Ezra 10:11
Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.
The call belongs to Ezra's reform after the return from exile in Babylon, in his effort to separate the people from the heathen and bring them into a spiritual condition in which they could understand the importance of rebuilding Jerusalem. It summons Israel to confess wrongdoing and unfaithfulness to the LORD God of their fathers, to do His pleasure and will, and to separate from the people of the land and from foreign or strange wives. That confession belongs directly between the sinner and Jehovah, not between the sinner and a priest. The intermarriages with foreign wives are sin and unfaithfulness that increased the people's transgression, violated the covenant, and threatened their faithfulness to God.
The required separation extended beyond the foreign wives to their children, to the surrounding peoples, and to other heathen practices. The people accepted this course, and because many people were involved the work of clearing the transgression was carried out in stages over two months. Practical separation from the world and determination to obey God were necessary preparation before the people could be taught the law and understand it, for only by putting away forbidden marriages and other heathen practices could they be ready to learn. In this way the reform ended intermarriage and restored obedience to God's word and the proper worship and service of His house, establishing regular worship.
The episode is a warning that intimate ties with those outside God's people can lead them away from Him, and it served as an example of Israel's duty under God's command and a precedent believers looked back to when considering marriage with unbelievers. In love and mercy God counsels that marriage must be entered only in the Lord and only after studying beforehand the duties of marriage. Reading and prayerfully considering and cheerfully obeying this instruction gives important instruction and timely warning that escapes bitter anguish of heart and painful regret for long years, frequent disappointments in that honorable estate, and repentance that is at once too soon and too late.