Ezra 9 commentary

Many corruptions lurk out of the view of the most careful rulers. Some of the people disobeyed the express command of God, which forbade all marriages with the heathen, De 7. Disbelief of God's all-sufficiency, is at the bottom of the sorry shifts we make to help ourselves. They exposed themselves and their children to the peril of idolatry, that had ruined their church and nation. Carnal professors may make light of such connexions, and try to explain away the exhortations to be separate; but those who are best acquainted with the word of God, will treat the subject in another manner. They must forebode the worst from such unions. The evils excused, and even pleaded for; by many professors, astonish and cause regret in the true believer. All who profess to be God's people, ought to strengthen those that appear and act against vice and profaneness.

The sacrifice, especially the evening sacrifice, was a type of the blessed Lamb of God, who in the evening of the world, was to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Ezra's address is a penitent confession of sin, the sin of his people. But let this be the comfort of true penitents, that though their sins reach to the heavens, God's mercy is in the heavens. Ezra, speaking of sin, speaks as one much ashamed. Holy shame is as necessary in true repentance as holy sorrow. Ezra speaks as much amazed. The discoveries of guilt cause amazement; the more we think of sin, the worse it looks. Say, God be merciful to me sinner. Ezra speaks as one much afraid. There is not a surer or saddler presage of ruin, than turning to sin, after great judgments, and great deliverances. Every one in the church of God, has to wonder that he has not wearied out the Lord's patience, and brought destruction upon himself. What then must be the case of the ungodly? But though the true penitent has nothing to plead in his own behalf, the heavenly Advocate pleads most powerfully for him.

CHAPTER 9

Ezr 9:1-4. Ezra Mourns for the Affinity of the People with Strangers.

1-2. Now when these things were done--The first days after Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem were occupied in executing the different trusts committed to him. The nature and design of the office with which the royal authority had invested him was publicly made known to his own people by the formal delivery of the contribution and the sacred vessels brought from Babylon to the priests to be deposited in the temple. Then his credentials were privately presented to the provincial governors; and by this prudent, orderly proceeding he put himself in the best position to avail himself of all the advantages guaranteed him by the king. On a superficial view everything contributed to gratify his patriotic feelings in the apparently flourishing state of the church and country. But a further acquaintance discovered the existence of great corruptions, which demanded immediate correction. One was particularly brought under his notice as being the source and origin of all others; namely, a serious abuse that was practised respecting the law of marriage.

the princes came to me, saying--The information they lodged with Ezra was to the effect that numbers of the people, in violation of the divine law (De 7:2, 3), had contracted marriages with Gentile women, and that the guilt of the disorderly practice, far from being confined to the lower classes, was shared in by several of the priests and Levites, as well as of the leading men in the country. This great irregularity would inevitably bring many evils in its train; it would encourage and increase idolatry, as well as break down the barriers of distinction which, for important purposes, God had raised between the Israelites and all other people. Ezra foresaw these dangerous consequences, but was overwhelmed with a sense of the difficulty of correcting the evil, when matrimonial alliances had been formed, families had been reared, affections engaged, and important interests established.

3. when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, &c.--the outer and inner garment, which was a token not only of great grief, but of dread at the same time of the divine wrath;

plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard--which was a still more significant sign of overpowering grief.

4. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, &c.--All the pious people who reverenced God's word and dreaded its threatenings and judgments joined with Ezra in bewailing the public sin, and devising the means of redressing it.

I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice--The intelligence of so gross a violation of God's law by those who had been carried into captivity on account of their sins, and who, though restored, were yet unreformed, produced such a stunning effect on the mind of Ezra that he remained for a while incapable either of speech or of action. The hour of the evening sacrifice was the usual time of the people assembling; and at that season, having again rent his hair and garments, he made public prayer and confession of sin.

Ezr 9:5-15. Prays to God.

5-15. I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God--The burden of his prayer, which was dictated by a deep sense of the emergency, was that he was overwhelmed at the flagrant enormity of this sin, and the bold impiety of continuing in it after having, as a people, so recently experienced the heavy marks of the divine displeasure. God had begun to show returning favor to Israel by the restoration of some. But this only aggravated their sin, that, so soon after their re-establishment in their native land, they openly violated the express and repeated precepts which commanded them to extirpate the Canaanites. Such conduct, he exclaimed, could issue only in drawing down some great punishment from offended Heaven and ensuring the destruction of the small remnant of us that is left, unless, by the help of divine grace, we repent and bring forth the fruits of repentance in an immediate and thorough reformation.

The people of Israel - These were they who had returned at first with Zerubbabel, and were settled in the land of Judea and whom Ezra found on his arrival to be little better than the Canaanitish nations from whom God had commanded them ever to keep separate.

Hath been chief in this trespass - They who are the first men have been the most capital offenders; so Virgil, Aen. ix. 783: -

Unus homo, vestris, o cives, undique septus

Aggeribus, tantas strages impune per urbem Ediderit?

Juvenum primos tot miserit orco? "Shall one, and he enclosed within your walls,

One rash imprisoned warrior, vanquish all?

Calm you look on, and see the furious foe

Plunge crowds of heroes to the shades below!"

Pitt.

The first of the Trojan youth were the chief, the most illustrious; so we say the first men of the kingdom for the nobles, etc.

I rent my garment and my mantle - The outer and inner garment, in sign of great grief. This significant act is frequently mentioned in the sacred writings, and was common among all ancient nations.

Plucked off the hair - Shaving the head and beard were signs of excessive grief; much more so the plucking off the hair, which must produce exquisite pain. All this testified his abhorrence, not merely of the act of having taken strange wives, but their having also joined them in their idolatrous abominations.

Those that had been carried away - Those that had returned long before with Zerubbabel; see Ezr 9:1.

Until the evening sacrifice - The morning sacrifice was the first of all the offerings of the day, the evening sacrifice the last. As the latter was offered between the two evenings, i.e., between sunset and the end of twilight, so the former was offered between break of day and sunrise. Ezra sat astonied - confounded in his mind, distressed in his soul, and scarcely knowing what to do. He probably had withdrawn himself into some sequestered place, or into some secret part of the temple, spending the time in meditation and reflection.

Fell upon my knees - In token of the deepest humility. Spread out my hands, as if to lay hold on the mercy of God. We have already had occasion to explain these significant acts.

I am ashamed and blush - God had been so often provoked, and had so often pardoned them, and they had continued to transgress, that he was ashamed to go back again to the throne of grace to ask for mercy in their behalf. This is the genuine feeling of every reawakened backslider.

And now for a little space - This interval in which they were returning from servitude to their own land.

Grace hath been showed - God has disposed the hearts of the Persian kings to publish edicts in our favor.

To leave us a remnant to escape - The ten tribes are gone irrecoverably into captivity; a great part even of Judah and Benjamin had continued beyond the Euphrates: so that Ezra might well say, there was but a remnant which had escaped.

A nail in his holy place - Even so much ground as to fix our tent-poles in.

May lighten our eyes - To give us a thorough knowledge of ourselves and of our highest interest, and to enable us to re-establish his worship, is the reason why God has brought us back to this place.

A little reviving - We were perishing, and our hopes were almost dead; and, because of our sins, we were sentenced to death: but God in his great mercy has given us a new trial; and he begins with little, to see if we will make a wise and faithful use of it.

What shall we say after this? - Even in the midst of these beginnings of respite and mercy we have begun to provoke thee anew!

Have filled it from one end to another - The abominations have been like a sweeping mighty torrent, that has increased till it filled the whole land, and carried every thing before it.

Hast punished us less than our iniquities - Great, numerous, and oppressive as our calamities have been, yet merely as temporal punishments, they have been much less than our provocations have deserved.

Thou art righteous - Thou art merciful; this is one of the many meanings of the word צדק tsedek; and to this meaning St. Paul refers, when he says, God declares his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, Rom 3:25 (note). See the note there.

We remain yet escaped - Because of this righteousness or mercy.

In our trespasses - We have no righteousness; we are clothed and covered with our trespasses.

We cannot stand before thee because of this - The parallel place, as noted in the margin, is Psa 130:3 : If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Every man must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ: but who shall stand there with joy? No man against whom the Lord marks iniquities. There is a reference here to the temple service: the priests and Levites stood and ministered before the Lord, but they were not permitted to do so unless pure from all legal pollution; so no man shall stand before the judgment-seat of Christ who is not washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. Reader, how dost thou expect to stand there?

I rent - Both mine inner and my upper garment.

Evening sacrifice - When the people used to assemble together. All good people ought to own those that appear and act for God against vice and profaneness. Every one that fears God, ought to stand by them, and do what he can to strengthen their hands.

Heaviness - From that mournful posture, and put myself into the posture of a petitioner. He did this at the time of the evening sacrifice, because then devout people used to come into the courts of the temple, that hearing his confession, they likewise might be made sensible of the sins of the people. And he had an eye to that great propitiation, of which that sacrifice was a peculiar type.

Our - He includes himself in the number of the transgressors, because he himself was guilty of many sins; and because the princes and priests, and so many of the people having done this, the guilt was now become national.

Have we been - We are not purged from the guilt of our fathers sins, but we are still feeling the sad effects of them; yea, and are repeating the same sins.

A little space - It is but a little while since God hath delivered us, and yet we are already returned to our sin. A remnant - The far greatest part of the Israelitish nation were yet in captivity. A nail - Some kind of settlement; whereas before we were tossed and removed from place to place as our masters pleased. It is a metaphor from tents, which are fastened by cords and nails, or pins. Holy place - In Jerusalem, called the holy city, Neh 11:1,18 Dan 9:24, which is peculiarly mentioned, because of the temple, which was the nail that fastened their tents and gave them some hopes of continuing in their land. To lighten - That he might revive and comfort our hearts. For as darkness is often put for a state of sorrow and affliction, so light is put for joy and comfort. In bondage - For we are not quite delivered, being even here in subjection to our former lords.

