Reading for November 24th

Read Ezra 9.10-15 In verses 10-11: For we have forsaken your commandments, which you commanded by your servants the prophets. The quotation comes from fragments of various texts pieced together, notably Deut 7.1-4; 11.8; 23.6;Isa 1.19; and Lev 18.24-30. In verse 13: After all that has come upon us relates to the destruction of Jerusalem and the sunsequent Exile of a number of leading citizens under the Babylonians. In verse 14: Shall we break your commandments again and intermarry: This phrasing equates the idolatry of the late Judean kingdom with the practice of intermarriage in Ezra's day. In verse 15: You are just: Despite God's character as a just God (which would mean the community should have been oblierated), the community survived, yet guilt has again come on the community from it intermarriage with surrounding peoples. The implications is that the community must remove the guilt (that is, intermarriage) or face certain destruction at the hands of a just and holy God. Comments or Questions..