Repentance Is The Only Remedy

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Introduction

The bad guys in Andrew Peterson’s novel, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, are the nasty Fangs of Dang. Dang is an awful place, seems accursed, and Peterson seems to be using it as a euphemism for a place that is under judgment. These Fangs from this place called Dang are described as follows:

The Fangs walked about like humans, and in fact they looked exactly like humans, except for the greenish scales that covered their bodies and the lizard-like snout and the two long, venomous fangs that jutted downward from their snarling mouths. Also, they had tails. (On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, 3)

The Fangs stink—literally. They eat molding, decaying food. They make everything around them filthy. And they are murderous and hateful. In the night they steal children from their parents and make the children slaves, or worse. The Fangs of Dang are awful killers. In the story Peterson is telling, the Fangs are out to capture the children who somehow survived the destruction of the Shining Isle of Anniera.

As they seek to escape the awful Fangs, these children are constantly calling on the Maker for help and relying on Him. The Fangs show no regard for this Maker.

Need

What we need to understand as we approach Ezra 9-10 is that an Israelite marrying a Canaanite would be like one of the children from the Shining Isle marrying a Fang of Dang. Unless that Fang is converted and transformed into a new creature, the only way one of the children would be able to cuddle up to a Fang and marry it would be for the child to forget his identity, forget everything that is good, true, and beautiful, and grow accustomed to the filth, stench, and cruelty of the Fangs.

But the children love what is good and true and beautiful, so the thought of one of them marrying a Fang is not only revolting, it’s impossible! That revulsion is what we need to feel as we look at this text where Israelites have intermarried with the peoples of the land.

Preview

Ezra 9 opens with Ezra learning that the Israelites have intermarried with the idolaters in the land, and he responds to this unfaithfulness with a prayer of repentance, confessing sin (9:1-15). The people join Ezra in confession and repentance in the first part of chapter 10(10:1-17), and the book closes with a list of those who had married foreign women (10:18-44).

Context

The two sections of the book of Ezra parallel one another as follows.

• Ezra 1-6
• Ezra 1—New Exodus, Plundering of Egypt
• Ezra 2—Numbering of the People for the Return from Exile
• Ezra 3-6—External Challenge from the People of the Land
• Ezra 7-10
• Ezra 7—New Exodus, Plundering of Egypt
• Ezra 8—Numbering of the People for the Return from Exile
• Ezra 9-10—Internal Challenge of Intermarriage with the People of the Land

Does this sound familiar? Do you remember when Israel came up out of Egypt and in Numbers Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel (Num 22-24)? Balaam was unable to do that, so he counseled the king of Moab to send immoral women into Israel’s camp (Num 25:1-5; Rev 2:14). That succeeded, and Israel suffered.

That’s not the only instance of this kind of thing. When Israel entered the land, Yahweh fought for them and they succeeded in taking the land (see the book of Joshua). It was only when Israel disobeyed and failed to drive out the Canaanites, and they themselves began to behave like Canaanites, that they began to suffer (see the book of Judges).

Ezra’s Response To Unfaithfulness

Ezra 9:1-15

The people arrived in the land in the fifth month (7:9), which we refer to as August of the year 458 bc. We’re told in 10:9 that the events of chapters 9-10 are set in the ninth month, which would correspond to what we call December of 458 bc (Steinmann, Ezra and Nehemiah, 325). So in August the returnees arrived in Jerusalem and offered the sacrifices seen at the end of chapter 8.

Then Ezra no doubt set himself to the work given him by Artaxerxes: appointing magistrates and judges who knew the law and teaching everyone who did not know the law (7:25). We know this is what he did because he has told us that he “had determined in his heart to study the law of the Lord, obey it, and teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel” (7:10).

The Word of God exposes sin. Look at Ezra 9:1-2:

The listing of these nations should sound familiar since the Pentateuch repeatedly forbids intermarriage with these peoples (Exod 34:11-16; Deut 7:1-4; 20:16-18). The explicit reason given for the command not to intermarry with them is that these people prostitute themselves with their gods, and they will lead Israel to do the same (Exod 34:15-16; Deut 7:3-4; 20:18).

