When God created all of the races, He saw them and He was proud of them, however there are certain things that He would not tolerate. We will learn of that in this chapter.

Ezra 9:1 "Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, "The People of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Eqyptians, and the Amorites."

The People of Israel, the priests and the Levites covers all three segments of this society. Within these three of the returnees that came out of Babylon.

Of these diferent peoples listed some were the offspring of the influx, or mating with women by the fallen angels. The rest of these foreigners were members of the five heathen religions, and when these princes or leaders of Israel came to Ezra, they reported that the men of Israel had married the women of heathen. It called in the Hebrew tongue, "taking strange wives" and this practice was an abomination unto the Lord God.

Editor's Note: The Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Egyptians are the only peoples listed here that weren't listed back in Deuteronomy 20:17 where the Israelites were already told to utterly destroy them, but they didn't do it so in my mind we can't blame this all on the returning Jews. The Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; were supposed to have been destroyed when they're ancestors entered the promised land after leaving Egypt.

When they took these women for their wives, their heathen worship, idolatry, and abominations of practice came into their homes and their lives. The wives dominated their homes. Remember, most of the men that came west out of Babylon, were without women, and when they entered the land of Judea, and came to Jerusalem, the land was filled with these foreigners. This is because All Israel had been removed many years before.

The "House of Israel" was overthrown by the Assyrians, and the ten tribes of the north had been taken out of the land well over 100 years earlier in about 722 B.C. The were taken to a place north of Lake Van in Iraq, and from there their migration it the north and west continued, and because of their passage through the Caucasus Mountains, they were identified as Caucasians. To this date, most of the people of this northern "House of Israel" do not identify themselves as being the offspring of "The House of Israel", but they call themselves "Caucasians" as being their race.

Hosea talks about this "House of Israel in Hosea 1:10; "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, "Ye are not My People," there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the Living God." My fellow Christian, the living God is Jesus Christ, and those sons are called Christians. Hosea ia talking about the "House of Israel"; Who are the people of the Christian nations of Western Europe, and the Americas, or wherever they may be around the globe. He is not talking about the Israelites who are from the "House of Judah"; now mixed with descendants of Cain and calling themselves Jews as most of the Christian Church world incorrectly thinks he is. Because of this confusion most Christians identify themselves as being gentiles, rather then Israelites, because the Kenites have told them so and they believe it. Why, because they don't read their Bibles, or when they do it's only the New Testament they read!

Ezra is of the "House of Judah", which is made up of the two tribes of Judea, and Benjamin, and a small part of the Levi tribe. God treated each of these two Houses or Nations differently; He divorced the "House of Israel", and kept the "House of Judah" which generically call themselves "Jews".  It is the "House of Judah" that was taken by the Babylonians, and now seventy years later are returning.

This report to Ezra that the men of the House of Judah have not only taken the strange woman of the land for their wives, but their abomination of the their religions also is a shock to Ezra.

Ezra 9:2 "For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass."

Both the fathers and their sons of all three segments of these returnees have taken these strangers for wives. Keep in mind that the entire Scripture from Genesis 2 [the forming of eighth day man, the man Adam and his wife Eve] to the coming of Jesus Christ as a baby, is the study of one man and his family, and all those that come in contact with that family. When sin entered Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the promise of a coming Messiah was given, and it is the linage of Adam, as recorded in both Genesis five and ten, and also in Luke 3:23-38 that had to be guarded and kept pure form the strains of the heathen, and Geber [fallen angel] offspring.

The "holy seed" are the children of the "House of Judah", and this is because of the fact that one of these persons will be in the lineage of the coming promised Messiah. This is the reason for the separation of the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from the peoples around them, and it is also why it is forbidden in the Mosaic laws for the tribes of Israel to marry outside of the family of the Whole house of Israel, which includes all of the ten tribes.

Ezra is told that those in authority, the Levites and the priests have done it more then any of the others. In most writings of this time, it is pointed out that about the only persons that came to Jerusalem from Babylon for these crusades were men, and many of them were Kenites, the mating to these foreign women was just nature taking effect. There is one thing for certain, God dosen't accept this act, regardless of the circumstances. God created people the way that they are, because He has a purpose for each of them, and He does not desire man to mix it all up.

Ezra 9:3 "And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down astonied."

When Ezra heard of these mixed marriages, and the abominations that the men of Judah had taken to themselves, he was upset. "Astonied" in the Hebrew text, means that everyone that saw Ezra was astonished by the way he looked.

There is another thing to consider here; When Ezra and his group arrived from Babylon, and entered into the community of Jerusalem that had been established by the forty three thousand that came with Zerubbabel several years prior, was he asleep as to the women of the community. He mingled with the leaders of these people, he knew that the entire priesthood was filled with these Nethinims, and that the Kenites had taken over the duties of priests and scribes, yet these marriages caused his such distress.

