Ezra 10:19
And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass. And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.
The pledge recorded here was given by hand, binding those who made it to put away their foreign wives while openly acknowledging their own guilt. The same action was a confession of trespass and the beginning of restitution, made by offering a ram of the flock for that trespass. It belongs to the practical separation of the people from heathen practices and from the world.
That separation prepared the people to be taught God's law. It brought them into a spiritual condition in which they could recognize the importance of rebuilding Jerusalem.
The account stands as part of God's clear counsel in love and mercy about marriage, to be carefully and prayerfully consulted and cheerfully obeyed before entering marriage. It warns that marriage must be only in the Lord, and that obeying this counsel escapes bitter anguish of heart, painful regret for long years, and frequent disappointment in that honorable estate. The separation from the world and the dedication of themselves and their substance to God's work applies as a call to contribute a trespass offering for missionary work and the needs of the church.