The congregation resolve to put away strange wives.
Jerusalem;

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 of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.

2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.

3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. 4 Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.

5 Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware.

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.

7 And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto

8 And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.

9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, and the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.

10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.

11 Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.

12 Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.

13 But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.

14 Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until

the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.

15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.

16 And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the

priest, with certain chief of the
fathers, after the house of their
fathers, and all of them by their
names, were separated, and sat
down in the first day of the tenth
month to examine the matter.
17 And they made an end with
all the men that had taken
strange wives by the first day
of the first month.

LECTURE 730.

The duty of ceasing to do any evil that we know of.

The prayers and tears of Ezra drew together a great assembly of the people, and drew from them the confession which Shechaniah made in behalf of all, "We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land." And this confession was accompanied with the holy resolution, confirmed by a solemn oath, to put away these strange wives and their children, "according to the law." But as it was evident that the work was one which would require careful investigation, the people were dismissed on their giving this express pledge of reformation, "As thou hast said, so must we do." Ezra with others being then set to act as judges in the matter, after due examination, commencing on the first day of the tenth month, "they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month."

Now there is no enactment of the Law, expressly commanding, that those who had trespassed against God in taking strange wives should put them away. The statute is most positive against taking wives of any of the seven nations, which God was pleased to drive out, from before the children of Israel, in the land of Canaan. See Deut. 7. 1-3. And it was by the spirit of this statute, rather than the letter, that Ezra must have proceeded on this occasion. Here therefore we have an important principle of action set before us. We learn, that if there be any thing which God has forbidden us to do, and if we have been by any means tempted to do it, we are bound by all means in our power to undo it, however great may be the pain and loss ensuing, as soon as we become conscious of the wrong which we have done. We are often inclined to think, that in cases such as these, we may out of regard to the interests of others lawfully continue in a course, which we began in disobedience to the law of God. But what interests could be more near and dear than those of the strange wives and of their children, who were put away on this occasion by God's people? What can be more clear, than that they in doing so fulfilled the spirit of God's revealed commandment? And what therefore can be more certainly our duty, than to cease at all costs from doing any evil that we know of, from the very time that we become conscious of its sinfulness?

The names of them that had married strange wives. Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.

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.

19 And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.

20 And of the sons of Immer; Hanani, and Zebadiah.

21 And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah. 22 And of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah. 23 Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah, (the same is Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

24 Of the singers also; Eliashib and of the porters; Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.

25 Moreover of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.

26 And of the sons of Elam; Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Eliah.

29 And of the sons of Bani; Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth.

30 And of the sons of Pahathmoab; Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh. 31 And of the sons of Harim; Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchiah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,

32 Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.

33 Of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattathah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.

34 of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel,

35 Benaiah, Bedeiah, Chelluh, 36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, 37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasau,

38 And Bani, and Binnui, Shimei,

39 And Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,

40 Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,

41 Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,

42 Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.

43 Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, and Joel, Benaiah.

27 And of the sons of Zattu; Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and 44 All these had taken strange Aziza. wives: and some of them had wives 28 of the sons also of Bebai; by whom they had children. LECTURE 731.

How much of evil and of good we receive by inheritance. The faithful record of Scripture spares no man, and no class of men, whose sins it may be useful to make mention of, for the warning of them that come after. Here therefore we have the names of those who had taken strange wives; and the list con

tains priests and Levites, and other servants of the temple, besides numbers of the people in general. At the end of the list it is added: "All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children." And these children they doubtless put away together with the wives; according to the proposal of Shechaniah," Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them." Ch. 10. 3. Otherwise indeed the great grievance would have remained, which is thus set forth by Ezra, "the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands." Ch. 9. 2. And but for the step now taken, there would have been no means of distinguishing, after the lapse of a few generations, which were true born Israelites, and which not. The children would indeed of course be brought up at the cost of their fathers, though not acknowledged as their lawful offspring. And this would make it necessary to record this list of names, that as these children grew up, their parentage might be known; and there might be less risk of their being mistaken for true descendants of Israel.

The pains taken on this occasion, and on many others in this history, to prevent all mistakes of the kind, may lead us to consider, how strongly the principle of inheritance pervades all the dealings of God with man. He treats the whole race as guilty for the sin of Adam. He treats them as guilty, because in truth they are guilty. A clean thing cannot naturally come out of that which is unclean. See Job 14. 4. In like manner when He intimates to fallen man the prospect of redemption, it is by saying that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head; a circumstance which gives to every child of Eve an interest in the redemption wrought by Christ. And that it does so is manifest from these words of the Epistle to the Hebrews: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage." Heb. 2. 14, 15. By our natural birth then we inherit the guilt of Adam's sin and the corruption of Adam's nature; and also a relationship, if we may so speak, unto our Saviour, making us meet to be born again to that better life, which is hid with Christ in God." Col. 3. 3. And in like manner we inherit by our new birth many and great blessings; we inherit them; we expect to enjoy them, not by earning them for ourselves, but by virtue of our being made children of God and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. If then we be indeed of the holy seed, what care ought we to take, that we mingle not ourselves with that which is unholy! Being born of God, how constantly ought we to be upon our guard, lest if we commit sin, if we commit it wilfully, we lose our heavenly birthright, and be counted for "children of the devil!" 1 John 3. 10.

THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 1. 1—11.

Nehemiah prayeth for success.

LECTURE 732.

Of intercession for our country.

The decrees in favour of the captive Israelites, as recorded in the book of Ezra, relate chiefly to the rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem. Nothing had yet been ordered about rebuilding the