“The Exiles Did So"

November 27, 2020

“The Exiles Did So"

Blessings folk!

The people had responded to the prayer of Ezra and the exhortation of Shecaniah.

They agreed to repent, but, they were worried about the logistics of it.

Read…

Ezr 10:10-17
Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them,
“You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel.

“Now therefore, make confession to the LORD God of your fathers and do His will;
and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.”

Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice,
“That’s right! As you have said, so it is our duty to do.

“But there are many people; it is the rainy season and we are not able to stand in the open. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter.

“Let our leaders represent the whole assembly and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us.”

Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.

But the exiles did so. And Ezra the priest selected men who were heads of fathers’ households for each of their father’s households, all of them by name.
So they convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter.

They finished investigating all the men who had married foreign wives
by the first day of the first month.

The people asked that their leaders represent them in this grave matter.
They had sinned so grievously that is would take some time to repent.
They wanted the fierce anger of the Lord to be turned away from them.

The prayer of Ezra before the Lord had brought repentance of the people.

Leaders!
Do you hear?

Leaders!
Are you turning to the Lord or to the latest “church growth” scheme of man?

Let us do as Daniel, Nehemiah and Ezra did.
They turned to the Lord.
They trusted the Lord.
They rested in the Lord.
Then, they did as the Lord led.

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