This Ezra 10 Bible study contains outlines, cross-references, Bible study discussion questions, verse by verse commentary, and applications. Visit our library of inductive Bible studies for more in depth inductive studies on this and other books of the Bible you can use in your small group.
Ezra 10 Bible Study Commentary – A Terrible Dilemma
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Outline
I. Ezra leads the people in prayer and confession (1)
II. Shecaniah offers a plan (2-4)
III. Ezra gets a commitment from the leaders and calls a grand assembly (5-8)
IV. A plan was adopted to deal with this matter city by city (9-15)
V. Ezra appointed leaders to look into and hold people responsible for obeying the plan (16-17)
VI. A list of the offending leaders (18-44)
I. Ezra leads the people in prayer and confession (1)
Discussion Questions
- Do you remember what we learned about true confession in the last chapter?
- What is the connection between confession and weeping/prostrating himself?
- While Ezra was praying there, what was happening around him?
- What can we learn about leadership from this?
Cross-References
Verses on Leadership
Proverbs 11:1 – The Lord detests dishonest scales, but accurate weights find favor with him.
Isaiah 30:21 – Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.
Numbers 27:17 – To go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.
Verse by Verse Commentary
1. Review confession and leadership from Ezra 9. True confession requires sorrow (weeping) and humility (prostrating). Ezra’s good example as a leader was a rallying point for all the people. He modeled what attitude to have towards sin. Because he was grieved over it, they were, too.
II. Shecaniah offers a plan (2-4)
Discussion Questions
• Was Shecaniah one of the offenders (see verse 26 for some of his family members)?
• What was his plan?
• What can we learn from his example of speaking out?
• Do you think it was important that this plan came from the people and not directly from Ezra?
• Knowing that six of his family members were offenders, what may have been going through Shecaniah’s mind, and how might that have influenced him not to speak up?
• Do you agree that there was hope for Israel despite what they had done?
• Is there hope for us if we sin? What hope do we have when we sin?
• What was Shecaniah’s solution?
• Why make a covenant with God instead of simply agreeing together to do it or doing it on their own?
• What do you think of his solution?
• Was it the right choice to divorce these women?
• What is God’s view of divorce?
• What was God’s view of these marriages?
• What lessons can we learn from this predicament?
• Do you think this was Ezra’s responsibility as Shecaniah claimed? Why or why not?
Cross-References
Exodus 23:2 – Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
Psalm 103:12 – As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
2 Chronicles 29:10 – Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us.
Romans 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Verses on Divorce
Romans 7:2-3 – For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
Malachi 2:14-16 – You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.
Matthew 19:3-11 – In this passage Jesus explains God’s original design for marriage.
Verse by Verse Commentary
1. Ezra finally gets some help. Shecaniah speaks out, offering a plan to deal with this problem. If you look at verse 26, you will notice that six of his family members, including his father, were involved in this sin. For this reason, it would have been hard for him to speak out. Shecaniah may have sympathized with the sinners or felt pressure from his family to be quiet. Yet he knew that sin must be dealt with even among those close to him. The fact that Shecaniah’s family members were doing this made his proposal more difficult and highlighted his boldness. It is worth noting that he did not follow his family in doing evil but instead spoke out against it. The application for us is that we must stand firm on the truth and not follow a crowd in doing evil. Instead of joining them, we should seek to encourage them in a more perfect way.
2. Shecaniah starts off by admitting the unfaithfulness of the people. Notice that he, like Ezra, used the personal pronouns “we” and “us” even though it appears that he personally hadn’t committed this sin. He takes responsibility as a fellow Israelite and family member of those who had sinned.
3. Shecaniah also recognized that there was hope. Hope is one of the most amazing and exciting truths in the Bible. No matter how deep a hole we are in, God’s grace is big enough to help us out of it. No matter how lost we are, He can find us. Like the father of the prodigal sin, God is always waiting to forgive us, to welcome us back into His loving arms. He doesn’t take the first (or second, or 100th) opportunity to punish us for our sins. He could have wiped out Israel long ago (and been wholly justified in doing it) for their evil. But He didn’t. God is patient and merciful. Is there some sin that has been plaguing you for years? Some bad habit you just can’t get rid of? There is hope! God is willing to forgive and show mercy to you. But we are responsible for coming to Him for that forgiveness and changing our ways.
4. Shecaniah proposed to make a covenant with God, divorce the women, and put away the children from these relationships. Let’s take a look at this proposal.
A. The first part is to make a covenant with God. This is an excellent place to begin. Making a covenant with God would show that they recognized their culpability. They were admitting their wrongdoing and making a vow to God to “fix” it. This shows that they realized their sin was primarily against God.
B. The second part is a drastic step to solve this problem, and it is not without controversy. This was not a “pretty” plan. It was not an easy plan; it would be ugly and messy. Divorce is always ugly and it would be amplified many times over because of the sheer number of people. As bad as it was to send away the wives, it would be many times more difficult to send away the children of these marriages who were completely innocent parties. Then why do this? Let’s look at this issue in detail:
5. First, we need to know God’s view of divorce. The biblical view of divorce is VERY different from the world’s view. Culture tells us that divorce is acceptable when the two sides cannot resolve their differences. People fall in love, and then after a while, this “love” grows cold, and they “fall out” of love. Love is seen as something that comes and goes. People make the excuse that “I can’t help it.” They don’t decide not to love the person anymore; it “just happens.” When this random anti-love bug strikes, the couple feels justified in getting a divorce. They often offer the excuse that it is unfair to the kids or their spouse to put them through a marriage that doesn’t have that spark anymore.
Money is a leading cause of divorce. Finding a younger and more attractive partner is another. Amazingly, I recently read that arguments over housework are one of the leading causes of divorce. Although when people get married, they make vows, these vows are often cast aside as soon as difficulty comes. This view of divorce is a stark contrast with the Bible. Read cross-references.
God’s plan has always been one man and one woman for life, literally until death do them part.
Malachi tells us that God hates divorce. Jesus went even further to say that divorce and then remarriage is adultery. He gave one possible exception, the infidelity of one partner. Bible scholars debate whether there is any basis for divorce, but it is reasonable to conclude that there is only one, and that is infidelity. Looking at the whole context of Scripture, we know that we should forgive even seventy times seven times. So, this clause should not be considered a reason to pull the trigger on a marriage after one mistake by the spouse. A godly spouse should forgive again and again. Normally, a person who is brazenly committing adu