Scripture: Ezra 10:2
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. 3Therefore 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.
Observation: Even when we have turned away from God this is still hope and we can make a plan to begin restitution with Him.
Application:
My thoughts on verse 2: Temptation can overtake us very quickly. It doesn't help with you are surrounded by others who are succumbing to the same temptation to act in a way that is against God's plan. When it seems like "everyone's doing it", it can be very easy to justify it as acceptable. When the Israelites married these foreign women, it became a slow fade into accepting their wives beliefs, and the worship of pagan gods, and making them their own. So, in actuality, it doesn't seem like the intermarriages themselves are the problem, but rather what happens to the Israelites' relationship with God as a result. However, regardless of how far the Israelites have moved away from God, "even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this". This is encouraging because sometimes people can feel that they are just too far away and that the separation from God is just too great...but there is hope.
Now I understand this adoption of foreign practices and beliefs as a problem but I am actually confused by verse 3: Why is it acceptable to "put away all the wives and children"? How can that be God's plan? For women to be abandoned...for children to grow up without being influenced by their father's guidance...for families to be torn apart?? How can this be? Is God saying -in this circumstance-that divorce is necessary and acceptable?
Maybe I am just hyper sensitive about divorce, as unfortunately it has affected people in my family, but I firmly believe that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) and that when you make the choice to marry someone-EVEN if it turns out to be the wrong person-you need to stay married to them. That's a tough thing to admit because I seem to be alone in that belief. The saturation of divorce in Christian circles has, I think, diluted our ability to recognize it as wrong. Maybe just like the foreign marriages of the Israelites just became "normal" because everyone was doing it and it the same way divorce has become "normal" because we know so many people who are doing it.
We, as Christians, are called to be different-to stand out, to be an example, to bring others to Christ. How can we do that when we openly adopt the ways of the culture around us. We are called to be in the world, not of the world and to "not conform to the pattern of this world" (Romans 12:2). To be different is to reconcile, to forgive, to demonstrate commitment and to wait on God to work in hearts to change. Again, my opinion is biased based on situations in my own family but I don't believe divorce is right and I know I could never do it.
What did happen to these abandoned wives and children? Did they continue worshipping their pagan gods because they were never given the opportunity to share in the faith of their husbands? Did they become angry at their Israelite husbands who served a God that would want them to be "put away"? Wouldn't it have been better for the Israelite husband to abandon all pagan worship in his house, lead his family in the way of God, and instruct his children to follow in his footsteps. Maybe I'm too much of an optimist.
Prayer: Lord, the Christmas Season is upon us and we are so thankful and grateful that you allowed Jesus to come to earth as a part of your rescue plan. We fall short of your plan so often and take matters into our own hands. We make mistakes, we fall, we hurt ourselves and others in the process. Thank you for the hope You gave through Jesus and that no matter how many times we fall, You gave us hope to get back up. Lord, be with all of the abandoned people this season and help them to see that You are hope for the hopeless. Be with the children of broken homes and help them to understand that this was not what You had planned for them. Lord, You own the perfect plan and when we stray from it, there are consequences. Help us to see those consequences before they hurt us and others and guide us to make better choices.
3 comments:
Hopefully the foreign wives and their children returned to their father's households.
Due to the fact that the matter had to be investigated, it seems like foreign women who converted to Judaism would no longer be considered foreign and would be allowed to remain (like Rahab and Ruth, for example).
In some ways it reminds me of the Revelation judgement. God has extended salvation to all of us, but those who refuse will eventually fall under the wrath of God.
I know, our first instinct is to think how unfair it was for those foreign women and children. And it's true, they were the innocent victims of the Israelites sin. But I think that is exactly the point. We need to grasp how serious sin is to God, and how far-reaching the consequences of our sin is, both for ourselves, and for the innocent victims caught up in the "collateral damage".
And, though they were innocent of the Israelites sin, they were still living in rebellion against God, so they were not truly innocent.
And I'm in complete agreement with you about divorce. The Bible is clear that is only allowable under very specific conditions, but we seem to have conveniently forgotten that and think that marriage is about happiness instead of holiness.
I agree with you, Tammy. There are provisions made in many places in the OT for people to covert and be accepted as part of the Jewish people, making them no longer foreigners. Of course, we have no idea how many of those women would have done so.
And I agree with you as far as divorce goes, as well.
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