Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel were assembled to me, because of their trespass of the captivity; and I sat confounded until the evening offering.
At the evening offering I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn; and I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands to Yahweh my God; and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens. Since the days of our fathers we have been exceedingly guilty to this day; and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests, have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v6 They so exceed that they cannot grow greater.
They so exceed that they cannot grow greater.
That is, we are drowned in sin.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Ezr 9:4 Then were assembled unto me every one…
Ezr 9:4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.
Ver. 4. Then were assembled unto me] It was soon noised and noticed among the godly party how exceedingly Ezra was troubled; they therefore trouble themselves, as our Saviour is said to have done, Joh 11:33, and as Paul felt twinges when others were hurt. "Who is offended," saith he, "and I burn not?" 2Co 11:29. Sheep, when frighted, will get together; swine, when lugged, will grunt together. What should saints do (in case of national sins or judgments) but assemble and tremble together, as here; but vow and perform reformation to the Lord their God, as in the next chapter.
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Every one that trembled at the words] At the judgments of God whilst they yet hang in the threatenings. To such looketh the Lord with special intimations of his love, Isa 66:2. When as those that tremble not in hearing shall be crushed to pieces in feeling, said Mr Bradford the martyr.
That had been carried away] But had not learned by the things that they had suffered, were as bad as before, if not worse, having lost the fruit of their afflictions, παθηματα μαθηματα. This is fearful; a bad sign of an incorrigible castaway, Jer 6:30.
Until the evening sacrifice] This time of the day good people usually took to pray at; that, together with the sacrifice, their prayers might come up for a memorial before God in those pillars of smoke, Son 3:6 Act 10:4. See Luk 1:10 Act 3:11.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Then were assembled unto me; to join with me…
Then were assembled unto me; to join with me both in lamenting the sin, and in endeavouring the redress of it.
Every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, i.e. who stood in awe of God, and of his word, and durst not violate his commands; or who feared his threatenings against those that did so, and trembled for fear of God’s judgments upon them, and upon the whole land for their sakes, as the following words imply. Compare Isa 66:2,5.
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Those that had been carried away, to wit, into captivity, and were safely returned from it, and yet were not reformed either by their former affliction, or by their latter deliverance.
Until the evening sacrifice, when the people used to assemble together. See Psa 141:2; Act 3:1.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v5 What the meditations of Ezra's heart were, while for…
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.
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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.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–7 There were assembled unto me everyone that trembled at…
There were assembled unto me everyone that trembled at the words of the God of Israel,.... That had a reverence for the word of God, and the things contained in it; feared to break the laws of God, and trembled at his judgments, which they might apprehend would come upon transgressors, see Isa 46:2,
because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; into Babylon, and were now returned, and which was an aggravation of their transgression:
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and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice: or until the ninth hour, as the Syriac version, which was about our three o'clock in the afternoon, at which time the evening sacrifice was offered; perhaps it was in the morning when Ezra first received his information from the princes.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Evening sacrifice - When the people used to assemble…
Evening sacrifice - When the people used to assemble together. All good people ought to own those that appear and act for God against vice and profaneness. Everyone that fears God, ought to stand by them, and do what he can to strengthen their hands.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4–6 Verse 4. Those that had been carried away] Those…
Verse 4. Those that had been carried away] Those that had returned long before with Zerubbabel; see Ezr 9:1.
Until the evening sacrifice.] The morning sacrifice was the first of all the offerings of the day, the evening sacrifice the last. As the latter was offered between the two evenings, i.e., between sunset and the end of twilight, so the former was offered between break of day and sunrise. Ezra sat astonied-confounded in his mind, distressed in his soul, and scarcely knowing what to do. He probably had withdrawn himself into some sequestered place, or into some secret part of the temple, spending the time in meditation and reflection.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Ezr 9:4. Then were assembled unto me — To…
Ezr 9:4. Then were assembled unto me — To join with me, both in lamenting the sin, and in endeavouring to effect the redress of it; every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel — Who stood in awe of God and of his word, and durst not violate his commands; or who feared his threatenings against those that did so, and trembled for fear of God’s judgments upon them, and upon the whole land for their sakes, as the following words imply. Compare Isa 66:2; Isa 66:5. Because of the transgression of those that had been carried away — To wit, into captivity, and were safely returned from it, but yet were little amended, either by their former banishment, or their late restoration. He speaks not of those who had lately come back with himself, but of those who had returned with Zerubbabel, and of their children. And I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice — When the people used to assemble together. All good people ought to own those that appear and act for God against vice and profaneness. Every one that fears God ought to stand by them, and do what he can to strengthen their hands.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v7 Very similar in tone to this are the confessions…
Very similar in tone to this are the confessions of Nehemiah Neh 9:29-35 and of Daniel (see the marginal references). The captivity had done its work by deeply convincing of sin the Jewish nation that had previously been so proud and self-righteous.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv4, 7 To me, in the court of the temple, chap.…
To me, in the court of the temple, chap. x. 1. (Menochius) --- Sacrifice, which was offered last of all, about sun-set, Exodus xxix. 38. The Jews commonly protract their fasts till the stars appear. (Leo, p. 3, art. 8.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4–5 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled…
Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, &c.--All the pious people who reverenced God's word and dreaded its threatenings and judgments joined with Ezra in bewailing the public sin, and devising the means of redressing it.
