Ezra 9:5-15

Ezra 9:5-: . Ezra’ s Confession.

Ezra 9:5 . at the evening Oblation: therefore in the presence of the assembled worshippers.

Ezra 9:7 . from the days of our fathers: i.e. from the times of the patriarchs onwards.

Ezra 9:8 . a nail in his holy place: lit. ‘ a tent-peg in, etc.” ; the rendering in the Greek Ezra is to be preferred, viz.: “ a root and a name in the place of thy sanctuary.”— in our bondage: the expression is a strong one; the Jews, though dependents of the Persian king, were not in servitude in the sense that their fathers had been in Egypt.

Ezra 9:9 . a wall: lit. “ a fence” ; cf. Isaiah 5:5; the word is used of a fence round vineyards; it is used metaphorically for “ protection,” and does not, of course, refer to the wall of the city, which was in ruins (see Nehemiah 2:11-Esther :).

Ezra 9:11 . by thy servants the prophets saying . . .: cf. Deuteronomy 7:1-Leviticus :; Deuteronomy 23:7. Ezra regards the teaching of the Law as identical with that of the prophets, and vice versa, and is thus the first to enunciate a principle which is often insisted upon in later Jewish literature.