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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1708)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>E Z R A</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. IX.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The affairs of the church were in a very good posture, we may well
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suppose, now that Ezra presided in them. Look without; the government
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was kind to them. We hear no complaints of persecution and oppression;
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their enemies had either their hearts turned or at least their hands
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tied; their neighbours were civil, and we hear of no wars nor rumours
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of wars; there were none to make them afraid; all was as well as could
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be, considering that they were few, and poor, and subjects to a foreign
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prince. Look at home; we hear nothing of Baal, or Ashtaroth, nor
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Moloch, no images, nor groves, nor golden calves, no, nor so much as
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high places (not only no idolatrous altars, but no separate ones), but
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the temple was duly respected and the temple service carefully kept up.
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Yet all was not well either. The purest ages of the church have had
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some corruptions, and it will never be presented "without spot or
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wrinkle" till it is "a glorious church," a church "triumphant,"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+5:27">Eph. v. 27</A>.
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We have here,
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I. A complaint brought to Ezra of the many marriages that had been made
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with strange wives,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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II. The great trouble which he, and others influenced by his example,
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were in upon this information,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:3,4">ver. 3, 4</A>.
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III. The solemn confession which he made of this sin to God, with godly
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sorrow, and shame,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:5-15">ver. 5-15</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Ezra's Reformation.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 456.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me,
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saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites,
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have not separated themselves from the people of the lands,
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<I>doing</I> according to their abominations, <I>even</I> of the
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Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the
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Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
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2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and
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for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves
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with the people of <I>those</I> lands: yea, the hand of the princes
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and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.
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3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle,
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and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down
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astonied.
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4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the
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words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those
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that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening
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sacrifice.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Ezra, like Barnabas when he came to Jerusalem and <I>saw the grace of
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God</I> to his brethren there, no doubt <I>was glad, and exhorted them
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all that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+11:23">Acts xi. 23</A>.
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He saw nothing amiss (many corruptions lurk out of the view of the most
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vigilant rulers); but here is a damp upon his joys: information is
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brought him that many of the people, yea, and some of the rulers, had
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married wives out of heathen families, and joined themselves in
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affinity with strangers. Observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. What the sin was that they were guilty of: it was <I>mingling with
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the people of those lands</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
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associating with them both in trade and in conversation, making
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themselves familiar with them, and, to complete the affinity, taking
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<I>their daughters in marriages</I> to their sons. We are willing to
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hope that they did not worship their gods, but that their captivity had
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cured them of their idolatry: it is said indeed that they <I>did
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according to their abominations;</I> but that (says bishop Patrick)
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signifies here only the imitation of the heathen in promiscuous
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marriages with any nation whatsoever, which by degrees would lead them
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to idolatry. Herein,
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1. They disobeyed the express command of God, which forbade all
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intimacy with the heathen, and particularly in matrimonial contracts,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+7:3">Deut. vii. 3</A>.
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2. They profaned the crown of their peculiarity, and set themselves
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upon a level with those above whom God had by singular marks of his
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favour, of late as well as formerly, dignified them.
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3. They distrusted the power of God to protect and advance them, and
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were led by carnal policy, hoping to strengthen themselves and make an
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interest among their neighbours by these alliances. A practical
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disbelief of God's all-sufficiency is at the bottom of all the sorry
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shifts we make to help ourselves.
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4. They exposed themselves, and much more their children, to the peril
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of idolatry, the very sin, and introduced by this very way, that had
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cone been the ruin of their church and nation.</P>
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<P>
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II. Who were the persons that were guilty of this sin, not only some of
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the unthinking people of Israel, that knew no better, but <I>many of
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the priests and Levites,</I> whose office it was to teach the law, and
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this law among the rest, and in whom, by reason of their elevation
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above common Israelites, it was a greater crime. It was a diminution to
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the sons of that tribe to match into any other tribe, and they seldom
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did except into the royal tribe; but for them to match with heathen,
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with Canaanites, and Hittites, and I know not whom, was such a
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disparagement as, if they had had any sense, though not of duty, yet of
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honour, one would think, they would never have been guilty of. Yet this
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was not the worst: <I>The hand of the princes and rulers,</I> who by
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their power should have prevented or reformed this high misdemeanour,
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<I>was chief in this trespass.</I> If princes be in a trespass, they
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will be charged as chief in it, because of the influence their examples
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will have upon others. <I>Many will follow their pernicious ways.</I>
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But miserable is the case of that people whose leaders debauch them and
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cause them to err.</P>
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<P>
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III. The information that was given of this to Ezra. It was given by
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the persons that were most proper to complain, the princes, those of
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them that had kept their integrity and with it their dignity; they
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could not have accused others if they themselves had not been free from
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blame. It was given to the person who had power to mend the matter,
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who, as a <I>ready scribe in the law of God,</I> could argue with them,
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and, as king's commissioner, could awe them. It is probable that these
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princes had often endeavoured to redress this grievance and could not;
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but now they applied to Ezra, hoping that his wisdom, authority, and
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interest, would prevail to do it. Those that cannot of themselves
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reform public abuses may yet do good service by giving information to
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those that can.</P>
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<P>
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IV. The impression this made upon Ezra
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>He rent his clothes, plucked off his hair,</I> and <I>sat down
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astonished.</I> Thus he expressed the deep sense he had,
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1. Of the dishonour hereby done to God. It grieved him to the heart to
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think that a people called by his name should so grossly violate his
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law, should be so little benefited by his correction, and make such bad
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returns for his favours.
