18 Now there were found some of the sons of the priests who had married foreign women: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah, some of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers. 19 They pledged themselves to put away their wives, and their guilt offering was a ram of the flock for their guilt…
23 Of the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. 24 Of the singers: Eliashib. Of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri. 25 And of Israel: of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Hashabiah, and Benaiah…
44 All these had married foreign women, and some of the women had even borne children.
Ezra 10:18-19, 23-25, 44 (ESV)
The End
We get to the end of the book and the end of the offense with a list of everyone who was guilty and repented.
Some commentators emphasize that though many more had married foreign women, only these had wives who chose not to convert and follow Jehovah. That could be, but the sin is disobeying God and marrying foreign wives to begin with.
First the priests
“The names of the priests come first. Theirs was the greater responsibility and guilt. The sons of Joshua head the list. What an illustration of what man is, that the sons of the high priest, who, with Zerubbabel, had been such great instruments of the Lord to lead the first captives back, should corrupt themselves with these women! They [pledged] that they would put away their wives, and confessing themselves guilty, they brought a ram for an offering. In all, seventeen priests were guilty, and six Levites…Then follow eighty-six more names who had all defiled themselves by strange women.” (A.C. Gabelein)
Summary of Ezra the man
Gabelein continues, “Ezra’s great work was finished. In [the book of] Nehemiah we read how he was still active, ministering to the people in spiritual things, in reading and expounding the Word of God (Nehemiah 8:8).”
What’s next?
Now that we have the background of Ezra, we’ll move onto Haggai for the encouragement found there. Keep in mind how God amazingly delivered Israel out of captivity in Babylon. The work of rebuilding the temple started but then stopped due to opposition. That’s where Haggie comes in.