I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice--The intelligence of so gross a violation of God's law by those who had been carried into captivity on account of their sins, and who, though restored, were yet unreformed, produced such a stunning effect on the mind of Ezra that he remained for a while incapable either of speech or of action. The hour of the evening sacrifice was the usual time of the people assembling; and at that season, having again rent his hair and garments, he made public prayer and confession of sin.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4–7 4. Every one that trembled — Ezra was not…
4. Every one that trembled — Ezra was not alone in grief and dismay over the sins of the people. Others with him realized the peril of the hour, and trembled with a profound sense of their danger. For should Divine vengeance burst upon the camp, the innocent and guilty would suffer together. Among those that trembled at the words of the God of Israel were also, doubtless, some of the transgressors who had been brought to realize their guilt and danger.
The evening sacrifice — The law ordained that a lamb should be offered each day, morning and evening, and these offerings were called respectively the morning and evening sacrifices. See Exo_29:38-41. Comp. also 1Ki_18:29, note. While the people mingled with the heathen, and openly transgressed, they continued to sacrifice to Jehovah, thus apparently forgetting that obedience is better than sacrifice.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–7 4. There are, collected unto Ezra those who believed…
4. There are, collected unto Ezra those who believed in the word of God and dreaded the displeasure consequent upon such transgression. Perhaps the reference is especially to the threats contained in the Law. Cf. Deu_7:1-4.
every one that trembled at the words &c.] cf. Ezr_10:3, ‘those that tremble at the commandment of our God’. Isa_66:2, ‘to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word’, and Ezr_9:5, ‘Hear the word of God, ye that tremble at his word’. The dread of the consequences of disobedience rather than horror at the nature of the offence seems here depicted. But if the nature of sin was not yet realised, the sovereignty of a Higher Law was recognised, and ‘sin is lawlessness’ (1Jn_3:4).
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of those that had been carried away] R.V. of them of the captivity. Heb. ‘haggôlah’, the collective abstract name for those who had shared the captivity.
until the evening sacrifice] R.V. until the evening oblation. This is the daily evening minkhah or meal offering. See note on Neh_10:33.
It is here mentioned as a common division of the day, as in 1Ki_18:29. Cf. Jdt_9:1, ‘about the time that the incense of that evening was offered in Jerusalem’. Ezra probably spent the greater part of the day in this posture.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v5 (5-15) Ezra’s prayer of confession and deprecation.
(5-15) Ezra’s prayer of confession and deprecation.
(5) And at the evening sacrifice I arose up.—Until the afternoon Ezra had sat silent and in grief before the Temple, and in presence of the people. Then, amidst the solemnities of the sacrifice, he uttered the prayer which he had been meditating.
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(6) And said, O my God.—The confession begins with “O my God;” but Ezra is the representative of the people, and it proceeds “O our God” (Ezr_9:10), without once returning to the first person.
(7) Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass.—In these Common Prayers of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel, the race of Israel is regarded as one, and national sins as one “great trespass.” The repetition of “this day” at the beginning and at the end of the verse is to be observed: in the former place in reference to the sin; in the latter in reference to the punishment.
(8) A little space.—The “little” here and at the close of the sentence are emphatic. All the present tokens of mercy are said at the conclusion of the prayer (Ezr_9:14) to be conditional in their continuance. The little space from the time of Cyrus was nearly two generations; but it was a moment only in relation to the past and the possible future. The idea is inverted in Isa_54:7 : “For a small moment have I forsaken thee.”
Nail in his holy place.—The Temple was itself the sure nail on which all their hopes hung.
A little reviving.—Literally, make us a little life. The present revival was but the beginning, and still by manifold tokens precarious.
(9) We were bondmen.—Better, we are bondmen. In this lies the emphasis of the appeal.
A wall.—Like “the nail,” a figurative expression for security. The literal wall was not yet rebuilt. This completes the description of Divine mercy: first, the people were a delivered remnant; the Temple was a sure nail for the future of religion; and their civil estate was made secure.
