Year 5, Day 47: Ezra 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge

• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

Ezra 9 is all about challenge.  Ezra discovers that many of the public leaders of the Jews are taking wives from the native people who are in the land.  Ezra knows what this means.

It is easy for us to think that this chapter is a chapter about the purity of marriage and make it all about that.  But marriage is merely the specific case, not the core of what Ezra is upset about.  You see, the fall of the Hebrew nation(s) began with Solomon.  Solomon had wives and concubines from all over the world – largely to support political treaties for peace between the nations.  But the effect of this was that these powerful women would bring their gods with them.  Intermarriage became the major tool that Satan used to pull God’s people away from worshipping God!

This is why Ezra is so upset.  He knows that the kingdom was established under David and in the very next king we start to see decline.  And then he looks around.  They’ve just finished rebuilding the temple.  Jerusalem is just now getting back on its feet.  And Ezra sees the decline already rooted in the people around him.  Ezra isn’t concerned about the marriage per se.  Ezra is concerned that through the marriages the people will be influenced and pulled away from God.

This is true challenge for any of us, isn’t it?  Any time we go out into the world we run the risk of being distracted by something new and pulled away from God.  The challenge of this chapter is to remain true to God.  The challenge of this chapter is to keep our focus on God in spite of what is happening around us.

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