Reading for April 26th

 Read Ezra 10.6-15. In 10.6-15: Ezra's decree against intermarriage. Rather than issue a proclamation in his role as imperial representative, Ezra convenes an assembly off the community to deliver the regulations to separate themselves from the peoples of the lands. The narrative underscores the willingness of the community to reform itself, with few exceptions. In verse 6: Ezra withdrew: having interceded on behalf of the community, Ezra could now retire to another less public place to plan how the community would enact its reforms. His fasting is a traditional means of expressing sorrow for sin. In verse 7: A proclamation: The call to conconvene an assembly goes to the returned exiles, perhaps to differentiate the community from non-Israelites populations that may have moved into the region after the fall of Judean kingdom. In verse 8: Property ... forfeited: A penalty that presupposes community control over each individual's possessions. There is evidence that the Persian empire organized some districts into economic collectives in which the individual had wealth only as part of the collective. Being excluded from the collective would have dire economic consequences. Congregations: The same word in Hebrew as "assembly" in 10.1. In verse 9: The ninth month: Kislev, approximately December  of the modern calendar, a time of cold rains in Palestine. In a human touch, the author notes the people were trembling from the awareness of the matter at hand and the cold rains. In verse 10: Trespassed: the violation of separations has not only caused individual alienation from God, but has affected the community's relationship to God. In verse 11: Separate yourselves: it is not clear if the order to separate is a general one, for which sending away the foreign wives is the specific action, or if an additional issue is involved. In verse 14: The whole assembly agrees to Ezra's proposal but makes a series of practical suggestions for its implementation. the work of sorting through those marriages that needed to be dissolved would continue until intermarriage was no longer the guilt of the community. Comments or Questions..