Ezra s Prayer About Intermarriage. Ezra 9:1-15

Transcription

1 1 Commentary by Ron Thomas Questions by John C. Sewell Ezra s Prayer About Intermarriage Ezra 9:1-15

2 2 Text: Ezra 9:1-15, Ezra s Prayer About Intermarriage 1. Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The People of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. 3. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. 4. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. 5. And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, 6. And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. 7. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. 8. And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his

3 3 holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. 9. For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. 10. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments, 11. Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. 12. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever. 13. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; 14. Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? 15. O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this. Introduction: I. This chapter and the next relate to the painful struggle with familial relations.

4 4 A. Israel had for many years disregarded the Lord s will for their lives. 1. Because of this insubordination, the Lord sent them into captivity. B. At the designated point in time which the Lord determined, He extended His mercy to them to facilitate their return to their homeland. C. Those who returned were determined to follow the ways of the Lord. II. However, there was a very real problem. A. In this chapter we read what the problem was and, in the next, of its solution. B. As we pause to consider the problem and solution, think about what was most important to those who made application of the solution and those who did not. Commentary: Ezra 9:1-4, Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The People of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down

5 5 astonied. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. I. Ezra is told the Problem. (verses 1, 2) A. Israel and the people of the land. 1. Three groups of people; Israel (assuming this to refer to the common folk), the priests, and the Levites. a. Those pagans identified in verse 1 did not all survive untill the days of Ezra (unless they did so in small pockets). b. Thus, we should not press the language. c. Many of the people of the land had been transported by previous regimes, such as the Assyrians. B. Separation; Israel intermingled with the people of the land in marriage. 1. The people of the land before the conquest consisted of the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. 2. Yamauchi said that only the Ammonites, Moabites and the Egyptians were still around in post-exilic times. 3. Forbidden marriages are recorded in Exodus 34:11-16, Deuteronomy 7:1-4, and 20:10-18.

6 6 a. Exodus 34:11-16, Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. b. Deuteronomy 7:1-4, When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. c. Deuteronomy 20:10-18, When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto

7 7 it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Caanaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God. 4. Of what kinds of things were the people of the land guilty? a. The Lord sent His people into the land because, among other reasons, the land was contaminated with vile sins. b. Deuteronomy 9:1-5, Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, A people great and tall, the children of the

8 8 Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak! Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee. Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. c. Deuteronomy 18:9-14, And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: And thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do; thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear, and fear, and

9 9 do no more presumptuously. When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; d. Deuteronomy 20:18, That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God. C. What made the problem worse was that the leaders of the people took the lead in this action, sinfulness. 1. From 9:1 it appears that not all the leaders of the people were guilty of this sin. II. Ezra s astonishment. (9:3-4) A. Ezra s visible sign of repentance. 1. It is worth noting that people have different approaches to life. a. When Ezra was outraged by the moral compromise, he pulled out his own hair. b. When Nehemiah was outraged, he pulled out the hair of the offender (Yamauchi). B. An assembly gathered. i. Nehemiah 13:25, Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?

10 10 Ezra 9:5-15, And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments, Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; Should we again break thy commandments, and join In affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are

11 11 before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this. I. Ezra Prayed to the Lord. A. Ezra prayed at the evening sacrifice. (9:5) 1. He fasted. His clothes were torn (in sign of penitence and sorrow). 2. Adam Clarke said, In token of the deepest humility. Spread out my hands, as if to lay hold on the mercy of God (E-Sword). B. Ezra s prayer. (9:6-15). 1. Our guilt (9:6). a. Perhaps some might think of this as a prayer of show and that Ezra did not personally feel this way; he merely spoke as a representative of the people. b. There is no substantive reason to think this way; he either expressed the truth of his sentiments, or he did not. c. Worth noting is the guilt Ezra confessed. i. Ezra himself was not guilty of the sins mentioned in verses 1 and 2. ii. Though not guilty, what he said in verse 6 most certainly could be true personally, but most certainly it was nationally!