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2. Of the mischief the people had hereby done to themselves and the
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danger they were in of the wrath of God breaking out against them.
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Note,
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(1.) The sins of others should be our sorrow, and the injury done by
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them to God's honour and the souls of men is what we should lay to
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heart.
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(2.) Sorrow for sin must be great sorrow; such Ezra's was, <I>as for an
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only son or a first-born.</I>
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(3.) The scandalous sins of professors are what we have reason to be
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astonished at. We may stand amazed to see men contradict, disparage,
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prejudice, ruin, themselves. Strange that men should act so
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inconsiderately and so inconsistently with themselves! Upright men are
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astonished at it.</P>
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<P>
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V. The influence which Ezra's grief for this had upon others. We may
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suppose that he <I>went up to the house of the Lord,</I> there to
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humble himself, because he had an eye to God in his grief and that was
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the proper place for deprecating his displeasure. Public notice was
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soon taken of it, and all the devout serious people that were at hand
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assembled themselves to him, it should seem of their own accord, for
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nothing is said of their being sent, to,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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Note,
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1. It is the character of good people that they <I>tremble at God's
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word;</I> they stand in awe of the authority of its precepts and the
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severity and justice of its threatenings, and to those that do so
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<I>will God look,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+66:2">Isa. lxvi. 2</A>.
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2. Those that tremble <I>at the word of God</I> cannot but tremble
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<I>at the sins of men,</I> by which the law of God is broken and his
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wrath and curse are incurred.
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3. The pious zeal of one against sin may perhaps provoke very many to
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the like, as the apostle speaks in another case,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+9:2">2 Cor. ix. 2</A>.
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Many will follow who have not consideration, talent, and courage,
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enough to lead in a good work.
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4. All good people ought to own those that appear and act in the cause
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of God against vice and profaneness, to stand by them, and do what they
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can to strengthen their hands.</P>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ezr9_15"> </A>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>5 And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness;
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and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees,
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and spread out my hands unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> my God,
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6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face
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to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over <I>our</I>
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head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
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7 Since the days of our fathers <I>have</I> we <I>been</I> in a great
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trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our
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kings, <I>and</I> our priests, been delivered into the hand of the
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kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil,
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and to confusion of face, as <I>it is</I> this day.
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8 And now for a little space grace hath been <I>showed</I> from the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a
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nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and
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give us a little reviving in our bondage.
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9 For we <I>were</I> bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in
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our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the
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kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of
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our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a
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wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
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10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we
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have forsaken thy commandments,
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11 Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets,
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saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean
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land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their
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abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with
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their uncleanness.
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12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons,
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neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace
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or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good
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of the land, and leave <I>it</I> for an inheritance to your children
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for ever.
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13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and
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for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us
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less than our iniquities <I>deserve,</I> and hast given us <I>such</I>
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deliverance as this;
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14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity
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with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry
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with us till thou hadst consumed <I>us,</I> so that <I>there should be</I>
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no remnant nor escaping?
