Ezra 9:11

Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets,.... Moses, and Joshua, and others, see Deuteronomy 7:3 saying, the land, unto which ye go to possess it; meaning the land of Canaan: is an

An unclean land with the filthiness of the people: this notes the cause or matter of this uncleanness. The land was not unclean in itself, but only polluted by the filthiness of its inhabitants. Of the lands; or, of these lands which are round about it. This land is as corrupt as any of the rest of the heathen nations.

Ezra 9:11 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.Ver. 11. Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets] Whose office it was to expound the law to us, and to apply it to our consciences. This, although they have done daily and duly, yet we have not been kept within the bounds of obedience, but have flown against the lights (as bats use to do), and sinned presumptuously. Thus he aggravateth their sin by every circumstance. And this is right confession, such as the schoolmen have set forth in this tetrastic. Sit simplex, humilis confessio, pura, fidelis, Atque frequens, nuda et discreta, lubens, verecunda, Integra, cordata, et lachrymabilis, accelerata, Fortis et accusans, et se punire parata. Is an unclean land] Because inhabited by an unclean people, who are acted and agitated by an unclean spirit, and do miserably moil themselves in the filthiness of lewdness, which defileth a man worse than any leprosy, than any out-house, Mark 7:23. Mr Aseham (schoolmaster to Queen Elizabeth) did thank God that he was but nine days in Italy, wherein he saw, in that one city of Venice, more uncleanness and licentiousness than in London he ever heard of in nine years. With the filthiness of the people of the lands] Those Canaanites were very Borborites, shameless sinners before the Lord; who therefore rooted them out, and caused their land, when it could bear them no longer, to spue them out. Sin is filthiness (ρυπαρια) in the abstract. St James calleth it the stinking filth of a pestilent ulcer, and the superfluity or garbage of naughtiness, James 1:21. It is no better than the devil’ s excrement; it sets his limbs in us, and draws his picture upon us; for malice is the devil’ s eye, oppression is his hand, hypocrisy is his cloven foot, &c. Great sins do greatly pollute. Which have filled it from one end to another] Hath overspread it as a deluge, overrun it, as the Jerusalem artichoke doth the ground wherein it is planted; turned it into the same nature with itself, as copperas, which will turn milk into ink; or leaven, which turneth a very passover into pollution. See Micah 1:5,

(5-15) Ezra’s prayer of confession and deprecation. (5) And at the evening sacrifice I arose up.—Until the afternoon Ezra had sat silent and in grief before the Temple, and in presence of the people. Then, amidst the solemnities of the sacrifice, he uttered the prayer which he had been meditating. (6) And said, O my God.—The confession begins with “O my God;” but Ezra is the representative of the people, and it proceeds “O our God” (Ezra 9:10), without once returning to the first person. (7) Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass.—In these Common Prayers of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel, the race of Israel is regarded as one, and national sins as one “great trespass.” The repetition of “this day” at the beginning and at the end of the verse is to be observed: in the former place in reference to the sin; in the latter in reference to the punishment. (8) A little space.—The “little” here and at the close of the sentence are emphatic. All the present tokens of mercy are said at the conclusion of the prayer (Ezra 9:14) to be conditional in their continuance. The little space from the time of Cyrus was nearly two generations; but it was a moment only in relation to the past and the possible future. The idea is inverted in Isaiah 54:7 : “For a small moment have I forsaken thee.” Nail in his holy place.—The Temple was itself the sure nail on which all their hopes hung. A little reviving.—Literally, make us a little life. The present revival was but the beginning, and still by manifold tokens precarious. (9) We were bondmen.—Better, we are bondmen. In this lies the emphasis of the appeal. A wall.—Like “the nail,” a figurative expression for security. The literal wall was not yet rebuilt. This completes the description of Divine mercy: first, the people were a delivered remnant; the Temple was a sure nail for the future of religion; and their civil estate was made secure. (10) After this.—But all was a mercy for which there had been no adequate return. (11) Saying.—In the later Old Testament Scriptures the quotation of the earlier is often of this character, giving the substance of many passages. The same style is observable in the New Testament. (12) Give not your daughters.—See Deuteronomy 7:3, the only place where the interdict includes both daughters and sons. It is observable that the giving of daughters in marriage to heathens is not mentioned either in Ezra or in Nehemiah. Nor seek their peace.—An evident echo of that most stern injunction in Deuteronomy 23:6. (15) O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous.—The solemn invocation shows that this is a summary of the whole prayer: God’s righteousness is magnified, as accompanied by the grace which had preserved them, although as only a remnant; and as such covered with their trespasses; and especially with “this” the present trespass, the guilt of which underlies all.

