Ezra: Shame and a Remote God

Today's post takes another look at the book of Ezra, focusing on the shame that Ezra feels for the Israelites as they try to shed the past in order to establish a new future.

Read last week's post on Ezra: Looking in: Outside Sources in Ezra.

Ezra's Shame
Ezra is a particularly devout priest and scribe who is charged by King Artaxerxes with reestablishing the Israelites in Jerusalem. As a devout man, he is very conscious of the sins of Israel. He lives in a time when Israel stands able to reestablish itself as a legitimate nation as well as the legitimate people of God. However, there is a lot of work to do in order to reestablish both temple worship and a proper two-way dialog with God.

Ezra leaves Babylonia with a group of Israelites and plenty of provisions to reestablish the temple, and stops along the river Ahava, sending back for Levites to accompany the party to Jerusalem. There Ezra commands a fast in order to ask for God's protection:

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might deny ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and cavalry to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king  that the hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him. So we fasted and petitioned our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.
(Ezra 8.21-23)

The relationship between God and humanity has been put under immense strain, and Ezra's wording makes apparent and incomplete faith in the Lord on the part of the Israelites. Generally, God offers protection in matters without people having to ask for it. Instances of theophany (i.e. divine revelation) have God grant protection to a character. In the days after the exile, however, God's relationship with his people is strained. Ezra must actively ask for protection.

Ezra also reveals the historical mindset, which seems to be emerging from less-than-complete devotion to the Lord. Before the Babylonian exile, a leader would not be "ashamed" of asking a band of foreign soldiers for protection because such soldiers would be considered superfluous, even insulting to God. Before the Babylonian exile, this group would be rejected outright in favor of God's protection. Ezra, however, at least considers the two options, indicating an incomplete trust in God. His decision is a matter of pride, as though Ezra has to prove that his God is capable of destroying the enemy. For someone who has lived in captivity without centralized worship, this view is not surprising. The community and leadership that instilled faith in God has disappeared. Now faith must be found again.

There is a bit of housekeeping to do in order to resubmit to God. During their time in Babylon, and probably even before this, a number of men took foreign wives. This is a forbidden practice known as exogamy (meaning marriage outside of a clan or group). The bible maintains that exogamy is proven path to the greatest sin: apostasy (meaning the abandonment of God). Maintaining strict worship of God only is the first commandment listed in the Decalogue (Ten Commandments; see Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5). The texbook case of exogamy leading to apostasy occurs in the story of Solomon's apostasy, in which Solomon's lust for foreign women leads to the worship of foreign gods, which breaks the covenant between God and David and leads to the divided monarchy, which eventually devolves into the whole mess the descendants of Israel find themselves in from the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar until Ezra's time.

Shame is the acutest emotion Ezra feels in the book that bears his name, with two explicit descriptions of the emotion and events that lead to it. The first is described above. The second comes upon learning of the people of Israel's exogamy. Ezra reacts to the information with traditional displays of mourning: tearing his garment and pulling out his hair. Then he prays to the Lord with words that convey his deep sense of shame:

"Oh my God, I am too ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens."
(Ezra 9.6)

Ezra continues to express his shame on behalf of the people, recounting their iniquities. At least some of this shame is a result of God's kindness. Ezra notes that Israel could be worse off, were God less devoted to his people. Perhaps he is fearful that further sin will push God "over the edge" as it were:

"After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you destroy us without remnant or survivor? O Lord, God of Israel, you are just, but we have escaped as a remnant, as is now the case. Here we are before you in our guilt, though no one can face you because of this."
(Ezra 9.13-15)

The group takes action. The men who return to Jerusalem with foreign wives are ultimately swayed to send them away (and with them, possibly, the children). But it is important to note that the author of Ezra does not have God act directly. Throughout all of the shame and alienation, Ezra is not a man who receives the word of God. His conversation seems to be one-way.

A Remote God
The author of Ezra's tone fits in perfectly with the historical reality of the time. Ezra is always supplicating God, never knowing if God appreciates the actions. Ezra does credit God with causing king Artaxerxes to let God's people return to Jerusalem. However, in the rest of the book action towards God is never reciprocated. God is praised but does not take direct action. God is remote. There is a wall between God and Israel - of Israel's own construction - that must be breached. Israel must work hard in order to reestablish a relationship with God, so that God will once again be an active player in Israelite life.