Ezra 7-10

Today’s passage: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezra%207-10&version=NIV

A good friend of mine grew up in the northwest, but spent 10 of her adult years in Houston. During those 10 years in Texas, she added words to her vocabulary such as ya’ll, and bigole and even lost a little of that northwestern accent. That's because we have a tendency to conform to those around us. That’s why Paul wrote in Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world”. We tend to become like those who surround us. In chapters 9-10, Ezra is distraught over the behavior of the remnant. It had been brought to his attention, that many of the people of Israel had married non-believers. We saw during the Exodus that when the Israelites allowed the pagans into their lives in marriage, they brought with them their pagan worship rituals. When Ezra became aware of this, he immediately began fasting and praying for his people. His authentic repentance on behalf of his people was noticed, and soon he was joined by a large congregation of others who realized their sin. Not only did the people of Israel hear Ezra’s prayer, but God heard Ezra’s prayer. It is evident that God moved in the hearts of his people. That heartfelt, genuine, sincere prayer moved a nation to repentance.

As Christians, we can all participate in prayer for our brothers and sisters. Prayer that God will move in the hearts of ourselves and others to open our eyes to our sins and move us toward action to cleanse our lives of that sin are heard by our mighty and faithful God.

Unfortunately, the choices made after repentance might have seemed like a good idea, but the question is, were they a “God” idea. Don’t misinterpret this passage as an excuse to divorce a non-believer. Nowhere do we read that God condoned the decision for the mass divorce that occurred as a result of their realization of their sin. And Malachi, who was a prophet at the same time period, admonished the Israelites and says that God “hates divorce”. Also, in 1 Corinthians 12-13, Paul’s advice on the matter of divorce of a non-believer is given: “To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.” Furthermore, in 1 Peter 3:1-2 we are reminded that a husband can be won over to Christ by the reverent and chaste actions of his wife.

What’s interesting about this passage is that there wasn’t full support of the “mass divorce” idea. Ezra 10:15 says “Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah, supported by Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite, opposed this.” I have to wonder what kind of solution God would have given Ezra and the others if only they had prayerfully considered the voice of opposition.



Today's post submitted by Kelly Coxe