Verse 11. Have filled it from one end to another] The abominations have been like a sweeping mighty torrent, that has increased till it filled the whole land, and carried every thing before it.

11. The Divine commands which Israel had violated had been conveyed to them expressly by the prophets. The people were without excuse. commanded by thy servants the prophets] Lit. ‘by the hand of’. To command by ‘the hand of’ occurs often, as in the Heb. of Nehemiah 8:14; Leviticus 8:36; Numbers 16:40; Numbers 36:13; Judges 3:4, &c.: cf. ‘to speak by the hand of’, 2 Kings 17:23; 2 Kings 21:10; 2 Kings 24:2. saying] The prophetic word is contained in this and the following verse. There is no passage in the prophets resembling the words here given. It is generally supposed that Ezra is citing from Deuteronomy 7:1-3, and that the expression ‘thy servants the prophets’ alludes to Moses. But it must be remembered that ‘the law of Moses’ in these books is always directly referred to, e.g. Ezra 3:2; Ezra 6:18; Ezra 7:6; Nehemiah 8:1; Nehemiah 8:14; Nehemiah 13:1; 2 Chronicles 23:18; 2 Chronicles 25:4; 2 Chronicles 30:16; 2 Chronicles 35:12. It is better then to regard the passage as a perfectly general statement by Ezra of prophetical teaching upon the subject of intermarriage with foreign nations. Such a statement would naturally reecho the Deuteronomic law, and even repeat words and phrases which, by oral as well as by written tradition, would be familiar. We are forcibly reminded how much of the teaching of the prophets has never come down to us. On the other hand it is no less instructive to observe that the prophetical teaching seems naturally to embody itself in a form, which recalls the language of the Deuteronomic legislation, e.g. ‘The land unto which ye go to possess it’, cf. Deuteronomy 7:1 ‘Then the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it’. The land … is an unclean land] This expression (lit. land of unclean ness) is not found in the Pentateuch with reference to the promised land. with the filthiness of the people of the land] R.V. through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands. The same word ‘uncleanness’ (niddah) is used here as in the phrase an ‘unclean land’. It occurs in 2 Chronicles 29:5 ‘carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place’. Cf. Lamentations 1:17. It is a strong word to denote anything that would convey defilement. with their abominations] R.V. through their abominations. Added by way of explanation. On the word see note on Ezra 9:1. The ‘abominations’ are described as acts of impurity because these were the accompaniment of the local worship. Cf. Leviticus 18:27 ‘All these abominations (Ezra 9:6-15) have the men of the land done … and the land is defiled’. from one end to another] Lit. ‘from mouth to mouth’. Cf. almost the same expression in 2 Kings 10:21; 2 Kings 21:16. It means ‘from one extremity to another’; perhaps the metaphor has been taken from a drinking vessel. with their uncleanness] R.V. with their filthiness. The same word in the Hebrew as that rendered ‘filthiness’ in chap. Ezra 6:21. It denotes ‘impurity’, ‘defilement’ generally. Cf.

Saying - The words which follow in this verse are not quoted from any previous book of Scripture, but merely give the general sense of numerous passages. Compare the marginal references.

11. Commanded by thy servants the prophets — Especially by Moses, the great prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15) and lawgiver. Comp. with this and the next verse Exodus 23:32; Exodus 34:12-16; Deuteronomy 7:1-3.