John Trapp on Ezra 10:3

Verſe 3. Now therefore let us make a Covenant] And ſo tye our ſelves thereby, to the better abearance: that we ſlip not collar, that we detrect not the yoke of Gods obedience, Deut. 10.20 Cleaving to God with full purpoſe of heart will require ſwearing. Broken bones muſt have ſtrong bands to cloſe them. Tottering houſes muſt be crampt with iron barres, or they will ſoon down. If the vowes of God be upon us, if we be Covenanters, it will help againſt the fickleneſs of our falſe hearts: which cannot but know that if God ſhall be All-ſufficient to us, we muſt be Altogether his, Cant. 2.16. His is a Covenant of mercy, even the ſure mercies of David; ours is a Covenant of obedience to him, in every part and point of duty.

To put away all the Wives] This Jewes might do in this, and ſome other caſes. So did Romanes alſo with this onely bill of divorce, Res tuas tibi habeto, Take what is thine own, and be packing. But Chriſtians may not do thus, becauſe of difference in Religion: 1 Cor. 7. ver. 12. Whatever ſome late upſtarts have printed and practiſed to the contrary.

And ſuch as are born of them] The children of thoſe ſtrange Wives, perſiſting in their paganiſme. Theſe children though diſinherited, yet were not to be altogether deſerted; but nouriſhed, and nurtured alſo in the fear and admonition of the Lord, Eph. 6.4. Proving if perad venture, God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, &c. 2. Tim. 2.25.

According to the counſel of my Lord] Termes full of hearty reſpect, and humble ſubmiſſion. He calles Ezra My lord, as Hannah did Eli, with an eye to his dignity, and authority, both as a Prieſt, and as a Commiſſioner from the King of Perſia. At Venice every ordinary Mechanike is called Magnifico. At Vicenza in Italy the common title to a common Gentleman is Signor Conte, as much as My Lord Earle. But Ezra was every way honourable and deſerving: titles of honour were not worthy of him.

And of thoſe that tremble at the Commandement of our God] A periphraſis of a truly pious perſon, ſc. ſuch a one as feareth God and keepeth his Commandements. And this is the Man alone that is fit to judge of caſes of conſcience, and to comfort the feeble minded. Now although the comfort given by Gods Miniſters (ſuch as Ezra was) be ordinarily moſt effectual (as is the bleſſing of Parents, who are in Gods Room) yet others alſo (that are conſciencious and experienced perſons, that tremble at the Commandement of God, as here) may give excellent counſel and comfort in ſuch a caſe. But how like the motion of a Puppet, the language of a Parret is the beſt diſcourſe (in this ſubject of conſcience) of the not-intereſſed man.

And let it be done according to the Law] Which, though it take no direct and expreſſe order in this caſe, yet by due deduction and juſt inference it was determined both here and in Nehemiah, chap. 9.2. that thoſe ſtrange Wives ſhould be put away.