The Divorces of Ezra
Some time ago we published the section The Mark of Divorce in our monthly newsletter on this site. In this section we looked into the instructions in God’s Word (KJV only) concerning marriage and divorce, as well as other scripture that pertains to those issues in a more general sense.
We didn’t include the mass divorce account listed in the book of Ezra chapters 9-10, not to ignore it—but because it contains no instruction on the subject. Yet this account may confuse some, for it seems to clearly contradict other scriptures such as I Corinthians 7:12,13; which gives the believer instruction not to divorce their spouse simply because he/she is not a believer. So here we must rightly divide the entire Word (II Timothy 2:15) of God, not adding to it or diminishing from it; and this will give us an understanding of what is accounted of in Ezra.
The particular trespass of Israel is given right from the beginning of chapter 9, verses 1-2;
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. Ezra 9:1,2
What scriptures support the view of this circumstance as a sin? There is much for us to see in application today, and there was plenty for Ezra (scribe and priest; Ezra 7:6,11) also to draw on. Let’s look at the scriptures that apply, starting with those that Ezra was persuaded to follow;
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 show 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. Deuteronomy 7:1-4
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever: Deuteronomy 23:3
Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God. Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. Joshua 23:11-13
They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes; And that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, not take their daughters for our sons: Nehemiah 10:29-30
In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin. Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives? Nehemiah 13:23-27
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. II Corinthians 6:14-17
Several comments about these previous passages—the ones in Deuteronomy were the ones referenced by Ezra. Nehemiah was written at about the same time and during the circumstances as Ezra; and the verses in II Corinthians may apply to marriage, but not only or specifically marriage.
Ezra was greatly offended at this trespass of Israel (God’s people; whom we also are), and offers a beautiful prayer of contrite repentance to God, recorded in the rest of chapter 9. Prayers such as this should be a model for all believers to follow—for even the most sincere believers will stumble often in their lives (I John 1:8-10).
Yet words alone are not enough when one is truly repentant. John the Baptist preached “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.”—Matthew 3:8. The actions of Zacchaeus proved the inner heart change (salvation) that had taken place within him (Luke 19:1-9). Good works do not bring salvation, but they are a fruit which follows. So the question for Ezra and Israel to answer was this; how should they show their repentance before God and man?
God’s people decided to do something incredibly difficult—that was to “put away” (divorce) all of their spouses who were not of Israel’s blood line; and also put away any children that had been born because of these unions of which God did not approve. This was indeed a great and noble gesture in human terms; but was it actually of the Lord to do this thing?
Not everything religious that we do is approved of God! See Matthew 7:21-23 for teaching on this. We need to serve our God in spirit and in truth (John 4:21-23); sanctified by following Him according to His Word (John 8:31, 17:17). Though Ezra seriously regarded some of the words from the Law of Moses, he did not consider all of God’s written Word—neither did he or Israel seek the Lord for direction in the course of atoning for this sin! They reasoned within themselves how to impress God—but what you will not see in Ezra is God’s instruction to divorce their wives and children, nor any mention of blessings received when they had done so. Yet they seemed to be sincere, right? The Bible does address this phenomenon, and gives examples of such…
Probably the most important fact to note is this; that even though God had strongly warned against certain marriages, there is absolutely no instruction about “putting away” unlawful spouses to atone for this sin, once it has been committed. The only atonement left would be that which already existed in regard to offerings or sacrifices to be made for transgressions. Today, all our need for atonement has been, is, and will be accomplished through the finished sacrifice of Christ—one time for all (Hebrews 7:25-27, 9:25-28).
When Israel went forth to conquer the land of their inheritance (from God), they were not permitted to marry of the lands’ previous habitants, because the Lord knew of the spiritual corruption that they would bring with them; “…for they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods…” (Deuteronomy 7:4) and, “That they teach you not to do after all their abominations…” (Deuteronomy 20:18). But other marriages were allowed, and sin could still sneak into Israel through the married family…
We find such in Deuteronomy 13:6-11. Presumably this was addressed to homes properly within the framework of only Israel. Yet the possible deceit spoken of was what Israel was warned that would come through other nations! Please note that in this extreme situation, divorce is not mentioned as a response—only death.
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you. Deuteronomy 13:6-11
So we can see that our Lord’s intent in preventing “strange marriages” was to keep His people spiritually pure. Yet it seems that God is still acknowledging that corruptions will happen. The real key is in whether these other people will truly submit to the Lord, or try to lead God’s people astray.
Deuteronomy 20:10-18 gives more instruction in dealing with “outsiders.” For those far off from Israel’s homeland, allowance was made; to save “the women and little ones” to take for themselves. That means eventual marriages! Deuteronomy 21:10-13 also gives guidelines for taking a beautiful woman from “among the captives” to be a wife.
Why then would Ezra and the other Jewish leaders conclude that a “mass divorce” was in order as the solution? We can see that God’s Word gives no instruction to divorce when the violation of marrying outsiders occurs—it only strongly admonishes against such a marriage initially. No direction from prayer for this event was sought after, nor was a blessing given afterward.
Justification for this Jewish response can also be found in the Law of Moses; specifically, Deuteronomy 24:1.