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15 O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God of Israel, thou <I>art</I> righteous: for we remain
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yet escaped, as <I>it is</I> this day: behold, we <I>are</I> before thee in
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our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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What the meditations of Ezra's heart were, while for some hours he sat
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down astonished, we may guess by the words of his mouth when at length
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he <I>spoke with his tongue;</I> and a most pathetic address he here
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makes to Heaven upon this occasion. Observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. The time when he made this address--<I>at the evening sacrifice,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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Then (it is likely) devout people used to come into the courts of the
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temple, to grace the solemnity of the sacrifice and to offer up their
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own prayers to God in concurrence with it. In their hearing Ezra chose
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to make this confession, that they might be made duly sensible of the
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sins of their people, which hitherto they had either not taken notice
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of or had made light of. Prayer may preach. The sacrifice, and
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especially the evening sacrifice, was a type of the great propitiation,
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that <I>blessed Lamb of God</I> which in the evening of the world was
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to <I>take away sin by the sacrifice of himself,</I> to which we may
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suppose Ezra had an eye of faith in this penitential address to God; he
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makes confession with his hand, as it were, upon the head of that great
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sacrifice, through which <I>we receive the atonement.</I> Certainly
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Ezra was no stranger to the message which the angel Gabriel had some
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years ago delivered to Daniel, at the time of the evening sacrifice,
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and as it were in explication of it, concerning Messiah the Prince
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:21,24">Dan. ix. 21, 24</A>);
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and perhaps he had regard to that in choosing this time.</P>
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<P>
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II. His preparation for this address.
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1. He <I>rose up from his heaviness,</I> and so far shook off the
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burden of his grief as was necessary to the lifting up of his heart to
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God. He recovered from his astonishment, got the tumult of his troubled
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spirits somewhat stilled and his spirit composed for communion with
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God.
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2. He <I>fell upon his knees,</I> put himself into the posture of a
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penitent humbling himself and a petitioner suing for mercy, in both
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representing the people for whom he was now an intercessor.
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3. He <I>spread out his hands,</I> as one affected with what he was
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going to say, offering it up unto God, waiting, and reaching out, as it
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were, with an earnest expectation, to receive a gracious answer. In
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this he had an eye to God as the Lord, and as his God, a God of power,
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but a God of grace.</P>
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<P>
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III. The address itself. It is not properly to be called a prayer, for
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there is not a word of petition in it; but, if we give prayer its full
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latitude, it is the offering up of pious and devout affections to God,
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and very devout, very pious, are the affections which Ezra here
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expresses. His address is a penitent confession of sin, not his own
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(from a conscience burdened with its own guilt and apprehensive of his
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own danger), but the sin of his people, from a gracious concern for the
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honour of God and the welfare of Israel. Here is a lively picture of
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ingenuous repentance. Observe in this address,</P>
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<P>
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1. The confession he makes of the sin and the aggravations of it, which
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he insists upon, to affect his own heart and theirs that joined with
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him with holy sorrow and shame and fear, in the consideration of it,
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that they might be deeply humbled for it. And it is observable that,
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though he himself was wholly clear from this guilt, yet he puts himself
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into the number of the sinners, because he was a member of the same
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community--<I>our sins and our trespass.</I> Perhaps he now remembered
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it against himself, as his fault, that he had staid so long after his
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brethren in Babylon, and had not separated himself so soon as he might
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have done from the people of those lands. When we are lamenting the
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wickedness of the wicked, it may be, if we duly reflect upon ourselves
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and give our own hearts leave to deal faithfully with us, we may find
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something of the same nature, though in a lower degree, that we also
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have been guilty of. However, he speaks that which was, or should have
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been, the general complaint.</P>
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<P>
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(1.) He owns their sins to have been very great: "<I>Our iniquities are
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increased over our heads</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>);
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we are ready to perish in them as in keep waters;" so general was the
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prevalency of them, so violent the power of them, and so threatening
|
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were they of the most pernicious consequences. "Iniquity has grown up
|
|
to such a height among us that it reaches to the heavens, so very
|
|
impudent that it dares heaven, so very provoking that, like the sin of
|
|
Sodom, it cries to heaven for vengeance." But let this be the comfort
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|
of true penitents that though their sins reach to the heavens God's
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|
mercy is <I>in the heavens,</I>
|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:5">Ps. xxxvi. 5</A>.
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<I>Where sin abounds grace will much more abound.</I></P>
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<P>
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(2.) Their sin had been long persisted in
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
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<I>Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass.</I>
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The example of those that had gone before them he thought so far from
|
|
excusing their fault that it aggravated it. "We should have taken
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warning not to stumble at the same stone. The corruption is so much the
|
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worse that it has taken deep root and begins to plead prescription, but
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by this means we have reason to fear that the measure of the iniquity
|
|
is nearly full."</P>
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<P>
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(3.) The great and sore judgments which God had brought upon them for
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their sins did very much aggravate them: "<I>For our iniquities we have
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|
been delivered to the sword and to captivity</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
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and yet not reformed, yet not reclaimed--brayed in the mortar, and yet
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the <I>folly not gone</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+27:22">Prov. xxvii. 22</A>)--
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corrected, but not reclaimed."</P>
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<P>
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(4.) The late mercies God had bestowed upon them did likewise very much
|
|
aggravate their sins. This he insists largely upon,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:8,9"><I>v.</I> 8, 9</A>.
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Observe,
|
|
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[1.] The time of mercy: <I>Now for a little space,</I> that is, "It is
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|
but a little while since we had our liberty, and it is not likely to
|
|
continue long." This greatly aggravated their sin, that they were so
|
|
lately in the furnace and that they knew not how soon they might return
|
|
to it again; and could they yet be secure?
|
|
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[2.] The fountain of mercy: <I>Grace has been shown us from the
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|
Lord.</I> The kings of Persia were the instruments of their
|
|
enlargement; but he ascribes it to God and to his grace, his free
|
|
grace, without any merit of theirs.
|
|
|
|
[3.] The streams of mercy,--that they were <I>not forsaken in their
|
|
bondage,</I> but even in Babylon had the tokens of God's
|
|
presence,--that they were a remnant of Israelites left, a few out of
|
|
many, and those narrowly escaped out of the hands of their enemies, by
|
|
the favour of the kings of Persia,--and especially that they had <I>a
|
|
nail in his holy place,</I> that is (as it is explained,
|
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
that they had set up the <I>house of God.</I> They had their religion
|
|
settled and the service of the temple in a constant method. We are to
|
|
reckon it a great comfort and advantage to have stated opportunities of
|
|
worshipping God. <I>Blessed are those that dwell in God's house,</I>
|
|
like Anna that departed not from the temple. <I>This is my rest for
|
|
ever,</I> says the gracious soul.
|
|
|
|
[4.] The effects of all this. It enlightened their eyes, and it revived
|
|
their hearts; that is, it was very comfortable to them, and the more
|
|
sensibly so because it was in their bondage: it was life from the dead
|
|
to them. Though but <I>a little reviving,</I> it was a great favour,
|
|
considering that they deserved none and the day of small things was an
|
|
earnest of greater. "Now," says Ezra, "how ungrateful are we to offend
|
|
a God that has been so kind to us! how disingenuous to mingle in sin
|
|
with those nations from whom we have been, in wonderful mercy,
|
|
delivered! how unwise to expose ourselves to God's displeasure when we
|
|
are tried with the returns of his favour and are upon our good
|
|
behaviour for the continuance of it!"</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(5.) It was a great aggravation of the sin that it was against an
|
|
express command: <I>We have forsaken thy commandments,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
It seems to have been an ancient law of the house of Jacob not to match
|
|
with the families of the uncircumcised,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+34:14">Gen. xxxiv. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
But, besides that, God had strictly forbidden it. He recites the
|
|
command,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:11,12"><I>v.</I> 11, 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
For sin appears sin, appears exceedingly sinful, when we compare it
|
|
with the law which is broken by it. Nothing could be more express:
|
|
<I>Give not your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters to
|
|
your sons.</I> The reason given is because, if they mingled with those
|
|
nations, they would pollute themselves. It was an unclean land, and
|
|
they were a holy people; but if they kept themselves distinct from them
|
|
it would be their honour and safety, and the perpetuating of their
|
|
prosperity. Now to violate a command so express, backed with such
|
|
reasons, and a fundamental law of their constitution, was very
|
|
provoking to the God of heaven.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(6.) That in the judgments by which they had already smarted for their
|
|
sins God had <I>punished them less than their iniquities deserved,</I>
|
|
so that he looked upon them to be still in debt upon the old account.
|
|
"What! and yet shall we run up a new score? Has God dealt so gently
|
|
with us in correcting us, and shall we thus abuse his favour and turn
|
|
his grace into wantonness?" God, in his grace and mercy, had said
|
|
concerning Sion's captivity, <I>She hath received of the Lord's hand
|
|
double for all her sins</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+40:2">Isa. xl. 2</A>);
|
|
|
|
but Ezra, in a penitential sense of the great malignity that was in
|
|
their sin, acknowledged that, though the punishment was very great, it
|
|
was less than they deserved.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The devout affections that were working in him, in making this
|
|
confession. Speaking of sin,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) He speaks as one much ashamed. With this he begins
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>O my God! I am ashamed and blush, O my God!</I> (so the words are
|
|
placed) <I>to lift up my face unto thee.</I> Note,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Sin is a shameful thing; as soon as ever our first parents had
|
|
eaten forbidden fruit they were ashamed of themselves.
