The Importance of Intermarriage

Intermarriage would always have held appeal when israel was not the only group in the land. While desire for attractive women was part of what was occurring, it was far from the full picture. When he heard the news, ezra was deeply shaken. The retornees were supposed to be the faithful seed from which a great people would be regrown. That they would so compromise their set apartness and religious holiness strikes at the very core of ezra's hope for the people. He expresses his own shame and embarrassment as he comes towards the lord,. recognizing that he comes as a member of a people that has utterly disgraced itself.