The people of Israel were guilty of idolatry. They had not kept themselves separate from the nations around them. They wanted to be like the nations around them (1 Samuel 8:20). They treated idols like the nations around them, “For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with eastern ways; they are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they are pleased with the children of foreigners. Their land is also full of silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is also full of horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. People bow down, and each man humbles himself; therefore do not forgive them” (Isaiah 2:6-9). To punish and correct the people, God gave them over to the captivity of the Babylonians for seventy years. 

When the people finally returned to Jerusalem, there was a big problem, “When these things were done, the leaders came to me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, with respect to the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the leaders and rulers has been foremost in this trespass” (Ezra 9:1, 2). The problem of marrying and mixing with the pagan people of the land was one of the contributing factors of the captivity to start with, and they have fallen back into the same pattern. 

While Ezra was praying, and confessing, and weeping, the people came to him declaring that they would put away the pagan spouses and the children that they bore. Shechaniah tells Ezra that they will take this action, but Ezra needs to instruct them and carry out the divorces, “Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you. Be of good courage and do it.” (Ezra 10:4). The verse of this article gives more light to the work of a preacher more than anything else. A preacher must “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). There are times when a preacher will have a sleepless Saturday night because of the difficult subject he will be preaching about Sunday morning. While preaching on the love and mercy and grace of God is always needed, so is preaching on sin, every sin, and encouraging people to “Repent, and be converted…” (Acts 3:19). The preacher’s aim is to be pleasing to God by preaching the whole counsel of God. To do any less would put their souls and the souls of those that hear him in danger. Preacher’s today have the same feelings for the church as Paul did in the first century – 2 Corinthians 2:3, 4; Philemon 20, 21

But the verse also describes the reaction of the people to the hard preaching that needs to be done.

“We are also with you” was the reaction of the people. It would be difficult to end the sin of intermarrying with the pagan nations that caused them so much trouble in the beginning, but the people were with Ezra, not against him, because they knew Ezra was with God! When the preacher preaches on the hard subjects, it’s neither to shame people nor is it make as many enemies as he can. Any man that preaches the word of God has to first love God and love the people that he is preaching to, and when the congregation knows it is not personal, and that he loves them, they will see God loves them! 

When the message of God is preached, we all need to listen with a heart that wants to please God.

By: Justin Odom