:10-12, Genesis 16:15, Genesis 17:20-21, Genesis 25:8-10,

Genesis 28:9, Genesis 36:3,

Ishmael the son of Nethaniah

2Kings 25:23,25, Jeremiah 40:8,14,15,16, Jeremiah 41:1-18,

Ishmael the son of Azel

1Chronicles 8:38, 1Chronicles 9:44,

Ishmael the son of Jehohanan

2Chronicles 23:1,

Ishmael the son of Pashur,

Ezra 10:22,

1Timothy 1:4,

H J,

I'm sad to hear of you're very difficult situation all around. 1st let's start with GOD loves you. How wonderful it is when anyone seeks HIM & HIS truth. 1 John 4:19, John 3:15-16. Deuteronomy 4:29,

I have wondered about this subject & I ask: if a man/woman marries someone thst is divorced Matthew 19:9, then is that a marriage honorable to GOD ? Or is it sin, continued in?

Ezra 9,10, it appears only 2 people were against that decision. Ezra 10:15, some of them had children Ezra 10:44, Nehemiah 8:9, Nehemiah 13:23-31,

Is it sin, to continue in sin?

John 8:10

Is that what Jesus would say to you?

I agree that the words we choose have ramifications and have meaning.

However, I disagree that hell has anything to do with someone greeting another. I think this only gives credit and a sense of power to satan. Just because a word in a language has a few shared characters of a word that is negative, that doesn't mean any of the negativity rubs off on the other word. Otherwise, if your mom's name was Hellen or Helena, for example, would you disown or say bad things about her? I don't think that's loving one bit. There's names in the Bible that have those characters, but it doesn't mean anything bad about the person, like Ezra 10:35 has one: Chelluh.

A word being 'bad' also has much to do with the context and intent behind it. For example "Jesus" can be used as an uplifting name to be praised, or used as a curse word. Jesus said the word hell several times, are you suggesting that Jesus was wrong to say that word? He used it positively so that people can avoid hell. Matthew 10:28

You used the word hell too in your comment, so do you feel remorse from this? I see zero spiritual connection and disagree. Satan should not be given any more latitude than he already has. He doesn't own my words and I won't allow evil to take over exclusive use of our positive words. God bless.

I think you're right

The people committed something wrong.

They were the 1/3 angels who were hurled to earth with Lucifer. (Word study: Lucifer)

They had flesh bodies, but were evil inside.

We pick them up in the story of Noah. He was told by God to build the Ark. The evil angels (sometimes called "inhabitants") were in town. The whole time Noah was building the Ark, he preached and explained what he was doing. They laughed at him.

The ark was done and only Noah and his family were saved. Since the evil angels had bodies (air breathing), they and all the inhabitants drowned. They were now evil spirits with no bodies. I believe that's when the evil angels became demons. All of the human women and their 1/2 & 1/2 children had died. The demons began to search for some kind of body (animal or human) to get inside of, and live. It's still going on today. The GOSPELS show us that many with demon spirits were brought to Jesus and he cast them out: he'd say, "Leave Him."

?Demon possessed people could bear children with a humans. I think that's why there were giants in King David's time. (Goliath). He had battles with them.

I don't know the physiological way it happened. We just know there were giants because of Goliath, and archaeological remains. Lucifers name was changed to Satan after he caused Adam & Eves fall from Grace.

Demons are still around. The only way to escape them is to born again and spirit filled With The Holy Spirit. That's why I tell people to get rid of anything a demon would consider an IDOL. Idols are doorways or portals. If your computer has porn on it; the demons know it too. Only the holy blood of Jesus Christ can protect us.

That beloved, is why Jesus gave us, Ephesians 6. Demons are invisible. See some spiritual warfare videos on YouTube.

Ask God if you can have angels to protect your family, and belongings. Be wise as a serpent, but mild as a dove. Angels serve only God: not you. The closer you are to God; the more Bible inside of you: the less trauma you'll have.

Mishael

You will find reference to this in Deuteronomy 7:1-6.

what Law is Ezra 10-3 referring to ?

