A Blossom Bible Podcast
A Blossom Bible Podcast
Ezra 9-10
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Study given Wednesday Night July 24, 2024
All right, right there. Ezra, chapter 9. So every book has its challenges. I don't know if you've found that out. I think there's a controversial part in just about every book of the Bible and you find that spot and you realize what just makes it challenging. This 9 and 10 here is probably the challenging part of the book of Ezra. Now, you'll never find the Bible to contradict or anything like that, but I think it does sometimes take a little digging, a little deeper digging and comparing and contrasting and cross-references. But we'll finish it up here tonight.
Speaker 1:Ezra, chapter 9. It's been a long time since we've been here, but you know Ezra deals with the rebuilding of the temple, kind of the rebuilding of the people as they've come back to the land after captivity. And finally Ezra the namesake, I guess, of the book here is in the story, is in this story and we find in chapter 9 that there's some sin in the camp. I guess you could say let's just read a little bit. We won't read everything tonight, but chapter 9, verse 1. When these things were done, the leaders came to me saying the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands with respect to the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, jebusites, ammonites, moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the leaders and rulers has been foremost in this trespass. So when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, I plucked out some of the hair of my head and beard and sat down astonished. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled to me because of the transgression of those who had been carried away captive, and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. At the evening sacrifice, I arose from my fasting and, having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord, my God, and I said oh, oh, my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has grown up to the heavens. So so here a problem.
Speaker 1:There, the people that have returned. It's been quite a while now since they've been back and they begin to intermarry with the people of the land, all these different people, groups that you see here, very familiar names. They're the same people that Joshua dealt with, that were in the land when Israel originally came into the land. And here the people are kind of getting comfortable again and they're intermarrying and Ezra hears it as a sin and he knows it's a problem. And here we see Ezra prays and just like Daniel you'll remember when Daniel faced the sin of his people, he prayed as well. Great example verse 5. There he fell on his knees, he spread out his hands to heaven and he confessed the sin of the people really as his own. There we see, in verse 6, it said I'm ashamed and humiliated, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads. Our guilt has grown up to the heavens. And Ezra, first off, you know, he just shows that that heart to intercede. He puts himself in the same place as the people. He takes that sin really upon himself, acknowledges it, and he acknowledges that this is not what God had planned for them.
Speaker 1:Skip on over to verse 12. He goes back to the scriptures there. He goes back to Deuteronomy, chapter 7, when he says Now, therefore, do not give your daughters as wives, their sons, nor take their daughters to your sons and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever. So he goes back and he quotes a portion of Deuteronomy, what we know as Deuteronomy chapter 7. But if you turn to Deuteronomy chapter 7, there's a little bit of a continuation there. God explains why he didn't want this to happen. Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 4, says this the reason why you shouldn't do that is for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods. So the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. And so the reason why God didn't want them intermarrying with the people of the land was because they would lead them away from a relationship with God and they'll turn your hearts away from following me.
Speaker 1:God says and we saw that really come down well with the people, of course, but with Solomon. Solomon's like the poster child of that. You remember, solomon had what is it? 700 wives and 300 girlfriends, basically, which, not God's plan, not a good idea. But we read that about Solomon and we go yeah, that doesn't seem like a good idea, but this is what we read about Solomon in this situation. First Kings, 11, verse one. Just listen to this.
Speaker 1:But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as a daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, ammonites, edomites, sidonians, the Hittites from the nations whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel you should not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn your hearts after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love and he had 700 wives, princesses, 300 concubines and wives turned away his heart. For it was so when Solomon was old that his wives turned his heart after other gods and his heart was not loyal to the Lord, his God, as the heart of his father, david. And then we read on.
Speaker 1:For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites, and the list goes on. So we see it real practically here. This goes down with Solomon that he uses these. It was the way kings did it. You know peace treaties really was the real reason why he did this. But it says that these other relationships turned his heart away from the Lord. And when you look at that list, he follows Ashtoreth and you know the Ammonite God and down the list, one that stands out to me is Molech, right and Molech, the abomination of Ammon, this idol. They would sacrifice their children to this idol, molech, and this was common amongst these idols, of course.
