Ezra 9:15

O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Ezra 9:15. O Lord, thou art righteous — A just and holy God, who hatest, and wilt infallibly punish, sin and sinners. Or, thou art merciful, for the Hebrew word here rendered righteous, often signifies merciful. Notwithstanding all our sins, thou hast not utterly destroyed us, but left us a remnant; for we remain yet escaped — Not entirely destroyed, not punished as we deserved. Behold, we are before thee in our trespasses — We are here in thy presence, and so are all our sins; we are arraigning ourselves before thy tribunal, acknowledging thee to be just if thou destroy us. For we cannot stand before thee — In judgment, as that word is often used; we must needs fall and perish at thy presence.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:5-15 The sacrifice, especially the evening sacrifice, was a type of the blessed Lamb of God, who in the evening of the world, was to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Ezra's address is a penitent confession of sin, the sin of his people. But let this be the comfort of true penitents, that though their sins reach to the heavens, God's mercy is in the heavens. Ezra, speaking of sin, speaks as one much ashamed. Holy shame is as necessary in true repentance as holy sorrow. Ezra speaks as much amazed. The discoveries of guilt cause amazement; the more we think of sin, the worse it looks. Say, God be merciful to me sinner. Ezra speaks as one much afraid. There is not a surer or saddler presage of ruin, than turning to sin, after great judgments, and great deliverances. Every one in the church of God, has to wonder that he has not wearied out the Lord's patience, and brought destruction upon himself. What then must be the case of the ungodly? But though the true penitent has nothing to plead in his own behalf, the heavenly Advocate pleads most powerfully for him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Some take "righteous" to mean here "kind" or "merciful." Others give it the more usual sense of "just," and understand the full meaning of the passage to be, "Thou art righteous, and hast punished us, because of our sin, the contraction of forbidden marriages, so that we are a mere remnant of what was once a great people."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Ezr 9:5-15. Prays to God.

5-15. I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God—The burden of his prayer, which was dictated by a deep sense of the emergency, was that he was overwhelmed at the flagrant enormity of this sin, and the bold impiety of continuing in it after having, as a people, so recently experienced the heavy marks of the divine displeasure. God had begun to show returning favor to Israel by the restoration of some. But this only aggravated their sin, that, so soon after their re-establishment in their native land, they openly violated the express and repeated precepts which commanded them to extirpate the Canaanites. Such conduct, he exclaimed, could issue only in drawing down some great punishment from offended Heaven and ensuring the destruction of the small remnant of us that is left, unless, by the help of divine grace, we repent and bring forth the fruits of repentance in an immediate and thorough reformation.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thou art righteous; a just and holy God, who dost hate, and wilt infallibly punish, sin and sinners. Or, thou art merciful, as appears from hence, that notwithstanding all our sins, thou hast not utterly destroyed us, but left a remnant of us. The Hebrew word here rendered righteous, is oft used for merciful; as is well known to all the learned.

For we remain yet escaped; or, though we remain, &c., i.e. though thou hast yet spared us in part, yet thou art righteous, and therefore wilt certainly punish and destroy us according to our deserts, if we do not repent us, and reform this great wickedness.

We are before thee in our trespasses; we are here in thy presence, and so are all our sins; we are arraigning ourselves before thy tribunal, acknowledging ourselves to be vile offenders, and thee to be just, if thou destroy us.

We cannot stand before thee, to wit, in judgment, as that word is oft used, as Psalm 130:3; compare Psalm 1:5; we must needs fall and perish at thy presence, as the phrase is, Psalm 9:3. Because of this; because of this our great guilt, and the aggravations of it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous,.... And would appear to be so, should Israel be entirely cut off, and utterly consumed for their iniquities:

for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day; that they remained yet escaped out of captivity, and escaped the wrath and vengeance of God, was not owing to any deserts of theirs, but to the grace and mercy of God, who had not stirred up all his wrath, as their sins deserved:

behold, we are before thee in our trespasses; to do with us as seems good in thy sight; we have nothing to plead on our behalf, but cast ourselves at thy feet, if so be unmerited favour may be shown us:

for we cannot stand before thee because of this; this evil of contracting affinity with the nations; we cannot defend ourselves; we cannot plead ignorance of the divine commands; we have nothing to say for ourselves why judgment should not be passed upon us; we leave ourselves in thine hands, and at thy mercy.

Geneva Study Bible

O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we {h} remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.

(h) He shows that God is just in punishing his people, and yet merciful in preserving a residue in whom he shows favour.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. The prayer ends in expression of complete surrender. There is no excuse to plead. The nation stands in its sin in the presence of the perfect God, and awaits the sentence of ‘righteousness’.

O Lord God of Israel] R.V. O LORD, the God of Israel. See on Ezra 1:3. The prayer had begun ‘O my God’ (Ezra 9:6). It ends, O Lord the God of Israel. The thought of his nation overmastered the supplicant.

thou art righteous] This must not be softened down as if it were ‘thou art gracious’. The words are an acknowledgement of the perfect justice of God’s dealings with Israel in the past. The next sentence ‘for we are left a remnant’ is not uttered in gratitude for the mercy which spared ‘a remnant’, but is added to express the greatness of the catastrophe, which had carried off the whole nation except ‘a remnant’. And yet the visitation had been just. The prayer of Ezra (?) in Nehemiah 9 has a very similar phrase, Nehemiah 9:33 ‘Howbeit thou art just (çaddîq) in all that is come upon us; for thou hast done truly, but we have done wickedly’. Thou art righteous (çaddîq), and we who are left ‘a remnant’ have failed to profit by the righteous judgement of the past. God is called ‘righteous’ in reference to the ‘fixed and unalterable rule of truth and goodness’. Cf. Nehemiah 9:8; 2 Chronicles 12:6; Psalm 119:137; Psalm 129:4; Psalm 145:7. (See Cheyne on Psalm 7:17.)

as it is this day] Cf. Ezra 9:7.

we are before thee] i.e. arraigned as it were before thy judgement seat. Ezra was praying ‘before the house of God’ (Ezra 10:2).

in our trespasses] R.V. in our guiltiness. See on Ezra 9:7. Fresh guilt has been added to the old. There is nothing to plead in extenuation. Nor had there been in the past. Righteous as Jehovah was, He had granted ‘a remnant’: now the guiltiness of the remnant seemed to merit its extinction.

for we cannot stand before thee because of this] R.V. for none can stand before thee because of this. None, for all Israelites, innocent as well as guilty, are bound up together in that responsibility for the nation’s guilt. Cf. Psalm 76:7 ‘And who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?’ Psalm 130:3 ‘If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?’ Nahum 1:6 ‘Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?’ The Spirit alone gives the power to ‘stand before’ God and to hear His word. Ezekiel 2:1-2.

because of this] See note on Ezra 8:23, Ezra 10:2 : i.e. on account of this last sin, in which the people have once more offended their God.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - Thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped. Righteousness, in its widest sense, includes mercy; and so the meaning here may be, "Thou art good and gracious; of which thy having spared us is a proof;" or tsaddik may have its more usual sense of "just," and Ezra may mean to say, "Thou art just, and therefore hast brought us to the low estate in which we are to-day, and made us a mere remnant." We are before thee in our trespasses. We are here, in thy presence; here, before thy holy place (Acts 10:1); sinners, with all our sins upon us, confessing our guilt; for we cannot stand before thee - we cannot boldly stand up and face thee ("Who shall, stand in thy sight when Thou art angry? Psalm 76:7), because of this our heinous transgression, for which there is no excuse.



Ezra 9:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"Jahve, God of Israel, Thou art righteous; for we remain an escaped remnant, as (it is) this day. Behold, we are before Thee in our trespass; for no one can stand before Thy face, because of this." Ezra appeals to the righteousness of God, not to supplicate pardon, as Nehemiah 9:33, for the righteousness of God would impel Him to extirpate the sinful nation, but to rouse the conscience of the community, to point out to them what, after this relapse into their old abominations, they had to expect from the justice of God. נשׁארנוּ כּי is confirmatory. God has shown Himself to be just by so sorely punishing this once numerous nation, that only a small remnant which has escaped destruction now exists. And this remnant has again most grievously offended: we lie before Thee in our trespass; what can we expect from Thy justice? Nothing but destruction; for there is no standing before Thee, i.e., no one can stand before Thee, על־זאת, because of this (comp. Ezra 8:23; Ezra 10:2), i.e., because of the fresh guilt which we have incurred.