Daily Thought

Things had seemingly gone well so far. The king’s instructions had been delivered to the governors acting for him ‘on this side the river’, and they furthered the people (i.e., those who had returned almost sixty years before) and the house of God, 8. 36. But in truth all was far from well. For the people, ‘the holy seed’, had not kept themselves separate from those of the other nations in the land, and had even done according to their idolatrous practices. Indeed, the princes and rulers who should have known better, and set a right example in holiness, had been first in this trespass, v. 2.

When this came to the ears of Ezra, he felt so greatly humiliated that he sat down overwhelmed in heaviness by it for the remainder of the day. This had a profound effect on ‘every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel’, and they gathered themselves to him, v. 4. By the time of the evening sacrifice, the hour of the day when God’s oblation was being offered, Ezra rose up from his heaviness, even with his garment and mantle rent, and fell on his knees, and spread out his hands to the Lord his God.

Let us take time to ponder the state of this great man: dishevelled, distraught and bowed down with the weight and gravity of the circumstances with which he fully identified himself.

There is given to us, from chapter 9 verses 6 to 15, one of the most detailed prayers of confession in the whole of scripture, one which in many ways is paralleled by Daniel’s, see Dan. 9. 3-19. Ezra goes to God as a true intercessor. He leaves no stone unturned in exposing the guilt of the people, summarizing his confession as one who was involved in it; because of ‘our trespasses we cannot stand before thee because of this’, v. 25. Blushing to lift up his face he completely identified himself with a favoured remnant who had learned nothing apparently from the trespasses and judgement of their fathers.

What lessons there are for us all in this! Are we any better than our Christian forebears? Are we less likely to turn the grace of God into a licence to please ourselves and gratify our carnal desires? Who will intercede for us? See Heb. 7. 25.