Speaker 1:But you know, we have to kind of figure that Solomon, he built shrines for these gods, for these idols, and you know to whatever degree he did that. You look at it and you go like Solomon, wise, you know, given wisdom from God, writes the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and all these things, and yet even Solomon, david's son, he's led away by these relationships and he brings idolatry into Israel and it leads down the road, you know, it leads to the judgment that they had experienced. So you kind of see here, as Ezra looks at this and the people look at it, he goes wait a second. This is the whole reason why we were led into captivity. This is the whole reason why we're rebuilding Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was completely destroyed. It's because we went after these other gods and now we're doing it again. It didn't take any time and we're doing it again, and so you can kind of see why they get so upset about this and and you know they, they decide they want to be separate from these gods and that's a good thing.
Speaker 1:A little historical note the Pharisees are kind of that group of the Pharisees that are born in this time, this time of just. We want to be separate from the world, you know, and that was the problem that they were having. They have not in verse 1 there of chapter 9, they have not separated themselves from the people of the lands. The word Pharisee means separate. So this is where they come about when they say you know what? We got to be careful, we got to have these rules and regulations that make sure that we're separate. And they kind of went off track there, of course. But you can see the heart they're like we don't want to go back in captivity again, we don't want to be judged again. So it leads us to chapter 10.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of good stuff in chapter nine, but chapter 10, this is where the controversy kind of comes in. I think Now, while Ezra was praying and while he was confessing, weeping and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women and children gathered to him from Israel, for the people wept bitterly, very bitterly, and Shechaniah, the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra. We have trespassed against our God. We have taken pagan wives from the people of the land. Yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this. Now, therefore, let us make a covenant, a promise there with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them, according to the advice of my master and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law. So here's what happens then.
Speaker 1:The response in chapter 10 is we're going to leave these families and we're going to separate from these wives. We want to be holy, no matter what the cost is, no matter what it takes. So, essentially, they were going to divorce their wives and and you, you see the intention, like you know, we want to stay holy. So we're going to do whatever it takes If it means separating from these families we should have never been a part of. We'll do that and and there's a lot of controversy about this, because it kind of just distinctly goes against God's heart in our minds, you know, we maybe remember a passage there from the book of Malachi, which came after this in history, where God says I hate divorce.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's one of those verses that sometimes in the church we throw around, maybe a little bit too harshly, and you know people who have been through it. You know it just completely has it's heartless and destroys them. But God says there in Malachi I hate divorce. Now, possibly the reason why he said that was because the people were doing this, they were just leaving their families. You know, divorce was rampant for other reasons too, but they were just leaving families and separating. And perhaps God was saying no, no, I didn't say to do that. Because nowhere do we read here that God said now leave your families, now do this. Sometimes you know there's consequences to decisions that are made. Maybe they're not godly decisions or right decisions, but there's consequences and you live through it. But you know God didn't necessarily say I want you to leave your kids, leave your family, send them off. And that's that.
Speaker 1:Because we do read Paul's encouragement to the people in the New Testament and I don't want to take too long on this. But Paul writes about what happens if you find yourself in the church. You know somebody, a man or woman, gets saved and their spouse is not saved. What do you do? You can read it later, perhaps 1 Corinthians 7, verse 12. Paul says this if a brother has a wife who does not believe and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Otherwise your children will be unclean, but now they are holy. But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart. A brother, a sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. Then he says in verse 16 just check this, this out. This is like the New Testament principle of this. For how do you know, o wife, whether you will save your husband? How do you know, o husband, whether you will save your wife?
Speaker 1:So Paul here kind of addresses this idea what if there's a couple and it ends up one is a Christian and one does not believe? Should they separate because they're of two different faiths or non-faiths? And he says no, not if they're willing to stay. You don't know what kind of effect you might have on the other person. So we kind of look at this and we go. God didn't really say that they should leave their families. They kind of came up with that the heart in the New Testament there is you never know your faith may affect the person that you're married to. Peter says something real similar. He says wives likewise be submissive to your own husbands. That even if some do not obey the word, they, without the word, might be won by the conduct of their wives. And so you kind of look at that heart, god's heart, in that situation. So something to kind of piece together in this real quick is that just because characters or people in the Bible history do something doesn't mean that it's God's heart? You can't always bank on that fact.
Speaker 1:Case in point lots of people in the Old Testament had more than one wife. Just because Jacob had more than one wife doesn't mean that having more than one wife is a godly thing to do just because it's in the Bible. Maybe you didn't need that tonight, but there it is. And so that's a controversy here. You know, should they have divorced their wife? Should they have left their family? I think not, not necessarily. I think probably no. But they did, and you know it was a painful consequence to a bad idea. So what do we get from this. You know, the lesson in this is not you may have to, you know, make up for a bad decision made and do something painful like that. I don't think that's the message here. The remedy is don't get in that situation to begin with. To begin with, that's. I think the lesson of this is that they should have never intermarried with those surrounding idolatrous people in the first place. But that's a New Testament thing as well, and this is where I slow down for just a second and say that this is an extremely important thing for all of us to have down what the Bible says about this.
