[Chapter 9]

Ezra 9 has been written approximately at 458 BC during the reign of the Persian King Araxerxes.

1. Lead by Faithfulness

Ezra 9:1-2
1 After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, "The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites.
2 They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness."

Ezra gets the message about his people about how they have not kept themselves away from mixing themselves with another race of people. The act of getting their daughters married to the Canaanites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites was treated as an act of unfaithfulness. Marrying those who did not belong to the Lord was an act of infidelity for the people of Israel. Malachi who prophesied about the same time as Ezra's mission, indicates that some Jews had broken their marriages to marry daughters of a foreign God (Malachi 2:10-16)

Brothers / Sisters are you getting tempted to get married outside the church? May be it's your old girlfriend or boyfriend, may be its an office colleague or a college mate? It's sinful to get married outside our Church which is the holy race that Ezra has mentioned.

2. Plead when in distress

Ezra 9:3-5
3 When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled.
4 Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of this unfaithfulness of the exiles. And I sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice.
5 Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God

We see Ezra shocked to see his people behave in this manner. He shows it by pulling his hair from his beard and head and tearing his tunic. This was the biblical way of expressing grief or distress (Genesis 37:29,34; Isaiah 36:22; Mathew 26:65).

a. Is that the way we respond when we fall into sin?
b. Is that our response when we see our brothers or sisters sinning?
c. Is that our attitude when we see the world sinning?

a. Very often we get depressed and Satan makes us believe we cannot change.
b. As Galatians 6:1 says when someone is caught in Sin they should restore him gently, if you don't watch yourself you also may be tempted.
c. When we hear the stories of sin in the world does it disgust you or you enjoy hearing them.

When we respond with brokenness there is indignation, earnestness to change, an alarm and a concern. If there isn't, our repentance is worldly and will not bring about a change in our character.

3. Offer with Openness

Ezra 9:6-15
6 and prayed: "O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.
7 From the days of our forefathers until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today.
8 "But now, for a brief moment, the LORD our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage.
9 Though we are slaves, our God has not deserted us in our bondage. He has shown us kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia: He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and he has given us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.
10 "But now, O our God, what can we say after this? For we have disregarded the commands
11 you gave through your servants the prophets when you said: 'The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other.
12 Therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them at any time, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it to your children as an everlasting inheritance.'
13 "What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this.
14 Shall we again break your commands and intermarry with the peoples who commit such detestable practices? Would you not be angry enough with us to destroy us, leaving us no remnant or survivor?
15 O LORD, God of Israel, you are righteous! We are left this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in our guilt, though because of it not one of us can stand in your presence."

Ezra's brokenness is followed by an open hearted prayer. He says I'm ashamed and disgraced. Ezra felt an inner shame before God and an outward humiliation before people for his own sins and the sins of his people.

Are you open with God in your prayers? Jesus was very expressive. In Mark 14:34 Jesus talks about how overwhelming the thought of death was to him.

Ezra continues to pray and in verse 8 encourages God by saying you are gracious, you have given us a firm place and given light to our eyes meaning blessed us with joy and vitality.

Does that describe your prayer life? Is it a passion cry or list of groaning request? Our prayers should be like golden bowls of incense; sweet smelling that raises heaven-wards and fills our father with a lot of joy. God created us to be a pure vessel, not a perfect one. But what impresses God most is our willingness to change and become a more powerful man or woman of God.