Ezra 10 · a question people ask
"To put away all the wives and those who are born of them" (10:3). How do Christians read what was done?
The chapter tells it in its own words. Shecaniah says, "We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land" (10:2), and proposes, "let’s make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and those who are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law" (10:3). Ezra makes the leaders "and all Israel to swear that they would do according to this word" (10:5). Ezra the priest tells the assembly, "Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women" (10:11), and they answer, "We must do as you have said concerning us" (10:12); Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah "stood up against this", and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite "helped them" (10:15). Of the sons of Jeshua the chapter says, "They gave their hand that they would put away their wives" (10:19), and the book ends, "All these had taken foreign wives. Some of them had wives by whom they had children" (10:44). The book doesn't say what became of the wives and children, and these notes don't guess. Ruth 1's honest question (Ruth 1:16) already sets the Law's word on Moab (Deuteronomy 23:3) beside Ruth. Christians read Ezra 10 in two main ways, each resting on its verses, and these notes apply neither to anyone's marriage today. Both agree that the Law said, "You shall not make marriages with them" (Deuteronomy 7:3), and gave its reason, "For that would turn away your sons from following me, that they may serve other gods" (Deuteronomy 7:4); that the confession "We have trespassed against our God" (10:2) was the people's own; and that the chapter begins with prayer, confession and weeping before God's house (10:1).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Faithfulness to the law, as the chapter tells it
Those who read it this way take the chapter's speakers at their word. Shecaniah calls it a covenant "with our God" and says, "Let it be done according to the law" (10:3). Ezra the priest calls it confession and doing God's pleasure: "make confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers and do his pleasure. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women" (10:11), and the whole assembly answers, "We must do as you have said concerning us" (10:12). The princes' report said the people had not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, "following their abominations" (Ezra 9:1), and the Law's reason for forbidding such marriages was "For that would turn away your sons from following me, that they may serve other gods" (Deuteronomy 7:4). They note that the book adds no word of its own against what was done. On this reading, Ezra 10 is the people's faithful answer to the law in their own covenant situation, and the chapter presents it as right.
Ezra 10:3 · Ezra 10:11-12 · Ezra 9:1 · Deuteronomy 7:3-4
A record of that moment, read beside other Scripture
Those who read it this way take the chapter as a true record of what the people swore and did, and read it beside other Scripture on marriage and on those who joined Israel. They note that Deuteronomy 7 forbids making the marriages, "You shall not make marriages with them" (Deuteronomy 7:3), and doesn't say what is to be done with marriages already made; that the proposal is Shecaniah's, "according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God" (10:3), and the chapter doesn't quote the LORD speaking; and that Deuteronomy's reason is turning away from the LORD (Deuteronomy 7:4), while Ezra's own book tells of the Passover eaten by "all who had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land to seek the LORD, the God of Israel" (Ezra 6:21). They set beside it Ruth, one of "the women of Moab" (Ruth 1:4), who said, "Your people will be my people, and your God my God" (Ruth 1:16), and whom Matthew names in Jesus' line: "Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth" (Matthew 1:5); Malachi's "the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth" (Malachi 2:14); and Paul's word "to the rest", "if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she is content to live with him, let him not leave her" (1 Corinthians 7:12). On this reading, Ezra 10 records what that assembly did at that moment, and the rest of Scripture is weighed before any pattern is drawn from it.
Deuteronomy 7:3-4 · Ezra 10:3 · Ezra 6:21 · Ruth 1:4 · Ruth 1:16 · Matthew 1:5 · Malachi 2:14 · 1 Corinthians 7:12
The verses
“Then Ezra arose, and made the chiefs of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel to swear that they would do according to this word. So they swore.”
“Now therefore make confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers and do his pleasure. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women.” Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “We must do as you have said concerning us.”
“Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this; and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.”
“They gave their hand that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt.”