Why did Ezra confess guilt as though he himself had sinned (Ezra 9:6)?
Like a modern pastor, Ezra led a public prayer of confession. He did not personally commit the sins mentioned from the pulpit, but Ezra saw himself vitally linked to the community even in its sin. Ezra showed care and responsibility for his people rather than setting himself above them. The Quest Study Bible If God hates divorce, as Malachi 2:16 says, why commend it in Ezra 10:3? God hates the violation of a sacred covenant and sacredness was completely absent in these relationships. (1) It is not clear these were full-fledged marriages. Ezra 10:2 uses a word that means give a home to implying these foreign women may have been little more than live-in prostitutes. (2) Even if these were legal marriages, they were forbidden by law (Deuteronomy 7:14), so they were technically more like annulments than true divorces and ended what were from the start illegitimate relationships. (3) Because of the great care used to investigate and process these divorces (Ezra 10:1617), we can speculate th
