Before his trip to Jerusalem, Ezra had already been involved in a project of collecting various manuscripts and documents associated with Moses and Israel, and assessing which were to be considered Scripture. It’s almost guaranteed this was a large project involving a great many scribes making new copies, and edits that would update the names and references to what was current in their day during the Exile. We can also be sure that Ezra was the final editor for this project. Thus, we can safely suggest he was the editor for Chronicles, his own book and Esther. On top of that, he reorganized the documents he didn’t edit. Much of the Old Testament canon rests on the work of Ezra.
But his motive was hardly mere scholarly ambition. There is every reason to believe he was deeply committed to an accurate understanding and obedience to the Covenant. Nothing mattered more to him than for the Remnant to be faithful. He was considering all of this when he was warned that some of the Returnees had intermarried with the pagan locals. That is, these people intermarried without converting the pagans to the faith in Jehovah. There was always room to embrace the Covenant and become an Israeli, but that’s not what they were doing. They were allowing the pagan wives to bring their idols into Judean households, and giving their covenant daughters over to pagan households.
This is the very thing that contributed to the downfall of Israel in the first place. It’s part of why they were in exile. In the previous chapter Ezra has a very strong reaction to this news. He doesn’t just tear his clothing, but pulls out some hair and whiskers, signaling that God’s wrath was right outside the door, and it would be devastating. He made a very public display of this, fasting and weeping so that everyone would get the message. But more than that, his priestly prayer provoked a very real spiritual response in the people.
Thus we come to our focal passage. Some of the people in the area had heard and were deeply moved. They came to find out what they could do about this. They were quite fearful themselves at this point and quickly confessed their own guilt. So they agreed to make a solemn renewal of the Covenant and actively pursue obedience in this matter. They promised to stoutly support Ezra in taking charge of this serious problem.
So they all swore and oath. Ezra retired to one of the priestly chambers in the Temple and continued praying and fasting. Meanwhile, the leadership of the Returnees issued a proclamation on the matter. Everyone must gather in Jerusalem within three days or suffer confiscation of their property (it would become Temple property) and they would be excommunicated from their national identity.
Keep in mind that only a small staff lived in Jerusalem. It was the governor, his staff, the high priest and his staff, and temple attendants. They occupied houses that were restored, but the rest of the Returnees lived scattered around in towns and villages outside of Jerusalem. And very little of the Temple plaza still stood at this time, so there wasn’t a lot of space to gather near the Temple, the palace grounds, etc. Thus, when the folks from outside the city gathered, about the only place left to assemble was the Kidron Valley. This offered a rather large open flat space where the Valley of Hinnon joins it off the southern end of the ancient ridge of Zion. This open space narrows and reaches all the way up to the Water Gate, where King David’s men slipped into the fortress through the spring. Anyone standing near the outer entrance to that spring could address the crowd below and likely be heard.
The assembly was 8 December 457 BC. They were trembling because of the gravity of the situation, and the cold rains didn’t help. Ezra preached to them of their sins. He called for the level of separation required in the Law of Moses. The representative elders agreed it was a problem, but that making the assembly stand out in the rain was also a problem. They proposed that the elders report to Ezra in a rotation by districts. Ezra would sit as judge over all the cases and rule who had to put away their pagan wives. This would take awhile, because the extent of the problem was rather large and spanned multiple generations. It was complicated.
Only a handful of elders were opposed, and they would be dealt with in due time.
So it was the next month (ten days later) the process began. This would have given the men time to warn their wives to convert of be sent home. The inquest ran two months, and was concluded in March. The text goes on to list those who had taken wives that refused to convert. Those women were sent back home.
This infuriated the pagan nations around them who simply did not understand, nor cared at all about Jehovah’s brand of holiness. Just when they had begun to tame this invasive presence, Ezra comes along and cuts all their family ties. It’s impossible to separate religion and politics in understanding this conflict. For the pagan nations, it was a matter of political necessity to seduce the Judeans into idolatry. For the Judeans, it was a vital necessity to remain separate from both the religion and politics of the pagans.
