Ezra 10:16

Ezr 10:16 And the children of the captivity did so. 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, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

Ver. 16. And the children of the captivity did so] Appointed such a course should be taken. And so it was a plain Plebiscitum, resolution of the people, and accordingly executed.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ezr 10:16-17. Ezra the priest, &c., were separated, and sat down — Sequestered themselves from all other business, and gave themselves wholly to this. They made an end, by the first day of the first month — Three months, therefore, were spent in this disquisition, which shows that it was very exact.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They went to the chief cities to sit on this matter which was three months in finishing.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

16, 17. The Commission at work

16. the children of the captivity did so] For this expression cf. Ezr_10:7. The proposal was no sooner made than it was carried into execution. The personal influence of Ezra must account for the ready acquiescence of the people generally.

And Ezra the priest] Ezra is here mentioned first, and it is probable that he presided over the court of enquiry. On his title ‘the priest’, cf. Ezr_7:11.

with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers] R.V. with certain heads of fathers’ houses, after their fathers’ houses. The word ‘with’ does not appear in the Hebrew, but, if the existing text be correct, we clearly need some such copula, which is supplied in the LXX. and Vulg. The phrase ‘certain heads of fathers’ houses, after their fathers’ houses’ seems to mean that each ‘father’s house’ (cf. Ezr_2:3, &c.) was represented on the commission by its chief or head. Literally rendered, the Hebrew runs, ‘Ezra the priest, men, heads of fathers’ houses, &c.’

all of them by their names] A full list of the households being furnished, the representative chiefs of certain ‘houses’ were required by name to attend. Cf. ‘were expressed by name’, Ezr_8:20.

were separated] i.e. were set apart for the work. The use of this word ‘separated’ shows that a certain number and not all of the chiefs were employed on this occasion. The text is not quite free from suspicion. The absence of the copula before ‘men (or, certain) heads’ taken in conjunction with the reading of the Syriac Peshitto favours another rendering ‘And Ezra the priest separated (or set apart for the work) certain men (that were) heads &c.’ In other words Ezra made the necessary selection. Not all the heads of the great houses were summoned to sit on the commission. We read of ninety-eight in, Ezr_2:3-61, and this number would have been far too unwieldy for the purpose. Certain of them were therefore to be set apart from the whole number. And Ezra was the natural person to make the selection. Having recently arrived from Babylon, he would be impartial, while the fact of his having originated the whole movement marked him out to be head of the enquiry.

, and sat down] R.V.; and they sat down. The R.V. separates the clause more-definitely from the preceding one. The Hebrew phrase is the same as the English ‘and the commission held its first sitting’.

in the first day of the tenth month] The first of Tebeth (see Est_2:16), the Assyrian Tibi-tuv, about the same as our January.

to examine the matter] The Hebrew word ‘to examine’ is of very strange form, and looks as if the name of ‘Darius’ had been carelessly introduced by a copyist in the place of the similar word ‘to examine’. He was perhaps reminded, by the look of the letters, of the word similarly formed composing the familiar name of the king.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 month Tebeth, which answers to part of December and January; this was ten days after the assembly of all the people met and broke up: these took their places in the great court, and there sat

to examine the matter; the accounts brought in from the several cities by the magistrates thereof, and recorded them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

So. Cajetan improperly concludes, that the sentence was not put in execution; because Nehemias (chap. xiii. 23.) complains of such marriages. (Calmet) --- But the guilty might have resumed their women. (Haydock) --- Went. Hebrew, "were separated." (Haydock) --- By making a small change, we may translate, with 3 Esdras, "and Esdras separated or chose the men." Josephus seems generally to have followed the Greek of 3 Esdras. The Syriac says there were 20 judges.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Were separated, i.e. sequestered themselves from all other business, and gave themselves wholly to this.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16. Children of the captivity did so — That is, the persons implicated, and the whole people, adopted the plan arranged by Ezra.

After the house of their fathers — So that every father’s house was represented.

All of them by their names — The name of each of the more distinguished fathers was probably called, and from each family thus represented a person was chosen, and all these, with Ezra himself, were separated, that is, chosen and set apart, to examine the matter. They had the responsibility and control of the investigation and decision of each case, while the four persons named it the previous verse were probably required to act as secretaries for them.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

SETTLEMENT OF THE WHOLE MATTER BY THE REPUDIATION OF THE STRANGE WIVES (vers. 16, 17). The opposition made did not delay the business more than a few days. The great assembly had been held on the twentieth day of the ninth month. On the first day of the tenth month, little more than a week later, the commission for examining into the matter met under the presidency of Ezra, and commenced proceedings. The method of proceeding suggested at the great meeting was no doubt followed. The case of each city was taken separately. Its male inhabitants of full age attended, and its "elders" and "judges" sat on the commission as assessors while the conjugal position of their townsfolk was being investigated. Where a "mixed marriage" was proved the wife was repudiated. In 112 cases the necessity of repudiation was made out to the satisfaction of the commission, and this number of wives was put away. Probably the entire number of cases adjudicated upon was very much greater, since the commission continued at work for three months, and probably sat on seventy-five different days, judging (we may presume) three or four cases a day. On the whole, the small extent to which the evil had prevailed is remarkable; for 112 mixed marriages in a population where the adult males were about 40, 000 would give only one such marriage to three hundred or three hundred and fifty legitimate ones. Nevertheless, evils in a community are not to be judged simply by their prevalence. Great evils must be checked at once, even though they have not extended far, lest, if they spread at all widely, they become irremediable. Ezra is to be commended for having perceived the greatness of the peril, and for having taken prompt and decided measures to check it, without waiting till it had got to a head, and so become uncontrollable.

The children of the captivity did so. The people generally, notwithstanding the opposition of Jonathan, acquiesced in Ezra"s decision, and acted accordingly. Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers. There is no "with," or other connective, in the original; but our translators did right in supplying one, since the conjunction w, "and," has almost certainly fallen out of the text by the mistake of a copyist. After the house of their fathers. Rather, "for each father"s housei.e. "for each family." It would seem from this clause that each recognised family was represented on the commission by its head. The number of such families appears by Ezr_2:3-61 to have been ninety-eight. And all of them by their names. Compare with this Ezr_8:20. In both places Ezra probably means that a list of the names was made out, and was in his possession, though he does not think it necessary to give them. Were separated. i.e. "set apart for the business." And they sat down, i.e. began their sittings," on the first day of the tenth month, the month Tebeth, corresponding nearly to our January.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Separated - Sequestered themselves from all other business, and gave themselves wholly to this.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

tenth month

i.e. January.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

did this

The people investigated who had married non-Jewish wives.

the first day of the tenth month

This is the tenth month of the Hebrew calendar. The first day is near the middle of December on Western calendars. (See: Hebrew Months and Ordinal Numbers)

first day of the first month

This is near the middle of March on Western calendars. (See: Hebrew Months and Ordinal Numbers)

translationWords

exile

Ezra

priest

clan

name

day

alien

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

to investigate Heb. לְדַרְיוֹשּׁ, like לִדְרוֹשּׁ.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.