A wall - The favour of the kings of Persia whose edicts were their security against all those enemies wherewith they were encompassed: and the gracious providence of God, which had planted them in their own land, and watched over them from time to time.

It is unclean - This land is as corrupt as any of the rest of the heathen nations.

Strong - Although you may fancy making leagues and marriages with them, as the only way to establish you, yet I assure you, it will weaken and ruin you, and the contrary course will make you strong.

We are - We are here in thy presence, and so are all our sins; we are arraigning ourselves before thy tribunal, acknowledging thee to be just, if thou destroy us. Before thee - In judgment, as that word is often used, we must needs fall and perish at thy presence.

1 NOw when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands , doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, the Ammonite, the Moabite, the Egyptian, and the Amorite.

Who feared God, and understood that Ezra was come with large Commission from the King, and with this design, to reform all disorders, whereof this was not the least.

i. e. From the Heathen Nations round about them, which God had expresly commanded them to do, Deut. 7. 2, 3.

To wit, either, 1. Marrying promiscuously whomsoever they liked, as the Heathens used to do; Or, 2. Imitating them in their Idolatrous or other wicked practices, into which they were drawn by their Heathenish Affinities. Although they are not charged with any other crime besides their Marriage in the following account of it.

2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands : yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.

This they had done, either, 1. In the Land of their Captivity, into which these People were carried as well as others, as appears from Ier. 25. 9, &c. Or rather, 2. Since their return, as may be gathered from [illegible: 1+ letters]. 8, 9, 10, 14.

Who should have restrained the People from this sin, by their authority and example, and by doing otherwise, made the sin more general, and involved themselves and the Nation in the guilt of it.

3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment, and my mantle, and pluckt off the hair of my head, and of my beard , and sat down astonied.

Both my inner and my upper garment.

In testimony of my great grief and indignation; which was usual among all those Eastern and Antient People, wherein he did not transgress that Law, Levit. 19 27. Deut. 14. 1. because he did not shave off all the hair, but onely plucked off some hairs.

Partly for grief and shame at the sin; and partly for fear of some great and dreadful Judgment which he expected and feared for it.

4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel , because of the transgression of those that had been carried away , and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice .

To joyn with me both in lamenting the sin, and in indeavouring the redress of it.

i. e. Who stood in awe of God, & of his Word, & durst not violate his commands; or who feared his threatnings against those that did so, and trembled for fear of God's Judgments upon them, and upon the whole Land for their sakes, as the following words imply. Compare Isa 66. 2, 5.

To wit, into Captivity, and were safely returned from it, and yet were not reformed either by their former affliction, or by their latter deliverance.

When the People used to Assemble together. See Psal. 141. 2. Acts 3. 1.

5 And at the evening sacrifice I arose from my heaviness, and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God,

i. e. From that mournful posture, v. 4. and put my self into the posture of a Petitioner. Or, by reason of my heaviness, or affliction. Having mourned for the sin, I considered that was not sufficient, and that God expected the confession and amendment of it, and therefore I fell to prayer.

Marginal references: Or, a[illegible: 1+ letters]liction.

6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespasses grown up unto the heavens.

He includes himself in the number of the transgressors, not onely by a Rhetorical figure called Communication, but guilty in this kind: and partly because the Princes and Priests, and so many of the People having done this, the guilt was now become National.

Like deep Waters, in which we are as it were drowned, and ready to perish. Compare Psal. 38. 4.

Marginal references: Or, guiltiness.

7 Since the days of our fathers, have we been in a great trespass unto this day , and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.

We are not purged from the guilt and filth of our Fathers sins, but we are still feeling the sad effects of their sins in the continuing Captivity of a great number of our Brethren; and we are still repeating the same sins.

8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape , and to give us a nail in his holy place , that our God may lighten our Eyes , and give us a little reviving in our bondage :

It is but a little while since God hath delivered and restored us, and yet we are already returned to our former sin and solly. Or thus, we have enjoyed this favour but a little while, and now we are sinning it away, and shortening our own happiness.

That by his favour many of us should escape out of Captivity, whom he calls but a remnant, because the far greatest part of the Israelitish Nation were yet in Captivity.

i. e. Either 1. A just and merciful Prince of our own Nation and Religion: such being compared to Nails or Pins, as Isa. 22. 23. Or rather 2. Some kind of settlement: whereas before we were tossed and removed from place to place as our Masters pleased. It is a metaphor from Tents, which are fastened by Cords and Nails, or Pins.

i. e. In this holy Land, as the Land of Iudah is called, Zech. 2. 12. Or, in Ierusalem, which is called The holy City, Neh. 11. 1, 18. Dan▪ 9. 24. which is peculiarly mentioned, because of the Temple, which was the Nail which fastened their Tents, and gave them some ground of hopes to continue in their Land.

i. e. That he might revive and comfort our hearts. For as darkness is oft put for a state of sorrow and affliction; so light is put for joy and comfort.

For we are not quite delivered, but still wear our setters upon us, being even here in subjection to our former Lords.

Marginal references: Heb. moment.; Or, a pin, That is, a constant and sure [illegible: 1+ letters]oode.

9 For we were bond-men , yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia , to give us a reviving to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

i. e. In greater bondage than that in which we now are.

i. e. Hath given us to find favour in their eyes.

To recover us from the grave of dreadful calamities in which we lay like dead men and dry bones, Ezek. 37. 1, &c.

To wit, of the Temple; either to build the house where there was only an heap of the ruines of the old Temple. Or rather 2. To frequent & celebrate the Worship of God in that place, which hath long lain like a desolate & neglected place. For the building of the House was mentioned in the next foregoing words.

Heb. an hedge, or a fence; either 1. The Wall built about Ierusalem. But it is probable that was not yet built, as we shall see by the following History. Besides, this fence is intimated to be as much a fence to the rest of Iudah, as to Ierusalem: Or 2. The favour and protection of the Kings of Persia, whose Edicts on their behalf were under God their security against all those enemies wherewith they were encompassed. Or 3. The powerful and gracious Providence of God, which had brought them together, and planted them in their own Land, and watched over them from time to time.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].; Heb. a [illegible: 1 word]

10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this ? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

What Apology can we make for our selves after thou hast conferred such great and high favours upon us, and we have so grosly abused them?

11 Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land unto which ye go to possess, it is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations. which have filled it from one end to another, with their uncleanness.

This notes the cause or matter of this uncleanness. The Land was not unclean in it self, but onely polluted by the filthiness of its Inhabitants.

Or, of these Lands, which are round about it. This Land is as corrupt as any of the rest of the Heathen Nations.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]

12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace, or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.

But root them out, as I have commanded you to do; which also they have abundantly deserved, both of mine, and of your hands. See Deut. 7. 2,

Although you may fancy that this way of making Leagues and Marriages with them, is the onely way to establish and settle you, yet I assure you, it will weaken and ruine you, and the contrary course will make you stronger.

Marginal references: Exod. 13. 32. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1 word] ▪

13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass , seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve , and hast given us such deliverances as this .

After all our sore sufferings for our sins.

And after all thy favour shewed to us in the mitigation of thy Judgments.

So full, so sudden, and unexpected, and amazing, not onely to our enemies, but also to our selves.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]

14 Should we again break thy commandments, and joyn in affinity with the people of these abominations I wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping ?

Was this a fit and just requital of all thy kindnesses? or was this thy end and design in these actions? or wilst thou take this well from our hands?

Can we reasonably expect any thing from thee less than utter ruine?

15 O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous , for we remain yet escaped , as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses : for we cannot stand before thee , because of this .

A just and holy God, who dost hate, and wilst infallibly punish sin and sinners. Or, thou art merciful, as appears from hence, that notwithstanding all our sins, thou hast not utterly destroyed us, but left a remnant of us. The Hebrew word here rendred righteous, is oft used for merciful; as is well known to all the learned.

Or, though we remain, &c. i. e. Though thou hast yet spared us in part. yet thou art righteous, and therefore wilt certainly punish and destroy us according to our deserts, if we do not repent of, and reform this great wickedness.

We are here in thy presence, and so are all our sins; we are arraigning our selves before thy Tribunal, acknowledging our selves to be vile offenders, and thee to be just, if thou destroy us.

To wit, in Judgment, as that word is oft used, as Psal. 130. 3. Compare Psal. 1. 5. we must needs fall and perish at thy presence, as the phrase is, Psal. 9. 3.

Because of this our great guilt, and the aggravations of it.

Ezr 9:1-2

Information given of the intermingling of Israel with the heathen nations of the land by marriage (Ezr 9:1-4), and Ezra’s prayer and confession (Ezr 9:5-15). - Ezr 9:1, Ezr 9:2. “When this was done, the princes came to me, and said, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, do not separate themselves from the people of the lands, according to their abominations, (even) of the Canaanites; ... for they have taken (wives) of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of the lands.” What now follows is placed in close chronological sequence with what precedes by the formula אלּה וּככלּות, at the time of the completion of these things; comp. 2Ch 31:1; 2Ch 29:29; 2Ch 7:1. אלּה are the things related Ezr 8:33-36. Of these the delivery of the gifts took place on the fourth day after Ezra’s arrival at Jerusalem, i.e., on the fourth or fifth day of the first month (comp. Ezr 8:32, etc., with Ezr 7:9). The sacrifices (Ezr 8:35) would undoubtedly be offered immediately; and the royal orders would be transmitted to the satraps and governors (Ezr 8:36) very soon after. As soon, then, as Ezra received intelligence concerning the illegal marriages, he took the matter in hand, so that all related (Ezr 9:3-10) occurred on one day. The first assemblage of the people with relation to this business was not, however, held till the twentieth day of the ninth month (Ezr 10:9); while on the calling of this meeting, appearance thereat was prescribed within three days, thus leaving apparently an interval of nine whole months between Ezra 8 and Ezr 9:1-15. Hence Bertheau conjectures that the first proclamation of this assembly encountered opposition, because certain influential personages were averse to the further prosecution of this matter (Ezr 10:15). But though Ezr 10:4-7 does not inform us what period elapsed between the adoption of Shecaniah’s proposal to Ezra, and the proclamation for assembling the people at Jerusalem, the narrative does not give the impression that this proclamation was delayed for months through the opposition it met with. Besides, Ezra may have received the information concerning the unlawful marriages, not during the month of his arrival at Jerusalem, but some months later. We are not told whether it was given immediately, or soon after the completion of the matters mentioned Ezr 8:33-36. The delivery of the royal commands to the satraps and governors (Ezr 8:36) may have occupied weeks or months, the question being not merely to transmit the king’s decrees to the said officials, but to come to such an understanding with them as might secure their favour and goodwill in assisting the newly established community, and supporting the house of God. The last sentence (Ezr 8:36), “And they furthered the people and the house of God,” plainly shows that such an understanding with the royal functionaries was effected, by transactions which must have preceded what is related Ezr 9:1-15.