(10) After this.—But all was a mercy for which there had been no adequate return.
(11) Saying.—In the later Old Testament Scriptures the quotation of the earlier is often of this character, giving the substance of many passages. The same style is observable in the New Testament.
(12) Give not your daughters.—See Deu_7:3, the only place where the interdict includes both daughters and sons. It is observable that the giving of daughters in marriage to heathens is not mentioned either in Ezra or in Nehemiah.
Nor seek their peace.—An evident echo of that most stern injunction in Deu_23:6.
(15) O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous.—The solemn invocation shows that this is a summary of the whole prayer: God’s righteousness is magnified, as accompanied by the grace which had preserved them, although as only a remnant; and as such covered with their trespasses; and especially with “this” the present trespass, the guilt of which underlies all.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Then were assembled unto me. The open manifestation by…
Then were assembled unto me. The open manifestation by Ezra of his grief and horror produced an immediate effect. A crowd assembled around him, attracted by the unusual sight partly sympathizing, partly no doubt curious. Every one came that trembled at the words of the God of Israel; by which is meant not so much all God-fearing persons. (see Isa_66:2) as all who were alarmed at the transgression of the commands of God, (Ezr_10:3) and at the threats which the Law contained against transgressors. (Deu_7:4) Because of the transgression of those that had been carried away. The transgression of "the children of the captivity" (Ezr_4:1) of those who had been removed to Babylon and had returned under Zerubbabel. I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. As morning is the time for business in the East, we may assume that the princes had waited upon Ezra tolerably early in the day before noon, at any rate to communicate their intelligence. The evening sacrifice took place at three in the afternoon. Ezra must, therefore, either from the intensity of his own feelings or with the view of impressing the people, have "sat astonied speechless and motionless for several hours.
Vers. 4-15.
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Sensibility.
Ezra was a man not only of vigorous mind and strong will, with whom things soon took shape and form, but also of keen sensibility, into whose heart things cut deeply, and whose soul was stirred with strong emotion. Therefore he knew not only great joys, but great sorrows also.
Dearly bought the hidden treasure Finer feelings can bestow; Chords that vibrate deepest pleasure Thrill the deepest notes of woe.
When he learnt how the children of Israel had gone astray in the matter of the mixed marriages, he was overwhelmed with strong and profound feeling. There was
I DISMAY AT THE PRESENCE OF SIN (ver. 5). He sat "astonished until the evening sacrifice" (ver. 4), having just given way to an Oriental exhibition of extreme agitation (ver. 3). This blow seems to have stunned him. He was simply dismayed, appalled. After a burst of grief he sat overwhelmed with a sense of the exceeding great folly and iniquity of the people.
II SHAME UNDER A SENSE OF SIN (vers. 5, 6, 15). Placing himself in penitential attitude, he addressed himself to God, and said, "0 my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee "(ver. 6). He went on to identify himself (though personally guiltless) with his people: "Our iniquities," etc. (ver. 6). "We are before thee in our trespasses" (ver. 15). And he concluded by saying, "We cannot stand before thee because of this" (ver. 15). Such was his intense fellow-feeling and sympathy with those whom he was serving, that he felt overwhelmed with shame under a consciousness of their guilt. Sin, the sin of our family, of our city, of our country, of our race quite apart from our personal share in it is a shameful thing, something to humiliate us and cause us "confusion of face.
III FEAR OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. "Wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us," etc. (ver. 14). He lamented that the brief sunshine they were enjoying would probably disappear, in God"s rekindled wrath, in utter darkness. God"s mercy was for a space encompassing them, and now they were going to throw it, desperately and wantonly, away. No sooner were they out of bondage than they were inviting the great Disposer, in his righteousness, to send them back into captivity. Sin had ruined them before, and would surely ruin them again, and this time utterly and completely (vers. 7, 8, 9, 14). What insensate folly!
We may look at sensibility in respect of sin as it relates to
1. Our Divine Lord himself. He became man in order that he might suffer in our stead; in order that, as man, he might bear the penalty we must otherwise have borne. The Sinless One was never conscious of sin, nor yet of shame as we know it; but by becoming a member of our race, thus entering into perfect fellowship and intense sympathy with us, he could be affected, sorrowfully and sadly, by a sense of human sin. He did, in a way necessarily mysterious to us, thus suffer for us. It was to his soul a dreadful, horrible, shameful thing that mankind to whose family he belonged, and of which he was a member should have sinned so grievously as it had.
