Lesson 4: Mixed Marriages (Ezra 9 & 10)

by | Feb 11, 2022 | Old Testament Studies

INTRODUCTION: THIS WEEK OUR STUDY TURNS TO EZRA 9 & 10 AND THE SUBJECT OF “MIXED MARRIAGES.”


LETS REVIEW FOR A MOMENT: THE TEMPLE HAS BEEN REBUILT UNDER THE BLESSING OF THE LORD AND THE LEADERSHIP OF ZERUBBABEL AND JOSHUA. THEN, 60 YEARS LATER, ANOTHER GROUP LEFT PERSIA FOR JUDAH UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF EZRA. OUR LESSON LAST WEEK WAS ABOUT THIS SECOND RETURN. WELL, THIS WEEK EZRA AND THE NEW GROUP HAVE BEEN IN JERUSALEM FOR ABOUT FIVE MONTHS AND HE GETS SOME BAD NEWS.

  1. THE PROBLEM



    1. READ EZRA 9:1-2. WHAT IS THE BAD NEWS? (THAT THE JEWS WERE MARRYING THE NEIGHBORING PEOPLES–AND THE LEADERS WERE LEADING THE WAY.)


    2. THE BIBLE DOES NOT SAY THAT EZRA RODE INTO TOWN, SAW THAT THIS WAS GOING ON AND STARTED RAISING A RUCKUS. WITH JUST THE BACKGROUND THAT I HAVE GIVEN YOU AND THESE TWO VERSES, WHAT DO YOU SUSPECT IS GOING ON?



      1. WHY DID THIS REPORT COME TO EZRA–AS OPPOSED TO HIM SAYING, “I’VE BEEN LOOKING AROUND AND SEE YOU HAVE THIS PROBLEM?”


      2. IF THE LEADERS ARE COMFORTABLE WITH INTERMARRYING, WHO ARE THE PEOPLE COMING TO EZRA WITH THIS REPORT? (THE IMPLICATION IS THAT EZRA BROUGHT SPIRITUAL RENEWAL TO THOSE WHO WERE ALREADY IN JERUSALEM. IN JUST FIVE MONTHS THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE WERE BEING CHANGED AND THEY BECAME CONVICTED OF THIS PROBLEM: A PROBLEM THAT BEGAN WITH THE LEADERSHIP.)



  2. THE REACTION



    1. READ EZRA 9:3-6. EZRA OBVIOUSLY THINKS THIS IS A BIG DEAL, A SERIOUS MATTER. DO YOU SEE IT AS A BIG DEAL? IS HE OVERREACTING?


    2. EZRA SAYS THAT HE IS ASHAMED TO RAISE HIS FACE TO GOD. AND THAT “OUR SINS” AND “OUR GUILT” HAVE REACHED UP TO HEAVEN. WHY IS HE SAYING THAT? EZRA DID NOTHING, HE JUST GOT THE REPORT!


    3. THE KEY IS IN THE NEXT TWO VERSES: READ v. 7-8. WHAT DOES THIS SUGGEST IS THE PROBLEM? (CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY. EZRA IS WORKED UP BECAUSE JUDAH HAS BEEN IN CAPTIVITY SO LONG BECAUSE IT DISOBEYED AND GOD STOPPED PROTECTING IT FROM ITS ENEMIES. THEY HAVE NOW BEEN ALLOWED TO RETURN TO THEIR LAND AND EZRA DOES NOT WANT TO SEE THEM SCREW THINGS UP BY DISOBEYING GOD.)


    4. THESE DAYS I AM PRETTY MUCH CONCERNED WITH MY OWN SINS AND THE SINS OF MY CHILDREN.



      1. DO YOU THINK THAT WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY FOR SINS IN THE CHURCH?


      2. SINS IN THE COUNTRY?


      3. IF WE DO NOT HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SINS OF OTHERS, SHOULD WE BE WORRIED, LIKE EZRA, ABOUT BEING SWEPT UP IN THE PUNISHMENT OF OTHERS? IN THE CHURCH? COUNTRY? (NOTE THAT REV 18:4 TALKS ABOUT US “COMING OUT” OF BABYLON SO THAT WE WILL NOT SHARE IN HER SINS OR THE PLAGUES.)