Notice that Ezra didn’t raise this issue. Ezra was teaching the Bible, and the officials came to him to confess sin. The fact that they recite the nations in a way that is reminiscent of the teaching of Torah shows that they have come to know the Torah. Their sin has been exposed by the light of God’s law.

84The command not to intermarry with non-Israelites is not racism. Moses married a Midianite woman (Exod 2:16-22). Boaz married Ruth the Mobitess (Ruth 4). But in these cases Moses and Boaz remained faithful to Yahweh, and Zipporah and Ruth converted to the worship of Yahweh. That has not happened here, as we see from the phrases “have not separated themselves” and “detestable practices” in Ezra 9:1. Then verse 2 says “the holy seed has become mixed” and calls the intermarrying “unfaithfulness.” So the problem with intermarriage is not ethnicity but religion. These foreigners have not converted to the worship of Yahweh, which means they have not been transformed by knowing His revelation of Himself in His Word. So in order for Israelites to marry them, these Israelites must have forgotten their identity and grown accustomed to the abominations practiced by the inhabitants of the land. Look down at verse 14 where Ezra speaks of Israel intermarrying “with the peoples who commit these detestable practices.”

The reference to the “holy seed” there in verse 2 alludes to the important seed theme in the Old Testament. From this holy seed will come the seed of the woman who will crush the serpent’s head (see Hamilton, “The Skull Crushing Seed of the Woman” and “The Seed of the Woman and the Blessing of Abraham”). Mixing the seeds shows no regard for that hope and endangers the fulfillment of the promise.

The returnees of Israel have endangered the promise so that they can cuddle up with snakes. They have forsaken Yahweh for idolatrous spouses.

Let’s ask the Lord to open our eyes to the horror of this sin, and let’s ask Him to cause us to feel the same horror when we are tempted by things that would lead us away from the Lord. If we indulge ourselves in the same pleasures the Canaanites relish, we will become like them.

We see Ezra’s appropriate response in verse 3, “When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and robe, pulled out some of the hair from my head and beard, and sat down devastated.” Ezra responds this way because of the exchange that these Israelites who married idolaters have made. There is no greater travesty than the choice to walk away from God so you can embrace a sinful human: to forsake the Almighty for one of His creatures who turns you against Him, who cannot save you from His judgment, and who can never replace Him as God. God is the great treasure, and sin is the great bankruptcy. To disobey in this way is worse than turning down clean water so that you may drink from a filthy toilet. It is repulsive.

85The reason this is repulsive is because of the lies the idolaters believe and because of the abominable behaviors those lies validate. These idolaters deny that Yahweh is the one true and living God, Creator of heaven and earth, who has given instructions regarding morality that protect and promote abundant life. Instead, these idolaters attribute what God has done to demons masquerading as attractive deities, who enslave their followers with cords of sin and yoke them with destructive appetites. This denies God the glory He deserves, gives that glory to those who don’t deserve it, and ruins the lives of those who make this awful exchange. Ezra’s reaction shows that he understands and feels these realities.

Others who care about God join Ezra in verse 4, and then the rest of chapter 9 consists of what he prayed. Notice the description of those who care about God in verse 4: “Everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me, because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles, while I sat devastated until the evening offering.” I do not understand those who claim to know God but take a dismissive attitude toward the Bible. The people described in verse 4 tremble at the words of God because they know God and believe His words. They know that God keeps His word. They know what God has said He will do if His words are disregarded. They know God’s words have been disregarded. So they tremble because they know God. Apart from God’s Word, we cannot know Him.

Let me invite you to consider your reaction to this passage. Do you side with Ezra and feel dismay that makes you want to throw yourself on your knees and beg God for mercy in response to the faithlessness of Israel? Or do you think to yourself They really didn’t do anything that bad. It’s just a marriage to a non-Israelite. Your response to Israel’s sin will reveal what you think about God. If you love God, and if God is God to you, you will join with Ezra. If God doesn’t matter so much to you, and if His Word is of little concern to you, you won’t see this as a very big deal.

