Ezra 10:2b "We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. (ESV)
This is a difficult chapter. Ezra instructs the men of Israel to "put away" their foreign wives and children. When we read this we want to make the passage about marriage and divorce. I thought God said, "I hate divorce." How can he be pleased then with this decision to divorce foreign wives? They may be foreign, but they are still wives. I thought Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me." If God loves children then how can he be pleased with sending these children away with their mothers? Those are the questions that make this a difficult chapter, but they also miss the point.
This chapter is not about marriage and divorce. It is about a different marriage relationship altogether. This chapter is the Old Testament equivalent of Jesus words in Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." This chapter is about the fact that Israel is first married to God. By taking foreign wives they have broken their marriage vows to God. They have been morally unfaithful. They have committed spiritual adultery, to use the words of the prophets.
Even as our society recklessly destroys the biblical definition of family they emotionally place high value on family. But family is not the highest priority in life; God is. Israel had forgotten that. By taking foreign wives they had stepped right back into the very sin that had caused them to be taken into captivity in the first place. When our priorities in life get turned around our moral decisions always veer off track. We think we see a clear track ahead but it is a trail to destruction.
When my wife or my children or my personal happiness is the primary force for moral direction in my life I end up losing what I thought I was preserving. Who knows what motivated these Israeli men to take foreign wives? It may have been lust. It may have been a shortage of Israeli women. It may have been loneliness. It may have been intrigue. What ever it was that motivated them, it wasn't God and it resulted in grief.
Father, forgive me for how often and how quickly I replace you as the first love of my life. Today may I take to heart your counsel to the church in Ephesus.
Rev 2:4-5 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. (ESV)
By His grace,
Rick Weinert
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