In the book of Ezra, Ezra said, “Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, You have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel. Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As you have said, so must we do. But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing”, and in chapter ten and verse fourteen of Ezra, Ezra said, “let now our rulers of all the congregation stand”, where we read,
Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.
The verse reads, “Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, ...” Ezra began with the words, “let now our rulers” or “allow and permit each, every, the whole and everyone of our, the people of Israel's, princes, leaders, chieftains and officials” “of all the congregation” or “pertaining to each, every, the whole and everyone of the people who were assembled, gathered and collected together” “stand” which means “arise, remain and endure”, “and let all them which have taken strange wives” or “and allow and permit each, every, the whole and everyone of the men who have married pagan foreign female spouses” “in our cities”which means “within our dwelling places, villages and towns” “come at appointed times” or “arise and appear at fixed and particular moments”. Ezra called upon all the leaders belonging to the assembly of the people of Israel to arise, and allow every one of them who have married pagan foreign women within their habitations and towns to arrive at a particular time period.
The verse continues, “... and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.” Ezra added the words, “and with them” which means “and accompanying and alongside them, the men who married strange wives” “the elders of every city” or “belonging to each, all, the whole and everyone of the towns, villages and habitations”, “and the judges thereof” which means “and the governors, law-givers and discriminating ones”, “until the fierce wrath” or “till the time the heated, burning and sore displeasure” “of our God”which means “belonging to our, the people of Israel's, Supreme Deity” “for this matter” or “on behalf of this, the current event and situation” “be turned from us” which means “exist as separate and apart from us, the people of Israel”. Ezra said alongside the “rulers” who were to arise there were leaders within all the towns and villages accompanied by the governors, vindicators and punishers who were also to separate from their foreign wives to turn away the sore displeasure of Jehovah God.
When we meditate upon the words in this verse, we learn how Ezra called upon the leaders and officials belonging to the assembled people of Israel to arise, and every one of them who married pagan foreign wives were assigned particular moments when they, their officials and governors would keep coming before him until Jehovah God's anger was “turned away” from them. God wanted the sins of Israel to be removed, and when they repented of their sins, His “wrath” would be “turned away”. This is the same for us. God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for the sins of the whole world, and when we humble ourselves, repent of our sins, and believe and trust in Him as our personal “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and teach us the way to have the wrath of God turned from us.
Next time Ezra shares about those who were, “employed about this matter”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".
No comments:
Post a Comment