Good morning. Today is my wife’s birthday. She has stood by me for over thirty-two years, so I need to remember this day. Our relationship is a good argument for and against what we read today in the final three chapters of Ezra.

Equally Yoked
2 Corinthians 6:14 warns, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (NIV)

A yoke is the wooden crossbeam, which connects two oxen to the plow. You would not want to have one strong ox pulling on the right, and a weaker one on the left. Your plow would pull to the right and it would require more work for the farmer to keep his rows straight.

In modern use, yoked means strong. We consider a very muscular person to be yoked.

Look at what Paul was asking the church at Corinth, “What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? “

Ezra 9:2 explains the answer and our connection between this verse and marriage.

Like their ancestors, the people who were coming out of captivity in Babylon had taken foreign wives.

We had read how God told the Israelites to kill all the men and women as they conquered the Canaanites and Amalekites, etc.

He did this because they would marry these women and they would introduce their foreign gods, which would bring idolatry into their relationships.

This applies today.

I was an atheist on our wedding day. My wife was a Christian.

If she were following the commands of the Lord, she would have avoided me. The odds are, my worldly lifestyle would have pulled her from the church.

It did in the beginning. She did not attend church the first few years we were together.

When our son was born, she was adamant about raining him in the church.

This led to me attending and hearing the Gospel. God had planned this and, I believe, sent my wife into the world I was living in to bring me out of it.

Thank you Jesus.
God not Surprised
The strength of her faith pulled me in the right direction for my life.

God did not take an inventory one day and realize, “Oh, we have a new believer! Maybe we will put him to work in the ministry.”

He knew, before creating the universe, that I was going to love and serve Him. Even as I was a prodigal wandering in the wilderness of sin. He was waiting for me to find my way home.

Here in Ezra we have this small remnant which had been captive in Babylon. Whereas we had read of thousands, tens, even hundreds of thousands, in the exodus from Egypt. Now we are reading of one hundred fifty (v8:3), eighty (v8:8) and even twenty-eight (v8:11).

A small group of people. Many of them were born in Babylon. They grew up as Babylonians. Then married women from their towns, or Persians or Medes, whom had moved into the area.

They were more familiar with foreign gods than they were with the Lord.

But God was gracious and brought them back to Jerusalem to possess the land they had inherited.

Amidst this festive celebration, Ezra realized they were bringing their idols with them.

He tears his robe and weeps. Pulling hair from his head and face (v9:3), he prays for guidance (v9:5).
Divorce
In Matthew 19:8, people asked Jesus about divorce, and he replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.” (NIV)

It was never God’s intention for marriages to fail. We are to work through troubles and love our wives (Eph 5:25).

As the remnant was returning to Jerusalem, their hearts were open to the Lord. Before they became hardened, Ezra calls all the men together.

As they stand in the rain, he tells them they must send away all their foreign wives.

I cannot imagine the conflicting emotions. It would be devastating to lose my wife.

They had built lives together.

These women had left their families behind in Babylon. Now, the men are told to get rid of these partners.

We had seen how the women’s beliefs had influenced earlier generations. I had seen this in my life.

Therefore, the decision was correct. Though this would not make it any easier. They had families.

The men, women and children all wept (v10:1). Each of these families experienced disruption.

Sin, even unintentional sin, disrupts lives.

Therefore, it is important for each of us to examine ourselves and assess what do we have in our lives that needs to be removed.

What sin have we gotten comfortable with, needs to go?

It may be a hard choice, but, we see from Ezra, sometimes, this needs to be done.

Thankfully, God ordained my marriage. We have nothing to fear.
Tomorrow we will read Nehemiah 1-4