Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice,.... That they might be heard, and to show that they were willing and ready to comply with what was proposed: as thou host said, so must we do; being convinced of their sin, they saw it was a duty incumbent on them to put away their strange wives, and that there was a necessity of it,...
But the people are many,.... Who have been guilty of this evil: and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without: in the street, because of the rain: neither is this a work of one day or two; to inquire into this affair, who they are that have taken strange wives, and to persuade or oblige them to put them away: for we are many...
Let now our rulers of all the congregations stand,.... Let the great sanhedrim, or court of judicature at Jerusalem, be fixed and continued, and others: and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times; to the court at Jerusalem, at certain and fixed known times of their sittings there for this purpose: and...
Only Jonathan the son of Asahel, and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah, were employed about the matter,.... To see that this affair was conducted in the manner proposed; that the magistrates of every city brought the persons that had been delinquents, in their turns, of which they gave them notice, and took the account of them as they came: and Meshullam...
And the children of the captivity did so,.... Put away their strange wives: 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; from all their other business, and gave themselves up to attend to this wholly: and sat down in the first day of the tenth month; the...
And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives,.... Finished their inquiry and examination of them: by the first day of the first month; the month Nisan, answering to part of March and April; so that they were three months about this work.
And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives,.... So that it need not be wondered at that this evil should spread among the people, when those who understood the law, and should have instructed the people in it, set such an example: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak; who was the high priest; and...
Ver. 19-43. And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives,.... They proposed to do it, and actually did it: and being guilty; of which they were fully convinced: they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass; to make atonement for it, and thereby set an example to others to do the like. Aben Ezra observes, that we do not find...