Ezra 10:8

8 All those who failed to appear within three days, as mandated by the officials and elders, would have all their property taken away. They would be separated from the congregation of the exiles.

Ezra 10:8 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 10:8

And that whosoever would not come within three days
Or at the end of three days, as Jarchi, this was the space of time allowed, and which was decided upon for the quick dispatch of this affair, to prevent any schemes that might be formed to obstruct it, and lest those who had agreed to it, and promised to assist in it, should repent and go from their word:

according to the counsel of the princes, and of the elders;
for though Ezra had a commission at large from the king of Persia, to inquire into and reform all abuses, he chose not to act of himself, but to have the opinion and consent of the senate of the nation; this he prudently did to avoid their envy, and that he might have less opposition, and better success:

his substance should be forfeited;
or "devoted" F16 to sacred uses, to be put into the treasury of the temple, and used in the service of it, and therefore never to be returned:

and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been
carried away;
into captivity, but now returned from it; that is, should be excommunicated from them as a church, and be no more reckoned of the body politic, or a freeman of Israel, and so deprived of all privileges both in church and state.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 (Mrxy) "anathema erit [vel] fore", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "devoveretur", Michaelis.

Ezra 10:8 In-Context

6 Then Ezra got up from the area in front of God's house and went to the room of Jehohanan, Eliashib's son, where he spent the night. He didn't eat food or drink water, for he was mourning because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles.
7 An order was then circulated throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the returned exiles should gather in Jerusalem.
8 All those who failed to appear within three days, as mandated by the officials and elders, would have all their property taken away. They would be separated from the congregation of the exiles.
9 So within three days, all the people of Judah and Benjamin gathered in Jerusalem. It was the twentieth day of the ninth month. All of the people sat in the area in front of God's house, trembling because of this order and because of the heavy rain.
10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have been unfaithful by marrying foreign women and adding to Israel's guilt.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible