The verse names Hanani and Zebadiah among the sons of Immer who had taken foreign wives and were included in the separation. It belongs to the detailed account of the people's response to Ezra's call for reform by separating from forbidden alliances with the heathen, in the setting of backsliding and reformation in Jerusalem. The practical removal of heathen abominations it illustrates prepared the people to understand and obey God's law. That same separating work prepared them spiritually for rebuilding Jerusalem.
The verse stands as part of God's clear counsel on marriage given in love and mercy to His people. That counsel is to be carefully and prayerfully consulted and walked in and cheerfully obeyed in order to receive important instruction and timely warning. Heeding it escapes bitter anguish of heart and painful regret for long years, and the frequent disappointments of the honorable estate of marriage, and repentance at once too soon and too late. It teaches the duty to study the duties of marriage before entering into it and to marry only in the Lord.
The verse names Hanani and Zebadiah among the sons of Immer who had taken foreign wives and were included in the separation. It belongs to the detailed account of the people's response to Ezra's call for reform by separating from forbidden alliances with the heathen, in the setting of backsliding and reformation in Jerusalem. The practical removal of heathen abominations it illustrates prepared the people to understand and obey God's law. That same separating work prepared them spiritually for rebuilding Jerusalem.
The verse stands as part of God's clear counsel on marriage given in love and mercy to His people. That counsel is to be carefully and prayerfully consulted and walked in and cheerfully obeyed in order to receive important instruction and timely warning. Heeding it escapes bitter anguish of heart and painful regret for long years, and the frequent disappointments of the honorable estate of marriage, and repentance at once too soon and too late. It teaches the duty to study the duties of marriage before entering into it and to marry only in the Lord.