Ezra 10:19

And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:15-44 The best reformers can but do their endeavour; when the Redeemer himself shall come to Zion, he shall effectually turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And when sin is repented of and forsaken, God will forgive it; but the blood of Christ, our Sin-offering, is the only atonement which takes away our guilt. No seeming repentance or amendment will benefit those who reject Him, for self-dependence proves them still unhumbled. All the names written in the book of life, are those of penitent sinners, not of self-righteous persons, who think they have no need of repentance.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They gave their hands - i. e., "solemnly pledged themselves" (compare the marginal references).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. they gave their hands—that is, came under a solemn engagement, which was usually ratified by pledging the right hand (Pr 6:1; Eze 17:18). The delinquents of the priestly order bound themselves to do like the common Israelites (Ezr 10:25), and sought to expiate their sin by sacrificing a ram as a trespass offering.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

They gave their hand, i.e. they covenanted or swore by giving their hand; which was the usual gesture in those cases; of which see Leviticus 6:2 Ezekiel 17:18.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 that the trespass offering was a mulct to such who married strange wives, and conjectures, that it was the advice of the chief men to do it. From hence, to the end of Ezra 10:43, is a list of the men that had married strange wives, and put them away; those in Ezra 10:20, were priests; in Ezra 10:23, Levites, and those of them who were singers or porters; the rest were Israelites: and it is a very common distinction, in rabbinical writers, to distinguish the Jews into priests, Levites, and Israelites; of these we know no more than their names; some of the heads of the families may be observed in Ezra 2:1.

Geneva Study Bible

And they gave {l} their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.

(l) As a token that they would keep their promise and do it.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. they gave their hands] R.V. their hand. The Hebrew has the singular. On this symbol of a promise or pledge compare 2 Kings 10:15 ‘If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand’. Ezekiel 17:18 ‘And behold, he had given his hand, and yet hath done all these things’. Lamentations 5:6 ‘We have given the hand to the Egyptians’. 2 Chronicles 30:8 ‘But yield yourselves (Heb. give the hand) unto the Lord’.

and being guilty, &c.] It has been supposed that whereas the solemn pledge or promise, to put away the strange women, was made by all, the priests alone had to offer the sacrifice of a ram. The sacrifice of a ram for a guilt offering is enjoined, ‘if anyone commit a trespass and sin unwittingly, in the holy things of the Lord’ (see Leviticus 5:14-19). There is however no real reason for limiting the guilt offering to the priests. The passage from Leviticus makes no such restriction. It is probable that this verse represents the form of solemn renunciation imposed upon all the offenders, i.e. the promise and the guilt offering. It is mentioned after the first names on the list, and should be understood after each recorded group of names. The repetition of the formula was considered unnecessary.

being guilty] These words sound like the sentence of the commission, after investigating each case.

20, 21, 22. The sons of Immer, Harim and Pashur. In Ezra 2:37-39 and Nehemiah 7:40-42 the order of the names is Immer, Pashur and Harim. In 1 Chronicles 24:8-14 ‘Harim’ is the third and Immer the sixteenth priestly course: see notes on Ezra 2:37, &c.

Several of the names here mentioned occur in the lists of Nehemiah 8, 12.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - They gave their hands that they would put away their wives. It is not clear whether this is intended to be said of Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah only, or of the entire body of persons found guilty of having married strange wives. Most probably the court made out the divorces in the generality of cases, but were content to take a solemn pledge from members of the high priest's family. Ezra 10:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Among the priests there stand first, four names of sons and brethren of the high priest Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel. אחיו, his (Jeshua's) brethren. Judging by Ezra 2:36, these were among the descendants of Jedaiah, a section of the house of the high-priestly family (see rem. on Ezra 2:36), and were therefore distant cousins of the high priest. They gave their hands, i.e., bound themselves by shaking hands, to put away their wives, i.e., to dismiss them, and to sever them from the congregation of Israel, ואשׁמים, "and guilty a ram for their trespass," i.e., condemned to bring a ram as a trespass-offering. ואשׁמים is to be regarded as the continuation of the infinitive clause להוציא. As elsewhere, infinitive clauses are continued without anything further in the verb. finit. (comp. Ewald, 350); so here also does the adjective אשׁמים follow, requiring that להיות should be mentally supplied. איל־צאן, a ram of the flock, is, as an accusative of more exact definition, dependent on אשׁמים. This trespass-offering was imposed upon them according to the principle of the law, Leviticus 5:14, etc., because they had committed a מעל against the Lord, which needed expiation; see on Leviticus 5:14. - In what follows, only the names of the individuals, and a statement of the families they belonged to, are given, without repeating that the same obligations, namely, the dismissal of their strange wives, and the bringing of a trespass-offering, were imposed on them also, this being self-evident from the context. - Among the sons of Immer were three, among the sons of Harim five, among the sons of Pashur six offenders; in all, eighteen priests. By comparing Ezra 2:36-39, we perceive that not one of the orders of priests who returned with Zerubbabel was free from participation in this transgression. Some of the names given, Ezra 10:20-22, reappear in the lists in Nehemiah 8:4 and Nehemiah 10:2-9, and may belong to the same individuals.