The Sons of Pashur - Ezra 10:22

In the book of Ezra, Ezra began to name the offspring of the children of Israel who put away their strange wives by listing, “the sons of Immer; Hanani and Zebadiah; the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah”, and in chapter ten and verse twenty-two of Ezra, Ezra added “the sons of Pashur”, where we read,

And of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

The verse reads, “And of the sons of Pashur;” Ezra began with the words, “and of the sons” or “and pertaining to the male offspring and progeny” “of Pashur” or “belonging to Pashur whose name means freedom”. Ezra added the male offspring of “Pashur” to the list of men who separated from their pagan foreign wives. 

The verse continues, “Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah.” Ezra added the word, “Elioenai”whose name means “unto Jehovah are my eyes”, “Maaseiah” or “work of Jehovah”, “Ishmael” which means “God will hear”, “Nethaneel” or “given of God”, “Jozabad” whose name means “Jehovah has endowed”, “and Elasah” or “God has made”. Ezra shared how the men whose names mean, “unto Jehovah are my eyes, work of Jehovah, God will hear, given of God, Jehovah has endowed and God has made” were among the men who separated from their pagan wives.

When we consider the words in this verse, we learn through Ezra about another group of men who intermarried with foreign women and separated from them in obedience to his directive. One by one these men were doing as God said, and when we yield to God's Son Jesus who died on the cross for our sins, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and put within us a willingness to be obedient to God's direction for our lives. 

Next time Ezra shares about, “the Levites”, 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".