Ezra 10:35 names Benaiah, Bedeiah, and Chelluh in the list of men who had returned from captivity and had taken foreign, forbidden wives. The list belongs to Ezra's effort to bring about a practical separation of the people from the surrounding nations and from heathen influence. That separation was to prepare them spiritually for the work of rebuilding Jerusalem. Apart from their place in this list, no further detail is given about the three men. The verse is a list of names rather than an expressed promise.
The verse belongs to God's clear counsel about marriage, given in love and mercy to His people. It teaches the duty to marry only in the Lord and warns against marriages outside that counsel. That counsel is to be carefully and prayerfully consulted and cheerfully obeyed. Such obedience escapes bitter anguish of heart, painful regret for long years, frequent disappointments, and a repentance that is at once too soon and too late.
Ezra 10:35 names Benaiah, Bedeiah, and Chelluh in the list of men who had returned from captivity and had taken foreign, forbidden wives. The list belongs to Ezra's effort to bring about a practical separation of the people from the surrounding nations and from heathen influence. That separation was to prepare them spiritually for the work of rebuilding Jerusalem. Apart from their place in this list, no further detail is given about the three men. The verse is a list of names rather than an expressed promise.
The verse belongs to God's clear counsel about marriage, given in love and mercy to His people. It teaches the duty to marry only in the Lord and warns against marriages outside that counsel. That counsel is to be carefully and prayerfully consulted and cheerfully obeyed. Such obedience escapes bitter anguish of heart, painful regret for long years, frequent disappointments, and a repentance that is at once too soon and too late.