Ezra 10 Footnotes

10:3 Though some consider this solution to be too harsh, it is important to understand it in light of the situation. Israel was a political entity as well as a spiritual entity. The intermarriages should be understood from a nationalistic perspective. These intermarriages jeopardized all of Israel. If they resulted in a failure of the people to comply with God’s standards, the entire nation was at risk of suffering God’s judgment once again (9:10-15). Ezra’s solution is unacceptable for the Church today. Since the Church is not a political entity, it is not threatened in the same way if some members intermarry and go astray. While God’s judgment may very well fall on some congregations that allow non-Christian influences to lead them astray, this judgment would not affect all other Christians since the Church is decentralized. Furthermore, the contemporary church benefits from additional guidance on the issue of divorce. Jesus reiterated God’s abhorrence of divorce (Mt 19:4-9), and Paul instructed believers not to divorce unbelieving spouses (1Co 7:10-17).