This matter having been arranged, and Ezra being now about to enter upon the execution of his commission to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of his God (Ezr 7:12), he received information of the illegal marriages. While he was in the temple, the princes (השּׂרים, the princes, are those who give the information, the article being used e.g., like that in הפּליט, Gen 14:13) came to him, saying: The people (viz., Israel, the priests, and the Levites; the three classes of the Israelite community) do not separate themselves from the people of the lands; comp. Ezr 6:21. כּתעבתיהם, with respect to their abominations, i.e., as Israel should have done with respect to the abominations of these people. The ל to לכּנעני might be regarded as introducing the enumeration of the different nations, and corresponding with מעמּי; it is, however, more likely that it is used merely as a periphrasis for the genitive, and subordinates the names to תּעבתיהם: their, i.e., the Canaanites', etc., abominations, the suffix relating, as e.g., at Ezr 3:12 and elsewhere, to the names following. Give Canaanitish races are here named, as in Exo 13:5, with this difference, that the Perizzites are here substituted for the Hivites, while in Exo 3:8; Exo 23:23, both are enumerated, making six; to these are added in Deu 7:1 the Girgashites, making, generally speaking, seven nations. Ammonites, Moabites, and Egyptians are here cited besides the Canaanitish races. The non-severance of the Israelites from these nations consisted, according to Ezr 9:2, in the fact of their having contracted marriages with them. In the law, indeed (Exo 34:16; Deu 7:3), only marriages with Canaanitish women were forbidden; but the reason of this prohibition, viz., that Israel might not be seduced by them to idolatry, made its extension to Moabites, Ammonites, and Egyptians necessary under existing circumstances, if an effectual check was to be put to the relapse into heathenism of the Israelitish community, now but just gathered out again from among the Gentiles. For during the captivity idolaters of all nations had settled in the depopulated country, and mingled with the remnant of the Israelites left there. By “the people of the lands,” however, we are not to understand, with J. H. Michaelis, remnants of the races subjugated by Nebuchadnezzar and carried to Babylon, - who were now, after seventy years, returning, as well as the Jews, to their native lands under Cyrus; in support of which view Mich. incorrectly refers to Jer 25:9, etc. - but those portions, both of the ancient Canaanitish races and of the Moabites and Ammonites, who, escaping the sentence of captivity, remained in the land. נשׂאוּ is naturally completed by נשׁים from the context; comp. Ezr 10:44; 2Ch 11:21, and other passages. The subject of התערבוּ is the collective הקּדשׁ זרע, the holy seed, i.e., the members of the nation called to holiness (Exo 19:5). The appellation is taken from Isa 6:13, where the remnant of the covenant people, preserved in the midst of judgments, and purified thereby, is called a holy seed. The second part of Ezr 9:2 contains an explanatory accessory clause: and the hand of the princes and rulers hath been first in this unfaithfulness (מעל, comp. Lev 5:15), i.e., the princes were the first to transgress; on the figurative expression, comp. Deu 13:10. סגנים is an Old-Persian word naturalized in Hebrew, signifying commander, prefect; but its etymology is not as yet satisfactorily ascertained: see Delitzsch on Isa 41:25.

Ezr 9:3-4

This information threw Ezra into deep grief and moral consternation. The tearing of the upper and under garments was a sign of heartfelt and grievous affliction (Jos 8:6); see remarks on Lev 10:6. The plucking out of (a portion of) the hair was the expression of violent wrath or moral indignation, comp. Neh 13:25, and is not to be identified with the cutting off of the hair in mourning Job 1:20). “And sat down stunned;” משׁומם, desolate, rigid, stunned, without motion. While he was sitting thus, there were gathered unto him all who feared the word of God concerning the transgression of those that had been carried away. חרד, trembling, being terrified, generally construed with על or אל (e.g., Isa 66:2, Isa 66:5), but here with ב (like verbs of embracing, believing), and meaning to believe with trembling in the word which God had spoken concerning this מעל, i.e., thinking with terror of the punishments which such faithless conduct towards a covenant God involved.Ezra’s prayer and confession for the congregation. -

Ezr 9:5 And at the time of the evening sacrifice, I rose up from my mortification (תּענית, humiliation, generally through fasting, here through sitting motionless in deep affliction of soul), and rending my garment and my mantle. These words contribute a second particular to קמתּי, and do not mean that Ezra arose with his garments torn, but state that, on arising, he rent his clothing, and therefore again manifested his sorrow in this manner. He then fell on his knees, and spread out his hands to God (comp. 1Ki 8:22), to make a confession of the heavy guilt of the congregation before God, and thus impressively to set their sins before all who heard his prayer.

Ezr 9:6

The train of thought in this prayer is as follows: I scarcely dare to lift up my fact to God, through shame for the greatness of our misdeeds (Ezr 9:6). From the days of our fathers, God has sorely punished us for our sins by delivering us into the power of our enemies; but has now again turned His pity towards us, and revived us in the place of His sanctuary, through the favour of the king of Persia (Ezr 9:7). But we have again transgressed His commands, with the keeping of which God has connected our possession of the good land given unto us (Ezr 9:10). Should we then, after God has spared us more than we through our trespasses have deserved, bring His wrath upon us, till we are wholly consumed? God is just; He has preserved us; but we stand before Him with heavy guilt upon us, such guilt that we cannot endure God’s presence (Ezr 9:13). Ezra does not pray for the pardon of their sin, for he desires only to bring the congregation to the knowledge of the greatness of their transgression, and so to invite them to do all that in them lies to atone for their guilt, and to appease God’s wrath. “I am ashamed, and am covered with shame, to lift up my face to Thee, my God.” ונכלמתּי בּשׁתּי united, as in Jer 31:19, comp. Isa 45:16, and other passages. נכלם, to be covered with shame, is stronger than בּושׁ. “For our iniquities are increased over our head,” i.e., have grown above our head. ראשׁ למעלה, to or over the head. למעלה serves to enhance the meaning of רבוּ, like 1Ch 23:17. “And our guiltiness is great, (reaching) unto the heavens;” comp. 2Ch 28:9.

Ezr 9:7 “Since the days of our fathers, have we, our kings, our priests, been delivered into the hands of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to shame of face.” The words from בּחרב onwards serve to explain what is meant by being delivered into the hand of strange kings. On the expression פּנים בּשׁת, comp. Dan 9:7, etc., 2Ch 32:21. הזּה כּהיּום, as it is this day, as is to-day the case; see remarks on Dan 9:7. The thought is: We are still sorely suffering for our sins, by being yet under the yoke of foreign sovereigns.

Ezr 9:8-9 “And now for a little moment there has been mercy from the Lord our God, to leave us a rescued remnant, and to give us a nail in His holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.” He calls the short interval between their release from captivity by Cyrus, and the time when he is speaking, רגע כּמעט, a little moment (comp. Isa 26:20), in comparison with the long period of suffering from the times of the Assyrians (comp. Neh 9:32) till the reign of Cyrus. פּליטה, a rescued remnant, is the new community delivered from Babylon, and returned to the land of their fathers. In proportion to the numerous population of former days, it was but a remnant that escaped destruction; but a remnant which, according to the predictions of the prophets, was again to grow into a large nation. A foundation for this hope was given by the fact that God had given them “a nail in the place of His sanctuary.” The expression is figurative. יתד is a nail or peg struck into the wall, to hang any kind of domestic utensils upon; comp. Isa 22:23, etc. Such a nail was the place of God’s sanctuary, the temple, to the rescued community. This was to them a firm nail, by which they were borne and upheld; and this nail God had given them as a support to which they might cling, and gain new life and vigour. The infinitive clauses following, להאיר and לתתּנוּ, are dependent upon the preceding infinitives להשׁאיר and ולתת, and state the purpose for which God has given a nail in His house to this remnant. That our God may enlighten our eyes, i.e., may bestow upon us new vitality; comp. Psa 13:4. Suffering and misfortune make the eyes dim, and their light is quenched in death: the enlightened or beaming eye is an image of vital power; comp. 1Sa 14:27, 1Sa 14:29. מחיה לתתּנוּ is not to be translated, ut daret nobis vivificationem, the suffix to לתתּנוּ being not dative, but accusative. The literal rendering is: that He may make us a slight reviving. מחיה, the means of supporting life, restoration to life; see on 2Ch 14:13. Ezra adds מעט; for the life to which the community had attained was but feeble, in comparison with a vigorous social life. Their deliverance from Babylon and return to the land of their fathers was, so to speak, a revival from death; compare the embodiment of this figure in Ezekiel’s vision, Eze 37:1-14 : they were, however, still in a state of vassalage, and had not yet regained their independence. This thought is further carried out in Ezr 9:9 : “For we are bondmen, yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy to us before the kings of Persia; so that they have given us a reviving to build up the house of our God, and to repair its ruins, and have given us a wall about us in Judah and Jerusalem.” They who have returned to Jerusalem and Judah are still bondmen, for they are yet under the Persian yoke; but God has disposed the kings of Persia so to favour them as to give them a reviving, to enable them to rebuild the house of God. Cyrus and Darius had not merely permitted and commanded the building of the temple, but had also furnished them with considerable assistance towards the carrying out of this work; comp. Ezr 1:3, etc. Ezr 6:7-9. The suffix in חרבתיו alludes to אלהים בּית. The words of the last sentence are figurative. גּדר means the wall of a vineyard, the wall or fence built for its protection (Isa 5:2, Isa 5:5). Hence the wall, or enclosure, is an image of protection from the incursions and attacks of enemies. Such a wall has been given them in Judah and Jerusalem by the kings of Persia. “The meaning is not that they possess a place defended by walls (perhaps, therefore, the temple) in Jerusalem and Judah, but that the Persian kings have given to the new community a safe dwelling-place (or the means of existence), because the power of the Persian empire secures to the returned Israelites continued and undisturbed possession of the city and the land.” (Bertheau.)

