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Commentary on Ezra 9 verses 5–15
What the meditations of Ezra's heart were, while for some hours he sat down astonished, we may guess by the words of his mouth when at length he spoke with his tongue; and a most pathetic address he here makes to Heaven upon this occasion. Observe,
I. The time when he made this address - at the evening sacrifice, Ezr 9:5. Then (it is likely) devout people used to come into the courts of the temple, to grace the solemnity of the sacrifice and to offer up their own prayers to God in concurrence with it. In their hearing Ezra chose to make this confession, that they might be made duly sensible of the sins of their people, which hitherto they had either not taken notice of or had made light of. Prayer may preach. The sacrifice, and especially the evening sacrifice, was a type of the great propitiation, that blessed Lamb of God which in the evening of the world was to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself, to which we may suppose Ezra had an eye of faith in this penitential address to God; he makes confession with his hand, as it were, upon the head of that great sacrifice, through which we receive the atonement. Certainly Ezra was no stranger to the message which the angel Gabriel had some years ago delivered to Daniel, at the time of the evening sacrifice, and as it were in explication of it, concerning Messiah the Prince (Dan 9:21, Dan 9:24); and perhaps he had regard to that in choosing this time.
II. His preparation for this address. 1. He rose up from his heaviness, and so far shook off the burden of his grief as was necessary to the lifting up of his heart to God. He recovered from his astonishment, got the tumult of his troubled spirits somewhat stilled and his spirit composed for communion with God. 2. He fell upon his knees, put himself into the posture of a penitent humbling himself and a petitioner suing for mercy, in both representing the people for whom he was now an intercessor. 3. He spread out his hands, as one affected with what he was going to say, offering it up unto God, waiting, and reaching out, as it were, with an earnest expectation, to receive a gracious answer. In this he had an eye to God as the Lord, and as his God, a God of power, but a God of grace.
III. The address itself. It is not properly to be called a prayer, for there is not a word of petition in it; but, if we give prayer its full latitude, it is the offering up of pious and devout affections to God, and very devout, very pious, are the affections which Ezra here expresses. His address is a penitent confession of sin, not his own (from a conscience burdened with its own guilt and apprehensive of his own danger), but the sin of his people, from a gracious concern for the honour of God and the welfare of Israel. Here is a lively picture of ingenuous repentance. Observe in this address,
1.The confession he makes of the sin and the aggravations of it, which he insists upon, to affect his own heart and theirs that joined with him with holy sorrow and shame and fear, in the consideration of it, that they might be deeply humbled for it. And it is observable that, though he himself was wholly clear from this guilt, yet he puts himself into the number of the sinners, because he was a member of the same community - our sins and our trespass. Perhaps he now remembered it against himself, as his fault, that he had staid so long after his brethren in Babylon, and had not separated himself so soon as he might have done from the people of those lands. When we are lamenting the wickedness of the wicked, it may be, if we duly reflect upon ourselves and give our own hearts leave to deal faithfully with us, we may find something of the same nature, though in a lower degree, that we also have been guilty of. However, he speaks that which was, or should have been, the general complaint.
(1.)He owns their sins to have been very great: "Our iniquities are increased over our heads (Ezr 9:6); we are ready to perish in them as in keep waters;" so general was the prevalency of them, so violent the power of them, and so threatening were they of the most pernicious consequences. "Iniquity has grown up to such a height among us that it reaches to the heavens, so very impudent that it dares heaven, so very provoking that, like the sin of Sodom, it cries to heaven for vengeance." But let this be the comfort of true penitents that though their sins reach to the heavens God's mercy is in the heavens, Psa 36:5. Where sin abounds grace will much more abound.
(2.)Their sin had been long persisted in (Ezr 9:7): Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass. The example of those that had gone before them he thought so far from excusing their fault that it aggravated it. "We should have taken warning not to stumble at the same stone. The corruption is so much the worse that it has taken deep root and begins to plead prescription, but by this means we have reason to fear that the measure of the iniquity is nearly full."
