EZRA - Chapter 10 - The Strange Woman
EZRA – Chapter 10 – The Strange Woman
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
February 1, 2016, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
The future of the whole nation was in jeopardy. If the nation did not repent, the wrath of God would bring a far greater judgment than the Babylonian captivity. As well as, they were being observed by other nations.
In this present election cycle, we can say, the future of the United States is hanging in the balance. Will we continue to be a Christian Republic of one nation under God, or allow our nation to deteriorate under Assyrian oppression?
In chapter 9, Ezra’s humiliation, astonishment and intercession is followed in chapter 10, by the people’s tears of repentance.
10:1: “When Ezra had prayed and confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled to him out of Israel a very great congregation of men, women and children; for the people wept bitterly.”
The Holy Spirit moved on the whole nation in conviction of their sins. The people trembled because of this matter and agreed to separate themselves.
The sin of the nation is the “strange woman”. In the Brook of Proverbs, a “strange woman” is an adulteress and/or an apostate to a false religion, of which prostitution formed a part”. Not of the seed of Abraham. This is the harlot systems of Jeremiah 50-52 and Revelation 17-18; the strange kind of mind. Prov. 2:16-19: “To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the stranger who flatters with her words.” Whoever entertains her is partaker with her in her falsehood. Her only motive is to pick a man’s pocket. She is false to God. The sin of whoredom is fatal and she is dead while she lives. “For her house inclines unto death and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again. That you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of righteousness. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.”
Proverbs 5:3: “ For the lips of a strange woman drop as honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil…(vs. 20) Will you my son be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
She is treacherous in mind and deceitful in heart, full of a crafty intent, rebellious disposition, coarse, loud, lewd, irritable, and clamorous. She is restless and a roamer. She is wayward and wanton. She offers mixed wine ---a mixture – (mingling- Strong’s 6148 = arab). Her husband doesn’t trust her. Her appeal is to the flesh and carnality. Her mouth is a deep ditch (23:27). Her path leads astray.
Ezra 10:2: “Sheck-a-ni – ah, son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to 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 things. 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.”
So how much trouble can this sin cause for as long as there are people on the earth? Abraham’s sin with Hagar created the Ishmael nations. In order to be able to fulfill their kingdom destiny and be clean before the Lord, they not only had to give up their strange women, but they have to give away the children born of them.
All the marriages contracted with the women of the land were annulled. How widespread the evil was is gathered from the list of names from Verses 18-44. Priests, Levites, and people had been guilty. None of them were exempt from the reformation. This was a national sin and such a serious sin that they were at risk of losing the blessing of God.
10:5-6: “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 swear. Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan, son of Eliashib; and when he came there, he did not eat bread or drink water; for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.”
The man who sets himself to seek, to do, and to teach the Word and Way of God invariably brings himself to where sorrow will be his portion and intrepid courage his only strength. Here Ezra’s devotion is the secret of his strength. The love of God and the fear of God enable a man to stand for God, and realize His purpose; and thus, be the true friend and deliverer of the people of God.
Ezra acted with uncompromising severity and strict, methodical thoroughness. The future of the whole nations was in jeopardy.
Sunday night Mark West shared a testimony of the grace of meekness. He said it is much easier to live for the world than to live for God. He testified of serving in both camps. I was blessed by that testimony because I know that he is genuinely duke-ing it out with God to stand and be the man of God, he has been called to be.
Instead of whipping a sinning people into repentance, Ezra’s intercession released the power of the Holy Spirit to bring the people into conviction.
Be of good courage and do it. We are to cast out:
- The bondwoman – Hagar ---law of sin/death.
- And her Son - Ishmael – an Egyptian heart – persecutes Isaac.
This was done according to the law. (Deut. 24: 1-2)
They initiated a new covenant by promising to separate themselves. The people trembled because of this matter and carried the separation through. It is my conclusion that the presence of the Holy Spirit was so powerful, he caused the people to tremble in the fear of the Lord.
Johanan, was the great grandson of Jeshua, the high priest who served with Zerubbabel.
There was a proclamation throughout all Judah and Jerusalem that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the priests and elders, all his substance would be forfeited and himself separated from the congregation (6-8). God was hitting them in their pocketbooks.
This is a pattern of God’s hand of correction:
- Marriage.
- Children.
- Finances.
Here Ezra is a picture of our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ in His “chamber” which is the Most Holy Place. From this dimension (Zion) the Word is going forth to assemble the congregation. The more excellent ministry of the Man-child Company (the Corporate Man in the Throne with a ministry) is also seen here. On the Third Day – come to Jerusalem!
This was the fourth month after Ezra’s arrival. “All the people sat in the street of the House of God, trembling because of this matter and for the ‘GREAT RAIN”.
10:10: EZRA THE PRIEST stood up and said, “You have transgressed, and taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel…Now you must make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers, and do His pleasure. Separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.” Then all replied with a loud voice, “According to your word so must we do” But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain. This will take some time for so many have transgressed in this thing.
Let our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities (or local churches) come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter is turned from us.
The United States of America is being shaken and overturned in every level. The nations of the world are being shaken and overturned. Someone needs to get the Word of God to the leaders and tell them to repent until the fierce wrath of our God for our sins is turned away from us.
10:16: “Ezra the priest with certain chiefs of the fathers were separated and sat down in the lst. day of the 10th month to examine the matter. They made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month. The cleansing took three months.
