"And when I heard this
thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head
and of my beard, and sat down astonished." -- Ezra 9:3
Ezra for Skeptics
There's not much in this little book to interest skeptics (or anyone else as far as I can tell). But here are
a few things worth noting.
Check out the contradictions between the boring lists given in Ezra 2 and
Neh.7.
The Israelites offend God by "taking" foreign wives and thereby corrupting the "holy seed." 9:2
When Ezra hears of the intermarriages he tears his clothes, plucks out his
hair and beard, and sits down astonished. 9:3
Ezra tells the men that they must abandon their "strange" wives
and children if they want to avoid God's wrath. 10:2-3, 10-12