Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Ezra
Book: Ezra
Chapter: 10
Overview:
Ezra encourages to reformation.
(1-5) He assembles the people.
(6-14) Reformation effected.
(15-44)
1-5 Shechaniah owned the national guilt. The case is sad, but
it is not desperate; the disease threatening, but not incurable.
Now that the people begin to lament, a
Spirit of
Repentance
seems to be poured out; now there is
Hope that
God will forgive,
and have
Mercy. The
Sin that rightly troubles us, shall not ruin
us. In melancholy times we must observe what makes for us, as
Well as against us. And there may be good hopes through
Grace,
even where there is the sense of great guilt before
God. The
case is
Plain; what has been done amiss, must be undone again as
far as possible; nothing less than this is true
Repentance.
Sin
must be
Put away, with a resolution never to have any thing more
to do with it. What has been unjustly got, must be restored.
Arise, be of good courage. Weeping, in this case, is good, but
reforming is better. As to being unequally yoked with
unbelievers, such marriages, it is certain, are sinful, and
ought not to be made; but now they are not null, as they were
before the
Gospel did away the separation between Jews and
Gentiles.
6-14 There is
Hope concerning people, when they are convinced,
not only that it is good to part with their sins, but that it is
necessary; we must do it, or we are undone.
So rich is the
Mercy, and
So plenteous the
Redemption of
God, that there is
Hope for the vilest who hear the
Gospel, and are willing to
accept of free
Salvation. When sinners
Mourn for their sins, and
tremble at the
Word of God, there is
Hope that they will forsake
them. To affect others with godly sorrow or
Love to
God, we must
ourselves be affected. It was carefully agreed how this affair
should be carried
On. That which is hastily resolved
On seldom
proves lasting.
15-44 The best reformers can but do their endeavour; when the
Redeemer himself shall come to Zion, he shall effectually turn
away ungodliness from
Jacob. And when
Sin is repented of and
forsaken,
God will forgive it; but the
Blood of
Christ, our
Sin-Offering, is the only
Atonement which takes away our guilt.
No seeming
Repentance or amendment will benefit those who reject
Him, for self-dependence proves them still unhumbled. All the
names written in the
Book of
Life, are those of penitent
sinners, not of self-righteous persons, who think they have
No
need of
Repentance.