|
|
|
|
[2.] Holy shame is as necessary an ingredient in true and ingenuous
|
|
repentance as holy sorrow.
|
|
|
|
[3.] The sins of others should be our shame, and we should blush for
|
|
those who do not blush for themselves. We may well be ashamed that we
|
|
are any thing akin to those who are so ungrateful to God and unwise for
|
|
themselves. This is <I>clearing ourselves,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+7:11">2 Cor. vii. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
[4.] Penitent sinners never see so much reason to blush and be ashamed
|
|
as when they come to <I>lift up their faces before God.</I> A natural
|
|
sense of our own honour which we have injured will make us ashamed,
|
|
when we have done a wrong thing, to look men in the face; but a
|
|
gracious concern for God's honour will make us much more ashamed to
|
|
look him in the face. The publican, when he went to the temple to pray,
|
|
hung down his head more than ever, as one ashamed,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+18:13">Luke xviii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
[5.] An eye to God as our God will be of great use to us in the
|
|
exercise of repentance. Ezra begins, <I>O my God!</I> and again in the
|
|
same breath, <I>My God.</I> The consideration of our covenant-relation
|
|
to God as ours will help to humble us, and break our hearts for sin,
|
|
that we should violate both his precepts to us and our promises to him;
|
|
it will also encourage us to hope for pardon upon repentance. "He is my
|
|
God, notwithstanding this;" and every transgression in the covenant
|
|
does not throw us out of covenant.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) He speaks as one much amazed
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>)
|
|
|
|
"<I>What shall we say after this?</I> For my part I know not what to
|
|
say: if God do not help us, we are undone." The discoveries of guilt
|
|
excite amazement: the more we think of sin the worse it looks. The
|
|
difficulty of the case excites amazement. How shall we recover
|
|
ourselves? Which way shall we make our peace with God?
|
|
|
|
[1.] True penitents are at a loss what to say. Shall we say, We have
|
|
<I>not sinned,</I> or, <I>God will not require it?</I> If we do, <I>we
|
|
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.</I> Shall we say, Have
|
|
patience with us and we will pay thee all, with <I>thousands of rams,
|
|
or our first-born for our transgression?</I> God will not thus be
|
|
mocked: he knows we are insolvent. Shall we say, <I>There is no
|
|
hope,</I> and <I>let come on us what will?</I> That is but to make bad
|
|
worse.
|
|
|
|
[2.] True penitents will consider what to say, and should, as Ezra, beg
|
|
of God to teach them. What shall we say? Say, "I have sinned; I have
|
|
done foolishly; God be merciful to me a sinner;" and the like. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+14:2">Hos. xiv. 2</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) He speaks as one much afraid,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:13,14"><I>v.</I> 13, 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
"After all the judgments that have come upon us to reclaim us from sin,
|
|
and all the deliverances that have been wrought for us to engage us to
|
|
God and duty, <I>if we should again break God's commandments, by
|
|
joining in affinity with the children of disobedience</I> and learning
|
|
their ways, what else could we expect but that God should be <I>angry
|
|
with us till he had consumed us,</I> and there should not be so much as
|
|
a remnant left, nor any to escape the destruction?" There is not a
|
|
surer nor sadder presage of ruin to any people than revolting to sin,
|
|
to the same sins again, after great judgments and great deliverances.
|
|
Those that will be wrought upon neither by the one nor by the other are
|
|
fit to be rejected, as reprobate silver, for the <I>founder melteth in
|
|
vain.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) He speaks as one much assured of the righteousness of God, and
|
|
resolved to acquiesce in that and to leave the matter with him whose
|
|
judgment is <I>according to truth</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Thou art righteous,</I> wise, just, and good; thou wilt neither do
|
|
us wrong nor be hard upon us; and therefore behold <I>we are before
|
|
thee,</I> we lie at thy feet, waiting our doom; <I>we cannot stand
|
|
before thee,</I> insisting upon any righteousness of our own, having no
|
|
plea to support us or bring us off, and therefore we fall down before
|
|
thee, in our trespass, and cast ourselves on thy mercy. <I>Do unto us
|
|
whatsoever seemeth good unto thee,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:15">Judg. x. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
We have nothing to say, nothing to do, but to <I>make supplication to
|
|
our Judge,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:15">Job ix. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus does this good man lay his grief before God and then leave it with
|
|
him.</P>
|
|
|
|
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