After this statement concerning the divine favour, Ezra next sets himself to describe the conduct of his countrymen with respect to the mercy extended to them.

Ezr 9:10 “And now, O our God, what can we say after this? That we have forsaken Thy commandments,” זאת, i.e., such proofs of the divine compassion as have just been mentioned. The answer which follows commences with כּי, before which נאמר is mentally repeated: “we can only say that we have forsaken Thy commandments, requited Thy kindness with sins.”

Ezr 9:11-12

Namely, the commandments “which Thou hast commanded by Thy servants the prophets, saying, The land unto which ye go to possess it is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the people of the lands, through their abominations, wherewith they have filled it from one end to another through their impurity. And now give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons (for wives), nor seek their peace nor their wealth for ever; that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.” The words of the prophets introduced by לאמר are found in these terms neither in the prophetical books nor the Pentateuch. They are not, therefore, to be regarded as a verbal quotation, but only as a declaration that the prohibition of intermarriage with the heathen had been inculcated by the prophets. The introduction of this prohibition by the words: the land unto which ye go to possess it, refers to the Mosaic age, and in using it Ezra had chiefly in view Deu 7:1-3. He interweaves, however, with this passage other sayings from the Pentateuch, e.g., Deu 23:7, and from the prophetic writings, without designing to make a verbal quotation. He says quite generally, by His servants the prophets, as the author of the books of Kings does in similar cases, e.g., 2Ki 17:23; 2Ki 21:10; 2Ki 24:2, where the leading idea is, not to give the saying of some one prophet, but to represent the truth in question as one frequently reiterated. The sayings of Moses in Deuteronomy also bear a prophetical character; for in this book he, after the manner of the prophets, seeks to make the people lay to heart the duty of obeying the law. It is true that we do not meet in the other books of Scripture a special prohibition of marriages with Canaanites, though in the prophetical remarks, Jdg 3:6, such marriages are reproved as occasions of seducing the Israelites to idolatry, and in the prophetic descriptions of the whoredoms of Israel with Baalim, and the general animadversions upon apostasy from the Lord, the transgression of this prohibition is implicitly included; thus justifying the general expression, that God had forbidden the Israelites to contract such marriages, by His servants the prophets. Besides, we must here take into consideration the threatening of the prophets, that the Lord would thrust Israel out of the land for their sins, among which intermarriage with the Canaanites was by no means the least. Ezra, moreover, makes use of the general expression, “by the prophets,” because he desired to say that God had not merely forbidden these marriages one or twice in the law, but had also repeatedly inculcated this prohibition by the prophets. The law was preached by the prophets when they reiterated what was the will of God as revealed in the law of Moses. In this respect Ezra might well designate the prohibition of the law as the saying of the prophets, and cite it as pronounced according to the circumstances of the Mosaic period.It is hence evident that these words of Ezra afford no evidence against the single authorship of the Pentateuch. The inference that a saying of the law, uttered during the wanderings in the wilderness, is here cited as a saying of the prophets the servants of Jahve, is, according to the just remark of Bertheau, entirely refuted even by the fact that the words cited are nowhere found in the Pentateuch in this exact form, and that hence Ezra did not intend to make a verbal quotation.

The words: the land into which ye go, etc., recall the introduction of the law in Deu 7:1, etc.; but the description of the land as a land of uncleanness through the uncleanness of the people, etc., does not read thus either in the Pentateuch or in the prophets. נדּה, the uncleanness of women, is first applied to moral impurity by the prophets: comp. Lam 1:17; Eze 7:20; Eze 36:17, comp. Isa 64:5. The expression מפּה אל־פּה, from edge to edge, i.e., from one end to the other, like לפה פּה,   2Ki 10:21; 2Ki 21:16, is taken from vessels filled to their upper rim. ועתּה introduces the consequence: and now, this being the case. The prohibition וגו תּתּנוּ אל is worded after Deu 7:3. The addition: nor seek their peace, etc., is taken almost verbally from Deu 23:7, where this is said in respect of the Ammonites and Moabites. תּחזקוּ למאן recalls Deu 11:8, and the promise: that ye may eat the good of the land for ever, Isa 1:19. לבניכם והורשׁתּם, and leave it for an inheritance to your children, does not occur in this form in the Pentateuch, but only the promise: that they and their children should possess the land for ever. On הורישׁ in this sense comp. Jdg 11:24; 2Ch 20:11.

Ezr 9:13-14

And after all, continues Ezra, taking up again the אחרי־זאת of Ezr 9:10, - “after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass - yea, Thou our God has spared us more than our iniquity deserved, and hast given us this escaped remnant - can we again break Thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? Wilt Thou not be angry with us even to extirpation, so that no residue and no escaped remnant should be left?” The premiss in Ezr 9:13 is followed in Ezr 9:14 by the conclusion in the form of a question, while the second clause of Ezr 9:13 is an explanatory parenthesis. Bertheau construes the passage otherwise. He finds the continuation of the sentence: and after all this ... in the words וגו אתּה כּי, which, calmly spoken, would read: Thou, O God, hast not wholly destroyed us, but hast preserved to us an escaped remnant; while instead of such a continuation we have an exclamation of grateful wonder, emphatically introduced by כּי in the sense of כּי אמנם. With this construction of the clauses, however, no advance is made, and Ezra, in this prayer, does but repeat what he had already said, Ezr 9:8 and Ezr 9:9; although the introductory אהרי leads us to expect a new thought to close the confession. Then, too, the logical connection between the question Ezr 9:14 and what precedes it would be wanting, i.e., a foundation of fact for the question Ezr 9:14. Bertheau remarks on Ezr 9:14, that the question: should we return to break (i.e., break again) the commands of God? is an antithesis to the exclamation. But neither does this question, to judge by its matter, stand in contrast to the exclamation, nor is any such contrast indicated by its form. The discourse advances in regular progression only when Ezr 9:14 forms the conclusion arrived at from Ezr 9:13, and the thought in the premiss (13 a) is limited by the thoughts introduced with כּי. What had come upon Israel for their sins was, according to Ezr 9:7, deliverance into the hand of heathen kings, to the sword, to captivity, etc. God had not, however, merely chastened and punished His people for their sins, He had also extended mercy to them, Ezr 9:8, etc. This, therefore, is also mentioned by Ezra in Ezr 9:13, to justify, or rather to limit, the כּל in כּל־הבּא. The כּי is properly confirmatory: for Thou, our God, hast indeed punished us, but not in such measure as our sins had deserved; and receives through the tenor of the clause the adversative meaning of imo, yea (comp. Ewald, §330, b). למטּה מ חשׂכתּ, Thou hast checked, hast stopped, beneath our iniquities. חשׂך is not used intransitively, but actively; the missing object must be supplied from the context: Thou hast withheld that, all of which should have come upon us, i.e., the punishment we deserved, or, as older expositors completed the sense, iram tuam. מעוננוּ למטּה, infra delicta nostra, i.e., Thou hast punished us less than our iniquities deserved. For their iniquities they had merited extirpation; but God had given them a rescued remnant. כּזאת, as this, viz., this which exists in the community now returned from Babylon to Judaea. This is the circumstance which justifies the question: should we, or can we, again (נשׁוּב is used adverbially) break Thy commandments, and become related by marriage? (חתחתּן   like Deu 7:3.) התּעבות עמּי, people who live in abominations. The answer to this question is found in the subsequent question: will He not - if, after the sparing mercy we have experienced, we again transgress the commands of God - by angry with us till He have consumed us? כּלּה עד (comp. 2Ki 13:17, 2Ki 13:19) is strengthened by the addition: so that there will be no remnant and no escaping. The question introduced by הלוא is an expression of certain assurance: He will most certainly consume us.

Ezr 9:15 “Jahve, God of Israel, Thou art righteous; for we remain an escaped remnant, as (it is) this day. Behold, we are before Thee in our trespass; for no one can stand before Thy face, because of this.” Ezra appeals to the righteousness of God, not to supplicate pardon, as Neh 9:33, for the righteousness of God would impel Him to extirpate the sinful nation, but to rouse the conscience of the community, to point out to them what, after this relapse into their old abominations, they had to expect from the justice of God. נשׁארנוּ כּי is confirmatory. God has shown Himself to be just by so sorely punishing this once numerous nation, that only a small remnant which has escaped destruction now exists. And this remnant has again most grievously offended: we lie before Thee in our trespass; what can we expect from Thy justice? Nothing but destruction; for there is no standing before Thee, i.e., no one can stand before Thee, על־זאת, because of this (comp. Ezr 8:23; Ezr 10:2), i.e., because of the fresh guilt which we have incurred.

Ezra's Reformation. (b. c. 456.)