(3.)The great and sore judgments which God had brought upon them for their sins did very much aggravate them: "For our iniquities we have been delivered to the sword and to captivity (Ezr 9:7), and yet not reformed, yet not reclaimed - brayed in the mortar, and yet the folly not gone (Pro 27:22) - corrected, but not reclaimed."
(4.)The late mercies God had bestowed upon them did likewise very much aggravate their sins. This he insists largely upon, Ezr 9:8, Ezr 9:9. Observe, [1.] The time of mercy: Now for a little space, that is, "It is but a little while since we had our liberty, and it is not likely to continue long." This greatly aggravated their sin, that they were so lately in the furnace and that they knew not how soon they might return to it again; and could they yet be secure? [2.] The fountain of mercy: Grace has been shown us from the Lord. The kings of Persia were the instruments of their enlargement; but he ascribes it to God and to his grace, his free grace, without any merit of theirs. [3.] The streams of mercy, - that they were not forsaken in their bondage, but even in Babylon had the tokens of God's presence, - that they were a remnant of Israelites left, a few out of many, and those narrowly escaped out of the hands of their enemies, by the favour of the kings of Persia, - and especially that they had a nail in his holy place, that is (as it is explained, Ezr 9:9), that they had set up the house of God. They had their religion settled and the service of the temple in a constant method. We are to reckon it a great comfort and advantage to have stated opportunities of worshipping God. Blessed are those that dwell in God's house, like Anna that departed not from the temple. This is my rest for ever, says the gracious soul. [4.] The effects of all this. It enlightened their eyes, and it revived their hearts; that is, it was very comfortable to them, and the more sensibly so because it was in their bondage: it was life from the dead to them. Though but a little reviving, it was a great favour, considering that they deserved none and the day of small things was an earnest of greater. "Now," says Ezra, "how ungrateful are we to offend a God that has been so kind to us! how disingenuous to mingle in sin with those nations from whom we have been, in wonderful mercy, delivered! how unwise to expose ourselves to God's displeasure when we are tried with the returns of his favour and are upon our good behaviour for the continuance of it!"
(5.)It was a great aggravation of the sin that it was against an express command: We have forsaken thy commandments, Ezr 9:10. It seems to have been an ancient law of the house of Jacob not to match with the families of the uncircumcised, Gen 34:14. But, besides that, God had strictly forbidden it. He recites the command, Ezr 9:11, Ezr 9:12. For sin appears sin, appears exceedingly sinful, when we compare it with the law which is broken by it. Nothing could be more express: Give not your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters to your sons. The reason given is because, if they mingled with those nations, they would pollute themselves. It was an unclean land, and they were a holy people; but if they kept themselves distinct from them it would be their honour and safety, and the perpetuating of their prosperity. Now to violate a command so express, backed with such reasons, and a fundamental law of their constitution, was very provoking to the God of heaven.
(6.)That in the judgments by which they had already smarted for their sins God had punished them less than their iniquities deserved, so that he looked upon them to be still in debt upon the old account. "What! and yet shall we run up a new score? Has God dealt so gently with us in correcting us, and shall we thus abuse his favour and turn his grace into wantonness?" God, in his grace and mercy, had said concerning Sion's captivity, She hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins (Isa 40:2); but Ezra, in a penitential sense of the great malignity that was in their sin, acknowledged that, though the punishment was very great, it was less than they deserved.
