Confession of Sin From Contrite Hearts

Ezra 10:1-44 

    1 Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept very bitterly. 2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, "We have trespassed against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this. 3 Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them, according to the advice of my master and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. 4 Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you. Be of good courage, and do it."

    5 Then Ezra arose, and made the leaders of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel swear an oath that they would do according to this word. So they swore an oath. 6 Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib; and when he came there, he ate no bread and drank no water, for he mourned because of the guilt of those from the captivity.

    7 And they issued a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the descendants of the captivity, that they must gather at Jerusalem, 8 and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the instructions of the leaders and elders, all his property would be confiscated, and he himself would be separated from the assembly of those from the captivity.

    9 So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month; and all the people sat in the open square of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of heavy rain. 10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have transgressed and have taken pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel. 11 Now therefore, make confession to the LORD God of your fathers, and do His will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the pagan wives."

    12 Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, "Yes! As you have said, so we must do. 13 But there are many people; it is the season for heavy rain, and we are not able to stand outside. Nor is this the work of one or two days, for there are many of us who have transgressed in this matter. 14 Please, let the leaders of our entire assembly stand; and let all those in our cities who have taken pagan wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of their cities, until the fierce wrath of our God is turned away from us in this matter." 15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite gave them support.

    16 Then the descendants of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain heads of the fathers' households, were set apart by the fathers' households, each of them by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. 17 By the first day of the first month they finished questioning all the men who had taken pagan wives.

    18 And among the sons of the priests who had taken pagan wives the following were found of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. 19 And they gave their promise that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they presented a ram of the flock as their trespass offering.

    20 Also of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah; 21 of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah; 22 of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.  23 Also of the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (the same is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.  24 Also of the singers: Eliashib; and of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.  25 And others of Israel: of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, Jeziah, Malchiah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah, and Benaiah; 26 of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Eliah; 27 of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza; 28 of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai; 29 of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Ramoth; 30 of the sons of Pahath-Moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh; 31 of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, 32 Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah; 33 of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei; 34 of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, 35 Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluh, 36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, 37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasai, 38 Bani, Binnui, Shimei, 39 Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, 40 Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, 41 Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, 42 Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph; 43 of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah.

    44 All these had taken pagan wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.

Confession of God’s people for the sin of forsaking Him and His word in the alliances with pagan wives resulted in this moment.  While Ezra as the spiritual leader prayed as he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down in humility and godly sorrow for the people’s sin, many came to him, also in tears, and confessed their transgressions, offering to willingly put away the snares of the pagan marriages.  They made a covenant agreement between God and themselves, with fear and trembling in light of God’s word.  These things parallel our own repentance (Psalm 2:11, Philippians 2:12) in the New Covenant which God has made with us, and not we with Him; it means we are to follow His word as we confess and forsake our sin against that word.  We however, do not do these things to establish a relationship with God, but to maintain it for His honor and glory.  We also do not marry unbelievers, but if we do, then we follow scripture in our response, as laid out in 2 Corinthians 6:14 and 1 Corinthians 7:12-13, 15, to live with the one who is God’s enemy as long as they do not want to leave, not putting them away, but showing grace.  If, however, the unbeliever wishes to leave for any reason, we should release them from the marriage covenant which does not have God in it as the binding reason as between two believers in Christ.  The same attitude of contrition and godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:9-10) should move us to much continued prayer as we acknowledge our sin if it was our choosing to open the temple of God’s Spirit, our bodies, to an idolatrous pagan of the world.  If both are unbelievers when married and on later comes to Christ, this of course is different; the guidelines of staying or releasing are there, but the sorrow is guiltless because the choice was not made in opposition to His word and will.  In Ezra’s day, before Christ entered the world and put His word of law in regenerated hearts, accountability was absolute to dissolve the ungodly alliances of marriage to the godless, and the solution was to live by keeping the letter of the law; now we live from His law within us by the grace and forgiveness of mercy shown to us instead.  The bottom line of the lesson for us is never to court or enter into a covenant of marriage apart from God’s presence in that covenant, and to repent if we have done so, calling it as sin without covering it up as we seek the other’s salvation, or allowing them to depart if they wish it.  We are not to put away the unbeliever.  These are difficult things to do, and if we avoid bad decisions up front, we will save ourselves much sorrow.  Confession of sin from contrite and broken hearts still applies.  Look at the long list of broken people in this passage of Ezra to see the extent of the problem and the sorrow it brought, and vow to avoid such alliances because of the sorrow it brings to us and to our Lord.  There are similarities and differences in the time of Ezra and in Christ.  God’s will and word remain the same.