Ezra 10:10

EZRA'S ADDRESS BEFORE THE PEOPLE

"And Ezra the priest stood up and said unto them, Ye have trespassed, and married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel. Now therefore make confession unto Jehovah, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women. Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said concerning us, so must we do. But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without: neither is this a work of one day or two; for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. Let now our princes be appointed for all the assembly, and let all them that are in our cities that have married foreign women, come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God be turned from us, until this matter be despatched."

"The crowd readily agreed to Ezra's decision; but the implementation of it was far too complex and complicated a thing to be accomplished immediately while they were standing there shivering in the cold from the wintry rain."[17]

A commission was appointed, as the people suggested; and the people were called before it in small groups, accompanied by their fellow-citizens, thus giving time and opportunity to work out the problems one by one.