God’s Word for You
Ezra 9:5-7 Shame
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Monday, July 28, 2025
5 Then, at the time of the evening sacrifice, I got up from my self-humiliation, with my clothes and cloak torn, and got down on my knees and spread my hands out to the LORD my God. 6 I prayed: “O my God, I am too ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads. Our guilt has reached to the heavens. 7 From the days of our ancestors until now, we have been very guilty. Because of our sins, we, our kings, and our priests have been subjected to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and on this day to shame at the hand of foreign kings.
The dishonor, the disgrace of shame Ezra describes was the humiliation because of Israel’s wrongdoing and sin. He begins with “I” but switches to “we” right away in verse 6, but he never departs from “we.” He includes himself along with the rest of Israel.
He describes their sin as being “higher than our heads; our guilt has reached to the heavens.” This is true of any of us, at any time, but Ezra felt it heavily on his shoulders.
What brought this about? When we classify this sin of intermarriage correctly, we rule out original sin and see that it was an “actual sin,” a sin of the flesh (Galatians 5:19), or as Jesus calls it: “bad fruits of a bad tree” (Luke 6:43). Now, there are two pathways to actual sins. First, the suggestions of Satan, which we see when Satan incited David to count his soldiers (1 Chronicles 21:1) and when Satan put it into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus (John 13:2). Second, actual sins come from the many stumbling blocks of the world. Paul warns, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world” (Romans 12:2). Together with the sinful nature (original sin), these three assailants surround us and attack us like thieves in a dark alley. Each one is a vicious enemy. Which one is responsible for any particular stab of sin’s sharp knife?
For the sake of instruction, the causes of sin can be further subdivided. This can help us to see what is at work when we slip and fall.
1, Sinful, corrupt desire. “After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin” (James 1:15).
2, The consent of the will to sin. Jesus said, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
3, Ignorance and darkness of the mind. Paul says: “Formerly I blasphemed and persecuted, but I did that out of ignorance” (1 Timothy 1:13).
4, The weakness of the flesh. “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).
5, The voluntary malice, or intentional malice, of the mind. “If we sin deliberately, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26).
6, Sinful habits contracted from frequent acts. “By your hardness of heart, ignorant of repentance, you are storing up wrath for yourself” (Romans 2:5).
7, Sin itself is often the cause of another sin. “Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes” (Isaiah 5:18).
Sin can also be caused by accidental means, when some external thing intrudes into the believer’s life and entices some abuse or misuse. This was what happened in the Garden after Satan tempted Eve in person, when she “saw that the tree was good for food and that it was delightful to the eyes” (Genesis 3:6).
From the list above, we would not be wrong to cite the first four causes along with the sixth as the immediate cause of this sin of intermarriage with unbelievers. Ezra confesses that the very leaders of the people, priests and kings alike, led Israel astray in the past. Now? There were no more kings in Judah, but there were princes and priests and leading citizens who had been equally sinful and responsible for leading the ordinary folks into sin.
Ezra will not stop here, of course. But to expose the sin is the first step to being terrified by its consequences, so that repentance can begin. But faith must follow! Without faith, there is nothing but more and more condemnation. David did not say, “I run in the path of your commandments, for you have struck me with the thunder and lightning of your law.” If that were the case we would not run toward God, but away from him. But God offers forgiveness through Christ, and in our cramped little hearts our loving Savior has opened up a big, surprising, unexpected space, big enough for God’s love to pour in and fill us with his grace. So David says truly, “I run in the path of your commandments, for you have opened my heart wide” (Psalm 119:32). Then we become cheerful, willing to walk the Lord’s narrow but straight path, the path that leads to heaven.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.