I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezra 9-10.

    Today’s passage is part of the book of Ezra which has always bothered me. It seems to completely reject the idea of allowing outsiders to join the people of God. However, if you read it in light of what was said in chapter 6 verse 21, it takes on a new light. The same Jewish leaders who came to Ezra to complain about their fellow Jews marrying pagan women embraced those “others in the land” who ate the Passover meal with the Returned Exiles. Understanding Ezra’s prayer and his directions to the people in this context sheds a completely different light on them.

    Repeatedly throughout both his prayer and his address to the people Ezra refers to the fact that the people married pagan women. Or, if we go to the NIV, we find the problem is with intermarrying with people who commit detestable practices. The problem is with forming alliances with those who do not truly worship God. Marriage is just one of those alliances. I want to note that if it had just been about marrying women who were not of Jewish descent, it would not have taken any significant amount of time to resolve: they could have just made a list of men who had done so and insist that they divorce their wives. Clearly the fact that it involved setting up councils to oversee it. Clearly the purpose of these councils was to determine if these women of non-Jewish descent had adopted Jewish religious practices.
    If you marry someone who does not share your beliefs, you will soon find yourself compromising those beliefs. But the meat of this passage is about more than just marriage. Taken as a whole, the Book of Ezra is about welcoming outsiders into the faith without giving them a veto over what that faith is. We cannot express our love for someone by allowing them to continue in pagan practices, whether that someone is our spouse or just a member of our congregation.