12 12 d. Yamauchi (p. 665) said this prayer is along the lines of the ones in Nehemiah 9:5-38 and Daniel 9:4-19. i. Nehemiah 9:5-38, Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Caanaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous: And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea; And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day. And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters. Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in

13 13 the way wherein they should go. Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statues and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant: And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them. But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not. Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt and had wrought great provocations; Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. Moreover thou gavest

14 14 them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners; so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it. So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations. Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies. But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies; And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring

15 15 them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. Nevertheless for thy great mercies sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God. Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly: Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them. For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works. Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it: And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they

16 16 have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it. ii. Daniel 9:4-19, And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of

17 17 God, because we have sinned against him. And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice. And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord s sake. O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

18 Our punishment (9:7). a. After the conquest of Judah by the Babylonians in 605 B.C., the Jews fell successively under the Persians, Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies, the Seleucids, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Turks and the British. b. Only for about a century from the Maccabean Revolt in 165 B.C. till Pompey s intervention in 60 B.C. did the Jews enjoy autonomy, that is, until the establishment of the independent state of Israel in 1948 (Yamauchi p. 666). 3. Our reprieve (9:8-9). a. Though the autonomy of the people may have been minimal, the people have enjoyed reprieves throughout history. b. The reprieves came when God did not allow outside forces to afflict them. c. God has shown them a little mercy (NET; grace in NKJV). Interesting to note the word little. i. Man is able to endure much when he can look forward to something. ii. Years earlier, God s people had the end of captivity to look forward to; now, many were enjoying it (though they had a huge problem on their hands). iii. Even those who died while in captivity had an end of captivity to look forward to if their lives were

19 19 obedient to the Lord God, devoted to Him as David s life was. d. A remnant has escaped. i. The ten tribes of Israel had been in captivity long before Judah went into captivity; at this time, they were still there. ii. Of those who went into captivity with Judah, only some returned a remnant.... a rescued remnant is the new community delivered from Babylon, and returned to the land of their fathers. In proportion to the numerous population of former days, it was but a remnant that escaped destruction (Keil & Delitzsch, E- Sword). e. A peg in His holy place. i. Something similar to our expression, where I hang my hat (that is, my home). Not only a home, but a home firmly anchored in/to the Lord God, as His word instructed them in the way of hope. 4. Our appeal how can we stand before You (9:10-15)? a. Ezra summarizes their history before God; he recalls the sentiment of God as the children of Israel went into Canaan. b. Scriptures: i. Exodus 23:32, Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

20 20 ii. Exodus 34:16, And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. iii. Deuteronomy 23:6, Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever. c. The punishment Israel experienced was less than they deserved. They deserved death! d. John Gill:... for they deserved eternal punishment, whereas it was temporal punishment that was inflicted, and this was moderate, and now stopped; the sense is, according to Aben Ezra, Thou hast refrained from writing some of our sins in thy book of remembrance, and thou hast let them down below in the earth, according to the sense of thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea; but Jarchi better, Thou hast refrained thyself from exacting of us all our sins, and hast exacted of us beneath our sins (or less than they deserve), and hast not taken vengeance on us according to all our sins (E-Sword). e. With all the mercy shown to the Israelites, in their return from captivity, Ezra asks why they would even entertain the thought of challenging the Lord again (9:14). f. No one can stand before the Lord righteous and we (those who returned from captivity) are standing before the Lord like this?!

21 21 Questions Ezra 9:1-15 (Questions based on NIV text.) 1. What connections are there between marriage and acceptable service to God? 2. What were some of the detestable practices of Judah s enemies? 3. What specific charge did the leaders make against the people of Israel? 4. What part had the religious and political leaders played in this matter?

22 What would God have us to do in regard to following our religious and political leaders? 6. Is it still sinful for today s holy people to mingle with the people around them? Explain your answer. See verse Exactly who were the: Canaanites: Hittites Perizzites Jebusites Ammonites Moabites Egyptians

23 23 Amorites 8. What was Ezra s reaction to this state of affairs? 9. In our society, how many still tremble at the word of God? 10. Why had the exiles become unfaithful? What were the possible factors that led to this digression? 11. Did regular evening sacrifices lessen the sins of the exiles? Does regular worship in spirit and truth lessen our sins? 12. Does sin really upset you? How do you show that sin deeply disturbs you?

24 What is the difference between a tunic and a cloak? 14. What did Ezra do at the evening sacrifice? Give details. (See verse 5.) 15. What do these behaviors say about Ezra s emotional state? 16. Paraphrase paragraph one of Ezra s prayer. (See verses 6, 7.)

25 What did Ezra really say in paragraph 2 of his prayer? (See verses 8, 9.) 18. What had God commanded Israel through their prophets when they entered the promised land? Why were these commands necessary? 19. Do you agree with Ezra that God has punished us less than our sins have deserved? Explain your answer. 20. How important to your salvation, happiness and success in life is your choice of a spouse? Explain your answer. 21. What factors led you to marry your spouse? If unmarried, what will be considered when selecting your marital companion?

26 Here we are before you in our, though because of it not of us can in your. 23. Are we too fast to blame others and too slow to confess our guilt? _ 24. According to verse 14, specify one thing of which Ezra was afraid._ 25. If God were choosing your spouse, list characteristics he would require and characteristics he would avoid.