Ezra
“And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam answered and said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God, and have married foreign woman from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord (Lord?) and of those who tremble at the command of our God; and let it be done according to the law.” (Ezra 10:2,3)
Another proof text found in scripture that
supports the viewpoint that - while a believer cannot “leave” a marriage covenant they can
actually ask the unbeliever to leave is found in the book of Ezra. Again - if this were to be
applied to someone in the Church Age - it could only be used in a situation where a believer
knowingly or unknowingly married an unbeliever. (and by being “asked” to leave may mean
just that or may mean bringing in a court order)
In the book of Ezra we find God’s people (after being disciplined 70 years in Babylon for their sins), returning to the land which God gave them. Their sins (which are generational and pretty much started with Solomon’s marriage to foreign women (i.e. unbelievers) - which in turn led him to worship idols. (see Nehemiah 13:26,27 and 1 Kings 11:1-13; do you see why marriage to unbelievers can be so bad?), were paid in full, and after all the discipline and trouble God’s people had there in Babylon (see Esther, Daniel), it had finally come time for them to come home and God began to return His people to the land of Israel (i.e. a land of rest) and start rebuilding the temple. The judgment had passed, and the favor of the Lord toward His people had returned (Ezra 9:8).
Ezra, Nehemiah and Zechariah as well as other books (Haggai, even Malachi -100 years later) record the events of those times. It was a critically important time for Israel (which really consisted of Judah, Benjamin (Ezra 1:5) and the Levites (Ezra 1:40) - i.e. the Southern kingdom from whom the Lord only separated from, not divorced [Click Here]. (And even then it was only a remnant of those 3 tribes that returned too (i.e. a “trace” amount of the original exiles).
In many ways - when one considers the gravity of the times in their context one is truly shocked at the conduct of the returned exiles. THEY ARE AT IT AGAIN. The very same thing which started their downfall as a people - and DESTROYED the Northern tribes is starting again (i.e. destruction from the inside, not out. See Ezra 9:10 - 10:44) and the prophets (i.e. the leaders of the people) get stirred up.
The Lord Himself is recorded as being angry at the conduct of the people who have done this...
In the book of Ezra we find God’s people (after being disciplined 70 years in Babylon for their sins), returning to the land which God gave them. Their sins (which are generational and pretty much started with Solomon’s marriage to foreign women (i.e. unbelievers) - which in turn led him to worship idols. (see Nehemiah 13:26,27 and 1 Kings 11:1-13; do you see why marriage to unbelievers can be so bad?), were paid in full, and after all the discipline and trouble God’s people had there in Babylon (see Esther, Daniel), it had finally come time for them to come home and God began to return His people to the land of Israel (i.e. a land of rest) and start rebuilding the temple. The judgment had passed, and the favor of the Lord toward His people had returned (Ezra 9:8).
Ezra, Nehemiah and Zechariah as well as other books (Haggai, even Malachi -100 years later) record the events of those times. It was a critically important time for Israel (which really consisted of Judah, Benjamin (Ezra 1:5) and the Levites (Ezra 1:40) - i.e. the Southern kingdom from whom the Lord only separated from, not divorced [Click Here]. (And even then it was only a remnant of those 3 tribes that returned too (i.e. a “trace” amount of the original exiles).
In many ways - when one considers the gravity of the times in their context one is truly shocked at the conduct of the returned exiles. THEY ARE AT IT AGAIN. The very same thing which started their downfall as a people - and DESTROYED the Northern tribes is starting again (i.e. destruction from the inside, not out. See Ezra 9:10 - 10:44) and the prophets (i.e. the leaders of the people) get stirred up.
The Lord Himself is recorded as being angry at the conduct of the people who have done this...
“...Wouldst Thou not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any escape” Ezra 9:14
“...let all those... 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.” Ezra 10:14
And the Lord councils His people (i.e. believers) who have married foreign woman (i.e. illegitimate unbelieving spouses) He councils them - by saying it directly, (according to Keil & Delitzsch) - that the men who have done this should forcibly return (i.e. read make them, their illegitimate spouses leave here) make their unbelieving, unsaved spouses go (or to be “put away” or divorced).