Ezra begins to pray in verses 5-7, and he starts by confessing sin:

Have you ever heard someone talk about sin and gotten the sense that they’re addressing the sins of other people and not acknowledging their own? You don’t get that sense from Ezra. Look at how he starts in the first person singular, “I got up ... my God,” but then switches to the first person plural, “our iniquities.” Ezra seems to recognize that though he has not married a Canaanite, he is just as guilty before God as anyone else. No smug self-righteousness here. Indignation about sin, yes. Recognition of how devastating sin is, yes. But when Ezra prays this way you know that he is not exalting himself over those who have sinned.

We could all say these words, if we would only recognize that they are true about us. All of us have done things that should make us ashamed and make us blush to lift our faces to God. Iniquity has risen over all our heads, and we have guilt piled high to the heavens. What Ezra says in 9:7 about the fathers points to the patriarchs of Israel, and it’s even more true of those of us whose ancestors do not descend from Israel. Israel experienced the devastating effects of sin, as described in the second half of verse 7, and while our sins may not have led to captivity and plundering, they have caused pain and brought shame.

Having confessed sin, Ezra confesses God’s faithfulness in verses 8-9:

Ezra acknowledges that God has shown grace to Israel in their continued existence. They are a remnant indeed. Of the 600, 000 men who came out of Egypt, some 50, 000 remain to return from exile. But God granted them favor and enabled their return. Ezra stresses that God did not forsake His people and that He has shown steadfast love to them in allowing them to rebuild the temple and renew the worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem. The term rendered “wall” in verse 9 is not the same word used to describe the wall rebuilt in the book of Nehemiah, so this statement does not necessarily reflect awareness of the wall Nehemiah would87 rebuild, a project that would be undertaken roughly 13 years after the events described in chapters 9-10.

Let me encourage you to learn from what Ezra does here. The sin of his people is brought to his attention, in response to which he confesses his own sin and the sin of the people, and he rehearses the goodness of God. Notice how Ezra’s focus shifts from the faithlessness of the people to the faithfulness of God. When we feel terrible about our sin, we should confess it, then look to God. Look to Christ and celebrate His mercy and faithfulness to you. Proclaim His sufficiency. Worship and trust Him.

Having confessed sin in verses 6-7 and celebrated God’s faithfulness in 8-9, in 10-15 Ezra rehearses exactly what God had commanded, exactly how Israel transgressed, and exactly what is at stake if they do not repent. What Ezra says in verses 10-15 prepares the way for the people to repent.

Ezra pulls language from a number of different passages in verses 10-12,7 and the composite nature of the quotation leaves the impression that many biblical voices testify to the truth that Ezra here asserts:

Note the reference to “the prophets.” That language is pulled from a wide variety of texts, buttressing the idea that this is something on which the prophets agree. The Israelites have done exactly what God told them not to do. They have no righteousness to plead, and they have no excuses to make; there is nothing they can say to defend themselves.

In verses 13-15 Ezra confesses the way that God punished Israel in the past and confesses that God’s righteousness will inevitably result in punishment for sin:

As Ezra makes plain here, the very survival of Israel is at risk. Ezra knows that Yahweh does not owe mercy, and he knows that Yahweh will uphold justice. He knows that Israel is guilty. In verses 10-12, Ezra says exactly what Israel has done, and in verses 13-15 he points to the way that God has punished Israel for this kind of thing in the past. He is weeping and praying now because he does not want God to finish the job of judging Israel completely now that they have sinned the same way again.

I wonder if you identify with Israel at this point. You should! We all should. We are guilty, and God is in the right. We can make no claims on God’s mercy. We have no righteousness to plead before Him. It would take an eternity to pay for all the wrong we have done. But while we were yet sinners, God sent Jesus at the right time to die for the ungodly (Rom 5:8). Do you know that God sent Jesus into the world to save sinners (1 Tim 1:15)? Do you trust in Jesus? If not, what hope do you have?

