Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles, while I sat there in horror until the evening offering. Sermons
Ezra was a man not only of vigorous mind and strong will, with whom things soon took shape and form, but also of keen sensibility, into whose heart things cut deeply, and whose soul was stirred with strong emotion. Therefore he knew not only great joys, but great sorrows also. "Dearly bought the hidden treasure
Finer feelings can bestow;
Chords that vibrate deepest pleasure
Thrill the deepest notes of woe." When he learnt how the children of Israel had gone astray in the matter of the mixed marriages, he was overwhelmed with strong and profound feeling. There was - I. DISMAY AT THE PRESENCE OF SIN (ver. 5). He sat "astonished until the evening sacrifice" (ver. 4), having just given way to an Oriental exhibition of extreme agitation (ver. 3). This blow seems to have stunned him. He was simply dismayed, appalled. After a burst of grief he sat overwhelmed with a sense of the exceeding great folly and iniquity of the people. II. SHAME UNDER A SENSE OF SIN (vers. 5, 6, 15). Placing himself in penitential attitude, he addressed himself to God, and said, "0 my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee "(ver. 6). He went on to identify himself (though personally guiltless) with his people: "Our iniquities," etc. (ver. 6). "We are before thee in our trespasses" (ver. 15). And he concluded by saying, "We cannot stand before thee because of this" (ver. 15). Such was his intense fellow-feeling and sympathy with those whom he was serving, that he felt overwhelmed with shame under a consciousness of their guilt. Sin, the sin of our family, of our city, of our country, of our race - quite apart from our personal share in it - is a shameful thing, something to humiliate us and cause us "confusion of face." III. FEAR OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. "Wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us," etc. (ver. 14). He lamented that the brief sunshine they were enjoying would probably disappear, in God's rekindled wrath, in utter darkness. God's mercy was for a space encompassing them, and now they were going to throw it, desperately and wantonly, away. No sooner were they out of bondage than they were inviting the great Disposer, in his righteousness, to send them back into captivity. Sin had ruined them before, and would surely ruin them again, and this time utterly and completely (vers. 7, 8, 9, 14). What insensate folly! We may look at sensibility in respect of sin as it relates to - 1. Our Divine Lord himself. He became man in order that he might suffer in our stead; in order that, as man, he might bear the penalty we must otherwise have borne. The Sinless One was never conscious of sin, nor yet of shame as we know it; but by becoming a member of our race, thus entering into perfect fellowship and intense sympathy with us, he could be affected, sorrowfully and sadly, by a sense of human sin. He did, in a way necessarily mysterious to us, thus suffer for us. It was to his soul a dreadful, horrible, shameful thing that mankind - to whose family he belonged, and of which he was a member - should have sinned so grievously as it had. 2. Our own souls. It is well for us indeed when we have come to feel the shamefulness of our own sin. The heart that, thus affected, can say, "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face unto thee" (ver. 6), is in that state of contrition, of poverty of spirit, "of which is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). Sin is shameful because (1) it is the act of those who owe everything they are and have to God, and (2) it is directed against him who has (a) multiplied his mercies unto us in so many ways, and (b) borne so long with us, and (c) done and suffered, in Christ, so much to reclaim us; and because (3) it is continued in spite of our knowledge of what is right, reasonable, and beneficial. 3. Our fellows. We may well be sympathetically affected by the sins of others - our kindred, our fellow-citizens, our fellow-men. Rivers of water should run down our eyes because men keep not his law. We may well be ashamed and appalled, and pour out our souls to God, under a sense of the guilt of the world. - C. 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. In this verse Ezra pleads guilty to the indictment, acknowledging God to be just, though He should renew His judgments afresh upon them. There be two things in it: First, his justifying God in these words, "O Lord God of Israel, Thou art righteous." Secondly, the reason which he gives for it: First, on God's part. He had used all possible means to bring them to reformation — "We remain yet escaped as at this day." Secondly, on their part. They were still in their trespasses; and therefore they were the fresh fuel of God's indignation. Before we come to these particulars, give me leave to speak a word or two of the style he gives God; he calls Him "Lord God of Israel." The title "Lord" signifies His greatness; "the God of Israel," His goodness. A fit preface for a prayer, for the word "Lord" is a term well befitting God. In the Holy Scripture He is said to be "strong in