Ezra 9-10
Ezra ends with tough words about intermarriage. In former days, these chapters and the passages Ezra quotes, such as Deuteronomy 7:3-4 (In Ezra 9:12), were used to support bans on interracial marriage. But though it could be said that the ancient Jews were of a different race than the nations around them, the issue wasn’t race, but rather faith.
We have already seen people of different races who have been grafted into God’s people, in spite of race, and because of faith. Ruth was the best example, a Moabite woman, who intermarried with a Jewish man. Her faith not only allowed for a first intermarriage, but a second, as well, when Boaz noticed, redeemed and married her.
The issue in Ezra 9-10 was faith issue. He was appalled at the extent of these intermarriages and said to the people of Judah, “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives…” (Ezra 10:2-3) These are tough words, to be sure, but faith words, not race words. The returning exiles needed to steer clear of the influences of the godless nations surrounding them.
As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” An “unequal” yoke, I’m told, was a yoke worn by two oxen of different ages. The younger, weaker, less-experienced ox would have the smaller side, while the older, stronger more-experienced ox took the larger. The younger ox would learn from and be led by the elder. To be “unequally yoked” with an unbeliever is to put yourself in the smaller yoke-side to be led about and taught by an unbeliever. It wasn’t a good idea in Ezra’s day, nor was it in Paul’s day, nor in ours.
Tomorrow, we begin Nehemiah together. Some call it the best treatise on leadership in the Scriptures!
Pastor Gary
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