2.The devout affections that were working in him, in making this confession. Speaking of sin,
(1.)He speaks as one much ashamed. With this he begins (Ezr 9:6), O my God! I am ashamed and blush, O my God! (so the words are placed) to lift up my face unto thee. Note, [1.] Sin is a shameful thing; as soon as ever our first parents had eaten forbidden fruit they were ashamed of themselves. [2.] Holy shame is as necessary an ingredient in true and ingenuous repentance as holy sorrow. [3.] The sins of others should be our shame, and we should blush for those who do not blush for themselves. We may well be ashamed that we are any thing akin to those who are so ungrateful to God and unwise for themselves. This is clearing ourselves, Co2 7:11. [4.] Penitent sinners never see so much reason to blush and be ashamed as when they come to lift up their faces before God. A natural sense of our own honour which we have injured will make us ashamed, when we have done a wrong thing, to look men in the face; but a gracious concern for God's honour will make us much more ashamed to look him in the face. The publican, when he went to the temple to pray, hung down his head more than ever, as one ashamed, Luk 18:13. [5.] An eye to God as our God will be of great use to us in the exercise of repentance. Ezra begins, O my God! and again in the same breath, My God. The consideration of our covenant-relation to God as ours will help to humble us, and break our hearts for sin, that we should violate both his precepts to us and our promises to him; it will also encourage us to hope for pardon upon repentance. "He is my God, notwithstanding this;" and every transgression in the covenant does not throw us out of covenant.
(2.)He speaks as one much amazed (Ezr 9:10) "What shall we say after this? For my part I know not what to say: if God do not help us, we are undone." The discoveries of guilt excite amazement: the more we think of sin the worse it looks. The difficulty of the case excites amazement. How shall we recover ourselves? Which way shall we make our peace with God? [1.] True penitents are at a loss what to say. Shall we say, We have not sinned, or, God will not require it? If we do, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Shall we say, Have patience with us and we will pay thee all, with thousands of rams, or our first-born for our transgression? God will not thus be mocked: he knows we are insolvent. Shall we say, There is no hope, and let come on us what will? That is but to make bad worse. [2.] True penitents will consider what to say, and should, as Ezra, beg of God to teach them. What shall we say? Say, "I have sinned; I have done foolishly; God be merciful to me a sinner;" and the like. See Hos 14:2.
(3.)He speaks as one much afraid, Ezr 9:13, Ezr 9:14. "After all the judgments that have come upon us to reclaim us from sin, and all the deliverances that have been wrought for us to engage us to God and duty, if we should again break God's commandments, by joining in affinity with the children of disobedience and learning their ways, what else could we expect but that God should be angry with us till he had consumed us, and there should not be so much as a remnant left, nor any to escape the destruction?" There is not a surer nor sadder presage of ruin to any people than revolting to sin, to the same sins again, after great judgments and great deliverances. Those that will be wrought upon neither by the one nor by the other are fit to be rejected, as reprobate silver, for the founder melteth in vain.
(4.)He speaks as one much assured of the righteousness of God, and resolved to acquiesce in that and to leave the matter with him whose judgment is according to truth (Ezr 9:15): "Thou art righteous, wise, just, and good; thou wilt neither do us wrong nor be hard upon us; and therefore behold we are before thee, we lie at thy feet, waiting our doom; we cannot stand before thee, insisting upon any righteousness of our own, having no plea to support us or bring us off, and therefore we fall down before thee, in our trespass, and cast ourselves on thy mercy. Do unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee, Jdg 10:15. We have nothing to say, nothing to do, but to make supplication to our Judge," Job 9:15. Thus does this good man lay his grief before God and then leave it with him.
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SUMMARY
Ezra 9:7 is a profound and poignant confession from Ezra's prayer, articulating the deep, generational unfaithfulness of the people of Israel, extending "since the days of our fathers unto this day." This verse starkly connects their persistent "great trespass" and "iniquities" to the severe divine judgments they experienced, including subjugation to foreign kings, warfare, exile, plunder, and profound public shame, underscoring the direct and devastating consequences of covenant disobedience and God's righteous judgment.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: Ezra 9:7 is situated within Ezra's deeply emotional and sweeping prayer of confession, which spans Ezra 9:6-15. This prayer is not a spontaneous outburst but a deliberate and agonizing response to the shocking news that the returned exiles, despite God's gracious restoration, had committed the grave sin of intermarrying with the surrounding pagan peoples. This act directly violated the explicit commands of God given in the Mosaic Law, particularly concerning separation from idolatrous nations to preserve Israel's spiritual purity (e.g., Deuteronomy 7:3-4). Ezra's personal distress, tearing his garments and pulling out his hair and beard (Ezra 9:3), underscores the severity of the transgression. His prayer moves beyond the immediate sin, offering a sweeping historical indictment that acknowledges a long-standing pattern of rebellion. Verse 7 specifically serves as the historical anchor for the current distress, linking centuries of past sins to the present state of vulnerability, shame, and continued subjugation, thereby demonstrating that the current crisis is not an isolated event but the culmination of persistent unfaithfulness.
