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Ezr_10:3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
Ver. 3. Now therefore let us make a covenant] And so tie ourselves thereby to the better abearance; that we slip not collar, that we detract not the yoke of God’s obedience, Deu_10:20. Cleaving to God with full purpose of heart will require swearing. Broken bones must have strong bands to close them. Tottering houses must be cramped with iron bars, or they will soon fall down. If the vows of God be upon us, if we are covenanters, it will help against the fickleness of our false hearts; which cannot but know that if God shall be all-sufficient to us, we must be altogether his, Son_2:16. His is a covenant of mercy, even the sure mercies of David; ours is a covenant of obedience to him, in every part and point of duty.
To put away all the wives] This Jews might do in this, and some other cases. So did Romans also with this only bill of divorce, Res tuas tibi habeto, Take what is thine own, and be packing. But Christians may not do thus because of difference in religion, 1Co_7:12, whatever some late upstarts have printed and practised to the contrary.
And such as are born of them] The children of those strange wives, persisting in their Paganism. These children, though disinherited, yet were not to be altogether deserted; but nourished and nurtured also in the fear and admonition of the Lord, Eph_6:4. Proving if, peradventure, God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, &c., 2Ti_2:25.
According to the counsel of my lord] Terms full of hearty respect and humble submission. He calls Ezra My lord, as Hannah did Eli, with an eye to his dignity, and authority, both as a priest and as a commissioner from the king of Persia. At Venice every ordinary mechanic is called Magnifico. At Vicenza, in Italy, the common title to a common gentleman is Signor Conte, as much as my lord earl. But Ezra was every way honourable and deserving; titles of honour were not worthy of him.
And of those that tremble at the commandment of our God] A periphrasis of a truly pious person, sc. such a one as feareth God and keepeth his commandments. And this is the man alone that is fit to judge the cases of conscience, and to comfort the feeble-minded. Now, although the comfort given by God’s ministers, such as Ezra was, be ordinarily most effectual (as is the blessing of parents, who are in God’s room), yet others also, that are conscientious and experienced persons, that tremble at the commandment of God, as here, may give excellent counsel and comfort in such a case. But how like the motion of a puppet, the language of a parrot, is the best discourse, in this subject of conscience, of the uninterested man.
And let it be done accordiny to the law] Which, though it take no direct and express order in this case, yet by due deduction and just inference it was determined both here and in Neh_9:2, that those strange wives should be put away.