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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ezra 10:2 - 10:2
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Then one of the sons of Elam, Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, stood forth from amidst the assembly, and uttered the confession: “We have been unfaithful towards our God by marrying strange wives, but there is yet hope for Israel concerning this thing. We will now make a covenant with God to put away all the strange wives and their children from the congregation, according to the counsel of the Lord, and of those who fear the commandment of our God, that it may be done according to the law.†Shecaniah, of the sons of Elam (comp. Ezr 2:7; Ezr 8:7), is a different person from the descendant of Zattu, mentioned Ezr 8:5; nor is Jehiel identical with the individual whose name occurs in Ezr 10:26. ×•Ö·× Ö¹Ö¼×©Ö¶×ב, and have brought home strange wives. הֹושִ×יב, to cause to dwell (in one's house), said in Ezr 10:10, Ezr 10:14, Ezr 10:17, Ezr 10:18, and Neh 13:23, Neh 13:27, of bringing a wife home. Shecaniah founds his hope for Israel in this trespass upon the circumstance, that they bind themselves by a solemn covenant before God to put away this scandal from the congregation, and to act in conformity with the law. To make a covenant with our God, i.e., to bind themselves by an oath with respect to God, comp. 2Ch 29:10. הֹוצִי×, to put away - the opposite of הֹושִ×יב. All the wives are, according to the context, all the strange women (Ezr 10:2), and that which is born of them, their children. Instead of ×Ö²×“Ö¹× Ö¸×™ בַּעֲצַת, according to the counsel of the Lord, De Wette, Bertheau, and others, following the paraphrase in the lxx and 1 Esdras, read ×Ö²×“Ö¹× Ö´×™, according to the counsel of my lord, i.e., of Ezra. But this paraphrase being of no critical authority, there is no sufficient reason for the alteration. For Shecaniah to call Ezra my lord sounds strange, since usually this title was only given by servants to their master, or subjects to their sovereign, and Shecaniah afterwards addresses him simply as thou. Besides, Ezra had given no advice at all in this matter, and still less had he come to any resolution about it with the God-fearing members of the community. יֵעָשֶׂה after the preceding × Ö´×›Ö°×¨Ö¸×ªÖ¾×‘Ö°Ö¼×¨Ö´×™×ª, we will make a covenant, must be taken as hortative: and let it be done according to the law. בְּ חָרֵד, caring for with trembling.