1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. 3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. 4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.

Ezra, like Barnabas when he came to Jerusalem and saw the grace of God to his brethren there, no doubt was glad, and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord, Acts xi. 23. He saw nothing amiss (many corruptions lurk out of the view of the most vigilant rulers); but here is a damp upon his joys: information is brought him that many of the people, yea, and some of the rulers, had married wives out of heathen families, and joined themselves in affinity with strangers. Observe,

I. What the sin was that they were guilty of: it was mingling with the people of those lands (v. 2), associating with them both in trade and in conversation, making themselves familiar with them, and, to complete the affinity, taking their daughters in marriages to their sons. We are willing to hope that they did not worship their gods, but that their captivity had cured them of their idolatry: it is said indeed that they did according to their abominations; but that (says bishop Patrick) signifies here only the imitation of the heathen in promiscuous marriages with any nation whatsoever, which by degrees would lead them to idolatry. Herein, 1. They disobeyed the express command of God, which forbade all intimacy with the heathen, and particularly in matrimonial contracts, Deut. vii. 3. 2. They profaned the crown of their peculiarity, and set themselves upon a level with those above whom God had by singular marks of his favour, of late as well as formerly, dignified them. 3. They distrusted the power of God to protect and advance them, and were led by carnal policy, hoping to strengthen themselves and make an interest among their neighbours by these alliances. A practical disbelief of God's all-sufficiency is at the bottom of all the sorry shifts we make to help ourselves. 4. They exposed themselves, and much more their children, to the peril of idolatry, the very sin, and introduced by this very way, that had once been the ruin of their church and nation.

II. Who were the persons that were guilty of this sin, not only some of the unthinking people of Israel, that knew no better, but many of the priests and Levites, whose office it was to teach the law, and this law among the rest, and in whom, by reason of their elevation above common Israelites, it was a greater crime. It was a diminution to the sons of that tribe to match into any other tribe, and they seldom did except into the royal tribe; but for them to match with heathen, with Canaanites, and Hittites, and I know not whom, was such a disparagement as, if they had had any sense, though not of duty, yet of honour, one would think, they would never have been guilty of. Yet this was not the worst: The hand of the princes and rulers, who by their power should have prevented or reformed this high misdemeanour, was chief in this trespass. If princes be in a trespass, they will be charged as chief in it, because of the influence their examples will have upon others. Many will follow their pernicious ways. But miserable is the case of that people whose leaders debauch them and cause them to err.

III. The information that was given of this to Ezra. It was given by the persons that were most proper to complain, the princes, those of them that had kept their integrity and with it their dignity; they could not have accused others if they themselves had not been free from blame. It was given to the person who had power to mend the matter, who, as a ready scribe in the law of God, could argue with them, and, as king's commissioner, could awe them. It is probable that these princes had often endeavoured to redress this grievance and could not; but now they applied to Ezra, hoping that his wisdom, authority, and interest, would prevail to do it. Those that cannot of themselves reform public abuses may yet do good service by giving information to those that can.

IV. The impression this made upon Ezra (v. 3): He rent his clothes, plucked off his hair, and sat down astonished. Thus he expressed the deep sense he had, 1. Of the dishonour hereby done to God. It grieved him to the heart to think that a people called by his name should so grossly violate his law, should be so little benefited by his correction, and make such bad returns for his favours. 2. Of the mischief the people had hereby done to themselves and the danger they were in of the wrath of God breaking out against them. Note, (1.) The sins of others should be our sorrow, and the injury done by them to God's honour and the souls of men is what we should lay to heart. (2.) Sorrow for sin must be great sorrow; such Ezra's was, as for an only son or a first-born. (3.) The scandalous sins of professors are what we have reason to be astonished at. We may stand amazed to see men contradict, disparage, prejudice, ruin, themselves. Strange that men should act so inconsiderately and so inconsistently with themselves! Upright men are astonished at it.

V. The influence which Ezra's grief for this had upon others. We may suppose that he went up to the house of the Lord, there to humble himself, because he had an eye to God in his grief and that was the proper place for deprecating his displeasure. Public notice was soon taken of it, and all the devout serious people that were at hand assembled themselves to him, it should seem of their own accord, for nothing is said of their being sent, to, v. 4. Note, 1. It is the character of good people that they tremble at God's word; they stand in awe of the authority of its precepts and the severity and justice of its threatenings, and to those that do so will God look, Isa. lxvi. 2. 2. Those that tremble at the word of God cannot but tremble at the sins of men, by which the law of God is broken and his wrath and curse are incurred. 3. The pious zeal of one against sin may perhaps provoke very many to the like, as the apostle speaks in another case, 2 Cor. ix. 2. Many will follow who have not consideration, talent, and courage, enough to lead in a good work. 4. All good people ought to own those that appear and act in the cause of God against vice and profaneness, to stand by them, and do what they can to strengthen their hands.

5 And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, 6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. 7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. 8 And now for a little space grace hath been showed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. 9 For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. 10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments, 11 Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. 12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever. 13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; 14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? 15 O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.

What the meditations of Ezra's heart were, while for some hours he sat down astonished, we may guess by the words of his mouth when at length he spoke with his tongue; and a most pathetic address he here makes to Heaven upon this occasion. Observe,

I. The time when he made this address—at the evening sacrifice, v. 5. Then (it is likely) devout people used to come into the courts of the temple, to grace the solemnity of the sacrifice and to offer up their own prayers to God in concurrence with it. In their hearing Ezra chose to make this confession, that they might be made duly sensible of the sins of their people, which hitherto they had either not taken notice of or had made light of. Prayer may preach. The sacrifice, and especially the evening sacrifice, was a type of the great propitiation, that blessed Lamb of God which in the evening of the world was to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself, to which we may suppose Ezra had an eye of faith in this penitential address to God; he makes confession with his hand, as it were, upon the head of that great sacrifice, through which we receive the atonement. Certainly Ezra was no stranger to the message which the angel Gabriel had some years ago delivered to Daniel, at the time of the evening sacrifice, and as it were in explication of it, concerning Messiah the Prince (Dan. ix. 21, 24); and perhaps he had regard to that in choosing this time.

II. His preparation for this address. 1. He rose up from his heaviness, and so far shook off the burden of his grief as was necessary to the lifting up of his heart to God. He recovered from his astonishment, got the tumult of his troubled spirits somewhat stilled and his spirit composed for communion with God. 2. He fell upon his knees, put himself into the posture of a penitent humbling himself and a petitioner suing for mercy, in both representing the people for whom he was now an intercessor. 3. He spread out his hands, as one affected with what he was going to say, offering it up unto God, waiting, and reaching out, as it were, with an earnest expectation, to receive a gracious answer. In this he had an eye to God as the Lord, and as his God, a God of power, but a God of grace.

III. The address itself. It is not properly to be called a prayer, for there is not a word of petition in it; but, if we give prayer its full latitude, it is the offering up of pious and devout affections to God, and very devout, very pious, are the affections which Ezra here expresses. His address is a penitent confession of sin, not his own (from a conscience burdened with its own guilt and apprehensive of his own danger), but the sin of his people, from a gracious concern for the honour of God and the welfare of Israel. Here is a lively picture of ingenuous repentance. Observe in this address,

1. The confession he makes of the sin and the aggravations of it, which he insists upon, to affect his own heart and theirs that joined with him with holy sorrow and shame and fear, in the consideration of it, that they might be deeply humbled for it. And it is observable that, though he himself was wholly clear from this guilt, yet he puts himself into the number of the sinners, because he was a member of the same community—our sins and our trespass. Perhaps he now remembered it against himself, as his fault, that he had staid so long after his brethren in Babylon, and had not separated himself so soon as he might have done from the people of those lands. When we are lamenting the wickedness of the wicked, it may be, if we duly reflect upon ourselves and give our own hearts leave to deal faithfully with us, we may find something of the same nature, though in a lower degree, that we also have been guilty of. However, he speaks that which was, or should have been, the general complaint.

(1.) He owns their sins to have been very great: "Our iniquities are increased over our heads (v. 6); we are ready to perish in them as in deep waters;" so general was the prevalency of them, so violent the power of them, and so threatening were they of the most pernicious consequences. "Iniquity has grown up to such a height among us that it reaches to the heavens, so very impudent that it dares heaven, so very provoking that, like the sin of Sodom, it cries to heaven for vengeance." But let this be the comfort of true penitents that though their sins reach to the heavens God's mercy is in the heavens, Ps. xxxvi. 5. Where sin abounds grace will much more abound.

(2.) Their sin had been long persisted in (v. 7): Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass. The example of those that had gone before them he thought so far from excusing their fault that it aggravated it. "We should have taken warning not to stumble at the same stone. The corruption is so much the worse that it has taken deep root and begins to plead prescription, but by this means we have reason to fear that the measure of the iniquity is nearly full."

(3.) The great and sore judgments which God had brought upon them for their sins did very much aggravate them: "For our iniquities we have been delivered to the sword and to captivity (v. 7), and yet not reformed, yet not reclaimed—brayed in the mortar, and yet the folly not gone (Prov. xxvii. 22)—corrected, but not reclaimed."