The priests were found to be guilty and gave their “hands’ (word) and offered a ram for a trespass offering. Those who had sinned were the priests, Levites, singers, porters and the people, which means every one.
10:44: “All these had taken strange wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had children.”
Ezra’s ministry breaks off here. His ministry was to apply the Word of God to his people and the Word brings the knowledge of sin. In Nehemiah Chapter 8, Ezra and his 13 men bring the nation into revival. Until that moment, some 13 years beyond the events of this chapter, Ezra will disappear from the record.
Ezra had achieved the rebuilding of the Temple and the restoration of Temple worship, but the city of Jerusalem was left unprotected against the incursions of hostile peoples.
Again we can apply the present open borders of our nation and of Europe that we are unprotected. The protection of the city and its population by the rebuilding of the walls became the task of Nehemiah (anointed civil authority).
This is also applicable to the scripture confirmation that we need a wall on our southern border.
Daniel 9:25: “Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem (Zerubbabel and Ezra’s ministry) to the Messiah the Prince (ministry of Jesus Christ) shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times.”
Ezra has been called the “Second Founder of the Jewish State.” He accomplished many important works. He was a scribe, priest, overseer, teacher, student, judge, statesman, reformer, antiquary, historian, preacher, governor and saint. Few have possessed and employed so many qualities. It is little wonder that he made so profound an impression upon the Jews of his time, and one still greater beyond his time. I am sure the Spirit of the Lord was so powerful on him that people trembled in the fear of God.
Ezra was the father of the order of the Scribes, under the monarch. The Scribe as the State Secretary. From the time of Ezra forward it meant much more than this. It meant a diligent student of the Law. Ezra was “a ready scribe in the Law of Moses, and set his heart to seek the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” (Ezra 7:10).
Nehemiah is a sequel to the book of Ezra. Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries. Ezra was a priest; Nehemiah was a layman. Ezra was God’s man to lead the people back to a spiritual renewal. Nehemiah’s expertise in the King’s court equipped him for the political and physical reconstruction necessary for the remnant to survive. Nehemiah the cupbearer will become Nehemiah the construction boss to finish building the walls.
Ezra is not mentioned during the years it took to construct the wall. It is logical that he had no direct part in the work and necessary defense of the city. The sword and hammer were laid down once Jerusalem was secured. In Chapter 8 Ezra again leads the people to worship. This is a back to the Bible movement.
On the second day of the convocation, Ezra and the other leaders discovered the scriptures concerning the Feast of Tabernacles.
So it was in the late 1940’s that the leaders of the Body of Christ began to discover the spiritual realm of Tabernacles during the Latter Rain Revival.
Nehemiah lost no time. The wall had been completed only a few days when he erected a sizable platform for the dedication of the wall in front of the Water Gate.
This reveals a pattern for maintaining the cloud.
- Everything is based upon the Word.
- The leadership of Ezra (pastor) was the key to unity.
- Plurality of leadership (13 others) – 14 total.
- The principle of each leader in their place.
- The operation of Body ministry.
The results of Revival:
1. Rising for the Word -- Reverence
2. Response of the people - Worship
3. Reading with comprehension – Understanding.
4. Remorse for sin - Conviction/confession.
5. Renewal of strength – Rejoicing
6. Restoration of truth -- Obedience.
Neh. 8: 1-2: “All the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the Water Gate; and they spoke unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law which Jehovah had commanded unto Israel. Ezra the priest brought the Law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month.”
This was the time of the Feast of Trumpets (hearing a clear Word of the Lord).
The revival was sparked by the hunger of the people for the Word.
Postcript: March 14, 2004
EZRA AND THE 13 MEN WHO STOOD BESIDE HIM
(Neh. 8:1-4)
The 13 men who stood beside Ezra when he OPENED THE BOOK FOR THE READING OF THE WORD which ushered in the revival of Feast of Tabernacles.
1. MATTITHIA – “gift of Jehovah” GRACE
2. SHEMA “A REPORT, SOUND,” FAITH
3. ANAIAH “Answered by Jehovah, “ PRAYER
4. URIJAH “My light is Jehovah,” REVELATION
5. HILKIAH “The portion of Jehovah,” INHERITANCE
6. MAASEIAH “WORK OF Jehovah.” CREATION
7. PEDAIAH “redeemed of Jehovah” REDEMPTION
8. MISHAEL “who is what God is” SONSHIP
9. MALCHIAH “My king is Jehovah” GOVERNMENT
10. HASHUM “enriched, fertile,” FRUITFULNESS
11. HASHBADANA “wise judgment” RIGHTEOUSNESS
12. MESHULLAM “reconciled, recompensed” MERCY
This is a tremendous picture of a Pastor and Deacons standing together in one purpose. This “corporate” Ezra opened the book just as Joseph opened the granaries. This points to the opening or the unveiling, manifestation, revealing of the sons of God. (Ro. 8) We are the letter that is being opened, and the seals in us are becoming loosed! (Jn. 11:44) This was done before the eyes of all the people for he was ABOVE (Phil. 3:1-14) the people and when he opened it all the people stood up. Ezra blessed Jehovah (worship) causing all to say AMEN, AMEN.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
I entered into the labors of Principles of Present truth by: Kelly Varner. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of Bro. Varner.