In Ezra 9 we come to the heart of what is preventing the Jews returned from Exile from being an adornment to the house of God. They have given up on devoting themselves, as a people, to the LORD. They are intermarrying with unbelieving nations and forging secular alliances as the basis of their security. And it is profoundly significant that, before he even begins to talk about how they responded to this crisis, that Ezra dwells at length on how he personally responded to it all. In this we find three lessons:
- The Gentle Power of Confession
- The Convicting Effect of the Word of God
- The Futility of God’s Mercy