(4.) The late mercies God had bestowed upon them did likewise very much aggravate their sins. This he insists largely upon, v. 8, 9. Observe, [1.] The time of mercy: Now for a little space, that is, "It is but a little while since we had our liberty, and it is not likely to continue long." This greatly aggravated their sin, that they were so lately in the furnace and that they knew not how soon they might return to it again; and could they yet be secure? [2.] The fountain of mercy: Grace has been shown us from the Lord. The kings of Persia were the instruments of their enlargement; but he ascribes it to God and to his grace, his free grace, without any merit of theirs. [3.] The streams of mercy,—that they were not forsaken in their bondage, but even in Babylon had the tokens of God's presence,—that they were a remnant of Israelites left, a few out of many, and those narrowly escaped out of the hands of their enemies, by the favour of the kings of Persia,—and especially that they had a nail in his holy place, that is (as it is explained, v. 9), that they had set up the house of God. They had their religion settled and the service of the temple in a constant method. We are to reckon it a great comfort and advantage to have stated opportunities of worshipping God. Blessed are those that dwell in God's house, like Anna that departed not from the temple. This is my rest for ever, says the gracious soul. [4.] The effects of all this. It enlightened their eyes, and it revived their hearts; that is, it was very comfortable to them, and the more sensibly so because it was in their bondage: it was life from the dead to them. Though but a little reviving, it was a great favour, considering that they deserved none and the day of small things was an earnest of greater. "Now," says Ezra, "how ungrateful are we to offend a God that has been so kind to us! how disingenuous to mingle in sin with those nations from whom we have been, in wonderful mercy, delivered! how unwise to expose ourselves to God's displeasure when we are tried with the returns of his favour and are upon our good behaviour for the continuance of it!"

(5.) It was a great aggravation of the sin that it was against an express command: We have forsaken thy commandments, v. 10. It seems to have been an ancient law of the house of Jacob not to match with the families of the uncircumcised, Gen. xxxiv. 14. But, besides that, God had strictly forbidden it. He recites the command, v. 11, 12. For sin appears sin, appears exceedingly sinful, when we compare it with the law which is broken by it. Nothing could be more express: Give not your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters to your sons. The reason given is because, if they mingled with those nations, they would pollute themselves. It was an unclean land, and they were a holy people; but if they kept themselves distinct from them it would be their honour and safety, and the perpetuating of their prosperity. Now to violate a command so express, backed with such reasons, and a fundamental law of their constitution, was very provoking to the God of heaven.

(6.) That in the judgments by which they had already smarted for their sins God had punished them less than their iniquities deserved, so that he looked upon them to be still in debt upon the old account. "What! and yet shall we run up a new score? Has God dealt so gently with us in correcting us, and shall we thus abuse his favour and turn his grace into wantonness?" God, in his grace and mercy, had said concerning Sion's captivity, She hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins (Isa. xl. 2); but Ezra, in a penitential sense of the great malignity that was in their sin, acknowledged that, though the punishment was very great, it was less than they deserved.

2. The devout affections that were working in him, in making this confession. Speaking of sin,

(1.) He speaks as one much ashamed. With this he begins (v. 6), O my God! I am ashamed and blush, O my God! (so the words are placed) to lift up my face unto thee. Note, [1.] Sin is a shameful thing; as soon as ever our first parents had eaten forbidden fruit they were ashamed of themselves. [2.] Holy shame is as necessary an ingredient in true and ingenuous repentance as holy sorrow. [3.] The sins of others should be our shame, and we should blush for those who do not blush for themselves. We may well be ashamed that we are any thing akin to those who are so ungrateful to God and unwise for themselves. This is clearing ourselves, 2 Cor. vii. 11. [4.] Penitent sinners never see so much reason to blush and be ashamed as when they come to lift up their faces before God. A natural sense of our own honour which we have injured will make us ashamed, when we have done a wrong thing, to look men in the face; but a gracious concern for God's honour will make us much more ashamed to look him in the face. The publican, when he went to the temple to pray, hung down his head more than ever, as one ashamed, Luke xviii. 13. [5.] An eye to God as our God will be of great use to us in the exercise of repentance. Ezra begins, O my God! and again in the same breath, My God. The consideration of our covenant-relation to God as ours will help to humble us, and break our hearts for sin, that we should violate both his precepts to us and our promises to him; it will also encourage us to hope for pardon upon repentance. "He is my God, notwithstanding this;" and every transgression in the covenant does not throw us out of covenant.

(2.) He speaks as one much amazed (v. 10) "What shall we say after this? For my part I know not what to say: if God do not help us, we are undone." The discoveries of guilt excite amazement: the more we think of sin the worse it looks. The difficulty of the case excites amazement. How shall we recover ourselves? Which way shall we make our peace with God? [1.] True penitents are at a loss what to say. Shall we say, We have not sinned, or, God will not require it? If we do, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Shall we say, Have patience with us and we will pay thee all, with thousands of rams, or our first-born for our transgression? God will not thus be mocked: he knows we are insolvent. Shall we say, There is no hope, and let come on us what will? That is but to make bad worse. [2.] True penitents will consider what to say, and should, as Ezra, beg of God to teach them. What shall we say? Say, "I have sinned; I have done foolishly; God be merciful to me a sinner;" and the like. See Hos. xiv. 2.

(3.) He speaks as one much afraid, v. 13, 14. "After all the judgments that have come upon us to reclaim us from sin, and all the deliverances that have been wrought for us to engage us to God and duty, if we should again break God's commandments, by joining in affinity with the children of disobedience and learning their ways, what else could we expect but that God should be angry with us till he had consumed us, and there should not be so much as a remnant left, nor any to escape the destruction?" There is not a surer nor sadder presage of ruin to any people than revolting to sin, to the same sins again, after great judgments and great deliverances. Those that will be wrought upon neither by the one nor by the other are fit to be rejected, as reprobate silver, for the founder melteth in vain.

(4.) He speaks as one much assured of the righteousness of God, and resolved to acquiesce in that and to leave the matter with him whose judgment is according to truth (v. 15): "Thou art righteous, wise, just, and good; thou wilt neither do us wrong nor be hard upon us; and therefore behold we are before thee, we lie at thy feet, waiting our doom; we cannot stand before thee, insisting upon any righteousness of our own, having no plea to support us or bring us off, and therefore we fall down before thee, in our trespass, and cast ourselves on thy mercy. Do unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee, Judg. x. 15. We have nothing to say, nothing to do, but to make supplication to our Judge," Job ix. 15. Thus does this good man lay his grief before God and then leave it with him.

CHAP. IX. Verſe 1. Now when theſe things were done.]

HEre are poſt maxima gaudia luctus, Heavens joyes are without meaſure or mixture: But this preſent life is overſpred with ſins and miſeries, as with a filthy morphew. Of good Ezra we may ſay as Pliny doth of Metellus; Metellus infelix dici non debet, felix non poteſt, Lib. 7. c. 47. Unhappy we may not call him, happy we cannot: witneſſe the dolefull diſcourſe of this Chapter.

The Princes came unto me] The better ſort of them that were ſenſible of the abuſes crept in, and deſired a Reformation. For ſome of the Princes alſo and Rulers had their hands elbow-deep, in the wickedneſſe complained of Verſe 2.

The people of Iſrael] The Many, [non-Latin text not transcribed] the common ſort, that ſhallow-braind, but many-headed Beaſt, that loves to follow the herd and do as the moſt do, though thereby they be utterly undone for ever.

And the Prieſts, and the Levites] This was much: for theſe knew the Law, and made their boaſt of it, Rom. 2.18.23. They could not be ignorant of the unlawfulneſſe of this mixing themſelves in marriage with Heathens not proſelyted. Now ſins againſt knowledge and conſcience are of a double dye, of a crymſon colour: and make a great breach, a deep gaſh in a mans ſpirit. Eſay 59.11, 12. What was it that brought ſuch roarings and troubles on them, and that, when ſalvation was looked for? Our iniquities teſtify to our faces, and we know them.

Have not ſeparated themſelves] The ſeparation of the Saints from the wicked is a wonderful ſeparation, Exod. 33.16. ſuch as was that of light from darkneſſe in the creation. God hath brought them out of darkneſſe into his marvellous light. Why then ſhould they be unequally yoked together with unbeleevers? what communion hath light with darkneſſe, &c? 2 Cor. 6.14.1 Pet. 2.

Doing according to their abominations] How ſhould they chuſe but do ſo, when ſo matched and married? what's the reaſon the Pope will not diſpenſe in Spain or Italy, if a Papiſt marry a Proteſtant? yet here they will, but in hope thereby to draw more to them. The brown bread in the Oven will be ſure to fleece from the white; not that from it. So in married couples: ſeldome is the worſe bettered by the good, but the contrary. See Nehem. 13.26.

Verſe 2. For they have taken of their daughters] Taken them for wives: which was fllatly forbidden, Deut. 7.3. and a reaſon given, ver. 4. from the evil effect of ſuch unbleſt marriages. This abuſe Malachi complaineth of, chap. 2.11, 13. whom ſome make to be the ſame man with Ezra.

For themſelves and for their ſons] Whom they herein helped to a cold arm-ful, (as Lycophron calleth a bad wife:) or rather to an unnatural heat, worſe then that of a quartan ague, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. as ſaid Simonides: as bad as that of an evil ſpirit, ſaid another Heathen.

So that the holy ſeed] Id eſt, The children of Iſrael, who were all federally holy at leaſt, Deut. 7.6. as are alſo all the children of Chriſtian Parents, 1 Cor. 7.14.

Hath been chief in this treſpaſſe] Which they think audaciouſly to bear out with their big looks, to obtrude and juſtify to the World this moſt malapert miſdemeanour, becauſe it is facinus majoris abollae, the fact of a great one.

Verſe 3.Juvenal. I rent my garments and my mantle] In token of his deep and down-right humiliation, indignation, deteſtation of their dealings herein.

And pluckt [illegible: 1 letter]ff the hair of my head, and of my beard] To ſhew how paſſionately grieved and offended he was. The raging Turk did the like at the laſt aſſault of Scodra: being extremely vexed at the diſhonour and loſſe he had received there. But what followed? In his choler and frantick rage,Turk. Hiſt. he moſt horribly blaſphemed God: whereas holy Ezra, though he ſat aſtonied till the Evening ſacrifice, yet then he poureth forth his ſoul in an heavenly prayer, verſe 5, 6.

