Text: Ezra 10:10
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 34:16
Subject: foreign marriage as covenant unfaithfulness
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Exodus 34:16 prohibited taking foreign wives because they would lead Israel to "prostitute themselves to their gods." Ezra 10:10 directly applies this prohibition to the post-exilic community: "You have been unfaithful (מְעַלְתֶּם, me'altem) by marrying foreign women (נָשִׁים נָכְרִיּוֹת, nashim nokhriyyot), adding to the guilt of Israel." Ezra's use of the term מַעַל (ma'al, "unfaithfulness/treachery") frames intermarriage not merely as a social concern but as covenant betrayal — the very danger Moses warned about at Sinai. The post-exilic community, having just returned from the exile that resulted partly from such unfaithfulness, now faces the same temptation, making Ezra's appeal to separation an urgent call to avoid repeating the pattern that led to judgment.