(i.e “put away” Ezra 10:3;10:19 [Yaw-tsaw - (in Hebrew; 3318 Strongs) “to go, break out, be condemned, departing, escape, put away, send with a commandment, utter”. Remember how Joseph was going to “put away” Mary? [ Ap-ol-oo-o - (in Greek; 630 Strongs) “release, dismiss, depart, let die, divorce, let go, loose, put (send) away, release, set at liberty, pardon, forgive (like in an annulment - me)” [Click Here] It the same thinking behind both words).
“So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord (Lord?) and of those who tremble at the command of our God; and let it be done according to the law.” (Ezra 10:2,3)
“And they pledged to put away their wives, and being guilty they offered a ram of the flock for their offense” (Ezra10:19)
When one consider the context of the times it VERY understandable why they did what they
did.
Now how this applies today? Well it’s like the a saved person who grossly backslid because of their unsaved spouse, after having “getting rid” of them, remarries to the exact same kind of person (i.e. unsaved). Also, it’s like a saved person who - after seeing all the trouble other people had with unsaved spouses - decides to marry an unsaved person in spite of Paul’s CLEAR warning not to do so. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18 may very well apply here, especially when one brings in the context of Ezra).
To See What The Bible Says About ...
Nehemiah
Nehemiah
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Here
To Return to...
Unbelievers
and
Covenants
(Part 2)
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For
Unbelievers
and
Covenants
(Part 3)
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To Return to the Question and Answer Section
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***
Now how this applies today? Well it’s like the a saved person who grossly backslid because of their unsaved spouse, after having “getting rid” of them, remarries to the exact same kind of person (i.e. unsaved). Also, it’s like a saved person who - after seeing all the trouble other people had with unsaved spouses - decides to marry an unsaved person in spite of Paul’s CLEAR warning not to do so. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18 may very well apply here, especially when one brings in the context of Ezra).
To See What The Bible Says About ...
Nehemiah
Nehemiah
“In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab...So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, “ You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves... Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”... Even one of the sons of... the high priests... was a son-in-law of (a) Horonite, so I drove him away from me. Remember them, O my God... Thus I purified them from everything foreign... Remember me, O my God, for good.” (Nehemiah 13:23ff)
and
Covenants
(Part 2)
Click Here
and
Covenants
(Part 3)
Click Here
Click Here
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Thus you can have your own web site [Angelfire (Lycos ) offers free web pages as well as many other sites Click here and ask around].
Periodically I will update the links on these pages. Below you will find the dates of the ‘last update’ of a particular page. If you wish you can use the below “updates” as a guide to update your own pages or you can update your own at you own discretion.
Feel free to improve on any of the pages you copy.
Also, feel free to use this entire sites content (Music, Theology, Divorce and Remarriage etc.) in any way you wish (for example: if you wish to publish a page in whole or in part in another medium (let’s say in tract or book form), you have my permission to do so (and you don’t have to inform me or put my name on the work).
You can also sell the work at a profit if you wish, just having these works circulating in the world is reward enough for me).
Again, this is an open source web site. The code (as well as content) is free to all. Feel free to tinker, dabble and fiddle around with both code and content. God is a very creative Spirit. Who knows what kind of page(s) you will develop. Also, who knows what kind of influential tracts or books you may write. (If you want you can change the sentence structures around and put this sites content in your own words. Then put your name on the book or tract and shop it around to some publishers. Most of this sites content is desperately in need of rewrite so putting your name on a rewritten work is probably a good idea, actually a very good idea).
May God bless you in your efforts.
P.S. If you copy these pages to a server make sure you place your own e-mail address on the pages so people will know whom to write if they have any questions (you can also leave my e-mail address on them if you wish (i.e. StevenMRyan@cs.com), but as of now I don’t have the time to answer everyone’s questions so I think your e-mail address would be a better idea).
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