THE “THING”
“My God, I am too ashamed and confounded to raise my face to You, O my God, for our wicked deeds are heaped up above our heads and our guilt reaches up to heaven.” –Ezra 9:6 When Ezra heard “this thing,” he tore his cloak and mantle, plucked hair from his “head and beard, and sat there stupefied” (Ezra 9:3). Ezra fell on his knees and stretched out his hands to the Lord. Why was Ezra traumatized? It was because both Israelite laymen and priests married non-Israelite wives. Ezra knew they were doomed by entering into “mixed marriages.” If Ezra...