Calling of a Public Assembly (10:5–15)

He ate no food and drank no water (10:6). Such complete fasting (cf. Neh. 1:4) was twice observed by Moses (cf. Ex. 34:28; Deut. 9:18). The people of Nineveh also had a total fast after Jonah’s preaching (Jonah 3:7). But such fasts were rare. Ordinary fasts involved abstaining from eating only (1 Sam. 1:7; 2 Sam. 3:35). The Mishnah (Taʿan. 1.4ff.) prescribes fasting from eating and drinking during daylight to pray for rain. In the early Christian era the Montanists were noted for their rigorous fasts, a practice also observed by hermits and monks. Muslims observe a complete fast from food and drink during the daylight hours for the month of Ramadan (the ninth lunar month).

Within three days (10:8). As the territory of Judah had been much reduced, all could travel to Jerusalem “within three days.” The borders were Bethel in the north, Beersheba in the south, Jericho in the east, and Ono in the west, or about 35 miles north to south and 25 miles east to west.

Damascus Document from the Dead Sea Scrolls

Israel Museum, Shrine of the Book, Jerusalem; © Dr. James C. Martin

Would forfeit (10:8). “Would forfeit” (from ḥrm) means to ban from profane use and to devote either to destruction (e.g., Ex. 22:20; Deut. 13:13–17) or for use in the temple (e.g., 1 Esd. 9:4; cf. Lev. 27:28–29; Josh. 6:18–19; 7:1–26). This verse, which is the earliest attestation of excommunication, is probably a modification of the more ancient capital punishment, “to be cut off from Israel” (Gen. 17:14; Ex. 12:15). William Horbury points out that in the Qumran Damascus Document a period of exclusion expressly replaces the death penalty (cf. Num. 15:34–35 with CD 12.4–6).122 The English word “harem” for the women’s apartment of a sultan (as in Constantinople) is derived from a cognate Arabic word meaning “sacred” or “prohibited.” The Haram esh-Sharif (“The Noble Sanctuary”) is the Arabic designation of the temple mount or Herodian platform in Jerusalem.

Rain (10:9). “The rain” (using a plural of intensity) indicates heavy torrential rains. The ninth month, Kislev (Nov.-Dec.), is in the middle of the rainy season, which begins with light showers in October and lasts to mid-April.123 December and January are also cold months in Jerusalem, with temperatures in the 50s and even 40s. Sometimes it gets so cold that it snows (2 Sam. 23:20; Ps. 147:16–17; Prov. 31:21; 1 Macc. 13:22).

The assembly here shivered, not only because they were drenched but also because they sensed a sign of divine displeasure in the abnormally heavy rains (cf. 1 Sam. 12:17–18; Ezek. 13:11, 13). Blenkinsopp comments, “This is one of the more realistic scenes in the book which could hardly have been invented.”124

Elders (10:14). The “elders” (z^eqēnîm) were the older men of the community who had beards. They formed a governing council in every village (Lev. 13:29; Deut. 19:12; Num. 22:4; 1 Sam. 30:26–31; 2 Sam. 10:5).125 At Succoth there were seventy-seven elders (Judg 8:14). The elders at the gate of the town served as magistrates (Deut. 19:12; 21:3, 19; Ruth 4:1–12). The New Testament word for “elder” is presbyteros, which probably originally designated the older leaders of the house churches.126

By the first day of the first month (10:17). The committee began its work ten days after the assembly had met in the rain (December 29, 458 B.C.). They completed their work three months later on March 27, 457. The investigating elders and judges did their work carefully and thoroughly. They discovered that about a hundred couples were involved. Williamson observes, “Ezra takes no more personal involvement than is absolutely necessary. He prefers to delegate the actual decision-making to the community’s own leaders.”127