  3. NATURE OF THE PROBLEM.



    1. LETS EXAMINE THIS PROBLEM FOR A MINUTE AND SEE IF IT HAS ANY BEARING ON OUR LIVES TODAY.


    2. NOTICE IN v. 2 THEY SAY THAT THIS MIXED CULTURE MARRIAGE IS MINGLING THEIR “HOLY RACE” (NIV) OR “HOLY SEED” (KJV AND OTHERS).



      1. WHAT ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT?


      2. THIS KIND OF TALK COULD GET YOU SUED TODAY. “SORRY, YOUR RACE IS NOT HOLY ENOUGH TO DATE MY DAUGHTER.” (I WILL, HOWEVER, KEEP THIS LINE IN MIND.”) (WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT IS DEUT 7:1-6. READ IT. ALSO READ EX 34:14-16.)


    3. WHEN I WAS A KID, IT WAS STRESSED TO ME BY MY PARENTS THAT I SHOULD MARRY AN SDA. WHEN I BECAME AWARE OF THE MODERN JEWISH CULTURE IN LAW SCHOOL, I FOUND THAT THE JEWS TAUGHT THEIR KIDS THE SAME THING AS THE ADVENTISTS DID.



      1. I NOW KNOW THE BACKGROUND FOR THE JEWISH TEACHING?


      2. DOES THIS APPLY TO US TODAY?


      3. IF SO, HOW DOES IT APPLY?



        1. WE ONLY MARRY SDA’S?


        2. WE ONLY MARRY CHRISTIANS? (EX 34 TALKS ABOUT WORSHIPPING FALSE GODS. DEUT TALKS ABOUT BEING TURNED AWAY FROM GOD.)


      4. SHOULD WE INSTRUCT OUR CHILDREN NOT TO MARRY UNBELIEVERS? WHAT IS THE PRINCIPLE HERE? (SEE NEH 13:26 )



  4. THE SOLUTION (?) TO THE PROBLEM.



    1. IN THE BALANCE OF EZRA 9 (v. 7-15 EZRA CLEARLY MAKES THE LINK BETWEEN BLESSINGS AND OBEDIENCE, DISOBEDIANCE AND TROUBLE. HE CONFESSES THIS INTERMARRYING AS SIN AND DISOBEDIANCE TO GOD’S COMMANDS. LETS CONTINUE ON. READ EZRA 10:1-3.



      1. ONCE AGAIN, IT IS NOT EZRA WHO IS THE MOVING FORCE. THIS TIME IT IS SHECANIAH.


      2. WHAT IS HIS SOLUTION? (TO DIVORCE ALL OF THESE WOMEN AND TO SEND THEM AND THEIR CHILDREN AWAY.)


    2. WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THIS SOLUTION? ARE NOT A LOT OF INNOCENT CHILDREN GETTING HURT BY THIS?


    3. SOMEONE READ TO ME MAL 2:16. THE VERSES THAT SURROUND v. 16 ARE REAL INTERESTING. THIS CHAPT CONTAINS GOD’S COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE WAY THE PEOPLE ARE ACTING. HE MENTIONS TWO SPECIFIC SINS THAT HE (GOD) DOES NOT LIKE. THE FIRST (2:11) IS INTERMARRYING. THE SECOND (2:15-16) IS DIVORCE: SPECIFICALLY DIVORCING THE WIFE OF YOUR YOUTH (WHICH IS WHAT I CALL MY WIFE AND SHE DOES NOT CARE FOR THE TERM.)


    4. LETS LOOK AT WHAT THE NEW TESTAMENT SAYS ABOUT THIS. SOMEONE LOOK UP 1 COR 7:12-16. DOESN’T THIS SAY TO STAY WITH THE UNBELIEVING SPOUSE AND NOT TO DIVORCE THEM JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE UNBELEIVERS? (IN FACT, 1 PETER 3:1 COUNSELS WIVES TO TRY TO WIN OVER THE UNBELIEVING HUSBAND.)


