When Ezra arrives in Jerusalem, he is told that many of the leaders of the people are guilty of a sin: they had taken for themselves and for their sons wives from the surrounding nations.
Ezra is heartbroken to realize that the people are in jeopardy for their sinfulness once again. After God had sent them into exile in Babylon and returned a mere remnant, now that very remnant is in danger of sinning away His grace. Upon hearing the news, Ezra tears his clothes and pulls out his hair. After sitting in stunned silence, he gets up and goes to the Lord with a passionate prayer.
Ezra confesses that his concern is that the Israelites will now be wiped out completely: "After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you destroy us without remnant or survivor?" (vs. 13 and 14)
The problem is that the nations around Judah are guilty of such great abominations and iniquities that God commanded His people to refuse marriage with them. By intermarrying with such debased cultures, the Jews are weakening their own spiritual resolve and tacitly supporting the dreadful pagan practices of their wives' religions. Although God has forbidden it, the people - and even the leaders of the people! - are flagrantly violating His command.
Something will have to be done.
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