1.  Too ashamed. Imagine Ezra wailing, “O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens’ ” (Ezra 9:6, NKJV). And what seemed to be the main cause of the iniquity spreading everywhere? Mixed marriage! What? Why? What should Ezra and Nehemiah do about it? 
2. How was Nehemiah reacting to the language problem? Why do you think he was so alarmed? Why couldn’t the Israelite children be taught Hebrew or Aramaic? What was the problem created by this situation? How did Nehemiah respond? Nehemiah’s “tizzy fit” consisted of his cursing and swearing at the wayward people. True or False? What do you think about the punishment of beating and hair pulling? How effective do you think this was?
3. Solomon’s example. God set forth a definite rule for Solomon and other kings of Israel regarding marriage. What was that rule? What might have happened if the Israelites had obeyed God’s command in this regard? Instead, what happened? What about intermarriage in our church today? Are there consequences that affect the entire church? What are they?
4. Ezra reacts. What problems did intermarriage bring to God’s people? What did the people do about it? What consequences could the Israelites have avoided if they had been careful in not allowing intermarriage by their people? Does intermarriage pose serious problems to our Adventists today? Why or why not? What can or should the church do when children attend our services and bring with them false impressions of Bible teachings? What spirit do we want our children to have? 
5. Ezra acts. Imagine a church business meeting where you worship. You attend. The agenda, you learn, is sending 111 women back home from their mixed marriages, even some with babies in the family. Did that solve the problem? Why or why not? Besides the issue of marrying a non Christian or a person who is not a member of your church, are there other areas of disagreement you have to contend with where you worship? Should there be?
6. Marriage today. Aren’t you glad we have almost entirely accepted the concept of marriages of our believers? Or have we? What does Satan seem to think about mixed marriages? How does he encourage members to marry people with no religious affiliation or at least not the affiliation of the church? What if anything can we do about it? 

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Key Thought: Nehemiah contended with those who had made bad choices in marrying those who had no desire to follow God or were idolators.
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December 21, 2019

1. Have a volunteer read Nehemiah 13:23-25.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Why did Nehemiah use Biblical cursing, beat, and pull the hair of some of the elders in Israel?
3. Personal Application: In what ways can language prove a barrier to teaching or understanding the Bible and faith in the One True God? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states: “Why was it so important for Israel not to marry people of other languages or culture? Is this a racial issue, a social issue, or a Spiritual issue?” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Nehemiah 13:26,27.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. Why was Solomon used as a negative example by Nehemiah for Israel?
3. Personal Application: Why isn’t it a good idea to marry a non-believer and hope they will convert later?. Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Why did God allow people like Abraham, Solomon, and David to have multiple wives if it isn’t supposed to be like that? Where does it show that God was displeased with their choices?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Ezra 10.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. What was the reason and significance of the people separating themselves from their mixed marriages in response to Ezra’s rebuke
3. Personal Application: Have ever had times of lesser dedication to God when you were in a situation of following God, but compromising at the same time with what you knew truth to be? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states, “Was this an example of God approving of divorce if the spouse was an unbeliever? When it says they put them away and separated themselves even with children, does this show a pattern of divorce approved by God?” How would you respond to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read I Corinthians 7:10-17.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. What wise counsel does Paul give here to those who have already unwisely married an unbelieving spouse?
3. Personal Application: How do we sometimes become too judgmental on other people’s Sabbath-keeping? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

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Read Ezra 9:1-15. How does Ezra respond to hearing about the Israelites’ intermarriages? Ezra 9:1-2 state that the people “have not separated themselves”. The word “separated” is used in the following verses as well: Lev. 10:10; Lev. 11:47; Exod. 26:33; Gen. 1:4, Gen 1:6-7, Gen. 1:14, Gen. 1:18. What does the use of this word imply about the issue of a believer marrying an unbeliever?

The people approached Ezra with the issue of intermarriage themselves. The terminology they used by listing the nations involved in abominations demonstrated their knowledge of the Torah, as the list is taken directly from biblical accounts.

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Interestingly, the civil leaders brought the news to Ezra, as even the spiritual leaders of the nation, priests and Levites, were guilty of this transgression.