Historical & Cultural Context: The events of Ezra 9 unfold after the initial wave of exiles has returned from Babylonian captivity under Zerubbabel and Joshua, and the Second Temple has been rebuilt in Jerusalem. Ezra, a priest and scribe "skilled in the Law of Moses" (Ezra 7:6), arrives in Jerusalem during the reign of Artaxerxes I, approximately 60 years after the temple's dedication. The Jewish community was a small, vulnerable remnant, living under Persian suzerainty, striving to re-establish their identity as God's covenant people. The "peoples of the lands" refers to the various non-Israelite groups who had settled in the region during the exile, many of whom practiced idolatry and posed a significant spiritual threat. Intermarriage with these groups was not merely a social misstep but a profound theological breach, threatening to dilute Israel's distinct identity and lead them back into the idolatry that had plagued them throughout their history (e.g., during the period of the Judges). The "kings of the lands" explicitly refers to the successive foreign powers—Assyria, Babylon, and now Persia—who had dominated Israel, serving as instruments of divine judgment and fulfilling the covenant curses for disobedience outlined in passages like Deuteronomy 28).
Key Themes: Ezra 9:7 powerfully encapsulates several major themes prevalent in the book of Ezra and the broader post-exilic prophetic literature. Central among these is the theme of corporate and generational sin, where Ezra identifies profoundly with the collective guilt of Israel, acknowledging a persistent pattern of "great trespass" that spans from "the days of our fathers" to his present day. This highlights the concept of shared responsibility and the cumulative impact of national unfaithfulness, demonstrating that the consequences of sin can transcend individual lifetimes. Another crucial theme is the consequences of disobedience, as the verse explicitly links their "iniquities" to the severe judgments they endured: being "delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil." This serves as a stark reminder of the covenant curses promised for rebellion against God's laws, vividly illustrated by the Babylonian exile and subsequent subjugation, affirming God's unwavering justice and faithfulness to His covenant, even in judgment. Finally, the phrase "confusion of face" underscores the theme of shame and humiliation, a visible and deeply felt consequence of their broken covenant relationship with God, reflecting a loss of divine favor, honor, and dignity before other nations.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Ezra 9:7 employs several powerful literary devices to convey its message of profound confession and the devastating consequences of sin. The entire verse functions as a confession and lament, a heartfelt cry of anguish and admission of corporate guilt before God. Ezra's use of corporate identity is prominent through the repeated use of "we," "our," "our kings," and "our priests," demonstrating his solidarity with the nation's sin and emphasizing the collective nature of their trespass and suffering. The phrase "great trespass" serves as an intensification or hyperbole, underscoring the severe magnitude and pervasive nature of their unfaithfulness. The enumeration of consequences—"to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face"—is a form of climax or enumeration, building in intensity to the ultimate indignity of public shame. The repetition of "unto this day" and "as it is this day" creates a sense of emphasis and continuity, highlighting the persistent nature of both their sin and its ongoing, tangible consequences. Finally, "confusion of face" is a vivid idiom and a form of metonymy, where the physical manifestation (shame on the face) stands for the deeper spiritual, social, and relational disgrace experienced by the nation.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Ezra 9:7 is a powerful theological statement on the gravity of sin, particularly covenant unfaithfulness, and the inevitable consequences of divine judgment. It underscores the principle that God holds His people accountable for their actions, both individually and corporately, across generations. The verse highlights the concept of corporate solidarity in sin and suffering, where the actions of past generations and leaders contribute to the present condition of the community, demonstrating that sin has a cumulative and pervasive effect. It also implicitly affirms God's justice and righteousness in His dealings with His people, demonstrating that His warnings and covenant curses are not idle threats but are faithfully executed when His people persistently rebel. The shame and humiliation described ("confusion of face") are not merely external circumstances but reflect a broken relationship with the Holy God, a loss of His favor and protection, and a visible sign of their covenant breach before the nations.