2 Corinthians Chapter 6

12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.

13 Now for a recompence in the same, I speak as unto my children, be ye also enlarged.

14 BE YE NOT UNEQUALLY YOKED TOGETHER WITH UNBELIEVERS: for what fellowship hath righteousness (CHRISTIANS) with unrighteousness (UNBELIEVERS) and what communion hath light with darkness?

15 And what fellowship hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel (unbeliever) ?

2 Corinthians 6:15 and. 1 Timothy 5:8

These are the ONLY scriptures that God put forth through Holy men of God. God has never once, said one thing about mixed races!

A person that chooses to attend, fellowship with, or attend the Church of a FALSE RELIGION; Led by False Apostles, False Prophets, False Pastors that FLEECE the sheep (teach humanism and not the HOLY WORD OF GOD from a HOLY CANONIZED BIBLE:

IS APOSTATE! They will lead you to hell.

And... if you are content in a False Church(?), then they will drag your soul to hell with them. You absolutely have a responsibility to follow Jesus.

I know you are about to fire all barrels about the condition of the Jews. Save it! Obviously you resist the teaching that the Gentiles were grafted in and that the Jews were/ are spiritually blinded and deafened; for a purpose. For a prophesy yet to be fulfilled.

"When the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled"

When that happens, two things will occur:

The dead believers of Christ will be made alive and join the Catching Away of the Bride of Christ, in the clouds (rapture), will have occurred. It will happen in one eye

Blink. No late arrivals accepted. The Door is closed. The Tribulation speeds up.

The Believers will not be here. The babies and children, in the Mercy of Jesus, will be taken To heaven. They will not remember their life with you; but they will meet all their Christian relatives.

If you take the Mark of the Beast, you'll die.

I am very glad that God added Rahab the harlot and Ruth the Moabitess within two generations into the Jewish fold, into Judah, into Christl and remembered in the New Testament of the Bible.

God is the creator of everything, racism included. He separated his people from the other nations, he gave them the commandments and statue and judgments(Psalm147:19),(Romans9:3-5)(2Edras6:54-57)(Matthew15:24).Only Israel, God's children.

Here you can read Matthew Henry commentary and there are lot of questions designed. You can use them in this website. Link

Your comment...i need bible commentary& bible questions

Some thinks the scriptures seems racist, sometimes. But it's the way man himself interpret the scriptures. In these scriptures GOD isn't tell the Israelites to separate from the people because of their race, nationalities or ethnicities, but because of their behaviors. Idol worshippers and sinners of all kind, which JEHOVAH GOD view as unclean. He wanted them to separate from uncleanliness, and remain clean. A clean person can't expect to get in a mud pit and remain clean.

reread verse 2-4. the people made this decision and foisted it on Ezra. This isn't a thus sayeth the Lord passage.... God told them not to take strange wives, but show me where God told them to put them away. This is a good picture of man trying to make things right and making them worse really. Some things when they are done it's too late to fix perfectly. At least they were trying though.

does not The LORD hate putting away? is this not an increase of sin, seeing that God has not given a cause for divorce except fornication?

Verse 3~The Israelites acknowledged that they had sinned against Jehovah God by breaking his law and so they sought to correct matters.

Peter; Ezra was a GREAT example of a man of God in a position of authority: a priest, a scribe, and one firmly founded in a virtuous way of life. The people too were a GREAT example of what is commonly found with "people." As long as they can rely on someone leading, they will follow, to a point! But then when they have to really be so on their own, its much harder to find real and lasting purity.

Ezra did exactly what the Lord through King Artaxerxes sent him back from Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem to do- rid the country of strange wives and strange worship. He gathered the large assembly to read the laws of God to the people. Most of the people and families as listed in this chapter repented. God warns us against being unequally yoked. We must heed this warning every day of our lives.

".....and such that are born of them....."; their blood children; how HARD it must have been, but it was not the Gentiles time. We try to rush God, albeit unknowingly, but He will straighten us out IF we have a heart for Him.