The closing chapters of Ezra focus on the dilemma of the returning
male Jewish exiles having intermarried with women of the various surrounding
nations: Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites,
Egyptians, and Amorites (Ezra 9:1). The list is intriguing since it does not
include any Babylonians, the people with whom one would expect the Jews to have
intermarried during their seventy years in captivity. Rather, the list reflects
the traditional Jewish enemies of long-standing. We have read similar lists of
enemies going all the way back to the Torah. Thus, it raises the question
whether this list accurately represents those with whom the Jews actually
intermarried during the exile or post-exilic period.
Ezra’s response is to tear his garments, pull at his hair, and sit
appalled—traditional actions of lament. Then, at the time of the evening
sacrifice, Ezra prays to the Lord about the matter, making confession of the
sins of his people. One interesting thing to note is that God does not answer
Ezra directly, nor does God tell Ezra what to do. Rather, one of the leaders
among the Jewish people, Shecaniah, suggests that those who have intermarried
with non-Israelites should “send away” their foreign wives and their children.
In response to this, Ezra spends further time in prayer and fasting and calls
an assembly of all Judah and Benjamin. At the assembly, Ezra addresses the
people and commands them to make confession and “separate yourselves from the
peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” (Ezra 10:11)
The account in the book of Ezra never reveals the number of foreign
wives who are “sent away”. The names of some of the Jews who gave up their
foreign wives are mentioned. Then the book simply ends by saying, “All these
had married foreign women, and they sent them away with their children.” (Ezra
10:44)
Certainly, the previous legislation in the Bible is quite clear that
the Israelites were not allowed to marry foreign women, lest those women lead
them astray into false worship of their foreign gods. Solomon was a dramatic
example of one who did just this. Yet, Solomon was never commanded by any
prophet to give up his foreign wives. Perhaps, that would have been a step too
far to take, even for a powerful prophet in Israel.
However, what is most startling in this instance is that no solution
like this to the problem of foreign wives was ever proposed before this, or
after, so far as I know. The idea that these Jewish men would not only divorce
their foreign wives, en masse, but also give up the care of their children, is
rather appalling. What a contrast this presents to Jesus who said, “It was
because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,
but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his
wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.” (Matthew
19:8-9) Furthermore, Paul allowed for divorce in cases where an unbelieving
spouse would wish to depart from his or her Christian spouse. However, if the
unbelieving spouse wished to remain, Paul said that the believing spouse should
remain married. Moreover, Paul stated that in these cases where a believer was
married to an unbeliever, the children were sanctified by virtue of being related
to a Christian parent. (See 1 Corinthians 7:10 ff.)
This just goes to show, once again, that the Bible presents many
different views on marriage, and even on divorce, not just one.
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