Translations:Does the divorce of the foreign women in Ezra 9-10 show that civil government has authority to dissolve marriages or preside over "divorce trials"?/13/en

This was simply a case of a lot of prominent Israelite men committing fornication with foreign woman (as if they had been prostitutes). This presentation of each man before the community leaders was a public "putting away" (divorce) declaration, required "according to the counsel of my Lord" (Ezra 9:3). Neither the men nor the community leaders had any choice or discretion in this matter. It was part of their public act of repentance for a sin (entering an illegal marriage) which might have brought judgment upon the community. No one participating in this process claimed that these marriages were ever legal. A claim like that would have denied the truth of Biblical law (Deut. 7:1-3) and nullified their repentance.