Is national confession of sin and repentance possible? Let’s look at Ezra 10.
Did the people assemble in confession, a genuine revival with repentance? What did Shechaniah suggest?
Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before God’s house, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men and women and children; for the people wept very bitterly. Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered Ezra, “We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing. Now therefore let’s make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and those who are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law. Arise, for the matter belongs to you and we are with you. Be courageous, and do it.” (Ezra 10:1-4 WEB)
What pledge did Ezra make the spiritual leaders take? Was the solemn pledge of God or man?
So Ezra got up and made the leading priests, the Levites, and all Israel take a solemn pledge that they would do as had been said. So they took a solemn pledge. Then Ezra got up from the area in front of God’s house and went to the room of Jehohanan, Eliashib’s son, where he spent the night. He didn’t eat food or drink water, for he was mourning because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles. An order was then circulated throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the returned exiles should gather in Jerusalem. All those who failed to appear within three days, as mandated by the officials and elders, would have all their property taken away. They would be separated from the congregation of the exiles. (Ezra 10:5-8 CEB)
Three days later, how did Ezra address the crowd that gathered at Jerusalem? Was it too much to ask? How perverse were these gentile nations?
Three days later, on the twentieth day of the ninth month, everyone from Judah and Benjamin came to Jerusalem and sat in the temple courtyard. It was a serious meeting, and they sat there, trembling in the rain. Ezra the priest stood up and said: You have broken God's Law by marrying foreign women, and you have made the whole nation guilty! Now you must confess your sins to the Lord God of your ancestors and obey him. Divorce your foreign wives and don't have anything to do with the rest of the foreigners who live around here. (Ezra 10:9-11 CEV)
How did the assembly answer Ezra’s difficult demands?
Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “It is so; we must do as you have said. But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand in the open. Nor is this a task for one day or for two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. Let our officials stand for the whole assembly. Let all in our cities who have taken foreign wives come at appointed times, and with them the elders and judges of every city, until the fierce wrath of our God over this matter is turned away from us.” (Ezra 10:12-14 ESV)
Amidst some opposition, how did the people respond to Ezra’s demands? Is sin difficult to undo?
Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them. The exiles did what had been proposed. Ezra the priest selected men who were family leaders, all identified by name, to represent their ancestral houses. They convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter, and by the first day of the first month they had dealt with all the men who had married foreign women. (Ezra 10:15-17 HCSB)
What are the names of those listed who had married outside of the faith?
From Immer’s descendants: Hanani and Zebadiah. From Harim’s descendants: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah. From Pashhur’s descendants: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah. From the descendants of Levi: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. From the singers: Eliashib. From the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri. From the Israelis: Parosh’s descendants: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah, and Benaiah. From Elam’s descendants: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah. From Zattu’s descendants: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza. From Bebai’s descendants: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai. From Bani’s descendants: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth. From Pahath-moab’s descendants: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh. From Harim’s descendants: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah. (Ezra 10:20-32 ISV)
Who rounded out the list of people who had married outside the faith?
Of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattathah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei. Of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel, Benaiah, Bedeiah, Chelluh, Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasau, And Bani, and Binnui, Shimei, And Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah, Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah, Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph. Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, and Joel, Benaiah. All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children. (Ezra 10:33-44 KJV)
Are there more merciful instructions under the new covenant than those suggested by Shechaniah and agreed to by Ezra?
But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not divorce her husband. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband. For otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave. The brother or the sister is not enslaved in such cases, but God has called us to peace. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife? (1 Cor 7:12-16 LSB)
Is national confession of sin and repentance possible? You decide!
