Ezra arrived in Jerusalem with treasure for the temple, faithful people to serve and worship there, and expertise in the Law of Moses to help the Israelites remember the Word of the Lord. It wasn’t long before he learned how desperately his services were needed.

Compromised by Sin

“After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, ‘the people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices . . . They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness.’” Ezra 9:1-2

God wasn’t opposed to marriage between people from different races. Moses himself chose an Ethiopian wife and when his sister Miriam objected, God smote her with leprosy (Numbers 12). The problem was the detestable practices of the cultures around them. Some of the Israelites had embraced their neighbors’ sinful ways when they married their daughters.

God provided in the Law that if anyone wanted to worship the Lord and live among his people, they were to be treated as if they had been born in Israel. Racial discrimination was not allowed. One of the reasons God severely disciplined Judah was that they had treated foreigners unjustly.

But embracing pagan religious practices and idols were never acceptable to God. He punished his people for that.

Ezra’s Grief

When Ezra heard how the Israelites had compromised themselves he was overcome with grief.

“When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled the hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled.” Ezra 9:3

The people of Jerusalem who cared about what God said gathered around Ezra and sat with him until the evening sacrifice.

“Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the Lord my God and prayed.” Ezra 9:5

Almost seventy years earlier Daniel had prayed a prayer like this in Daniel 9, when he realized how greatly the nation of Israel sinned against God. It wasn’t a complicated prayer; it was simply an acknowledgement that Israel’s sins had brought just punishment upon them and they needed forgiveness.

“What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins deserved and have given us a remnant like this. Shall we then break your commands again and intermarry with peoples who commit such detestable practices? . . . Here we are before you in our guilt, though because of it not one of us can stand in your presence.” Ezra 9:13-15

Confessing the Sins of the Nation

Ezra had not personally committed the sins he confessed to the Lord. He named the corporate sins of Israel because they were his people, and he had suffered the consequences of their guilt with them. He understood the depth of their sins and he was an effective intercessor.

God encouraged this kind of corporate confession in Leviticus 26:40-42.

“But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers – their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies – then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.”

Ezra was counting on God to keep that promise now.

The Good Contagion

“While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites – men, women and children – gathered around him. They too wept bitterly.” Ezra 10:1

Ezra’s repentance was contagious.

The greatest spiritual revivals in history have all begun with someone who was willing to confess their sins in public. Conviction for sin falls on others and before long they also unburden themselves before the Lord.

Ezra is a perfect example of how the stages of repentance are accomplished.

1. He recognized the specific sins of his people.
2. His heart broke with grief over the sin; he had an actual physical reaction to the sorrow.
3. He publically named the sins and asked God for forgiveness.
4. He acknowledged that it was only by the grace of God that they could ever be forgiven.

When the people of Israel saw Ezra’s act of repentance it touched their hearts and they too wept bitter tears. Shekaniah led the people in confessing their sins of unfaithfulness and he asked Ezra to guide them back to obedience to God’s Law.

The Nation Repents

Ezra withdrew to a room where he spent three more days fasting, praying, and mourning over Israel’s unfaithfulness. A proclamation went out that every Israelite must appear in Jerusalem or lose his property.

“Within three days, all the men of Judah and Benjamin had gathered in Jerusalem. And on the twentieth day of the ninth month, all the people were sitting in the square before the house of God, greatly distressed by the occasion and the rain.” Ezra 10:9

Ezra told them there was only one thing they could do. They had to separate themselves from their foreign wives and children in order to root out pagan influences from among them.

The people agreed and for the next three months cases of intermarriage were brought before the leaders of Israel in Jerusalem. Careful records were kept and it turned out that 111 families were impacted. They followed the laws of Moses regarding divorce, and the wives and their children were most likely sent back to the families from which the women had come.

Nehemiah

During this time a Jewish man named Nehemiah was serving as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes in Susa. One of his brothers returned from a trip to Judah and reported to Nehemiah that the walls of Jerusalem were still broken down and its gates were charred ruins.

This news had the same effect on Nehemiah that hearing about Israel’s foreign marriages had on Ezra. Nehemiah sat down and wept and confessed the sins of his people. He mourned for days – and was unable to hide his grief from the king the next time he saw him.

“I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, ‘Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.’” Nehemiah 2:2

Nehemiah told the king about his sorrow over the condition of Jerusalem and the king gave him leave to go and see what he could do to help. Artaxerxes also gave Nehemiah letters for safe passage, permission to harvest lumber from the royal forest, and army officers and cavalry to travel with him.

Getting Ready to Rebuild Jerusalem’s Walls

At first Nehemiah didn’t tell anyone why he had come or what he planned to do in Jerusalem. He went out secretly at night and surveyed the damaged walls and gates. When he understood the scope of the work he went to the officials of the city.

“Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.’ I also told them about the gracious hand of God on me and what the king had said to me. They replied, ‘Let us start rebuilding.’ So they began this good work.” Nehemiah 2:17-18

There were enemies nearby who wanted to stop the work. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Gesham were three regional governors from across the Jordan River and south of the Dead Sea. It was as if Israel’s old enemies from Ammon, Moab, and Edom had come back to haunt them. They mocked and ridiculed Nehemiah and accused him of rebellion against King Artaxerxes.

“I answered them by saying. ‘The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.’” Nehemiah 2:20

it’s a good thing that Nehemiah was full of faith because it was going to take the hard work of every available person to clear away the rubble and rebuild the walls – and their enemies weren’t going to make it easy.