Day 137. Ezra 8-10

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Ezra in the formation of classical Judaism. His influence upon subsequent Jewish life and thought is enormous. He is not called a "rabbi" in our text, but that is what he surely was--the first to fully deserve that title. All those others throughout the millennia who study the law of Moses and seek to apply it to the situation of their community are his spiritual heirs. In many ways the life of Ezra mirrors that of Moses—though on a less heroic scale. Like Moses, Ezra leads the people through the wilderness, taking the second expedition of returning exiles from captivity to the Promised Land.
In our reading for today we get Ezra's first person account of the trip from Babylon, and what he discovered when he reached Jerusalem. In 8:1-14 we get a list of those who gather at the river Ahava to fast and pray for protection in preparation for the dangerous journey. Ezra declines to ask for an escort of soldiers from the Persian king, and instead places his trust in God. And the LORD does in fact protect returning exiles from "the hand of the enemy and from ambushes along the way" (8:31). And divine protection is indeed needed because, besides their own personal possessions, the expedition brings with them a large quantity of precious vessels—gold, silver, and bronze—for use in the newly rebuilt temple. These vessels are much more valuable that those brought by the first group of returning exiles under leadership Zerubbabel, because this expedition has much greater prestige, owing to stature of the figure of Ezra.
They arrive safely in Jerusalem and deliver the vessels to the temple—"the total was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything is recorded" (8:34). (In the Book of Ezra we have noticed before an emphasis being laid on doing things in good order.) Upon their arrival, the returned exiles offer sacrifices in the temple. Note that the sacrifices they offer are in multiples of twelve, symbolizing that they are offered for the whole people of Israel (8:35), now once more reunited.
After these things are done, however, Ezra discovers to his great dismay that the people of Israel—both clergy and lay—"[have] not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations" (9:1). They have intermarried with the daughters and sons of foreigners—non-Israelites--and therefore "the holy seed has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. "In this faithlessness," Ezra tells us, "the officials and leaders have led the way" (9:2).
When he discovers this Ezra declares himself appalled. The realization prostrates him. And when he appears again "at the evening sacrifice," his prayer reflects his disgust at this mixing and the impurity it has created. Unless this situation is remedied God will destroy his people "without remnant or survivor" (9:14). When God allows the exiles to return to their homeland from Babylon he is in fact giving them a second chance to be his faithful people (9:8), one last opportunity to keep the covenant alive a "new life" (9:9). But faithfulness to the covenant can only be maintained by keeping the race pure. "After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt," Ezra prays, "seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice abominations?" (9:13)
The answer to this rhetorical question is of course "no." Hearing Ezra's prayer the people volunteer to "make a covenant to send away all these wives and children" (10:3). The modern reader, and I include myself this, will find this solution morally horrific. It might be said that these foreign wives represent a danger to the very existence of the biblical religion that gives birth to both Judaism and Christianity. But it is another instance in the long sad history of humankind where principles are elevated above the suffering of human beings. In this case "the foreign wives and children" are sacrificed to the ideal of racial and religious purity, which in my opinion is reprehensible. But that opinion is admittedly a modern one--though it is shared by at least one of the prophets—see Malachi 2:14-16.
In our text Ezra does not give us any insight into the heartache this action may have caused. Purity of race and worship is all that matters. He summons the people, who gather in front of the temple "trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain" (10:9). Ezra announces the decision. Those who have married "foreign women" are told to separate themselves from them (10:11). A few brave souls oppose this, but they are overruled (10:15). We are then given a long list of those who have contracted these unions (10:18-24). And the Book of Ezra ends with the note that "all these had married foreign women, and they sent them away with their children" (10:44). To what fate we are not told; the author must know but does not care enough to inform us.