Ezra was skilled in the laws of Moses, yet as all this was taking place it was as he was either blind to it, or grown callused to what was taking place around him. He knew that the Kenites and Nethinim where not to mix, or even cut wood in the temple duties, yet he overlooked this taking place. He also knew that it was forbidden for an Israelite to marry these heathen, and to accept any of their foreign religious practices was an abomination to God. Yet it was going on, he saw it, and until it was stated by his counsellors, he turned his back to it. Ezra was ashamed, offended and hurt to the point of plucking out all of his hair, when it finally came to his attention.

Keep in mind this is a type of what will happen in the building of God's Temple of the last days, and it is obvious that it is taking place even today, and the end of this age is coming to a close.

Ezra 9:4 "Then were assembled unto me every on that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice."

Ezra went to the place where everyone would come, to where the evening sacrifices were made, and there he sat with his bald bloody head. As the men came for the sacrifices and say their leader sitting there, they were astonished at what they saw. You knew the man was depressed, and you knew that Ezra, the law of the land was about to come down hard on all of them.

Ezra 9:5 "And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God,"

Ezra fell face down before the Lord God in prayer.

Ezra 9:6 "And said, "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to Thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens."

Ezra 9:7 "Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day."

Ezra is finally waking up to what has been going on for many years, all the way back to the days of Solomon; and now Ezra can finally see the great abomination that has taken place through the years, and been magnified here in Jerusalem with these men that have returned to rebuild the city and Temple.

What Ezra is saying here is that it is these sins that have caused you in the first place to be driven from Jerusalem, and into captivity; and here we are rebuilding God's house, and we are worse now then they were then. Rather then continuing in the chapter, lets go over now what is behind the problems taking place, so we can see into the heart of Ezra.

The reason that Ezra is very concerned, is that it is against God's law for people to mix in marriage. God said; "Do not take of their daughters to your sons, or of their sons to your daughters." Ezra was skilled in the Mosaic Laws, and he knew God's position on the matter. When Christ died on the Cross, the blood sacrifices were done away with, as well as some of the statutes, but He did not do away with the law. Don't try to pass this sin off as an ordinance, it was not. It was a law and it was in effect even to this day.

Editor's Question: I'm confused. I am under the impression that it is eighth day man who was instructed not to marry anyone but a eighth day women. Am I wrong or is this author wrong? Does the Bible forbid interracial marriage among the sixth day creation? I thought the sole purpose was to protect a perfect pedigree until the Birth of Christ. I'll keep studying until I finds the answer. one way or the other. I hope you do also! Let the Holy Spirit be my/our guide.

Many people do things in confusion, and from it comes the problems that arise from mixed marriages, either by race or by religious preference; but as a Christian desiring to do the will of the Lord God, it is important that we abide by those laws that God has stated that are important to Him.

Here we have Ezra all stressed out and worrying about the priests and the common folks mixing and marrying these heathen peoples; however the greater sin of all, and by far greater then this is the allowing of the Kenites [Nethinims] to take over the duties of both the scribes and the priests. Ezra is so distressed that he is pulling and jerking his hair out by the roots, because of the race mixing. Yet he has these Nethinims serving as priests in the Temple of God, which is a far worse sin.

Ezra saw nothing wrong this this, because of the traditions that had been established by his fathers, even to the time of Solomon. The traditions of men had blinded their eyes form the Laws of God. These are very important points. God's house is holy, and the traditions of men have tied on to you the dos and don't of this world, and most of them mean absolutely nothing in the eyes of God, yet they swallow the whole unclean animal, and defile themselves.

Mankind in the Christian world today, is not any better in this matter, for most churchmen would rather please men and their traditions of the day, then please their own creator. Ezra can't understand why things are going wrong, when he sits blinded by the traditions that have formed over the past 500 years, to the point where Satan's children, the Kenites have virtually taken over the Temple duties, contrary to God's will. It was the Levites, the Sons of Aaron that God gave the sole responsibility of the all the duties of the Temple. It was man's traditions that violated that law, and now Ezra simply can't understand what went wrong.

God gave us His word, and in that Word He tells us what pleases Him. When a young couple first gets married, the first thing they learn is how to get along with one another, and how to keep peace in the family. They strive to find out, what can I do to please my husband [wife]; they knock themselves out to please each other. Have you ever tried to that degree to find out how to please you heavenly Father? or do you rely on the traditions of men.

This generation is no different that Ezra's generation, and this generation is the last generation and the day of accounting for your actions is coming soon. Are you Biblical illiterate in respect to God's wishes, are you sitting in a pew under an ignorant pastor who doesn't teach you what is acceptable to God when the seventh Trumpet aounds. Many of these pastors tell you the law is in affect no longer, but Christ said in Matthew 5 that He did not change one dot of the law.  My frllow Christian, this type of teaching is called traditions of men, and is that what you are being taught and accepting. If you are accepting these lies as fact, you are Biblical illiterate.