“In his study of the causes leading to the Babylonish captivity, Ezra had learned that Israel’s apostasy was largely traceable to their mingling with heathen nations. He had seen that if they had obeyed God’s command to keep separate from the nations surrounding them, they would have been spared many sad and humiliating experiences. Now when he learned that notwithstanding the lessons of the past, men of prominence had dared transgress the laws given as a safeguard against apostasy, his heart was stirred within him. He thought of God’s goodness in again giving His people a foothold in their native land, and he was overwhelmed with righteous indignation and with grief at their ingratitude” – Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 620.

The word “separate” is used for contrasting entities. In fact, it denotes complete opposites. By this statement the people acknowledged a prior understanding and knowledge of God’s command to stay away from false religions. They understood that no one could say that he/she will marry a spouse whose contrasting beliefs will have no impact on the marriage relationship or how they raise their children. They realized how serious the situation had become.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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Read Nehemiah 13:26-27. What does this show about how important biblical history is for informing us about the dangers of deviating from the right path?

Solomon was led deeper into sin by the choices he made. It would be accurate to say that Solomon caused his own ruin by disobeying God’s command for the kings of Israel: “Neither shall he [the king] multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away” (Deuteronomy 17:17, NKJV). Solomon’s life is used as a negative example: not only did he marry more than one wife, but significantly, as Nehemiah points out, he chose women who were not worshipers of God.

Why was Nehemiah correct in reproving the nation for intermarriage with pagans? Gen. 6:1-4; Gen. 24:3-4; Gen. 28:1-2; Deut. 7:3-4; and 2 Cor. 6:14.

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The command not to intermarry was not about nationalism but about idolatry. People in the Bible married non-Israelites. Moses married Zipporah, a Midianite woman; Boaz married Ruth, a Moabite. Instead, the issue with intermarriage in these commands concerns marrying someone who is of a different faith or of no faith. The problem was that the people in Ezra and Nehemiah’s time did not choose to marry believers in God. Richard M. Davidson, in Flame of Yahweh (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007), states: “The Edenic plan for marriage . . . called for a complementary wholeness of two partners in spiritual faith as well as other significant values” – Page 316. The pagan wives in this story did not choose to renounce idolatrous worship. Consequently, Nehemiah was perhaps more saddened than outraged by the choices of the people, since to him this demonstrated a lack of real commitment to God.

The Bible gives us formulas for practices that will keep us grounded in God and are designed to maximize our happiness. In the same way, the command to be equally yoked in marriage was supposed to help us lead a better life and to encourage mutual devotion to God.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Read Nehemiah 13:23-25. What happened here, and how do we explain Nehemiah’s reaction to the situation?

Since the children didn’t speak Aramaic (the language used during the Exile) or Hebrew, they couldn’t understand the teachings from Scripture. This was a real problem, because the knowledge of God’s revelation could thus be distorted or even disappear. The scribes and priests expounded on the Torah mostly in Aramaic in order to make the preaching clear to the people.

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However, since the mothers were from Ammon, Ashdod, and Moab and were generally the primary caregivers for the children, it is not surprising that the children didn’t speak the language of the fathers as well. The language we speak informs the way we think about concepts, because we use the vocabulary of that culture. Loss of the biblical language would have meant losing their special identity. Thus, for Nehemiah, it was unthinkable that families were losing touch with the Word of God and consequently their connection with the living God, the Lord of the Hebrews.

Biblical scholars point out that the actions of Nehemiah were most likely a public shaming of the people as part of prescribed punishments at that time. When it says that Nehemiah rebuked them and cursed them, we shouldn’t think of Nehemiah using foul language and expletives, but rather that he was speaking over them the curses of the Covenant. Deuteronomy 28 outlines the curses that would happen to those who broke the covenant. It is very possible that Nehemiah chose the words of the Bible to bring them to the realization of their wrong action and the consequences of their poor choices.

Moreover, when the text says that Nehemiah “beat some of the men and pulled out their hair” (Neh. 13:25, NIV), instead of seeing Nehemiah in a rage and reacting with fury, we should note that a beating was a prescribed form of public punishment. This kind of behavior was applied only to “some” of them, meaning to the leaders who caused or promoted this wrong behavior. These acts were to serve as methods of public shaming. Nehemiah wanted to ensure that the people understood the gravity of their choices and the results that would ensue from them.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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