When Faith Is Broken

A Biblical Path Towards Restoration

All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again.

This familiar nursery rhyme captures a profound theological truth, when something breaks, it is tremendously difficult to mend. Yet in Ezra 10, we encounter a remarkable narrative that challenges this assumption, revealing God's extraordinary capacity to restore what appears irreparably broken.

The Weight of Broken Faith

Ezra 10:2 records Shecaniah's sobering confession:

“Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, an Elamite, responded to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the surrounding peoples, but there is still hope for Israel in spite of this.” (Ezra 10:2, CSB)

Side Note: There will be lots of questions around marrying foreign women. The issue here is about pagan worship and the inclination of the Israelites to pursue the false gods of the nations that these women served. When we take into account the social and historical context, it helps us understand the rationale of this i…