The People’s Response To Unfaithfulness

Ezra 10:1-17

We saw in chapter 7 that Ezra set out to change the world by studying the Bible. Now we have seen in chapter 9 that once the Bible has exposed Israel’s sin, Ezra sets out to bring Israel to repentance by praying and confessing sin before God. Notice that all Ezra does here is pray, and we read in 10:1,

The fact that the people are weeping bitterly seems to indicate that they share Ezra’s priorities and feel the revulsion he feels at what has been done. This is confirmed from what we see in verse 2:

This is in keeping with the other indications in this chapter that a renewed study of the Bible has brought this sin to light. Ezra’s prayer at the end of chapter 9 laid the foundation for repentance as he recited the prohibitions and confessed the transgressions in 9:10-12, and the acknowledgment that Yahweh “punished us less than our sins deserve” in 9:13 seems to inform the final words of 10:2:

God has declared Himself to be merciful and gracious, so there is always hope for those who will turn away from sin, which is exactly what Shecaniah is going to say in verse 3:

Shecaniah proposes a solemn covenant to make a full repentance. This is no partial measure. He calls for a complete separation. No compromise. No provision made for keeping the idolatrous wives they already have with a promise to take no additional ones. No, the practice of intermarriage will stop and the existing idolaters will be excluded from the community. Notice that Shecaniah indicates that this is Ezra’s counsel, along with those who care about the Bible, and he calls for the putting away of the idolatrous wives to be done in accordance with the Torah of Moses. They are bringing their lives into line with the Bible.

Is this what repentance looks like in your life? Do you make a frank and full confession, with sincere sorrow for sin in full awareness of God’s justice and His mercy, followed by a clean break with the sin you have committed?

Did you notice that neither Ezra nor Shecaniah offered explanations as to why Israel fell into this sin? Did you notice that they didn’t say anything that would excuse Israel’s guilt or seek to make the crime less severe? No excuses, no explanations, and no consideration of particular circumstances. Did you notice that they fully acknowledge human responsibility for sin? What I mean is that they didn’t treat this as though90 it wasn’t sin but was merely symptomatic of The Attraction to Canaanite Idolaters Disorder.

Is this what repentance looks like for you? This is what repentance looks like for people who know God. People who know God understand that God is just and God is merciful. God is not merciful because we can talk Him into being merciful by explaining away our behavior. No, God is merciful because He is merciful, and He shows mercy to whomever He pleases. So we come with full and frank confessions, and we hope for mercy because we know God.

Look at what Shecaniah says to Ezra in verse 4: “Arise, for the matter is upon you, and we are with you. Be strong and act” (my trans.). Everyone has sinned. Believers confess their sins and experience God’s mercy. If you are an unbeliever, I call you to heed this word from Shecaniah. Repentance is your task. You have sinned, and you must repent. We who are believers will be with you, but you must be strong and act.

Shecaniah, of course, is calling Ezra to be strong and make the covenant he has articulated in verse 3, and we see that Ezra does just that in verse 5:

The priests, Levites, and all Israel have to take the oath because, as we saw in 9:1, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites” have all committed the sin.

In 10:6-8 we see how serious Ezra and the others are about following through. Ezra fasts about the situation in verse 6. The proclamation for all to gather is described in verse 7, and the consequence for not appearing within three days is stated in verse 8.

Are you harboring sin in your life, or are you repenting and following through on your repentance the way Ezra and Israel do here? Maybe your sin is one of hopelessness and despair. You need to repent, and you should follow through in your repentance by memorizing and meditating on Scripture. Are you repenting of your use of pornography on the internet? Follow through on your repentance by cutting off your access to it with a program like Covenant Eyes. Are you repenting of laziness and sloth? Follow through on your repentance by communicating your desire to be more disciplined to a friend who will pray for you, and 91figure out a course of action to be a better steward of the time God has given you.

The people appear in verse 9, and this would be December, so as it rains the people tremble from the cold and wet as well as from the matter of their sin. Ezra denounces their sin in verse 10 and calls them to confess and repent in verse 11. They agree to do so in verse 12, but ask for time to accomplish the great task in verses 13-14, with the leaders standing for the rest of the people. The opposition in verse 15 is not explained.

The sin is addressed in verses 16-17, and it took three months to work through all the cases. One year after his departure from Babylon, seven months after arriving in Jerusalem (cf. 7:9), they have dealt with all the men who married foreign women.

