Ezra 10:18
And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.
The verse stands in the record of Israel's backsliding in contracting forbidden marriages with the surrounding heathen nations, and of Ezra's reform to separate the people from those unions. That separation was the practical work undertaken after the work under the decree resumed under Artaxerxes, to make the people spiritually ready to rebuild Jerusalem and to be taught God's law. Among those found to have taken foreign wives were men of the priesthood, even four of the family of Jeshua son of Jozadak the high priest — Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah — showing the forbidden mingling had reached the priests themselves and the high priest's own house.
Understanding God's law requires a prepared heart, separation from the world, and a determination to obey His commandments. The chapter holds God's loving and merciful counsel about marriage, to be carefully and prayerfully consulted and cheerfully obeyed. Heeded in time it saves from bitter anguish of heart, painful regret through long years, and disappointment, for marriage is to be entered only in the Lord and its duties studied beforehand. Repentance afterward comes too late, so the finding of strange wives even among the sons of the priests stands as timely warning and important instruction.