Ezra 10:6

6 Then Ezra got up from before the house of God and went into the room of Jehohanan, the son of Eliashib; but when he came there, he took no food or drink, for he was sorrowing for the sin of those who had come back.

Ezra 10:6 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 10:6

Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God
Departed from thence:

and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib;
who was of the family of the high priest. Eliashib was grandson of Joshua the high priest, and succeeded his father Joiakim as such; but though Johanan was never high priest, being a younger son, however he was a person of note, and had a chamber in the temple, whither Ezra went, either to advise with the princes and elders in it, ( Ezra 10:8 ) or to refresh himself with food:

and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water;
or rather "not yet had he ate bread" ^F15, as some render it; that is, not till he came thither, from the time he first heard of the evil the people had committed; which very probably was early in the morning, and it was now evening:

for he mourned for the transgression of them that had been carried
away;
into captivity, but were now returned from it, and it grieved him the more, that, after such kindness shown them, they should be guilty of such an evil.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F15 (lka al) "nondum comederat", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Ezra 10:6 In-Context

4 Up, now! for this is your business, and we are with you; take heart and do it.

5 Then Ezra got up, and made the chiefs of the priests and the Levites and all Israel take an oath that they would do this. So they took an oath.

6 Then Ezra got up from before the house of God and went into the room of Jehohanan, the son of Eliashib; but when he came there, he took no food or drink, for he was sorrowing for the sin of those who had come back.

7 And they made a public statement through all Judah and Jerusalem, to all those who had come back, that they were to come together to Jerusalem;

8 And that if anyone did not come before three days were past, as ordered by the rulers and the responsible men, all his goods would be put under the curse, and he himself would be cut off from the meeting of the people who had come back.