Those Who Married Foreign Women

Ezra 10:18-44

Those who married foreign women are listed. First are the priests in verses 18-22, then the Levites in verse 23, the singers in verse 24, and all Israel in verses 25-43. The book ends with the sad note that some of these women had even borne children.

This account illustrates the way that one’s devotion to Yahweh must take precedence over even one’s wife and offspring. If your children are more important to you than God, you are an idolater. If your spouse is more important to you than God, you are an idolater. You have exchanged the Creator for a creature.

I would assume that the foreign women willing to identify with Israel and worship Yahweh would not be put away. The text does not address that circumstance, though 6:21 spoke of those non-Israelites who joined the returnees by separating from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land celebrating the Passover. Here Ezra merely notes that the foreign wives who practice abominations are put away.

Look at how abruptly the book of Ezra ends. The author does not reflect on what he has described. He shows us the scene, and he concludes. In part this may be due to the fact that in the ancient world Ezra and Nehemiah were treated as one book. So it may be that Ezra concluded his work, and then sometime later he was involved in putting his work together with what Nehemiah had written. If this is the case, he 92might not have seen Ezra 10:44 as the final word, since Nehemiah 1:1 would be the next. Either way, this episode ends abruptly.

What matters is that here the people repented. Have you repented?

Conclusion

And so we come to the end of the book of Ezra. The book seems to indicate that the greatest threat facing the returned community is not the one that comes from the outside, detailed in chapters 1-6. Rather, the greatest threat to Israel is the one that comes from her own sin. We know this to be true in our own experience as well, don’t we? We can do our best against the external opposition that we face, and the Bible teaches that God will accomplish all His purposes. Even if we are slain by those who oppose the gospel, God triumphs and we will be raised and God will get glory as we die the honored death of the martyr. Jesus taught His disciples not to fear those who could only kill the body, but to fear the One who could cast both soul and body into hell (Matt 10:28).

Our greatest challenges are not those that come from the outside. The greatest challenge we face is the challenge to be faithful to God. Ezra teaches that God can overcome every external difficulty and that God keeps His promises. But God’s people who are unfaithful to Him bring shame, disgrace, and pain down on their own heads. O, how much better to die a martyr than to live as a traitor to the living God and His saving gospel! Ezra also teaches that when God’s people fail to be faithful, they should respond in repentance, believing that God will keep His word, and hoping that He will again show mercy. Be encouraged by the repentance of even David, even Peter, who though shamed by their sin, were saved by faith and repented of sin to live for God’s glory.

These themes are well illustrated in Andrew Peterson’s On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. When the external enemy, a Fang of Dang, is killed, the snake-man’s body almost immediately turns to dust and ashes, and becomes like chaff, which the wind drives away. The real challenge the children face is to overcome the more pernicious internal enemies by being faithful to each other, loving one another, and trusting the Maker.

Reflect and Discuss

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1. Do you think that Ezra over-reacted to the problem of intermarriage? How would you respond to someone who labeled Ezra’s reaction racial prejudice?
2. How do you think you could develop the kind of hatred for sin that results in pulling out your hair and sitting in shock and outrage?
3. Due to his awareness of the seriousness of his sin, Ezra was ashamed to even look toward God (9:6). Do you sometimes feel this way, or do you have a tendency to excuse your behavior?
4. Are you able to recognize and admit that, as Ezra puts it in verses 6 and 13, your guilt is infinitely serious and God has punished you less than you deserve?
5. Ezra moves from the confession of sin to affirmations of God’s faithfulness. Do you have a tendency to wallow in despair, or can you grasp that Jesus is such a great Savior that no sin can undo the salvation He has accomplished?
6. How does a better appreciation of the seriousness of sin help you to appreciate the magnificence of salvation in Christ? Does it encourage you to serve Him?
7. Are there people in your life who tremble at God’s Word with you (see 9:4; 10:3)?
8. What keeps you from making the kind of clean break with sin the Israelites did when they put away the foreign women?
9. What steps do you need to take to separate yourself from everything that will entice you to idolatry? Are you prepared to own this as your task, join with those who will support you in it, and be strong and do it (see 10:4)? Explain.
10. What does the ending of the book of Ezra communicate about the degree to which some went to carry through on their commitment to repent?