power, and wonderful in working." Let it comfort God's people: God is the Lord Almighty in power. What then shall be too hard for Him to perform with them? Lastly, it should teach Us to stand in awe and not sin against God. So we come to the second, which is that He is "the God of Israel." And if in the first He was the greatest, then in this He is the best. I know He is "the God of all the earth" (Psalm 24:1); but more especially He is "the God of Israel." First, by a special and peculiar Worship. To them above other people He revealed how He would be worshipped. Secondly, He is the God of Israel in regard to that special care He had of them, He was a wall of fire round about them to preserve them from their enemies. Thirdly, He is the God of Israel by a special reward which He hath promised them. He said to Abraham, "I am thy exceeding great reward." This that hath been said may assure God's children of His affection towards them. Secondly, methinks this should take off the edge of all persecutors. Is God the God of His people? and dare they touch that which is hallowed unto God? Will they meddle with the apple of His eye? Thirdly, methinks it should teach all persecutors and all wicked men to love the people of God. How are we affected with earthly things? If we know a man whom the king favours, how do we seek to get into his favour? We will do him any service to obtain it. And are not the saints of God His favourites? Lastly, is the Lord the God of Israel? Let Israel then behave themselves as God's people. What saith the Spirit of God in Deuteronomy 26:18; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Titus 2:14? Now we come to the particulars in the text as we laid them down. First, for the justifying of God, "Thou art righteous." This hath been ever the practice of God's people; they have still confessed God to be just in what He hath brought upon them. Thus doth David (Psalm 51:4; Psalm 119:137). This lets us see how the world fails in this particular. When God lays His hand on men, how apt are they to dispute with God and say, Why doth He deal thus and thus with us? Who art thou, O man, that repliest to thy Maker? Secondly, let us always be persuaded of the justice of God in all His proceedings; for though we see not the reason why He doth this or that, yet there is good reason for it. We proceed now to the reason which he gives for justifying God: "For we remain yet escaped, as it is this day." As if he had said, "Thy goodness is demonstrate; he that runs may read it." In general judgments which God brings upon the world, there are still some escaping. When God sent the deluge upon the world, Noah and his family perished not. In the fiery shower which God rained on Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his daughters perished not. What is the ground of this? First, all God's ways are interveined with mercy. Secondly, God still spares some to bring them to repentance, that they may turn out of the crooked into the straight path. Let me advise them that have tasted of God's mercy in this way never to forget it; and for this let me stir up my own soul to praise God with you. When my next neighbour was smitten dead, why was not I smitten also? It was only God's mercy. What a fearful judgment it is not to profit by afflictions. It is that for which God finds great fault with His people in Deuteronomy 29:2, 3, 4. In the second place, let us labour to profit by affliction. The last clause is, "Neither can we stand before Thee, because of this." As if he had said, "We cannot come before Thee with any confidence while we be in our sins unrepented of." That man that comes before God in his sins without repentance cannot come with any confidence or hope of mercy. In Proverbs 28:13, mercy, is promised to him that confesseth and forsaketh his sin; but wrath is pronounced against him that hideth them.(). People Ammonites, Amorites, Canaanites, Egyptians, Hittites, Jebusites, Levites, Moabites, PerizzitesPlaces Beyond the River, Jerusalem, Judea, PersiaTopics Account, Appalled, Assembled, Astonied, Astonished, Captivity, Carried, Confounded, Evening, Exiles, Faithlessness, Fear, Gathered, Grief, Kept, Oblation, Offering, Overcome, Overwhelmed, Present, Removal, Returned, Round, Sacrifice, Sat, Sin, Sitting, Till, Transgression, Trembled, Trembling, Trespass, UnfaithfulnessOutline 1. Ezra mourns for the affinity of the people with strangers5. He prays unto God, with confession of sinsDictionary of Bible Themes Ezra 9:4 8334 reverence, and God's nature Ezra 9:1-4 7525 exclusiveness
8840 unfaithfulness, to God Ezra 9:1-7 6174 guilt, human aspects
8272 holiness, growth in Ezra 9:1-15 8466 reformation Ezra 9:3-6 5419 mourning Ezra 9:4-5 4933 evening Ezra 9:4-15 6624 confession, of sin Library September 23 Morning
Our God hath not forsaken us.--EZRA 9:9. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.--If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. The Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. The Lord …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily PathThe Sad Case of a Relapse into Known and Deliberate Sin, after Solemn Acts Op Dedication to God and Some Progress Made in Religion.
