Ezra 10:4

Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Ezra 10:4-5. Arise, for this matter belongeth unto thee — Who hast a perfect knowledge of the law, and full power from the king of Persia to see every thing done according to it; and who hast most skill to manage this matter. We also will be with thee: be of good courage — He promises him his assistance, and that of many other principal persons, which might give him confidence of success. Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, &c., to swear — He admonished them of their duty in the name of God, and then persuaded them to take a solemn oath, which they did, to put away their strange wives.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-5 Shechaniah owned the national guilt. The case is sad, but it is not desperate; the disease threatening, but not incurable. Now that the people begin to lament, a spirit of repentance seems to be poured out; now there is hope that God will forgive, and have mercy. The sin that rightly troubles us, shall not ruin us. In melancholy times we must observe what makes for us, as well as against us. And there may be good hopes through grace, even where there is the sense of great guilt before God. The case is plain; what has been done amiss, must be undone again as far as possible; nothing less than this is true repentance. Sin must be put away, with a resolution never to have any thing more to do with it. What has been unjustly got, must be restored. Arise, be of good courage. Weeping, in this case, is good, but reforming is better. As to being unequally yoked with unbelievers, such marriages, it is certain, are sinful, and ought not to be made; but now they are not null, as they were before the gospel did away the separation between Jews and Gentiles.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let it be done according to the law - i. e., let a formal "bill of divorcement" be given to each foreign wife, whereby she will be restored to the condition of an unmarried woman, and be free to marry another husband (see Deuteronomy 24:1-2). The facility of divorce among the Jews is well-known. According to many of the rabbis, a bill of divorcement might he given by the husband for the most trivial cause. Thus, no legal difficulty stood in the way of Shechaniah's proposition; and Ezra regarded it as necessary for the moral and religious welfare of the people.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2-4. Shechaniah … answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed—This was one of the leading men, who was not himself a delinquent in the matter, for his name does not occur in the following list. He spoke in the general name of the people, and his conduct evinced a tender conscience, as well as no small fortitude in making such a proposal; for as his father and five paternal uncles (Ezr 10:26) were involved in the guilt of unlawful marriages, he showed, by the measure he recommended, that he deemed it better to obey God than to please his nearest relatives.

yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing—This hope, however, depended on timely measures of reformation, and therefore, instead of surrendering themselves to despair or despondency, he counselled them to amend their error without delay, relying on God's mercy for the past. Though the proposal may seem harsh and cruel, yet in the peculiar circumstances of the Jews it was just as well as necessary; and he urged the duty of seeing it executed on Ezra, as the only person competent to carry it into effect, being possessed of skill and address for so delicate and difficult a work, and invested by God, and under Him by the Persian king (Ezr 7:23-28), with the requisite authority to enforce it.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This matter belongeth unto thee; because thou hast both skill to manage it, and authority both from God and from the Persian king to do it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Arise,.... From the ground, where he lay prostrate:

for this matter belongeth unto thee; as a priest and scribe of the law, well versed in it, and therefore could direct what was to be done according to it; and as a ruler under the king of Persia, and a commissioner of his, to inquire whether the law of God was observed by the Jews, Ezra 7:14 and so had authority to put the law in execution:

we also will be with thee; to help and assist in the reformation of this evil:

be of good courage, and do it; do not despair of going through it, though there may be some opposition to it; begin, and doubt not of succeeding.

Geneva Study Bible

Arise; for this matter {d} belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.

(d) Because God has given you authority and learning to persuade the people in this and to command them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. The appeal to Ezra.

Arise] Not a reference to Ezra’s prostration but a summons to energetic action, Joshua 1:2; Jdg 4:14; 1 Samuel 16:12 and often.

for this matter belongeth unto thee:] R.V. for the matter &c. Literally ‘for this matter is upon thee’. Cf. Nehemiah 13:13, ‘And their business was (lit. and it was upon them) to distribute unto their brethren’. Isaiah 9:6, ‘And the government shall be upon his shoulder’. Ezra was marked out for the duty, partly because he had so publicly testified to his condemnation of the people’s sin, partly because he had received the royal commission ‘to teach’ them that knew not the laws of his God (Ezra 7:25).

we also will be with thee] R.V. and we are with thee. The R.V. gives the full meaning, by placing only a comma after ‘thee’. The lead in the work was Ezra’s, but Shechaniah and his friends were ready to cooperate at once in the reform. The present tense is therefore more appropriate than the future.

be of good courage, and do it] Literally, ‘be strong, and do’. The responsibility of initiative required especial courage, when the policy would inevitably produce widespread discontent with no material compensation. David uses the same words to Solomon when entrusting to him the work of constructing the Temple. 1 Chronicles 28:10, ‘Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it’: cf. 2 Chronicles 19:11, ‘Deal courageously’ (Heb. Be strong and do), are the words of encouragement given to Amariah, Zebadiah and the Levites by Jehoshaphat, as he commissioned them to act as judges among the people.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - This matter belongeth unto thee. Ezra's commission was to "let judgment be executed on those who would not do the law of God" (Ezra 7:26), and so to constrain them to obedience. It was therefore his place to inquire into the serious matter brought before him, and set it right. We will be with thee. We, the "very great congregation" which had gathered around Ezra, and of whom Shechaniah was the spokesman, undertake to be with thee, and support thee, in the steps which thou takest in this matter. Only be of good courage, and act. Ezra 10:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"Up! for this matter concerns thee (thou art called to carry it out), and we are with thee (will assist thee therein); be strong (courageous) and do it."