The Bible Study Podcast, episode 619. Today, the Bible Study podcast continues the study of the book of

Ezra with Chapter 9.

Welcome to the Bible Study podcast. I'm your host, Chris Christensen. We continue on our study with chapter 9. This may be a shorter episode because there are only 13 verses and one topic. Ezra's prayer about intermarriage.

After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, the people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites,

have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices,

like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Parasites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.

They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons,

and have mingled the holy race with the people around them,

and the leaders and officials have led the way to this unfaithfulness.

When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak,

pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat down appalled.

Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of this

unfaithfulness of the exiles, and I sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice.

Then at the evening sacrifice I rose from myselfabasement with my tunic and cloak torn

and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the Lord my God and prayed.

And before we get into Ezra's prayer, let's talk about what's going on here.

Now, we have to put this in the context of when it was written.

It is written, again, after the Babylonian captivity, before the New Testament,

350 or so years before Christ.

And remember that the people have just come back from exile.

The people went into exile because they were unfaithful to God.

And the kind of things they did was not just this intermarriage,

...