Ezra 10:6 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezra 10:6
Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.
to rise (in various applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
before
מִלִּפְנֵי֙mi.lif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
house
בֵּ֣יתbeit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
God
הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔יםha.'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
went
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
chamber
לִשְׁכַּ֖תlish.Kat
H3957
a room in a building (whether for storage · noun, common feminine singular construct
Johanan
יְהוֹחָנָ֣ןye.ho.cha.Nan
H3076
Jehochanan · proper noun, a man's name
son
בֶּןben-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Eliashib
אֶלְיָשִׁ֑יב'el.ya.Shiv
H475
Eljashib · proper noun, a man's name
came
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
eat
אָכַל֙'a.Khal
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
bread
לֶ֤חֶםLe.chem
H3899
food (for man or beast) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
drink
שָׁתָ֔הsha.Tah
H8354
to imbibe (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
water
וּמַ֣יִםu.Ma.yim
H4325
water · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural absolute
mourned
מִתְאַבֵּ֖לmit.'a.Bel
H56
to bewail · verb, hithpael active participle, masculine singular absolute
transgression
מַ֥עַלMa.'al
H4604
treachery · noun, common masculine singular construct
away
הַגּוֹלָֽהha.go.Lah
H1473
exile · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
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
Deuteronomy 9:18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your…
Nehemiah 3:1 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doo…
Nehemiah 12:22 The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, were recorded chief of the fathers: also the priests, to the reign of…
John 4:31-34 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
Exodus 34:28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the word…
Ezra 9:4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been c…
Ezra 10:1 Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out…
Nehemiah 3:20 After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib t…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezra 10:6-14
We have here an account of the proceedings upon the resolutions lately taken up concerning the strange wives; no time was lost; they struck when the iron was hot, and soon set the wheels of reformation a-going. 1. Ezra went to the council-chamber where, it is probable, the priests used to meet upon public business; and till he came thither (so bishop Patrick thinks it should be read), till he saw something done, and more likely to be done, for the redress of this grievance, he did neither eat nor drink, but continued mourning. Sorrow for sin should be abiding sorrow; be sure to let it continue till the sin be put away. 2. He sent orders to all the children of the captivity to attend him at J…
Then Ezra . . . went into the chamber of Johanan--At a private council of the princes and elders held there, under the presidency of Ezra, it was resolved to enter into a general covenant to put away their foreign wives and children; that a proclamation should be made for all who had returned from Babylon to repair within three days to Jerusalem, under pain of excommunication and confiscation of their property.
Adam Clarke on Ezra 10:6
Johanan the son of Eliashib - Eliashib was high priest, and was succeeded in that office by his son Joiada, Neh 12:10. Probably Johanan here is the same as Jonathan in Nehemiah, who was the son of Joiada, and grandson of Eliashib. Some suppose that Johanan and Joiada were two names for the same person.
John Gill on Ezra 10:6
Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God,.... Departed from thence:
and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib; who was of the family of the high priest. Eliashib was grandson of Joshua the high priest, and succeeded his father Joiakim as such; but though Johanan was never high priest, being a younger son, however he was a person of note, and had a chamber in the temple, whither Ezra went, either to advise with the princes and elders in it, Ezra 10:8 or to refresh himself with food:
and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water; or rather "not yet had he ate bread" (o), as some render it; that is, not till he came thither, from the time he first heard o…
The Church Fathers
He did not eat bread, etc. Here they will have an excellent example not only of weeping and praying, but also of fasting for those who have sinned; and since blessed are those who mourn, who weep for their own sins, because after receiving remission, they are comforted, how much more are they to be believed blessed, who also mourn for the errors of their brothers; and this to such an extent that they do not even want to touch bread and water, which is the nourishment of those who abstain, nor enter their house, or ascend to their bed, but rather prefer to pray throughout the night in the courtyards of the house of the Lord. For there was the house of the priest, which, as evening came, Ezra is reported to have entered. Finally, another Edition instead of Johanan's bedchamber, has Johanan's vestry, by which name Scripture often refers to the porticoes surrounding the temple on all sides, in which the ministers and guards of the same temple used to reside. They also mourn now for the transgression of those who came from captivity, who grieve for those who, having been recently rescued from sins through repentance, have again fallen into sin, by which they might be once more captured by the devil. Regarding whose seducers, as about parents of impure wives, the apostle Peter speaks: For, speaking arrogant words of vanity, they entice by lusts of the flesh, those who have barely escaped (II Peter II). And a little later he speaks about those who, as if ascending from captivity, are nonetheless captured by luxury: For if, he says, those who have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first (Ibid.).
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…
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
Johanan — Whom Jehovah graciously bestows. (1.) One of the Gadite heroes who joined David in the desert of Judah (1 Chr. 12:12). (2.) The oldest of King Josiah’s sons (1 Chr. 3:15). (3.) Son of Careah, one of…
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
Divorce · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Ezra · 9; — 9;
Johanan · 8. A priest — 8. A priest
Magistrates · Good — Exemplified: Samuel — Good — Exemplified: Samuel
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).
Hereupon Ezra left the place before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib, to fast and mourn there for the unfaithfulness (transgression) of them that had been carried away (הגּולה מעל like Ezr 9:4). Johanan the son of Eliashib cannot actually be Johanan ben Eliashib (Neh 12:23) the high priest, however natural it may be to understand by the chamber of Johanan one of the chambers in the out-buildings of the temple, called after the name of some well-known individual. For the high priest Eliashib was a contemporary of Nehemiah, and the high priest Johanan was not the son, but, according to the definite statement, Neh 12:10, the grandson, of Eliashib, and t…
The solemn oath involved both a promise to take action and a self-imposed curse for failure to do what was promised (see Ruth 1:16-17; 1 Sam 14:24-28).
