Was Prayer For The People Really Needed?

What is penance? Penance is an act of self-abasement, mortification or devotion performed to show sorrow. What is repentance? Repentance is to turn from sin and dedicate oneself, to feel regret or contrition. What is confession? Confession is a disclosure of one’s sins in sacrament of reconciliation, acknowledgement of guilt. Can we pay for our sins?

Ezra prays before the people regarding their disobedience to God by intermarriage with heathens. Previously, Israelite men had been marrying heathen women (Judges 3:5-7). King Solomon had also been guilty of heathen marriage (1 Kings 11:1-8).

The Transgression of Israel.

In verses one - four:

This passage of scripture tells us who had sinned, not just the common people but the appointed leaders as well. Bear in mind, our leadership privilege, or position, increases our responsibility to others. Since the hour of the appointed judges, Israelite men had married pagan women and afterward took on their religious practices (Judges 3:5-7). Indeed, even King Solomon was at fault for this wrongdoing (1 Kings 11:1-8). Albeit this custom was taboo in God's Law (Exodus 34:11-16; Deuteronomy 7:1-6), it occurred in Ezra's day and again about a generation after him (Nehemiah 13:23-27).

Resistance to blended marriage was not racial bias since Jews and non-Jews of this area were of a similar Semitic foundation. The reasons were totally for spiritual reasons. One who wedded a pagan life partner was apt to take on that individual's religious customs. Assuming the Israelites were sufficiently inhumane to defy God in something as significant as marriage, they could not be sufficiently able to stand firm against their mates' idol worship. Until the Israelites at last halted this custom, idol worship stayed a consistent issue. (Exodus 23:33; Leviticus 18:3, 24-30; Deuteronomy 12:30-31, 18:9, 20:17-18)

A few Israelites had married heathen life partners and forgot about the purpose that God had for them. The New Testament says that Christians should not wed unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14). Such relationships cannot have harmony in the main issue throughout everyday life, that of the responsibility and compliance to God. Since marriage affects two individuals becoming one, faith might turn into an issue, and one companion might need to concede convictions for the purpose of unity. Many individuals’ markdown this issue just to lament about this activity later. We should not permit passion or emotion to dazzle us to the definitive significant obligation of wedding somebody with whom we can share spiritual convictions with. (Ezra 10:16-44)

Ezra Confesses the Sin of Israel.

In verses five - fifteen:

Prayer Needed Then.

Subsequent to finding out about the wrongdoings of the people, Ezra tumbled to his knees in petition. Ezra has now become heavy hearted with what the people had allowed to happen. He was shocked at the transgression of the people. He could have delivered a great speech or formed a committee to determine a course of action to take, but instead he prayed.

His genuine prayer to heaven gives a decent point of view on sin. He perceived that transgression is significant (Ezra 9:6), that nobody sins without influencing others (Ezra 9:7), that he was not perfect, in spite of the fact that he did not have a heathen spouse (Ezra 9:10), and that God’s adoration and benevolence had saved the country even when they never really merited it (Ezra 9:8-9, 15). It is not difficult to see sin softly in a world that sees transgressing as insignificant, yet we ought to see sin as genuinely as Ezra did.

Ezra’s prayer admitted the wrongdoings of his kin. In spite of the fact that he had not trespassed in the manner that his kin had done, he related to their wrongdoings. With sobbing, he communicated disgrace for the transgression, feeling of dread toward the outcomes, and the craving for the individuals to wake up and atone for their sins. His request moved them to tears after they heard his prayer (Ezra 10:1). Ezra showed the requirement for the community to be holy around the reconstructed Temple. We truly need a heavenly community in our nearby churches today as well. In any event, when we sin in the most inconceivable way, we can in any case go to God with petitions of contrition.

That is what Ezra perceived that if God gave the individuals enough justice for their sins, they would not have the ability to remain before him. Frequently we shout out for justice when we feel that we have been defamed and unreasonably treated. In those minutes, we fail to remember the truth of our own wrongdoing and the honest judgment that we merit. How lucky we are that God gives us leniency and grace instead of the justice that we deserve. The next opportunity that arises for us to ask God for fair and just treatment, we ought to pause to ponder what might occur to us, assuming God gave us what we truly merited. We ought to plead for God's benevolence. (Nehemiah 9:33-34; Job 9:2-3; Psalm 130:3; Daniel 9:7-11; Romans 3:19, 10:3)