Ezra 10:16
And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.
The children of the captivity did what they had agreed to do to address their transgression, carrying out the proposed reform of separation. Ezra the priest, together with certain chiefs of the fathers, was set apart for this work, designated by their fathers' houses and every one by name. They separated themselves and sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the cases, working in an orderly way by family groups.
The matter to be examined was the foreign marriages, that is the forbidden alliances and heathen practices from which the people were to separate. The examination took two whole months to complete, forming a period of preparation of heart and determination to obey God's commandments. This practical separation from the heathen put the people in a spiritual condition in which they could be taught the law and could recognize the importance of rebuilding Jerusalem.
Ezra is thus shown as a strong reformer who cast out foreign wives and their children and established regular synagogue worship. The verse forms part of God's clear counsel about marriage, given in love and mercy to be carefully and prayerfully consulted, walked in agreement with, and cheerfully obeyed. It instructs and warns believers to marry only in the Lord and to study the duties of marriage before entering it. Obeying that counsel spares bitter anguish of heart, painful regret for long years, frequent disappointments in that honorable estate, and repentance that is at once too soon and too late.