Ezra 10:7

ALL ISRAEL SUMMONED TO ASSEMBLY IN JERUSALEM

"And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem; and that whosoever came not within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of the captivity. Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within the three days (it was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month); and all the people sat in the broad place before the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain."

"All his substance should be forfeited" (Ezra 10:7). This was indeed a great penalty, and, besides that, those refusing to appear within the three days would also lose their status among God's people. "The forfeiture of substance here was not its destruction, as described in Deuteronomy 13:13-17 (for a city fallen into idolatry), but the appropriation of the offender's substance to the benefit of the temple, as described in Leviticus 27:28)."[12]

"All the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themsieves together unto Jerusalem" (Ezra 10:9). This apparently means all Israelites living in those areas and does not exclude members of other tribes who might have been among them. Yet, the number of the Ten Tribes who returned might have been so insignificant that the whole nation of returnees might well have been known merely as the "men of Judah and Benjamin."

"(It was the ninth month, the twentieth day of the month)" (Ezra 10:9). "This was the month Kislew, corresponding to our months of November-December."[13] Whitcomb identified this date as Dec. 8,457 B.C.[14] It was the rainy season in Jerusalem, and the weather at that time could be very cold.

"All the people sat in the broad place before the house of God" (Ezra 10:9). "This was a stone-walled enclosure, about 500 feet long and 150 feet wide, which might have afforded sitting room for 20,000 men. Deducting the aged, the infirm, the sick, and those under twelve years of age, and all the women, the whole total of men returning from captivity would scarcely have reached that number."[15] "This broad place was an open area in front of the watergate at the southeastern corner of the temple court."[16] The first order of business was an address by Ezra, which happily, due to the severe conditions, was rather brief.

"Trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain" (Ezra 10:9). The addition of this detail assures us that this is an account by an eye-witness. The urgency in which Ezra and the princes and elders viewed the matter of Israel's intermarriage with foreigners is emphasized by their calling such a general meeting at that unfavorable time of the year.