1. Unthought of relapses may happen.--2. And bring the soul into a miserable case.--3. Yet the case is not desperate.--4. The backslider urged immediately to return, by deep humiliation before God for so aggravated an offence.--5. By renewed regards to the divine mercy in Christ.--6. By an open profession of repentance, where the crime hath given public offence.--7. Falls to be reviewed for future caution.--8. The chapter concludes with a prayer for the use of one who hath fallen into gross sins, …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul Prayer.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PRAYER. WHAT is prayer? A sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Spirit, for such things as God hath promised. The best prayers have often more groans than words. Alas, how few there be in the world whose heart and mouth in prayer shall go together. Dost thou, when thou askest for the Spirit, or faith, or love to God, to holiness, to saints, to the word, and the like, ask for them with love to them, …
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan The Christian Struggling under Great and Heavy Affliction.
1. Here it is advised--that afflictions should only be expected.--2. That the righteous hand of God should be acknowledged in them when they come.--3. That they should be borne with patience.--4. That the divine conduct in them should be cordially approved.--5. That thankfulness should be maintained in the midst of trials.--6. That the design of afflictions should be diligently inquired into, and all proper assistance taken in discovering it.--7. That, when it is discovered, it should humbly be complied …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul That it is not Lawful for the Well Affected Subjects to Concur in Such an Engagement in War, and Associate with the Malignant Party.
That It Is Not Lawful For The Well Affected Subjects To Concur In Such An Engagement In War, And Associate With The Malignant Party. Some convinced of the unlawfulness of the public resolutions and proceedings, in reference to the employing of the malignant party, yet do not find such clearness and satisfaction in their own consciences as to forbid the subjects to concur in this war, and associate with the army so constituted. Therefore it is needful to speak something to this point, That it is …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Letter xx. Self-Examination.
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith: prove your own selves."--2 COR. 13:6. MY DEAR SISTER, In view of the positive injunction of Scripture, above quoted, no argument is necessary to show that self-examination is a duty. But if the word of God had been silent upon the subject, the importance of self-knowledge would have been a sufficient motive for searching into the secret springs of action which influence our conduct. A person ignorant of his own heart, is like a merchant, who knows …
Harvey Newcomb—A Practical Directory for Young Christian Females The Careless Sinner Awakened.
1, 2. It is too supposable a case that this Treatise may come into such hands.--3, 4. Since many, not grossly vicious, fail under that character.--5, 6. A more particular illustration of this case, with an appeal to the reader, whether it be not his own.--7 to 9. Expostulation with such.--10 to 12. More particularly--From acknowledged principles relating to the Nature of Got, his universal presence, agency, and perfection.--13. From a view of personal obligations to him.--14. From the danger Of this …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul The Justice of God
The next attribute is God's justice. All God's attributes are identical, and are the same with his essence. Though he has several attributes whereby he is made known to us, yet he has but one essence. A cedar tree may have several branches, yet it is but one cedar. So there are several attributes of God whereby we conceive of him, but only one entire essence. Well, then, concerning God's justice. Deut 32:4. Just and right is he.' Job 37:23. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Of Love to God
I proceed to the second general branch of the text. The persons interested in this privilege. They are lovers of God. "All things work together for good, to them that love God." Despisers and haters of God have no lot or part in this privilege. It is children's bread, it belongs only to them that love God. Because love is the very heart and spirit of religion, I shall the more fully treat upon this; and for the further discussion of it, let us notice these five things concerning love to God. 1. The …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial Blessed are they that Mourn
Blessed are they that mourn. Matthew 5:4 Here are eight steps leading to true blessedness. They may be compared to Jacob's Ladder, the top whereof reached to heaven. We have already gone over one step, and now let us proceed to the second: Blessed are they that mourn'. We must go through the valley of tears to paradise. Mourning were a sad and unpleasant subject to treat on, were it not that it has blessedness going before, and comfort coming after. Mourning is put here for repentance. It implies …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 Influences that Gave Rise to the Priestly Laws and Histories
[Sidenote: Influences in the exile that produced written ceremonial laws] The Babylonian exile gave a great opportunity and incentive to the further development of written law. While the temple stood, the ceremonial rites and customs received constant illustration, and were transmitted directly from father to son in the priestly families. Hence, there was little need of writing them down. But when most of the priests were carried captive to Babylonia, as in 597 B.C., and ten years later the temple …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament Ezra-Nehemiah
Some of the most complicated problems in Hebrew history as well as in the literary criticism of the Old Testament gather about the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Apart from these books, all that we know of the origin and early history of Judaism is inferential. They are our only historical sources for that period; and if in them we have, as we seem to have, authentic memoirs, fragmentary though they be, written by the two men who, more than any other, gave permanent shape and direction to Judaism, then …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Ezra 9:4 NIVEzra 9:4 NLTEzra 9:4 ESVEzra 9:4 NASBEzra 9:4 KJV
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