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NASB | Ezra 10:3 "So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ezra 10:3 "Therefore let us now make a covenant with our God to send away all the [foreign] wives and their children, in accordance with the advice of my lord and of those who tremble [in reverent obedience] at the commandment of our God; and let it be done in accordance with the Law. |
Subject: Ezra and Family Values? |
Bible Note: "While the goal in Ezra is certainly purity, this is understood in racial terms." I have to disagree with you and those who wish to see it as a racial divide! Appropriating what we seek is not new, the Pharisees and Sadducees did it to an art: they rejected the Creator for the sake of their own reasonings! In Exodus 12:48 Yahweh sets a precedence: Should a stranger residing with you wish to keep the Passover in honour of Yahweh, all the males of his household must be circumcised: he will then be allowed to keep it and will count as a citizen of the country. But no uncircumcised person may eat it. Clearly God is making a distinction between the people of Israel and the rest of the world... the problem is that God allowed the "strangers" to partake of Israel's covenant--when He did so, did God worry about their racial makeup or that they adhere to His commandments? Now, Leviticus 19:33-34 address, yet again, the "foreigners:" "if you have resident aliens in your country, you will not molest them. you will treat resident aliens as though they were native-born and love them as yourself--for you yourselves were once aliens in Egypt. I am Yahweh your God. Again, God makes a distinction about people, but not in racial lines (Leviticus 22:10-11): No lay person may eat anything holy; no guest or employee of a priest may eat anything holy. But if the priest has acquired a slave by purchase, the slave may eat it like anyone born in his household; they will sahre his food. Not only does God not concerns Himself with the people's racial background... but He even places the slave bought by the priests as part of the priest's household (which means that the slave is allowed to eat food that not even the regular Israelite is allowed to it!). Can you imagine being there as a mere Israelite, knowing that some slaves are eating that which is denied to you because you are not considered "holy" enough? Now there's the situation with the twelve tribes of Israel... did not Jacob have children by the servants of his wives? So it appears that at least a few of the tribes of Israel are made people of Israel by Yahweh not by their racial profile! "what of the Jewish women with gentile husbands?" We must remember that God did not give the Law to the sons only of Israel; though the Priesthood and other religious activities were officiated by men only, the commandments were not for the men only but for all the people of Israel! To say that the female counterpart of the male Israelite was not accountable to the Law it would be as bad as the Jews always capturing the female in the act of adultery while simultaneously always being unable to capture the male with whom the female was having sexual intercourse! "How are we to understand family, when priveleging ancestral family leads to breaking marriage bonds?" Check this out: Jesus could have come as a grown man into the world; He could have been born of a wealthy family that had closer ties to the throne of David; He could even have come to the house of the High Priest... But God chose a simple man and a simple woman to provide Christ with a family unit. When checked about divorce, Jesus tells it like this: "In the beginning it was not so... man for the woman and the woman for the man... the two would form one body!" (Paraphrased, of course!) I cannot justify the behavior of our ancestors... to me David and Solomon are two excellent examples of "...power corrupts..." These two individuals we the apex of Israel's kingdom; yet, they failed terribly! But I am not God to judge them! Rather, I see hope for me: they failed but God's Word did not! In Christ I am forgiven because God kept His promise to Abraham, Issac, Jacob, David... God Bless! Angel |