Separation - Pers0nal And Collective

by R. CAPEWELL | Category: The Return From Babylon | Jul 1956

(Ezra 9 and 10)

The story of the children of Israel is, in the main, a sad one. It is a record of backsliding and disloyalty thrown out in sharp relief against the unfailing mercy and faithfulness of God.

"Since the days of our fathers we have been exceeding guilty unto this day ... yet our God has not forsaken ... and ... hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve" (Ezra 9.7, 9, 13).

In pondering upon these things we do well to remember that our hearts are equally desperate as theirs and that apart from the grace of God we too shall fall into the same pitfalls.

There were, however, some bright spots in an otherwise sad record when through divine grace they manifested repentance for wrongdoing and came as a repentant people for reconciliation to a loving God. Such a joyous experience is recorded here.

"And now for a little moment grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape ... and to give us a little reviving in our bondage." They realized that they had failed to maintain strict separation from the surrounding nations in accordance with the expressed desires and commands of God, for "the holy seed have mingled themselves with the peoples of the lands."

Moses had solemnly warned them just prior to his death of the urgency of being obedient to the commandment of the LORD in this matter.

"Thou shalt make no covenant with them ... neither shalt thou make marriages with them. For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God ... a peculiar people ... above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth" (Deuteronomy 7.2, 3, 6).

These words were spoken as they stood close to the borders of that unique land to which God had guided them after feeding and clothing them for forty years in a wilderness wherein none dwelt and none passed through.

This land into which they were entering is twice described as the glory of all lands," fourteen times as " a good and fat land " and twenty times as "a land flowing with milk and honey." It brought forth fruit of superior quality in great variety and abundance. Its mountains abounded in mineral wealth. It was a land of safety and the eyes of the LORD were upon it from the beginning of the year unto the end. In it, God's favoured peace were to be completely independent of the nations around. They would never need to go to them for help. They would be the head of the nations and entirely self-supporting. There was provision made so that the stranger might join them, but they themselves were not to contemplate under any circumstances making alliances with those around. This was not only true of material covenants but they must also never undertake marriages with them.

For a while they delighted themselves in God's great goodness, but in spite of further warnings, notably from Joshua as he neared the end of his earthly pilgrimage, they mingled with the surrounding nations. Joshua emphasized what the result of such marriages would be :-" Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of those nations ... and make marriages with them ... they shall be a snare and a trap unto you, and a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes." God cannot deny Himself and whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap. As the good things promised by God for obedience all came to pass so now through their disobedience the evil things had come upon them and instead of being independent of the nations they were now subject to them, and instead of being the head of the nations they had become the tail. So Ezra confesses, "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 spoiling, and to confusion of face, as it is this day."

This matter of not mingling with the surrounding nations came to a head in the matter of marriages which had been contracted. The choice of a life-partner demands careful and prayerful consideration. We cannot treat the matter too seriously. Marriage is such a solemn covenant and in God's sight is a life-time undertaking to be held in honour among us. The main purpose of all our associations and partnerships should be that we might be a spiritual blessing to one another. This could never be true (apart from the mercy of God) when a believer marries an unbeliever. God dislikes such mixtures, for in them there can be no true fellowship. The ox and the ass were not to be yoked together because one was clean and the other unclean. Moreover the length of stride and strength of pull might be so uneven that the resulting yoke would prove painful to both animals. So it will be with such partnerships today amongst believers and unbelievers. The results can only be disastrous spiritually. "How can two walk together except they be agreed?

That such associations would affect their relationship as a worshipping people towards God was made clear to the children of Israel by Moses. "For he will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods." We may begin a worldly companionship that may seem harmless enough in itself and with the best of intentions. We may even hope and desire that such a union may bring a blessing and cause our borders to be enlarged. Haggai, in a remarkably clear illustration (chapter 2.12, 13) points out how dangerous such reasoning

is.Holiness cannot be transferred to an unclean thing and so render it clean. Yet conversely, the defilement of the unrighteous can, and does, infect the righteous. So the warning comes to us as individuals and as God's people today. "Touch not the unclean thing."

We cannot sin with impunity. Disobedience always brings sorrow in its train, Someone has said of sin that, "it can never be as though it had never been." We may repent and receive forgiveness, but the scar remains. Solomon asks these two questions in Proverbs 6. 27-28:

"Can a man take fire in his bosom,

And his clothes not be burned?

Or can one walk upon hot coals,

And his feet not be scorched?"

The path of separation must be clear cut. Not a hoof was to be left behind in Egypt and the Israelites were to return no more that way. Indeed it was to be woe unto him that went down into Egypt for help. Such alliances only weaken us, as Samson discovered after breaking his Nazirite vow of separation. He said, "I will go out as at other times ... But he wist not that the LORD was departed from him" (Judges 16.20). Ezra expresses the thought here in chapter 9.12, "Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land." Instead of the land yielding its increase, their labour and strife had been in vain; their harvests were devoured by locusts and their vines eaten by worms; instead of being the admiration of the nations around, they had become despised and enslaved.

When God in His mercy restores an individual or His people, He usually brings them back to the point where they went astray. Shecaniah here confesses, "We have trespassed against our God, and have married strange women of the peoples of the land ... Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them" (Ezra 10.2, 3). Here was evidence of a contrite spirit and a determination to do that which was right in the eyes of the LORD. It must have been a very distressing experience for them to part with their wives and their children. The lesson is plain for us to read-that sin involves others as well as ourselves for none of us liveth unto himself. The longer an unequal yoke goes on the more difficult and painful it becomes to discontinue. Moreover if after the error has been pointed out to us, we stubbornly continue in our own ways, we shall be the losers for our waywardness and hardness of heart.

"Whosoever came not within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of the captivity" (Ezra 10.8).

Moses once asked the Israelites, "Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire?" How impressed they should have been by the thought of the wondrous grace of God. He has called to us in no less wondrous manner today

"Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,

And touch no unclean thing;

And I will receive you,

And will be unto you a Father,

And ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty"

(2 Corinthians 6. 17, 18).

The Apostle Paul had previously reminded them of the wonderful fact that, "ye are a temple of God." Yet some of them had been thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, etc. How necessary it is in the light of God's grace to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and to purge ourselves from every vessel of dishonour!

R. CAPEWELL | Jul 1956
The Return From Babylon