    5. DO YOU THINK THAT THIS IS GOD’S IDEA TO DIVORCE THESE FOREIGN WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN?


    6. DO YOU SEE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EZRA’S PEOPLES SITUATION AND THE SITUATION DESCRIBED BY PAUL IN CORINTHIANS? (ONE DIFFERNCE IS THAT THE RETURNED JEWS HAD BEEN TOLD NOT TO INTERMARRY. WHILE THE PEOPLE IN CORINTHIANS WERE NEW CONVERTS WHO HAD DONE NOTHING WRONG IN MARRYING UNBELIEVERS BECAUSE THEY WERE THEMSELVES UNBELIEVERS.)


    7. (ONE COMMENTATOR THAT I READ HAD THREE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT THIS THAT MAY MAKE THIS MASS DIVORCE MORE UNDERSTANDABLE. FIRST, HE SAID THAT THE SINGLE PARENT FAMILY DID NOT EXIST AS IT DOES TODAY. THE EFFECT OF THIS DIVORCE WOULD BE TO RETURN THE WIFE AND CHILDREN TO THE EXTENDED FAMILY THAT THE WIFE LEFT IN THE BEGINNING. SECOND, WE ARE NOT SURE HOW COMMON DIVORCE WAS AMONG THESE PEOPLE. PERHAPS THEY HAD ALREADY DIVORCED THEIR JEWISH WIFE TO MARRY A FOREIGNER. THIRD, THIS WAS A REALLY DESPERATE SITUATION. THE PROBLEM WAS WIDESPREAD, AND GOD WAS NOT GOING TO HAVE A PEOPLE IF THIS CONTINUED.) (OUR LESSON ALSO POINTS OUT THE POSSIBILITY OF THESE SPOUSES CONVERTING: JEWISH LAW ALLOWED FOR CONVERTS. (SEE EX.12:48 AND RUTH 4:9 ff — ALTHOUGH IF YOU COMPARE NEH 13:1, IT SEEMS THAT MOABITES SHOULD NOT EVEN BE ADMITTED TO THE ASSEMBLY. AND RUTH WAS A MOABITE.) G. READ EZRA 10:5-6. THE DIVORCE SOLUTION HAS BEEN PUT IN MOTION. EVERYONE HAS TAKEN AN OATH TO DO THIS. WHAT IS EZRA’S REACTION TO THIS? (I HAVE THE DISTINCT FEELING THAT THIS IS A PROBLEM WITH NO GOOD SOLUTION. THAT EZRA IS CERTAINLY UPSET ABOUT THE WHOLE THING.)


    8. READ EZRA 10: 7-8. HAVE A PROBLEM WITH CHURCH ATTENDENCE? HERE IS THE SOLUTION! WHAT HAPPENS IF THE PEOPLE DO NOT SHOW UP? (THEY FORFEIT THEIR PROPERTY TO THE TEMPLE.)(AND THE PERSON IS EXPELLED FROM THE COMMUNITY.)


    9. READ 10: 9-12. WAS IT A GREAT TIME TO GET TOGETHER? (NO. APPARENTLY THEY WERE ALL SITTING OUT IN THE RAIN. RAIN THAT WAS SO HARD THAT IT WAS RECORDED IN THE BIBLE!)



      1. WHAT WAS THE REACTION OF THE PEOPLE TO THIS COMMAND TO SEPARATE FROM FOREIGN WIVES? (THEY AGREED TO DO IT.)


    10. THE REAL ISSUE HERE IS THE MATTER OF INFLUENCE. LETS ASSUME THAT WE ARE NOT GOING OUT AND MARRYING AN “UNBELIEVER.” WHAT SHOULD WE BE CONCERNED ABOUT IN THIS MATTER OF INFLUENCE? (HOW PEOPLE AT WORK INFLUENCE US. HOW THE MEDIA (BY THAT I MEAN BOOKS, MOVIES, TV, MAGAZINES) INFLUENCES US.)


  5. NEXT WEEK: A PATRIOTS VISION — WE START A NEW BOOK, THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH AND LOOK AT THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS.