Ezra 10:18 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezra 10:18
And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.
properly · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural
strange
נָכְרִיּ֑וֹתna.khe.ri.Yot
H5237
strange · adjective, feminine plural absolute
wives
נָשִׁ֣יםna.Shim
H802
a woman · noun, common masculine plural absolute
sons
מִבְּנֵ֨יmi.be.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
Jeshua
יֵשׁ֤וּעַye.Shu.a'
H3442
Jeshua · proper noun, a man's name
son
בֶּןben-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Jozadak
יֽוֹצָדָק֙yo.tza.Dak
H3136
Jotsadak · proper noun, a man's name
brethren
וְאֶחָ֔יוve.'e.Chav
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Maaseiah
מַֽעֲשֵׂיָה֙ma.'a.se.Yah
H4641
Maasejah · proper noun, a man's name
Eliezer
וֶֽאֱלִיעֶ֔זֶרve.'e.li.'E.zer
H461
Eliezer · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
Jarib
וְיָרִ֖יבve.ya.Riv
H3402
Jarib · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
Gedaliah
וּגְדַלְיָֽהu.ge.dal.Yah
H1436
Gedaljah · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezra 2:2 Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of…
Ezra 3:2 Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded th…
Ezra 5:2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and…
Haggai 1:1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet un…
Zechariah 3:1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
Leviticus 21:7 They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his G…
1 Samuel 2:22-24 Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tab…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezra 10:15–end
The method of proceeding in this matter being concluded on, and the congregation dismissed, that each in his respective place might gain and give intelligence to facilitate the matter, we are here told, 1. Who were the persons that undertook to manage the matter and bring the causes regularly before the commissioners - Jonathan and Jahaziah, two active men, whether of the priests or of the people does not appear; probably they were the men that made that proposal (Ezr 10:13, Ezr 10:14) and were therefore the fittest to see it pursued; two honest Levites were joined with them, and helped them, Ezr 10:15. Dr. Lightfoot gives a contrary sense of this: only (or nevertheless) Jonathan and Jahazia…
THOSE THAT HAD TAKEN STRANGE WIVES. (Ezra 10:18-44)
among the sons of the priests--From the names of so many men of rank appearing in the following list, some idea may be formed of the great and complicated difficulties attending the reformatory work.
Adam Clarke on Ezra 10:17
The first day of the first month - So they were three whole months in examining into this affair, and making those separations which the law required.
John Gill on Ezra 10:18
And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives,.... So that it need not be wondered at that this evil should spread among the people, when those who understood the law, and should have instructed the people in it, set such an example: namely:
of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak; who was the high priest; and perhaps for this fault of his, in not restraining his sons from such unlawful marriages, is he represented in filthy garments, Zechariah 3:3,
and his brethren, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah; these were the brethren of Jeshua.
Keil & Delitzsch on Ezra 10:18-22
The Church Fathers
And there were found among the sons of the priests those who had taken, etc. The Hebrews apply to this place the prophecy of Zechariah: And the Lord showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him (Zech. III). And a little later: And Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said to him, See, I have taken away your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes. And put a clean turban on his head (Ibid.). They say rightly, Satan stood at his right hand to oppose him because the accusation was true, as he too, along with the others, had taken a foreign wife. But what is said, that Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, is interpreted in three ways: either because of the unlawful marriage, or because of the sins of the people, or because of the squalor of captivity. The angel, before whom Joshua stood, commanded the other angels in the person of the Lord to remove from him the filthy garments, which we mentioned. When they had completed the command, the same angel again speaks to Joshua: See, I have taken away your iniquity from you; these are the filthy garments; and I will clothe you with rich robes, that is, I have united to you an Israelite wife. And what follows: Put a clean turban on his head; which many call a mitre; in this they understand the dignity of the priesthood, that with the stains of sins cleansed, he has a pure priesthood. But we should note that Ezra does not write that Jesus himself had taken a foreign wife, but says that some of his sons and brothers were defiled with this crime. Although the guilt of the sons reflects on the father, he cannot be perfectly righteous who neglected to correct his delinquent sons while he could. Whence some say that the aforesaid prophecy about Joshua is not to be referred to the son of Jozadak but to the Lord the Savior. Who, though He is the brightness of glory and the express image of God's substance, accepted filthy garments for a time out of compassion for our frailty, as Isaiah says: But He was wounded for our iniquities and bruised for our sins (Isa. LIII); to whom Satan stood at the right hand to oppose Him, always seeking to oppose His right hand and His virtues, as the sacred…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
Divorce — The dissolution of the marriage tie was regulated by the Mosaic law (Deut. 24:1-4). The Jews, after the Captivity, were reguired to dismiss the foreign women they had married contrary to the law…
Eliezar — (God is his help).
Eliezer — God his help. (1.) “Of Damascus,” the “steward” (R.V., “possessor”) of Abraham’s house (Gen. 15:2, 3). It was probably he who headed the embassy sent by Abraham to the old home of his family in…
Jarib — An adversary. (1.) A son of Simeon (1 Chr. 4:24). (2.) One of the chiefs sent by Ezra to bring up the priests to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:16). (3.) Ezra 10:18.
Jozadak — (whom Jehovah has made just). (Ezra 3:2,8; 5:2; 10:18; Nehemiah 12:26) The contracted form of Jehozadak.
Maaseiah — The work of Jehovah. (1.) One of the Levites whom David appointed as porter for the ark (1 Chr. 15:18, 20). (2.) One of the “captains of hundreds” associated with Jehoiada in restoring king Jehoash…
Alliance And Society With The Enemies Of God · Sin of, to be confessed, deeply repented of, and forsaken — Sin of, to be confessed, deeply repented of, and forsaken
Ammonites · Jews intermarry with — Jews intermarry with
Amorites · Intermarry with Jews — Intermarry with Jews
Eliezer · 9. A priest after the exile — 9. A priest after the exile
Gedaliah · 3. A priest, who divorced his Gentile wife after the exile
Among the priests there stand first, four names of sons and brethren of the high priest Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel. אחיו, his (Jeshua's) brethren. Judging by Ezr 2:36, these were among the descendants of Jedaiah, a section of the house of the high-priestly family (see rem. on Ezr 2:36), and were therefore distant cousins of the high priest. They gave their hands, i.e., bound themselves by shaking hands, to put away their wives, i.e., to dismiss them, and to sever them from the congregation of Israel, ואשׁמים, "and guilty a ram for their trespass," i.e., condemned to bring a ram as a trespass-offering. ואשׁמים is to be regarded as the continuation of…
It is unclear why these four people opposed the plan. Perhaps they wanted a stricter penalty, or perhaps they or members of their families did not want to divorce their foreign wives. That there were only four dissenters shows the overwhelming support the policy had gained among the rest of the exiles. Sadly, a few years later, a similar problem of intermarriage with pagan wives created another crisis within the community (Neh 9–10).
Rashi on Ezra 10:17
And they completed everything And they completed the rectification of the matter of the men who had brought in heathen wives, for they cast them out.
of the first month until the first day of Nissan.
— 3. A priest, who divorced his Gentile wife after the exile
Jarib · 3. A priest who married an idolatrous wife — 3. A priest who married an idolatrous wife
Jebusites · Not exterminated, but they intermarry with the Israelites — Not exterminated, but they intermarry with the Israelites
Jehozadak · A priest of the exile — A priest of the exile
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