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Ezra 9:7 serves as a profound mirror for believers today, urging us to consider the enduring impact of sin, both personal and corporate. It challenges us to move beyond superficial acknowledgment of wrongdoing to a deep, Ezra-like confession that grapples with the historical and generational patterns of unfaithfulness that may still affect us or our communities. The verse reminds us that sin is never trivial; it carries real, often painful, consequences, leading to spiritual "captivity," "spoil," and "confusion of face" in our lives and in the church when we deviate from God's commands. True repentance, modeled by Ezra, involves identifying with the sin, taking responsibility, and humbly acknowledging God's justice in any suffering we experience. This verse calls us to learn from the past, to diligently pursue faithfulness to God's Word, and to recognize that our actions, individually and collectively, have profound and lasting repercussions, shaping our present and future spiritual realities. It compels us to seek genuine spiritual revival and purity, lest we continue in the "great trespass" that brings shame and separation from God's blessing and protection.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "confusion of face" mean in Ezra 9:7?
Answer: "Confusion of face" (Hebrew: bôsheth pânîym) is a vivid idiom meaning deep shame, disgrace, or public humiliation. It literally translates to "shame of face" and describes the visible manifestation of profound embarrassment and mortification. In Ezra 9:7, it signifies the loss of dignity, honor, and divine favor that Israel experienced as a direct consequence of their persistent unfaithfulness to God. It was a public acknowledgment of their broken covenant relationship and their reduced status among the nations, fulfilling the warnings of the Law, such as those found in Deuteronomy 28:48.
Why does Ezra confess sins that happened "since the days of our fathers"?
Answer: Ezra's confession of sins "since the days of our fathers" highlights the concept of corporate and generational sin within the covenant community of Israel. It's not that Ezra is personally guilty of every past sin, but he identifies with the collective history and ongoing pattern of unfaithfulness that characterized the nation. This acknowledges that the current generation inherited and continued a legacy of disobedience, and that the consequences they were experiencing were the cumulative result of centuries of rebellion against God's covenant. This corporate solidarity in sin and suffering is a recurring theme in the Old Testament, as seen in other prayers of confession like Nehemiah 9. It emphasizes that the nation's spiritual health is a continuous narrative, and current challenges often have roots in past transgressions, requiring a deep, historical understanding of their covenant relationship with God.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Ezra 9:7, with its raw depiction of generational sin and its devastating consequences, finds its ultimate fulfillment and resolution in Jesus Christ. The "great trespass" and "iniquities" that plagued Israel for centuries, leading to "sword, captivity, spoil, and confusion of face," are the very sins that Christ came to bear. Unlike Israel's kings and priests who shared in the nation's guilt and shame, Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, was "without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). Yet, in an act of profound substitutionary atonement, He became sin for us, bearing our "confusion of face" and shame on the cross, enduring the ultimate public disgrace. "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24), taking upon Himself the "spoil" and "captivity" of sin's dominion and the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13). Through His sacrifice, the cycle of trespass and judgment that defined Israel's history is broken for those who believe. We are delivered from the hand of the "kings of the lands" of sin and death, and are given a new covenant that empowers true faithfulness through the indwelling Holy Spirit, transforming our shame into glory and offering eternal freedom from the consequences of our "great trespass" (Romans 8:1-2). In Christ, the generational curse of sin is replaced by generational blessing and an inheritance of righteousness.