Speaker 1:Let's turn and finish our time here. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 6. Very important that we check this out. So the application here tonight is not, if you find yourself in a bad situation, you may have to do something ugly to get out of it. The application is don't get in the ugly situation to begin with. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. 2 Corinthians 6, 14. So this is Paul and he's talking to a church in a place called Corinth. That was a very worldly place, kind of what we would probably think of the Las Vegas of the day, you know just kind of edgy and worldly. And Paul tells them, chapter 6, verse 14, I'm going to read it for reals Um, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
Speaker 1:For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, and what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer, has a believer with an unbeliever? So this is a common verse, especially in youth ministry days. This is a very common verse Don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And you know this has nothing to do with eggs, just so you know it has to do with farm animals Yoked together, they're harnessed together to get a job done. So picture it two oxen, you know, linked together to get a job done.
Speaker 1:And Paul, kind of encode his picture, talks about that as a relationship thing. Don't be bound together in relationship with unbelievers. Now he's not saying don't be friends with unbelievers, don't socialize with unbelievers, because we're meant to be salt and light, we're meant to be a godly influence on people and a witness to people. But here we're talking specifically about close relationships and really the closest relationship that you can get to in life in a marriage sense, in our world we'd probably start it there in the dating sense, you know, don't be unequally yoked believers and unbelievers. And the question is why? And he says why here it's good for us to know, because there's no fellowship. He says what fellowship is? Righteousness with lawlessness? What about light and darkness? What kind of fellowship?
Speaker 1:And we talked about fellowship on Sunday morning. It means this having in common. So what do you really have in common? If you're a believer, what do you really have in common with an unbeliever? And we're not just talking about like, what kind of music you like. You know I like the same kind of music they like. So we have something in common. You know we have a hobby or a sport that we like. This fellowship is deep fellowship of Jesus. It's the kind of fellowship that we experience when we talk to each other about what's going on in our lives and we pray for one another. It's realizing that, although we come from totally different worlds and places in life, we have God in common and we're family.
Speaker 1:And Paul says the problem with being in that ultra close relationship, that intimate relationship with a non-believer is you really don't have fellowship, you shouldn't have fellowship. Now, you can be friendly, but you're not family in that sense and there's no commonality, there's no deep relationship, and it's good to understand that we can have in common with people lots of other stuff, but it's not going to hold us together. You know our love for whatever country music is not going to hold us together in our relationship. You know our love for a sport or something like that is not going to. You know, or even just a like goal in life is not going to hold us together. Only Jesus can hold us together. He holds the world together and he's the only one that can hold a relationship together in that sense. And so Paul warns the people don't be unequally yoked. If you're a believer, now don't be put together in a deep relationship with an unbeliever, because it's not going to mix. And he begs them really. He says just don't do it.
Speaker 1:Now you put that together with our modern idea of how relationships work. You know attraction and you know emotional like draw to a person, you know romance in that sense, and you go. Well, I can't help who I like, but you can, you can. I mean it still continues on, even after you're married, right? After you're married you don't. You know, you guard yourself against being attracted to other people that aren't your spouse, right. You keep yourself away from those kinds of relationships.
Speaker 1:You use the idea of Proverbs 4.23. You guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life. You're careful with it. But the same is true even before you get married, you do decide where your heart goes. Have this written down in your heart Matthew 6.21. Now listen, you got to get this in your heart. Heart, matthew 6, 21. Now listen, you got to get this in your heart.
Speaker 1:For where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. Jesus says so where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. This is almost like a spiritual law, right, where you put your treasure in life, your heart will most definitely go there. So check it out. That means you have to guard your heart as to where you put your treasure, where you put your time right Relationships, wonderful things. But as you put time and invest time in people, your heart will go. As you invest thoughts over someone, it's your choice. I know it can be difficult, but it's your choice. As you invest thoughts, your heart will go. As you invest your emotions, your heart will go. You invest money, conversation notes, whatever it is. You invest anything in someone or something and your heart will go. It's like a spiritual law where your treasure is there, your heart will be also.