One who is Biblical illiterate is one who does not care enough about the Father to study for themselves what the Father says, or even care if it is right or wrong. They take the word of brother so and so, over the Word of God. It is so easy to allow the traditions to over ride the Scriptures, but it is the start of the fall.

Ezra could not see the fault of the mixing of the Satanic Kenites into the very priesthood itself, yet it bothered him greatly of the lesser matter of the marriages. This is the point of this chapter that we must understand, God wants us to keep His house in order, and in this final generation, the body of Christ, all members of that body are the Temple of God.

Ezra 9:8 "And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in His holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage."

"To give us a nail in His holy place", is in reference to the Temple built on the mount; and Ezra is calling attention to the fact that God has still been very good to us, even though we have done this thing. Even though they didn't deserve it, God has till given them this little nail hole to seek Him.

Ezra 9:9 "For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem."

The "House of Judah" had spent the last seventy years in bondage in Babylon, and God had allowed Cyrus and the Kings of Persia to revive them and the Temple again. The walls are for protection, however in this end generation, our wall of protection, and the only wall that we will ever have, as stated in Ezekiel 38; "God is our wall".

Ezra 9:10 "And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken Thy commandments,"

"What shall we say after this," after our acts against you when you strictly forbid it, will His mercy continue?

Ezra 9:11 "Which Thou hast commanded by Thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness."

These people that were living in the land, when the "House of Judah" returned, were filled with all kinds of heathen and filthy religions and abominations, and God's instructions were to stay away from them. Yet the people from the priests to the common man not only mixed, but they married into these heathen family, and took on their filthy abominations. They had a god for every occasion and animal, and these were elevated over the True God.

Ezra 9:12 "Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever."

Is this clear enough? Don't let your daughters marry their sons, and you sons marry their daughters. The penalty for eating their unclean foods is bad health, and that of mixing families, is the loss of you inheritance, which will be passed to the spouse and her [his] family. So you simply will not have God's blessings. Certain laws are for ever, such as the health laws, and all laws dealing with God. From the laws that deal with God, come the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28; read them and relate them to yourself.

Third Discourse: Blessings and Curses for Obedience and Disobedience, chapters 27 & 28.

Live Link to- Chapter 27

Live Link to-Chapter 28

Ezra 9:13 "And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that Thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;"

Ezra is saying; God I can't believe the merciful God that you are, for though we have sinned in this way, you have continued to bless us. Did God do this for their sakes? No! God went to great lengths to see to it that His prophecy was fulfilled, God did it for the sake of His own word and His promises. To keep the seed line through which the Messiah would come, and keep the tribe of Judah clean.

Ezra 9:14 "Should we again break Thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not Thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?"

Ezra is saying, I am going to be surprised if this continues on, that we will not be consumed. The phrase "join in affinity", comes from the root expression of the Hebrew idiom, "To give a daughter by contract". To give the daughter, to get something of value in return.

God's commandments forbid this act, and it is a direct violation of God's law. Each race has been created by God to it's own glory, and has the Glory of God in it, and God does not want the mixing of the two. This is going against God's natural laws.

Ezra 9:15 "O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this."

What God wants you to see what is most important is not said, He expects you to be wise enough to pick up on it. Ezra knew the sin that was being committed, yet he turned his back on it until it was too late. Ezra praised God for his great mercy and kindness, yet not one time did Ezra repent for the acts that were committed, or ask forgiveness for the sin.

But the most severe sin was not the matter of marriage, but the iniquity being preformed in the very house of God, itself; In that they have strangers, foreigners [Kenite-Nethinim} in the very Temple of God, in the person of these Nethinim. The Nethinim were worse then even the strangers here, in that there were Perizzites present. Kenites, serving at the very altar of God. As we read from the very beginning of this book, this was an abomination unto God.

The term "Nethinim" means "given to service" and here it was that the Levites were too lazy to do the work, and hired these Kenites to do the work for them. Now apply this to the current times, where we have these Kenite's offspring doing the interpretation of the Scriptures for us, and telling us what to do and not to do. They are paving the road for their father, Satan to be accepted by you, through their abomination, and false teachings; such as the rapture doctrine.

God's Temple is being formed through His elect, and at the sixth trumpet, Satan the false-christ will set foot on this earth, and you will either be sealed in your mind, or you will not. Revelations 9:4 tells us all those not sealed in their minds will simply be given over to the spurious messiah and his system. My fellow Christian, you had better know the difference between the two Christ's, and that the false one comes first, or you will worship Satan, and think he is the true Christ.

              

---

The American Wisdom Series

is

Published by:

Rhine Publishing Co.
E-mail address - americanwisdomseries@verizon.net

Here at the American Wisdom Series our goal is to make you think about and question the wisdom of the current: