Ezra

Ezra 10: God gives hope to guilty people

Begin in prayer

Before this hard account of confession and repentance, please ask God to guide the one leading our family. Ask Him to help us understand His Word, to care gently for the children, and to point every heart toward Jesus.

A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

Isaiah 10:21

Father in heaven, please open our eyes to understand this difficult part of Israel's history. Show us Jesus and our need to confess and turn from sin. Make us more like Him, and bless our family with gentle words, truth and care for each child. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

As Ezra confesses and weeps before God's house, men, women and children gather and weep with him. Shecaniah confesses their trespass and proposes a covenant to put away the foreign wives and their children. Ezra requires an oath, and the leaders summon the returned people on pain of forfeiture and exclusion. The men gather in heavy rain, and Ezra calls them to confess and separate from these marriages. The assembly agrees to act, though some oppose the proposal, and named leaders examine the cases over several months. The final list includes priests who promise action and offer a ram, and men whose wives have borne children.

As you read Ezra 10, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God gives His guilty people hope as He calls them to repent.

Shecaniah says two things in verse 2, “We have trespassed against our God” and “Yet now there is hope for Israel”. Their sin was marrying into peoples who followed other gods, which God's law forbade (Deuteronomy 7 verses 3 and 4). The danger was the other gods, for people from the nations who sought the LORD had shared the Passover (Ezra 6 verse 21). God was keeping a holy people, because from them the promised Savior would come. So the people wept, and they made a covenant to put away the wives and the children born to them. The leaders examined each case for three months, and even priests offered a ram for their guilt. This was Israel's action under the law at one moment in its history, and it is not a pattern for Christian homes. Paul tells a believer to stay with an unbelieving husband or wife who is willing to stay (1 Corinthians 7 verses 12 and 13). The hope Shecaniah named rests on God's mercy, which He gives in full through Jesus, who bore His people's guilt.

How does Ezra 10 show that God gives His guilty people hope as He calls them to repent?

God gives hope where His people confess their sin.

The trespass was marrying into peoples who followed other gods, the danger God's law had warned against (Ezra 9 verse 1). Shecaniah proposes putting away the wives and those born of them. Ezra requires an oath to act, so the response must go beyond grief.

Ezra called the men to confess and do God's pleasure.

The assembly agrees that Israel has greatly transgressed. Many cases and heavy rain require appointed times for examination, though some stand against the proposal. Repentance names the particular sin.

Guilty priests promised action and offered a ram for guilt.

Priests appear in the list because even those who served in God's house stood guilty. They promise to put away their wives and offer a ram for their trespass. Their ram for guilt points ahead to Christ, who offered His body once for all (Hebrews 10 verse 10).

Memorise

We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing.

Ezra 10:2

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what do I need to confess before the risen Savior?

Shecaniah confessed, “We have trespassed against our God,” then said, “Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing.” Ezra required confession and action. Even priests stood guilty, offering a ram for their sin.

Those guilty priests needed the sinless Priest who would offer Himself. Christ's blood cleanses the conscience for service to God (Hebrews 9 verse 14). Jesus carried His people's sins to the cross and suffered death as their substitute. He completed that offering once for all, leaving no part of their debt unpaid. He rose victorious over death. His sacrifice is enough for the guilty.

Bring your sin into the light before God. Turn from sin in repentance and put your trust in Jesus. All who believe in Christ have forgiveness for their guilt before God. Confession can be honest because hope rests in this risen Savior's mercy.

Parent's note

Tell your children that Jesus died bearing His people's guilt and rose from the dead. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Explain Israel's action gently, and never tell a child this means sending away anyone in their own family.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for holding out hope to guilty people, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one speak if they want to.

The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly; that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:20-21

Lord God, thank You for Your Word that exposes sin and directs us toward Jesus. Please lead each of us to confess, repent and trust Him. Help our family speak honestly and care for one another, and keep each child from fear as we learn this hard history. Amen.