Ezra 9:1

When these things were done. Some considerable time must have elapsed since Ezra’s arrival at Jerusalem. He had reached the city on the first day of the 5th month (chapter 7:9), rested 3 days (chapter 8:32), and on the 4th day of the same month had transferred the treasure to the Temple authorities. It was not till the 17th day of the 9th month that the matter of the mixed marriages was taken in hand (chapter 10:8, 9). We cannot suppose that action was long delayed after the matter came to Ezra’s attention.

The princes. It is remarkable that complaint on a matter of religious transgression came from the secular, not from the ecclesiastical, authorities of the city. The reason for this unusual situation is the fact that the religious dignitaries of the nation not only condoned the practice but were also guilty (v. 2). Since close relatives of Jeshua, the former high priest, had married foreign wives it is not strange to find that a movement for reform in this matter did not originate with the priests. When the religious leaders themselves were implicated it was understandable that the inferior orders should remain silent. By God’s good providence, however, it often happens that when things have come to such a pass, and the ministers are corrupt, lay people are raised up to take the initiative to secure religious reform.

According to their abominations. The complaint does not claim that the Jews had already adopted the idolatrous practices of the pagans about them, but that they were associating with these heathen neighbors. The foreign wives of these backslidden Jews had undoubtedly introduced idolatrous rites into their homes.

The Canaanites. Mention of eight nations of antiquity with whom admixture had taken place does not necessarily mean that wives had actually been taken from each of the eight groups listed. It is possible that the Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Amorites no longer even existed as distinct ethnic groups. The princes had in mind the prohibitions of the Pentateuch such as that of Deuteronomy 7:1-4, where these nations are enumerated, and drew Ezra’s attention to the fact that these prohibitions had been violated.