And ſate down aſtonied] As one that hath neither life nor ſoul, (as we ſay) that can neither ſay nor do for himſelf, being wondrouſly amazed, aſtoniſhed, or deſolate, as David had been, Pſal. 143.4. The true Zealot, as his love is fervent, his deſires eager, his delights raviſhing, his hopes longing; ſo his hatred is deadly, his anger fierce, his grief deep, his fear terrible, &c. Zeal is an extreme heat of all the affections, Rom. 12.11. boyling-hot, hiſſing-hot, as the Greek importeth. [non-Latin text not transcribed].

Verſe 4. Then were aſſembled unto me] It was ſoon noyſed and noticed among the godly party, how exceedingly Ezra was troubled: they therefore trouble themſelves, as our Saviour is ſaid to have done John. 11.33. and as Paul felt twinges when others were hurt. Who is offended ſaith he, and I burn not? Sheep when frighted, will get together;2 Cor. 11.29. Swine, when lugged, will grunt together. What ſhould Saints do, (in caſe of National ſins or judgments) but aſſemble and tremble together, as here; but vow and perform Reformation to the Lord their God, as in the next chapter?

Every one that trembled at the words] At the judgements of God whileſt they yet hang in the threatnings. To ſuch looketh the Lord, with ſpeciall intimations of his love, Iſa. 66.2. When as thoſe that tremble not in hearing, ſhall be cruſhed to pieces in feeling, ſaid Mr. Bradford the Martyr.

That had been carried away] But had not learned by the thing that they had ſuffered, were as bad as before, if not worſe, having loſt the fruit of their afflictions. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. This is fearful: a ſad ſigne of an incorrigible caſtaway, Jer. 6.30.

Ʋntill the Evening-ſacrifice] This time of the day good people, uſually took to pray at: that, together with the ſacrifice, their prayers might come up for a memorial before God in thoſe pillars of ſmoke, Cant. 3.6. Act. 10.4. See Luk. 1.10. Act. 3.11.

Verſe 5. I roſe up from my heavineſſe] In affliction, ſc. of ſpirit, wherewith his heart was leavened and ſowred, as Davids was, Pſal. 73.21. Imbittered as Peters, Matth. 26. ult. powred out upon him as Jobs, chap. 30.16. He did really afflict himſelf with voluntary ſorrowes for the tranſgreſſions of his people.

And having rent, &c.] See ver. 3.

I fel upon knees] This geſture did both evidence, & encreaſe the ardency of his affection.

And ſpread out my hands] With the palmes open toward Heaven in an having craving way, as Beggers. This was the Jewiſh manner of praying; and it was very becoming.

Verſe 6. And ſaid, O my God] This was a prayer of faith, and founded upon the Covenant, that bee-hive of Heavenly honey, as One well calleth it.

I am aſhamed and bluſh] Sin is a bluſhful thing and hales ſhame at the heeles of it,Illum ego periiſſe dico cui periit pudor. Salluſt. Rev. 3.17. Therefore when a man hath committed a ſin, he bluſheth: the blood as it were, would cover the ſin. But he is paſt grace that is paſt ſhame, and can bluſh no more then a ſackbut.

For our iniquities] He maketh himſelf a party, becauſe he was one of the ſame Community with them that had done that evil. He alſo knew himſelf to have an hand if not upon the great cart-ropes, ſet upon the leſſer cords that might draw down divine vengeance upon the Land. Hence he includeth himſelf after the example of Daniel, chap. 9.5.

Are increaſed over our heads] As an overwhelming flood, Pſal. 38.4. That threateneth to go over our ſoules too, Pſal. 124.4. and to ſink them in the bottomleſſe lake, that lowermoſt part of hel imported by that [non-Latin text not transcribed] locale (as Hebricians Note) Pſal. 9.17.

And our treſpaſſe is growen up unto the Heavens] So great is our guilt, that it is gotten as high as Heaven, that is, as high as may be. For beyond the moveable Heavens, Ariſtotle (Natures beſt Secretary) ſaith there is neither body, nor time, nor place, nor vacuum. De Coelo Text. 99. See Revel. 18.5. with the Note. Mans ſinne defileth even the very viſible Heavens; which muſt therefore be purged with the fire of the laſt day. Yea it pierceth into the Heavens of Heavens, & maketh a loud out-cry in gods eares for vengeance, Gen. 4.10. & 18.20.

Verſe 7. Since the dayes of our Fathers] Confeſſion with aggravation is that happy Spunge, that wipeth out all the blottes and blurres of our lives: for, if we confeſſe our ſinnes, and therein lay load enough upon our ſelves, as Ezra here, & Daniel doth c. 9.5. (mark how ful in the mouth theſe good men are, out of the abundant hatred of ſin in their hearts) God is faithful and juſt to forgive us our ſins, &c. 1 John 1.9. But in confeſſion we muſt not extenuate or excuſe: every ſin, muſt ſwel as a toad in our eyes, and we muſt ſpet it out of our mouthes with utmoſt indignation; ſhewing the Lord the iniquity of our ſin, the filthineſſe of our leudneſſe, the abomination of our provocations, Rom. 7.13. Thus if we weigh our ſinnes in a true balance, and put in ſo many weights, as to bring to a juſt humiliation, to a godly ſorrow; then it will prove a right Apology, the ſame that the Apoſtle maketh a fruit and ſign of ſound repentance 2 Cor. 7.11.Chennit. Exam. quae magis deprecatione conſtat, quàm depulſione criminum, ſuch an Apology as conſiſteth rather in deprecating, then defending.

We havebeen in a great treſpaſſe unto this day] And ſo there hath bin a concatenation, a continued ſeries of our ſinnes from one generation to another. We are a race of Rebels, a ſeed of ſerpents, &c.

And for our inquities have we, our Kings and our Prieſts] Our National ſinnes have produced National plagues; which yet we have not improved to a publike or perſonall reformation. Many hands have drawn the cable with greateſt violence; the leproſy hath over-run the whole body: there is (as Phyſicians ſay of ſome diſeaſes) corruptio totius ſubſtantiae, a general defection, a conjuncture, of all perſons, in all ſins and miſeries, which like cloudes cluſter together, and no clearing up by repentance.

And to confuſion of face,] So that we are a ſcorn to our Enemies, and a terrour to our ſelves, in a low and lamentable condition.

Verſe 8. And now for a little ſpace] Heb. point, or moment of time. God let looſe his hand for a while, and gave them ſome little liberty, to make them inſtances of his mercy, who had been objects of his wrath: but nothing would mend them and make them better.

And to give us a nail] that is, ſome ſettlement, ſome ſubject of hope, and ſupport of faith. He ſeemeth to allude to ſuch nailes as wherewith they faſtened their tents to the ground (Jael drove one of thoſe Tent-nails thorough Siſera's Temples, and laid him ſafe enough) or elſe to thoſe nailes that, driven into pales, do faſten them to their nailes.

That our God may lighten our eyes] Id eſt, Chear up our hearts, and ſo clear up our eyeſight: which, when the ſpirit is dejected, grows dim, for want of ſpirits. Profectò oculis animus inhabitat, ſaith Pliny; Truly ſo it is, that the heart dwelleth in the eye: there it ſitteth and ſheweth it ſelf pleaſed or diſpleaſed with whatſoever occurrences. And as a looking-glaſſe is the eye of art: ſo is the eye the looking-glaſſe of nature.Lib, 2. cap. 32.

And to give us a little reviving in our bondage] Not light onely, but heat alſo by the beames of his pleaſed countenance, which is better then life. The life of ſome kinds of creatures is meerly in the Sun; In Winter they lie for dead: in Summer, they revive. So it is with the Saints: all their comfort conſiſts in Gods grace and favour. They look unto him and are lightened, Pſal. 34.5. he hideth his face and they are troubled; their breath is taken away, they die and return to their duſt, Pſal. 104.29. Theſe captives in Babylon lay for that time as dead and buried, Eſay 26.19. God opened their graves, and cauſed them to come up cut of their graves, and brought them to the land of Iſrael. Ezek. 37.13. For his favour is no empty favour: It is not like the Winter-ſun that caſts a Goodly countenance when it ſhineth, but gives little comfort and heat. He is the Father of lights, and the God of all grace and conſolation, &c. he gives all things needful to life and godlineſſe, ſo that to have ſinned againſt ſo good a God, to kick againſt ſuch tender bowels, was a further aggravation of their ſinne: and ſo it is here uſed and urged.

Verſe 9. For we were bondmen] Heb. ſervants; and ſo wholly and onely at the pleaſure of another: for a ſervant not [non-Latin text not transcribed], ſaith Ariſtotle, one that moveth abſolutely of himſelf: but he is the Maſters underling and inſtrument, [non-Latin text not transcribed], wholly at his diſpoſe. The Saints may ſay all as much. We were bondmen, ſlaves to ſin, drudges to the devil, driven about by him at his pleaſure, having as many Lords as luſts, Tit. 3.3. and thereby expoſed to a thouſand miſchiefes and miſeries: The Heathens Piſtrinum, the Turks Gallyes, Bajazets iron Cage, the Indian mines are nothing to it. This we ſhould frequently recognize; and remembring that our God hath not forſaken us in our bondage, but brought us from darkneſſe to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that we might receive forgiveneſſe of ſin, and inheritance among them which are ſanctified; Act 26.18. we ſhould bluſh and bleed in the ſenſe of our unthankfulneſſe, ſaying as ver. 14, ſhould we again break thy Commandements, &c.

Yet our God hath not forſaken us in our bondage] As he may ſeem to do his priſoners of hope, when he leaves them in the Enemies hand, or under ſome preſſing affliction, and ſeemes to forget them, that they may the better remember themſelves. But God had remembred theſe returned captives in their low eſtate; for his mercy endureth for ever: And had redeemed them from their Enemies, for his mercy endureth for ever; Pſal. 136. 23.24. Their ſin therefore was the greater, ſith againſt ſo much mercy: and God might juſtly have ſaid unto them as Ezek. 22.20. I wil gather you in my anger & in my fury, and will leave you there. A grievous judgment indeed! for wo be unto you when I forſake you, Hoſ. 9.12. Lord leave us not, Jer. 17, 17. Forſake us not utterly, Pſal. 119.8.

