Ezra’s confession and contrition over the issue of foreign
wives moves the people to resolve to comply with the Lord’s commands and put
away these wives and their children.
This “putting away” is not the word for divorce but is, instead,
analogous to what Abraham did with Hagar and Ishmael. This would indicate that these were not
considered “marriages” as such marriages were forbidden. Putting away would have involved providing
for them as well, not just casting them loose.
Ezra’s response to their resolve was to call an assembly to formalize
the matter. This was in December and
Jerusalem, because of its elevation, is colder than the surrounding countryside
and also subject to intense rains as we see here. The people ask that this be done another
way. Each tribe will send up those who
have transgressed and they will put away their foreign wives. The process is suitable to most and Ezra
agrees to it.
Jesus has just deflated the conversation around the table of
those who jostle for positions of import and the host himself is instructed to
invite those who cannot repay the invitation.
Jesus specifically mentions “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” If, He says, you do this you will be blessed. One guest, possibly to change the subject,
picks up on the theme of blessing and piously says, “Blessed is everyone who
will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Jesus
responds with the parable of the banquet in order to say, “Those who think they
will eat of that banquet won’t be there, they respond initially to the
invitation but when the time comes they are busy with worldly things.” He returns to the same cast of characters, “the
poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,” as those who will come, the outcasts
of society. Additionally, there are
still seats at the table and these will be filled with those from the “highways
and hedges.” These would be the
Gentiles. The old prohibitions are being
done away with in the New Covenant.
Paul, on several occasions in his defense here, aligns
himself with Judaism. He went to
Jerusalem to worship, to worship the God of “our” fathers, he believes “everything
laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,” what he believes is what
“these men accept,” he came to Jerusalem “to bring alms to my nation and to
present offerings,” he was in the temple “purified,” that is, having done all
according to the ritual law prior to entering the temple. His only crime, he says, is that he cried
out, “It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial
before you this day.” That statement
divided him from some, the Sadducees, but Paul knows that the issue is that he
applies the resurrection of the dead a good bit more broadly than the Pharisees
as well. Are we prepared for God to
include people in that resurrection that we might not care for, are we blinded
by our own prejudices as well?
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