That isn’t the termination of the difficulty, although not

The book away from Ezra finishes that have among sadder themes into the redemptive background. Pursuing the priest Ezra requires the management of article-exilic Jewish society, tough at your workplace reconstructing the temple in Jerusalem, he prospects the people inside recommitting on their own so you’re able to fidelity for the rules. He then get worrisome development. He’s informed that the returnees “have not split themselves throughout the peoples of the countries that have its abominations, on the Canaanites, this new Hittites, the Perizzites, the brand new Jebusites, this new Ammonites, the fresh new Moabites, new Egyptians, additionally the Amorites.” Alternatively, people keeps intermarried: “new holy race possess mixed alone with the individuals of the lands” (Ezra nine:1-2).

Horrified, Ezra leads people for the a process off repentance. Among Jewish leaders, Shecaniah, concerns Ezra that have an idea:

I have busted faith with these God and also have married foreign female regarding peoples of your own home, but even now you will find expect Israel notwithstanding it. Therefore let us build a beneficial covenant with this God to place away a few of these wives in addition to their pupils, depending on the counsel regarding my Lord and of those who tremble from the commandment of our own Jesus, and you will let it be achieved according to Rules. (Ezra 10:2-3)

Which can be just what goes. The book comes to an end that have a disappointing a number of people who hitched overseas female and bound so you can hot argentinian women separation and divorce all of them, driving the women and their students out from the community (Ezra -44).

And you will Nehemiah’s answer is all the more vitriolic (in the event the smaller obvious with its simple outworking). Nehemiah mon, and you can Moab, in addition to their pupils had been even talking foreign languages. Therefore

We experienced all of them and you can cursed all of them and you can defeat the all of them and you can removed away hair. And i also produced all of them just take oath about term away from Jesus, saying, ‘You shall not promote the daughters on the sons, or take the daughters to suit your sons and for yourselves. ‘ And so i cleaned out all of them from that which you overseas. (Nehemiah -31)

So what is the course here? Do Ezra 9-10 show legitimate renewal, a typical example of what the church therefore anxiously need today, as it is frequently preached? Try divorcing international female and banishing their college students throughout the community truly the measure of genuine piety?

The publication away from Nehemiah ends up having Nehemiah’s admission that the state continuous

Very evangelical interpreters was quick to point out that the primary problem on the “international feminine” within the Ezra-Nehemiah are their fidelity to help you overseas gods, maybe not their overseas ethnicity. However, you should be clear your text message in itself will not say it, and numerous scholars contest they. (Indeed, Ezra-Nehemiah try sometimes invoked by the southern area defenders out-of racial segregation.) At all, the signal on text message by itself signifies that Ezra and you will Nehemiah was basically devoted to protecting toward post-exilic area a major brand new way of measuring love. “That which you international,” since Nehemiah throws it, was to end up being cleaned out out of the anybody.

(Indeed, there isn’t any opinion regarding the exactly who this type of international feminine was basically. Some argue that these people were gentile ladies who got gone towards the the new land otherwise resided towards the nearby places. Others believe they were truly the Jews who had remained regarding the home in the place of enter the exile within the Babylon.)

We have undoubtedly one Ezra and Nehemiah noticed they were pretending inside accord towards the Rules. But were they right? Did the law indeed ban the fresh new marrying off foreign feminine? Certainly they failed to. Rahab and you will Ruth is well-known examples of Canaanite and you will Moabite female just who not just e ancestors from David and you can Jesus. Regulations performed prohibit intermarrying on the idolatrous Canaanites, nevertheless actually generated arrangements having Israelites who caught most other overseas women and you may pressed all of them on marriage (Deuteronomy -14). Allegedly such overseas wives was to be forced to follow the fresh new Israelite religion.