When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. Deuteronomy 24:1
Divorce was a very simple matter according to this law. For a wife to fall out of favor with her husband, or to be found “unclean” in any way, the husband would simply write a bill of divorcement and dismiss her! So it was allowable, yes—but approved of God?
In Matthew 19:8 and Mark 10:5, Jesus tells the Pharisees (Jewish leadership) that this precept was given because of the hardness of their hearts. Casual divorce was not God’s desire—He may have tolerated it in this case with Ezra, but it was far from His perfect will. Remember the example in prayer given by Christ; “…Our Father which art in heaven…Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”—From Matthew 6:9-10.
So God’s people sinned by marrying into groups of people that they were told not to. But instead of seeking the Lord for what should be done, they presumed to do as they thought best. If you look at the Bible as a whole, with its instructions on marriage and divorce, you can conclude that these Jews were trying to right a wrong by doing another wrong. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”—Romans 12:21. Nowhere in God’s Word will you find divorce to be an appropriate response for an inappropriate marriage!
This is not the only time Israel tried this. In Numbers 13 and 14 is the account of when Israel was due to inherit the Promised Land. They did not enter when told, and were faithless. When rejected of God for their response, they then tried to repent and conquer the land. But God had said, “No”; so in effect they were sinning in an attempt to make up for sinning!
The Lord doesn’t always indicate His feelings on every action immediately in each passage, either. This is why we need the entire Word of God.
As an example, let’s look to Genesis 19:30-38 (please read). Lot’s daughters reasoned with themselves about their survival. They did not pray, or even submissively seek their father on the matter. Instead, they got their father Lot drunk on two consecutive nights. Each daughter then had intercourse with their father, and became impregnated. This was a despicable act, but God never directly condemns or approves of it at this point in scripture. What God does tell us, is that these children became the children of Moab and Ammon. These lineages were always at odds with Israel; opposing moves of God. The Lord gives us a direct verdict in Deuteronomy 23:3,
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever: Deuteronomy 23:3
So even though God doesn’t give a direct response to the actions of Lot’s daughters, we know that He condemns it by looking at the rest of scripture. This is also, then, what one may conclude about the divorces in Ezra; applying the same reasoning.
Our God is extremely merciful and forgiving when we repent before Him. This is not merely a New Testament concept!
When God tells Israel not to accept an Ammonite or Moabite, He also gives a reason in Deuteronomy 23:4;
Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Deuteronomy 23:4
Yet Ruth (book of Ruth) was a Moabite woman! She submitted to Naomi, her Israelite mother-in-law, and also confessed submission to Naomi’s God (Ruth 1:16). Boaz confirmed that true relationship Ruth had with the Lord in Ruth 2:10-12.
Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been showed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. Ruth 2:10-12
The end result was the acceptance and blessing of Ruth, whose lineage was used to bring forth our Lord Jesus Christ!
The truth is that our Lord has always been receptive to sincere repentance from the heart. God’s Word tells us that the Old Testament sacrifices of “bulls and goats” could not take away sins (Hebrews 10:4,11). Our God instructed this previously to be an outer work, which indicated an inner heart change. Yes, even in the Old Testament, it was all about God’s grace and mercy!
During the “Hezekiah revival,” there were many who did not approach God properly—according to the directions provided through the Law of Moses. Yet God was not concerned for such a superficial inadequacy—He was looking inwardly.
For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one That prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people. II Chronicles 30:18-20
The Lord showed that He is not impressed with church buildings or attendance, “…but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.”—From Isaiah 66:1-2.
Psalms 51 was written through David, after he had sinned with Bathsheba, and killed Urijah. In repenting, this “man after God’s own heart” displayed the proper way to come before the Lord—even as it is for us today (Hebrews 13:8), through the blood of Jesus Christ.
O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalms 51:15-17
The Jewish people who had committed the trespass of an improper marriage could have sincerely repented, without the “putting away” of spouses and children. By the law which they followed, it was within their right to act as they did. Yet as we have seen; (1) They did not seek God as to what they should do (2) God never told them to take these actions (3) Scripture as a whole testifies that God did not want this “mass divorce” (4) There is no mention of any blessing from the Lord afterward because they did this.
Please understand; I also have often not behaved as I should, even as the Lord would have had me to. In this sense, I am not “pointing a finger” at Ezra. I am an imperfect servant.
This section is has been written, rather, that we can properly understand this account’s place in God’s Word—and not assume it to be a good and holy event in every respect. God is not the author of confusion (I Corinthians 14:33), nor does He want it to be so here.
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15
WARNING: To avoid Satan’s snares and deceptions, return to the pure Word of God; which is the King James Bible. Revised translations are not small word alterations meant to bring clarity! Major doctrinal changes have occurred, which will tend to bring doubt and destroy your faith. To follow these new “versions” of the truth, is to build your spiritual house upon sand, and become as the ones reflected in Matthew 7:21-23. Please use this entire passage, Matthew 7:21-27.
Satan means to deceive you into sincerely following his alternate “truth.” You are really being set up to fall, and serve the antichrist.
Pray and seek God diligently in this matter; for time is short. See also our Word of God section and the section on A Sure Salvation vs. Eternal Security.