No. 26 of Returning Home (Renewed)
The descendants of Abraham were tainting their bloodline by marrying Gentiles, in direct rebellion with God’s law to them. Their own leaders, including the Levites, were practicing this disobedience. When Ezra learned of the crime the children of Israel had committed against the LORD, he responded in a way that exemplifies the feelings of a true servant of the Most High.
As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. 4 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. – Ezra 9:3-4
Ezra comprehends the principle of obedience. When people disobey God en masse, it isn’t a slight thing. It is something to mourn. Ezra was brought low by this discovery. He writes of the painful actions of pulling out his own hair. This depicts the pain he is in. (Even today, people with inner agony will inflict outer pain on themselves.) Ezra had settled into Jerusalem life. No doubt, he’d envisioned in his mind how it would be once he returned home. Judging from this reaction, he’d never imagined confronting such a bold display of disobedience. The word ‘appalled’ in verse 4 is shamem, and it means to be stunned by the horror of something. Our speedy connections to national and world affairs means we suffer a daily barrage of immoral behaviors introduced into our minds that desensitize our ability to be shocked by the horror of godless living. Yet, when these rebellious behaviors against God’s goodness enter our homes and congregations, directly affecting our lives, we fall to our knees, stunned. Sin’s destructive nature lies in its ability to affect everyone. Sin’s destructive method is to build on other sins until it seems impossible for a person to free herself from its prison. Ezra knew this. He took sin seriously, which caused him to view God’s word with the sober attitude it requires.
God grants comfort during this eye-opening loss. The faithful of God gathered around Ezra. They must have suffered much, living there and seeing the sins being committed in front of them. Seeing Ezra’s reaction, they could empathize with him.
5 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, 6 saying: “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. – Ezra 9:5-6
Ezra shows what true repentance looks like. He hadn’t committed the sin, yet he is part of the family who had. His brethren committed a great wrong against God, and Ezra, casting himself before God, is ashamed that God’s holy people are rotten straight to the heart. All his time preparing for the journey to Jerusalem, and along the dangerous route there, Ezra looked forward to his return as a man approaches a glittering, golden fortress on a high hill–a fortress of God’s precious ones in which he claimed citizenship. Now, at the culmination of that triumphal reentry, he finds the precious ones themselves corrupted and brazenly unrepentant for their sins. What a blow to his heart! He views himself through God’s displeasure and is overcome with shame.
Ezra’s understanding of true obedience to God and his penitent shame should remain framed in the era of time in which he lived. He did not know the purpose for the command not to intermarry. From the other side of the cross, we, today, can see the necessity for such a law. His faithfulness is made greater in that he followed a command without knowing its full purpose. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve spoken with souls who have persuaded themselves that not knowing the purpose for a command means they can interpret the command as less essential to follow. God’s rules have purpose, whether I understand that purpose or not. When God says not to conform to the things of the world, when God says to be a separate people, the faithful obey. In fact, it is presumptuous and rebellious of God’s daughter to decide not to follow Him because she does not understand the reasons behind the rule. That lack of understanding should be the impetus that directs me to put my faith in Him, for He knows the reasons.
Ezra didn’t need to be told all the reasons to keep God’s word. He had the most important reason, and he records it over and over. His words, “my God” and “our God,” recorded 20 times in the book of Ezra alone describes the place Jehovah held in the heart of this devoted servant. He was God’s own possession, and that was all the reason needed. Jehovah cannot be the God of me if I do not obey Him. This is expressed throughout the history of the Old Testament: Jehovah cannot be the God of a people who do not obey Him.
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