Proclaimer Blog
Sending wives away – Ezra 10
I'm getting to the end of prep for teaching Ezra at Cornhill and must deal with one of the most perplexing parts of the book – what is going on when the foreign wives (and their children) are sent away in Ezra 10. Some of the most helpful comments I have read on this come from Carson in his For the love of God volume 2. This two volume devotional commentary is often a good go-to place for initial thoughts and it is now available online for free through the Gospel Coalition website. Basically he outlines two views:
- that the sending away is akin to a revival. Serious steps are taken to maintain purity.
- that the sending away is a wrong response to a rightly discerned problem and the Law does not sanction such inhumane treatment.
His conclusion is worth repeating in full. Note the last line which is full of pastoral wisdom for anyone ministering in a local church context.
Without meaning to avoid the issue, I suspect that in large measure both views are correct. There is something noble and courageous about the action taken; there is also something heartless and reductionistic. One suspects that this is one of those mixed results in which the Bible frankly abounds, like the account of Gideon, or of Jephthah, or of Samson. Some sins have such complex tentacles that it is not surprising if solutions undertaken by repentant sinners are messy as well.