properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
flock
צֹ֖אןtzon
H6629
a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats) · noun, common both genders singular absolute
trespass
אַשְׁמָתָֽם'ash.ma.Tam
H819
guiltiness · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
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
Leviticus 6:6 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering…
2 Kings 10:15 And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine…
Leviticus 5:15-16 If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a…
Leviticus 6:4 Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath…
1 Chronicles 29:24 And all the princes, and the mighty men, and all the sons likewise of king David, submitted themselves unto Solomon the king.
2 Chronicles 30:8 Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified…
Lamentations 5:6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
Galatians 2:9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the rig…
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…
they gave their hands--that is, came under a solemn engagement, which was usually ratified by pledging the right hand (Pro 6:1; Eze 17:18). The delinquents of the priestly order bound themselves to do like the common Israelites (Ezr 10:25), and sought to expiate their sin by sacrificing a ram as a trespass offering.
Next: Nehemiah Introduction
Adam Clarke on Ezra 10:19
They gave their hands - They bound themselves in the most solemn manner to do as the rest of the delinquents had done; and they made all acknowledgment of their iniquity to God by offering each a ram for a trespass-offering.
John Gill on Ezra 10:19
And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives,.... They proposed to do it, and actually did it:
and being guilty; of which they were fully convinced:
they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass; to make atonement for it, and thereby set an example to others to do the like. Aben Ezra observes, that we do not find that the trespass offering was a mulct to such who married strange wives, and conjectures, that it was the advice of the chief men to do it. From hence, to the end of Ezra 10:43, is a list of the men that had married strange wives, and put them away; those in Ezra 10:20, were priests; in Ezra 10:23, Levites, and those of them who were singers or porters; the…
The Church Fathers
And they gave their hands, to cast out their wives, etc. First, they reject the illicit wives from themselves, and thus they offer a ram for themselves, so that, with the crime removed, they could approach the altar in purity. Indeed, it is difficult for the sacrifice of him to be accepted by God, who has not first endeavored to abandon the fault for which he offers, as Isaiah says: Cease to do evil, learn to do well (Is. 1). And because the sons or brothers of the high priest, who were the first to sin, rightly offer a ram from the flocks for the punishment of the crime, so that by such a sacrifice they might indicate that they were offering themselves, who appeared to be the teachers of the people and leaders like the leaders of following flocks, from their former life, to slaughter and purify themselves and offer worthy penance to God through a better life. It is noteworthy how skillfully the devil always battles against the faithful, never leaving them a secure time without combat. Behold, those who could not be overcome by adversities are overcome by blandishments; they overcame public enemies by building the temple of the Lord and dedicating it, but they were overcome by the love of foreign women, so they might not keep the temples of their hearts or bodies, dignified for the indwelling of God. Of which matter the figure was completely fulfilled in our times, since we see the minds of the faithful much more dangerously tempted inwardly now, drawn and enticed by their own desires, than they were once outwardly, when the fierce adversary raged against their steadfastness with iron and fire. But the piety of the Lord will assist, which, just as it then granted them the virtue of patience against the open battles of the raging ones, so it may also grant us the caution to guard against the snares of creeping flattery. Finally, through the diligent action of the industrious pontiff and all those who feared the Lord, those who had sinned were pricked in their hearts and cast away foreign wives; and thus, with the foulness of lust expelled, the honor of chastity returned, and in the city of the Lord, with the rubbish of vices cast out, the flowers and aromas of virtues were scattered. Up to this point are the words of Ezra, by which he described the deeds of Zorobabel and Jesus, and afterwards his own. And he himself also clearly held the type of the Lord…
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…
Hand — Called by Galen “the instrument of instruments.” It is the symbol of human action (Ps. 9:16; Job 9:30; Isa. 1:15; 1 Tim. 2:8). Washing the hands was a symbol of innocence (Ps. 26:6; 73:13; Matt.…
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
Covenant · By giving the han — By giving the han
Hand · Clasping of, in token of contract — Clasping of, in token of contract
Jebusites · Not exterminated, but they intermarry with the Israelites — Not exterminated, but they intermarry with the Israelites
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).
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 10:19
And they advised them Heb. וַיִתְּנוּ יָדָם, lit. and they gave their hand, their advice, like (II Sam. 14:19): “Behold Joab’s advice (יַד יוֹאָב) is with you in all this (sic).”
for their guilt This was a temporary ruling.
