(REFLECTIONS ON Ezra 10:1-17)

It is probably difficult for us to understand the problem Israel faced, since our acceptance into the family of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is no longer based on our bloodline, but rather on the Spirit. However, for Israel, being the chosen people of God was directly related to their ancestral heritage.

We may not understand or agree with how Ezra and the Israelites responded to the issue of mixed marriages, but again before Jesus Christ, where being holy and set apart for God was as much a physical act as a symbolic act, Israel needed to act physically in order to receive mercy without the mediator in Jesus Christ that our church has today.

The seemingly extreme response of Ezra and the people of God was because they realized that they had allowed what was not holy into their holy bloodline, infecting it. They realized what they had done, and they didn’t just say sorry and go on doing it, but repented of their sin.

Repentance in the Bible is more than just saying sorry, but turning 180 degrees from our sinful acts and changing our ways. It is walking in a different direction and not continuing on the same path as before. This repentance started with Ezra when he fell on his knees with his hands spread out to the Lord and prayed. 

We see in today’s Scripture that this then led to a large crowd of Israelites gathering around and weeping along with Ezra.

1 While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly.

Who will be the one(s) that will lead the way and kneel before the Lord,
pray, and weep for the people of the Lord, the church, for the EM ministry?

Who will lead the way and cry out to the Lord to touch, heal, and change us? The Lord is asking us today, who will be first to remove the pride, to pray for forgiveness because we have all fallen short of His glory, and turn to Him to save us today just as He saved us the day we believed and trusted in Jesus Christ.

If we are willing to kneel, pray, and weep, then others, men, women, and children, will follow. May today’s Scripture be a call for us to step down from our throne, cry out to the Lord and weep for the church, because it is then and only then that we will see true revival and awakening as the church weeps and repents together in the Lord.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Ezra 10