that You gave through Your servants the prophets, saying: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of its peoples and the abominations with which they have filled it from end to end.
What the meditations of Ezra's heart were, while for some hours he sat down astonished, we may guess by the words of his mouth when at length he spoke with his tongue; and a most pathetic address he here makes to Heaven upon this occasion. Observe, I. The time when he made this address - at the evening sacrifice, Ezr 9:5.
Commenting on Ezra 9:5-15
Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets,.... Moses, and Joshua, and others, see Deu 7:3 saying, the land, unto which ye go to possess it; meaning the land of Canaan: is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness; which is to be understood...
PRAYS TO GOD. (Ezr 9:5-15) I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God--The burden of his prayer, which was dictated by a deep sense of the emergency, was that he was overwhelmed at the flagrant enormity of this sin, and the bold impiety of continuing in it after having, as a people, so recently experienced the heavy marks of the divine displeasure.
Commenting on Ezra 9:5-15