We are now at my final study in the Book of Ezra. It seems reasonable to conclude, once a study is made and not merely a cursory reading, that there was good reason for the Jews to consider the books of Ezra and Nehemiah one book. The Book of Ezra, especially the final year of its events, from the time of Ezra’s arrival in Jerusalem to the time when the matter of the intermarriage rebellion was concluded, one needs to take the final year of the Book of Nehemiah into consideration, as well, if an accurate understanding is to be learned.
I have shown, using my references to the Book of Nehemiah that Nehemiah, the Tirshatha (governor) had worked in Jerusalem twice, first, during the reign of Darius Hystaspes (Artaxerxes in the Book of Nehemiah), when he ministered in Jerusalem for twelve years before his recall by the king (Nehemiah 5:14; 13:6). Some years later, he was permitted to return to Jerusalem to complete the building project he had committed himself to during his first tenure. The time of his return was probably about the time the building project was resumed under the authority of the prophets, when King Xerxes commanded that the project should not be disturbed (Ezra 6:1-7), where the governor in verse-7 might have been Nehemiah, newly released by the king to rejoin the building project.
In the present context of our study, the people returned in obedience to Ezra’s proclamation and recommitted themselves to the Lord through a covenant to separate themselves from the heathen communities around them, which they began by divorcing their heathen mates and their children, and the long process, which took place in Jerusalem, continued from the first day of the tenth month and was completed by the first day of the first month in the following year (Ezra 10:16-17).
Those who were guilty of the trespass and first considered were the priests (Exodus 10:18-22), for the rebellion had touched even the family of the high priest, Jeshua, who was among those who had originally left Babylon under the decree of Cyrus (cp. Ezra 2:2). They promised to put away their wives and offered the appropriate sacrifice from their flocks (verse-19).
Next, to be brought before the princes of Judah were the guilty Levites, singers and porters (Ezra 10:23-24), so the trespass was not only widespread among the Jews in the land, but it touched the leading families of the people. In fact, it appears the trespass had begun among the leading families of Judah (Ezra 9:2; cp. Nehemiah 6:17-18) and spread from them to lower ranking families, showing the rebellion came from the top down. It wasn’t a grassroots problem that had been allowed to run amuck among the Jewish citizenry, but seemed to have been a well-planned effort by the enemies of the Jews, and the leadership at Jerusalem fell prey to their foes.
According to the text, the guilty numbered 113, and this number was comprised of four members of the high priest’s family and thirteen other priests, 10 Levites and 86 Jews who may have been among the elite of Israel, but they were not priests or Levites (Ezra 10:25-44). However, it may need to be stressed that this number, 113, represents the repentant Jews who recommitted themselves in a covenant with the Lord, for unrepentance brought with it banishment from Jewish society and confiscation of one’s property (Ezra 10:8). The point is that among the names of the high priest’s family (Ezra 10:18), Eliashib’s name is missing. While he may not have been among those who committed this particular trespass that led to rebellion against the Lord, he was tolerant of it, according to the Book of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13:4-9), because one of his sons was the son-in-law of Sanballat, the Horonite (Nehemiah 13:28). Therefore, these 113 Jews, who were guilty of rebellion in taking heathen wives, tell only part of the story. We don’t know the extent of what is not said. The story of those on that side of the coin isn’t told, because they were no longer considered Jews. They were rebels and banished from Jewish society!
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