Speaker 1:So you have to be careful, right, if we're not going to be unequally yoked, in that sense, with unbelievers. You have to look at it carefully. Um, and I think paul would be begging in this, as as I am begging in this, be careful where your heart goes. And of course, that's true in relationships, that's true in your, your goals in life. Be careful where your heart goes. So Paul says it you be careful, because there's no fellowship in a relationship where you don't have Jesus there. There's can be friendship, but there's no real fellowship. Um, and and Paul says, um, be careful. So so check it out. Uh, you know, I've done youth ministry for a long time and and in that had a lot of experiences and and I've seen a lot of kids say, well, yeah, they're not Christians now, but you know they're coming along, they're really coming along and I can tell that I'm having a good influence on them and it never works that way.
Speaker 1:We're called to evangelize, but evangelistic dating is not biblical. Dating's not biblical anyways, but evangelistic dating it goes against that whole thing of where your treasure is there your heart will be. Also, it is impossible to keep your heart at a distance when you're investing in someone else's life, and I've seen so many people just justify it and say, well, yeah, but this is different. Yeah, but I mean, they're a good person, and all I've seen is absolute pain because there's no fellowship. Here's a place you never go.
Speaker 1:Amos, chapter three, verse three, perfect verse, though. He says this this is God speaking, though, but God shares a principle and he says can two walk together unless they are agreed? And that's kind of what you see and it's a sad thing, as you see it is that two can't walk together unless they're agreed on this most important thing when your life is going, your goals in life, how you raise children one day, how you decide to even stick together through hard times. Two can't walk together unless they're agreed and agreed on this most important thing, and that just makes good sense. But as a Christian we talked about this. What Paul says in Philippians 1.21, to live is Christ. That life should be for us. About what does God want? Life is Jesus. My life should be about. What does God want ultimately, if you find yourself in a relationship with someone who doesn't share that your life should be wanting to go towards Jesus. Their life is going to be going somewhere else and all these things I mean.
Speaker 1:Of course I could share horror stories and just the hurt that I've seen in people's life by not listening to this, but when you look at it, you go. Well, why would God say that? It's not because believers are better than unbelievers. You know, you're too good for them. That's not really it. But God looks at it. And number one he made us, he made marriage, he made relationships and he says he knows you weren't made for that. It's not going to be pretty. He knows you weren't made for that. It's not going to be pretty, it's not going to be sweet, it's going to be painful, it's going to be difficult. You weren't made for that because God made us.
Speaker 1:But then the other thing that we have to remember, I think, all the time, when we read what God says about life and especially things that we maybe go, yeah, I just don't know. Remember this God absolutely loves you more than you could ever imagine. God loves you so much. And here's just to prove it Romans 8, 31,. What shall we say to these things? That God is for us. Who can be against us? He did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not, with him, also freely give us all things?
Speaker 1:And I think the point here is, if God gave us the very best in Jesus, that while we were yet sinners, christ died for us, then why would he hold back something good from us? I mean, not necessarily what we want, because that's not always good, right but why would God hold something good and wonderful back from us if he gave us his very best and his son? But we have to always remember God's heart, that he loves you so much and along these lines and this goes past relationships and stuff like that. But you know, I've had a lot of hurt, a lot of kids, and it's painful to wait and it's painful when you want something and you're not there but saying, well, you know, but if God really loved me, he would give me this and say, no, but God really does love you. We know that's a fact, that's an absolute fact. So why would he withhold what's absolutely best? You're just going to have to trust him on this and that's painful. It's painful to trust over time and wait. But trust God absolutely loves and guard your heart and respect the command. Don't be unequally yoked with an unbeliever and realize that it's absolutely for your best. It's absolutely in the goodness and the grace and the love of God that he says that.
Speaker 1:But you know, we look at the book of Ezra and it kind of does end. Honestly, it ends in a lot of confusion and a lot of hurt. I mean, if you can imagine families being separated and you know all of that. You know a book that definitely had a lot of hope at the beginning, uh, you know, kind of just ends with a lot of flesh at the end and everything. But.
Speaker 1:But you know we all need this in our own lives just to remember to keep ourselves for you totally and completely and to really bank on the fact, god, that we are never going to be let down by you. God, you are so gracious and so loving and so good. You're so good to us. God, help us to trust you with these most important things in our heart. God, I just pray as so many of us here are young, but we all need it that we would just remember to guard our hearts and we would remember that where our treasure is, our heart will be also God. Our heart would be with you. So, god, work these things into our lives and in our hearts. Thank you so much for this time that we had in the book of Ezra. Thank you for who you are. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.