God’s Word for You

Ezra 10:5-8 The oath

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, August 1, 2025

5 So Ezra got up and put the leading priests and Levites and all Israel under oath to deal with this matter. They took the oath. 6 Then Ezra got up and withdrew from the front of the house of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. He spent the night there, eating no food and drinking no water, because he continued to mourn over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. 7 Then a proclamation was issued throughout Judah and Jerusalem for all the exiles to assemble in Jerusalem. 8 Anyone who failed to come within three days would forfeit all his property, in accordance with the decision of the officials and elders, and would himself be expelled from the congregation of the exiles.

First: The oath. Every part of Israelite society was in on this oath: priests, Levites, and “all Israel.” These leaders were binding themselves voluntarily to help Ezra carry out what had to be done. Literally in Hebrew (and in the Greek translation) this oath was “to do according to this thing.” Whatever had to be done, they bound themselves to help Ezra do it. Shecaniah had already made it clear what the matter was going to be: they were going to require the dissolution, divorce, or annulment, of every marriage of an Israelite with a foreign-born person who had not become a Jew through circumcision (in the case of men) or a binding oath with the evidence of a life of faith (in all cases).

But as soon as this oath was taken, Ezra showed that he was was still very troubled and that all of this weighed very heavily on his heart. Did he remember David’s prophet Nathan? When David asked Nathan for advice about building the first temple, the prophet had said, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you” (2 Samuel 7:3). But then that night the Lord appeared to the prophet in a dream and corrected that answer. David was not to built the temple; his son would do it (2 Samuel 7:13). And before that, during the famine, when Jacob hesitated to leave Canaan, which had been promised to him by the Lord. The Lord appeared to him in the night and told him to go (Genesis 46:4).

Now Ezra entered the house of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. There he fasted from both eating and drinking (this was unusual, especially at night) to pray and mourn over the people’s sin. And perhaps also to wait, in case God wanted to correct what they were about to do.

The proclamation was made by “them” (the Hebrew verb is third person plural, “they caused it to go out”). This was done “by voice / sound,” and the terms were simple and clear. Every one of the returned exiles had to appear in Jerusalem during the next three days. By the third day, anyone who failed to arrive would face two extreme penalties.

First: He would forfeit all of his property. It would be handed over to the authorities (probably Ezra would be the arbiter) and re-allotted to whoever was in need. Either it would be the whole kit and kaboodle (land and possessions) or else it would be done piecemeal, with people bidding for items the way we do at auctions. One would assume that the proceeds would either be given to the temple coffers or else a portion might also be set aside for the poor. The word “forfeit” here is the passive of the verb “destroy,” a word that can mean destruction in rage or war (Daniel 11:44), or killed or destroyed on account of idolatry (Exodus 22:20). This second meaning is the “ban” placed on the idolatrous nations of Canaan, which were to be wiped out entirely (Joshua 22:20).

Second: The now homeless and penniless man would be driven out of the land, no longer a part of Israel. He would be outside the nation, but also outside the church. This meant excommunication. He would no longer be able to sacrifice for forgiveness or hear the absolution on the Day of Atonement. He would become, in every way, a Gentile.

How serious is it to no longer belong to a church? First, the fellowship of worshiping and working with other believers is healthy and beneficial to our faith. Also, it is within the church that we hear regular preaching and teaching in real time, that is, according to the circumstances of the day. Our pastors know us, know our questions and needs (if we’re talking to them) and help us by applying the Bible’s message and wisdom and gospel promises to our troubles. Also, it is in worship that we receive the sacraments and the forgiveness of our sins on a regular basis. Certainly there are some of our older members, or with various disabilities, who need to be served at home. But our pastors can’t serve hundreds upon hundreds of members individually in their homes. Public worship, the gathering of the congregation, is where we receive these things together. It is in the church that we pray for each other and share one another’s joys and needs.

But in addition to all this, and standing at the very head of it, is the command from Christ to gather as a church. There is no passage that tells us to worship alone and to stay away from one another. What did Jesus do? “So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them” (Mark 2:2). “Jesus began to teach by the lake, and the crowd that gathered was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake” to preach to them (Mark 4:1). And Jesus commanded that sin be exposed to the church, so that sinners would be led to repent (Matthew 18:17). Who will lead the man to repentance who stays at home and claims he doesn’t need to go to a church or belong to a church to be a Christian? If a Christian follows Christ, he doesn’t do it sitting down. Paul was able to teach “great numbers of people” because he met with them in churches (Acts 11:26, 14:27, 15:30, 18:22). Paul’s instructions to “Greet the church” (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19) can only be carried out when the church meets. And that means the people of the church getting together to worship, to sing together, to pray together, to receive the sacrament together, and to listen to the gospel together. “Do not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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