Being a Priest

Ezra 9

In this segment, Ezra and the returned exiles have been in Jerusalem for about eight months. He is informed that the previous exiles (including some of the priests and princes) had married women who they had been forbidden to marry… women from idolatrous nations. The people had been warned way back in Exodus 34 that inter marrying with native peoples would lead the Israelites to commit the sin of idolatry. That’s what got them in trouble in the first place and caused God to decimate their nation and send a small remnant into Babylonian captivity. Now after returning from captivity they are repeating the same mistake all over again.

Ezra is very disturbed by this… he plucks hair off his head and his beard and tears his clothes. People gather around him and he words a prayer to God that contains many interesting elements. One of the most interesting to me is this, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads, and our guilt has grown even to the heavens.”

Even though Ezra is not guilty of this sin and was not even around when it occurred he takes responsibility for it. I’m convinced that he did so because he was a scribe and a priest and it was the responsibility of scribes and priests to teach the people about God and hold them accountable to God’s “statutes and ordinances” (7:10). Ultimately, if the people violated God’s “statutes and ordinances” the scribes were at least partially responsible. So even if Ezra, as a scribe and a priest, had not been around when these marriages were being engaged in, he takes responsibility because he is part of the scribe/priest-hood.

There are similarities with God’s people today. As Christians we are living in a country that that promotes sin. Just like the Israelites living in Canaan surrounded by idolatrous pagan peoples, we could be influenced to sin. In the church we don’t have a sheriff and deputies who police our members. The people have a mutual obligation to “police” each other. We are responsible to each other to help each other grow. Our tools are encouragement (to live better), edification (to build up) and admonishment (to identify sin). We are after all a congregation of priests (Rev. 1:6) and as such have the responsibilities of a priest to each other.

Ezra took personal responsibility for the sins of others. If someone in the congregation is living in sin we too must take personal responsibility for it. After all we are priests just like Ezra.

Ezra 7:10

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to practice it and to teach his statutes and ordinances to Israel.