To give us reviving] See Ver. 8.

To ſet up the Houſe of our God, and to repaire. &c.] He reciteth and celebrateth Gods favours to that people, not in the lump onely and by whole-ſale, as we ſay: but entreth into particulars, and reckoneth them up one by one: ſo doth Moſes, Exod. 18.8. So doth David, Pſal. 136. So muſt we, that we may ſhame and ſhent our ſelves as here for our unthankfulneſſe: and be inrited and inciced thereby to better obedience. God, for this cauſe, crumbleth his mercies unto us (ſaith One:) we have his bleſſings by retail, that we may make our utmoſt of them.

And to give us a Wall] Protection and ſafegard, as the Walles of Sparta was their Militia, and the Walls of England, is our Navy. They had the fence of the King of Perſia's favour. They had alſo Gods providence as an hedge or wall of fire round about them, Zech. 2.5. See the Note there.

Verſe 10. And now Our God what ſhall we ſay after this?] q.d. We have nothing to ſay for our ſelves, wherefore thou ſhouldſt not preſently pronounce againſt us, and execute upon us the ſentence of utter rejection. We are even ſpeechleſſe, excuſeleſſe, and muſt needs conclude. It is the Lords mercy that we are not conſumed, that we are at al on this ſide hell: it is becauſe his compaſſions fail not, Lam. 3.32.

For we have for ſaken thy Commandements] Better then this Ezra could not have ſaid for himſelf and his people, whileſt he thus confeſſeth ſin, and putteth himſelf into the hands of juſtice, in hope of mercy. In the courts of men tis ſafeſt to ſay, Non feci, I did it not (ſaith Quintilian.) But in our addreſſes unto God, 'tis beſt to ſay, Ego feci, miſerere; I did it, oh be merciful unto me O God, be merciful unto me. Per miſerere mei, tollitur ira Dei.

Verſe 11. Which thou haſt commanded us by thy ſervants the Prophets] Whoſe office it was to expound the Law to us, and to apply it to our conſciences. This although they have done daily and duely, yet we have not been kept within the bounds of obedience, but have flown againſt the lights, (as Bats uſe to do,) and ſinned preſumptuouſly. Thus he aggravateth their ſin, by every circumſtance. And this is right confeſſion, ſuch as the School-men have ſet forth in this Tetraſtick.

Sit ſimplex, humilis confeſſio, pura, fidelis, Atque frequens, nuda & diſcreta, lubens, verecunda, Integra, cordata, & lachrymabilis, accelerata, Fortis & accuſans, & ſe punire parata.

Is an unclean Land] Becauſe inhabited by an unclean people, who are acted and agitated by an unclean ſpirit, and do miſerably moil themſelves in the filthineſſe of leudneſſe, which defileth a man worſe then any leproſie, then any jakes, Mar. 7.23. Mr. Aſcham, (School-maſter to Q. Elizabeth) did thank God, that he was but nine dayes in Italy, wherein he ſaw, in that one City of Venice more uncleanneſſe and licentiouſneſſe, then in London he ever heard of in nine years.

With the filthineſſe of the people of the Lands] Thoſe Canaanites were very Borborites, ſhameleſſe ſinners before the Lord; who therefore rooted them out, and cauſed their Land, when it could bear them no longer, to ſpew them out. Sin is filthineſſe in the abſtract. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. St. James calleth it, The ſtinking filth of a peſtilent ulcer, and the ſuperfluity or garbage of naughtineſſe, Jam. 1.21. It is no better then the Devils excrement: It ſets his limbes in us, and drawes his picture upon us: for malice is the Devils eye, oppreſſion is his hand, hypocriſy is his cloven foot, &c. Great ſins do greatly pollute.

Which have filled it from one end to another] Hath over-ſpred it as a deluge, over-run it as the Jeruſalem-Artichoke doth the ground wherein it is planted: turned it into the ſame nature with it ſelf, as copres which will turn milk into ink: or leaven which turneth a very Paſſeover into pollution. See Mich. 1.5. with the Note.

Verſe 12. Now therefore give not your daughters] unleſſe ye have a mind to pitch them into hell-mouth. See ver. 2. with the Note.

Nor ſeek their peace or their wealth for ever] For they were devoted by God to utter deſtruction: and therefore Iſrael might have no intercourſe with them. The Jewes at this day count and call us Canaanites, Edomites, &c. and hold it an almeſdeed to knock us on the head. The beſt among the Gentiles, ſay they is worthy cui caput conteratur tanquam Serpenti to be killed up as a Serpent. Tacitus long ſince obſerved of them, that as they were very kind to their own, ſo to all others they bare a deadly hatred. Thrice a day in their prayers, Buxtorf. Synag. Jud. cop. 5. they curſe us Chriſtians; and in Polony (where they have a toleration) they print baſe and blaſphemous things againſt Chriſt and Religion.

That ye may be ſtrong] viz. by my preſence amongſt you, and providence over you: for cui adhaereo, prae eſt, as Q. Elizabeth could write: how much more may God Almighty, He whom I favour is ſure to prevail.

And cat the good of the Land] The beſt of the beſt, the fineſt Wheat, the choyfeſt fruit, and thoſe a pledge and fore-taft of the happineſs of Heaven, where there is nec fames, nec faſtidium, (as one ſaith) neither lack nor loathing, neither meaſure, nor mixture, but ſweeteſt varieties, felicities, eternities.

And leave it for an inheritance] perſonal goodneſſe is profitable to poſterity: the righteous ſhall leave inheritance to his childrens children. Prov. 13.22. God never caſteth out his good tenants; nor leaveth his ſervants unprovided for. See Pſal. 103.17. and 112.1, 2.

Verſe 13. And after all that is come upon us] Affliction, like foul wheather, cometh before it is ſent for: yet not, but of Gods ſending: and then it is ever either probational, as Jobs; or Cautional, as Pauls prick in the fleſh; or penal, for chaſtiſement of ſome way of wickedneſſe, as here.

For our evil deeds] Theſe he thanketh, (as well he might) for all their ſufferings: ſin is the mother of miſery, and hales hell at the heeles of it.

Seeing that thou our God] Our God ſtill, and this is the ſixth time that he hath ſo ſtiled Him in this holy prayer, beſides three times My God. Theſe are ſpeeches of faith, and refer to the Covenant, that pabulum fidei food of faith. When ye ſtand and pray, beleeve; when ye humble and tremble before God, keep up your faith ſtill. Nihil retinet qui fidem amiſit, loſe that and loſe all.Seneca. Take away the iniquity of they ſervant, ſaith David, 2 Sam. 24.10. 'Tis as if he ſhould ſay, I am thy ſervant, Lord, ſtill, though an unworthy one. And to prove himſelf ſo, he addeth, For I have done very fooliſhly. I confeſſe it Lord, that thon mayeſt cover it. Homo agnoſcit, Deus ignoſcit. This he beleeves, and ſpeeds: when Judas confeſſing (but withal deſpairing) miſſeth of mercy.

Haſt puniſht us leſſe then our iniquities deſerve] Heb. Haſt withheld beneath our iniquities. The juſt hire of the leaſt ſin is death in the largeſt ſenſe, Rom. 6.23. What then might God do to us for our many and mighty ſins, or rather, what might he not do, and that moſt juſtly? How great is his mercy which maketh him ſay, Jeruſalem hath received at Gods hand double for all her ſins, Iſai. 40.1, 2. Too much, ſaith God there: too little, ſaith Ezra here: and yet how ſweetly and beautifully doth this kind of contradiction become both!

And haſt given us ſuch deliverance as this] A fruit of free mercy, and calls hard for duty. Gods bleſſings are binders: and every new deliverance calls for new obedience, Servaeti ſumus ut ſerviamus.

Verſe 14. Should we again break thy Commandements] There is ſo much unthankfulneſſe and diſingenuity in ſuch an entertainment of mercy, that holy Ezra here thinkes that Heaven and Earth would be aſhamed of it. And joyn in affinity with the people of theſe abominations] Eſpecially when we may hear God himſelf ſcreeching out as it were thoſe words of his, Oh do not this abominable thing! Save your ſelves from this untoward generation, &c!

Wouldſt thou not be angry with us?] Id eſt, Chide us, ſmite us, and ſo ſet it on, as no creature ſhould be able to take it off? Sin may move God, when we ask bread and fiſh to feed us, to anſwer us with a ſtone to bruiſe us, or a Serpent to bite us. Shun it therefore as a Serpent in your way, or as poyſon in your meats. Kiſſe the Son, leſt he be angry, and ye periſh from the way, &c.Pſal. 2.12.

So that there ſhould be no remnant] So that our late preſervation ſhould prove but a reſervation to further miſchief; as was Sodoms, Senacheribs, Pharaohs.

Verſe 15. O Lord God of Iſrael] So called, becauſe he is their portion, they His, Deut. 32.9. He had avouched them for his: and they him interchangeably, Deut. 26.17, 18. Seneca could ſay, that the baſeſt people (meaning the Jewes) gave Lawes unto all the World: that is, had the true God, Creatour of all, for their God.

Thou art righteous] In all thy judgments inflicted upon us: or, thou art faithful and true in thy promiſes: but we have forfeited thy favour, and deſerved deſtruction.

Behold we are before thee in our treſpaſſes] Or guiltineſſes, which is that iniquity of ſin (as David calleth it, Pſal. 32.5.) whereby the ſinner is bound over to condigne puniſhment.

For we cannot ſtand before thee] But muſt needs causâ cadere, being ſelf condemned; and ſuch as muſt needs ſubſcribe to thy perfect juſtice in our own utter deſtruction.