2. Our own souls. It is well for us indeed when we have come to feel the shamefulness of our own sin. The heart that, thus affected, can say, "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face unto thee" (ver. 6), is in that state of contrition, of poverty of spirit, "of which is the kingdom of heaven". (Mat_5:3) Sin is shameful because
(1) it is the act of those who owe everything they are and have to God, and
(2) it is directed against him who has
(a) multiplied his mercies unto us in so many ways, and
(b) borne so long with us, and
(c) done and suffered, in Christ, so much to reclaim us; and because
(3) it is continued in spite of our knowledge of what is right, reasonable, and beneficial.
3. Our fellows. We may well be sympathetically affected by the sins of others our kindred, our fellow-citizens, our fellow-men. Rivers of water should run down our eyes because men keep not his law. We may well be ashamed and appalled, and pour out our souls to God, under a sense of the guilt of the world. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v5 Ezra’s Confession of the People’s Sin
Ezra’s Confession of the People’s Sin
v. 5. And at the evening sacrifice, about the middle of the afternoon, I arose up from my heaviness, from the stupor which had benumbed him; and having rent my garment and my mantle, once more indicating his anger, sorrow, and grief, I fell upon my knees and spread out my hands unto the Lord, my God, in a gesture of humble supplication,
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v. 6. and said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush, a very emphatic expression of his repentant sorrow for his people, to lift up my face to Thee, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens, their great abundance being like a flood which threatened to engulf the Jews forever.
v. 7. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day, as the history of both Israel and Judah under the kingdom had shown; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to be killed outright, to captivity, to languish in exile, and to a spoil, their land having been plundered time and again by the enemies, and to confusion of face, to the deepest shame and humiliation, as it is this day.
v. 8. And now for a little space, for almost sixty years, grace hath been showed from the Lord, our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in His Holy Place, the figure being that of a peg on which domestic utensils were hung and the meaning that God had again given them a part and a right in His house, in His Temple, that our God may lighten our eyes, by removing the night of trouble and weakness resting upon them, and give us a little reviving in our bondage, by bestowing salvation, strength, and encouragement.
v. 9. For we were bondmen, held captive by the enemies; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, restoring them once more as a nation and as a congregation of Jehovah, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem, by protecting them against all their oppressors. The mercies of God having been mentioned, the sin of the people stands out all the more strongly by comparison.
v. 10. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Thy commandments
v. 11. which Thou hast commanded by Thy servants, the prophets, for their mixed marriages involved idolatry, saying, The land unto which ye go to possess it is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
v. 12. Now, therefore, give not your daughters unto their Sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, Ezra here quotes from Moses, Exo 23:32; Exo 34:16; Deu 7:3, nor seek their peace or their wealth forever, that ye may be strong and eat the good of the land, enjoy all its richest blessings, and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever, as a permanent possession of the children of Israel.
v. 13. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass, the punishment of their exile, seeing that Thou, our God, hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, literally, "hast restrained a part of our sins from below," namely, in this, that His punishment was below the measure of their misdeeds, and hast given us such deliverance as this,
v. 14. should we again break Thy commandments and Join in affinity with the people of these abominations, by entering into mixed marriages with them? The thought is that the remembrance of the leniency of the Lord in dealing with the people ought certainly to restrain them from transgressing His precept. Wouldest not Thou be angry with us till Thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? This fate the general blameworthiness of the people in the new transgression would certainly have deserved.
v. 15. O Lord God of Israel, Thou art righteous, a Judge whose holiness would constrain Him to bring punishment upon the congregation if its members would continue in the present transgression; for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day. Behold, we are before Thee in our trespasses, for we cannot stand before Thee because of this. The implication was that, unless, by the help of divine grace, they would repent and bring forth fruit meet for repentance in a prompt change of tactics, the wrath of the righteous God would be sure to strike them. A confession of this kind also includes the prayer for forgiveness and will therefore surely be heard.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 7 my position of humiliation
my position of humiliation
another way of saying he was "sitting ashamed" ( Esra 9:4). "where I was sitting on the ground to show how ashamed I was"
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knelt down and spread my hands
"got on my knees and stretched out my arms with my hands open toward the sky"
our iniquities increase over our head, and our guilt grows to the heavens
These words are two ways of speaking of iniquity and guilt as if they were physical objects that could grow to be larger than people. The abstract nouns "iniquity" and "guilt" can be expressed as a noun and an adjective, respectively. AT: "we have committed wicked deeds and we are very guilty" (See: Parallelism and Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
humiliate
Yahweh
iniquity
guilt
heaven
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4–7 9:4 The time of the evening sacrifice was around…
9:4 The time of the evening sacrifice was around 3:00 pm.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.