I am doing the “The Bible Project : One Story that Leads to Jesus” through the Bible in a year plan. I find it challenging to read much of the OT and have a sense of how to relate it to my life. And then there are the parts of the OT that offend my sensibilities about what is right and wrong.

God’s command to the Israelites to kill all gentiles in the Promised Land is the most troubling (and I am not going to attempt an explanation of that.) Recently I read about Ezra’s call for the returning exiles to put away their foreign wives. On the surface, this appears an admirable commitment on the part of the returning exiles to obey the commands of the Lord. They acknowledge that they have disobeyed the commands that were given when entering the Promised Land and seek to make it right.

But there are aspects of this that offend my sensibilities. This phrase from Ezra 9:2 “For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. (ESV)”, seems very wrong to a post Nazi Germany conscience. One approach is to recognize that my sensibilities are shaped by a modern perspective and should not be the lens through which I read Scripture. The lesson of Ezra is the importance of being obedient to God, no matter the cost. The application to our work lives might be about being willing to forsake faith compromising situations, no matter the cost, when we become aware of them.

But if instead, I allow my sensibilities to influence how I read Ezra, I notice aspects of the story that present a different picture. The first thing I notice is that God is not the one who brings this up to Ezra, rather it is some officials. When Ezra prays, he does not ask God if the foreign wives should be put away. Instead, while considering the action of putting away the foreign wives, he asks, “Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there shall be no remnant nor any to escape?” Trusting the ESV translation, this reads like a rhetorical question rather than a true query. This is not Ezra asking God what to do. It is Ezra working this out in his mind.

The main concern is that the presence of foreign wives will cause God to abandon His plans for the exiles to be restored as His people and they will once again feel the wrath that led to their exile. At this point in the Old Testament narrative, focusing in on marrying foreign wives in light of all of the sins that the nation has consistently committed over the years feels self serving. Especially when I consider that the cost of this sacrificial obedience is going to be paid mostly by the foreign wives. What is going to happen to them? Perhaps this is appropriate if you believe that the main cause of Israel’s constant sinning was the influence of foreign wives. But the OT narrative testifies that Israel is entirely capable of being a rebellious people without foreign wives.

As the Bible Project points out, this book has a strange ending. It says that they took 3 months to “examine the matter”. Then there is a long list of men and the story ends with “All these had married foreign women, and some of the women had even borne children.” Instead of the story ending with an expression of God’s approval, it ends with the children, who are going to suffer. Are we meant to care about them? Does Ezra?

I wish Ezra had asked the Lord what they should do. He could acknowledge the sin, but also present the complications of breaking marital covenants and the impact on the women and children. To me, this story is missing a concern for victims and actual engagement with the Lord about the situation. And I wonder if that is what I am supposed to notice and be bothered by. If so, this has a different application to our work lives. When we become aware of compromising situations, rather than working them out solely based on our understanding of God and His ways, we should also bring them to Him and seek His guidance. Allow God to guide us through the necessary steps and costs of unraveling tangled situations.

As I write this, it occurs to me that God is very much off stage in this story. Does He actually ever say anything, or is He only talked about or talked to? There is a place for applying theological truth to our work situations, and I am drawn to the value and need for that type of thinking. But there is also a place for engaging with the Lord and being directed in ways that our understanding would not see or consider. (Peter with Cornelius comes to mind as does my blog series that starts with The Voice of the Lord?)

Is this more nuanced reading of Ezra Biblically sound? Or have my “modern perspective” sensibilities led me off the path of faithfulness? One last thought. The way that Ezra (and Nehemiah) interact with the Law, and the people who have deviated from it, feels a lot like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. A modern perspective may be a faulty lens through which to read the OT, but what about a lens that is shaped by the teaching and actions of Jesus? If we apply WWJD (what would Jesus do?) to this situation, do you think Jesus would handle the situation the way that Ezra did?

I would love to connect with you about these posts if they have stirred any thoughts or questions. Take a minute, shoot me an email at bo@leavenedlives.org, and let’s see where that takes us.