Today I read Ezra 8 and 9 where the names of those who had gone down to Jerusalem are listed. In chapter 9 the Jews start to marry outside of the covenant. This is the equivalent of not marrying someone of your own faith in our modern day and age. This can be a really big challenge when you are trying to merge a family together.
I once dated a girl in college who while she believed in God, was not a member of the Latter-day Saint faith and it caused several arguments and problems. Just for example, she could not wrap her mind around the idea of praying to Heavenly Father and asking His advice on something like dating or marriage. She felt that was a personal choice that should be made and that making it a matter of prayer was like asking your parents for permission. No matter how I explained it to her she just could not accept it and even grew quite angry at times about the subject. From that point on after we eventually broke up, I made the choice to only date Latter-day Saint women because it causes so much of a problem with trying to merge two different cultures together, especially one as fundamental as religion. So I can imagine Ezra's sadness and frustration at finding his people marrying outside of the chosen people. It can be very hard on a spiritual leader to see their people made choices like that. Until tomorrow.
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