Bedeiah
Bedeiah was one of the Israelites who had married foreign women during the exile and agreed to send them away.
Biography
Bedeiah appears in Ezra 10:35 as one of the Israelite men who had taken foreign wives during or after the Babylonian exile. Following the return from Babylon, Ezra the priest led a sweeping reform of the community, confronting the practice of intermarriage with surrounding peoples, which the law had prohibited due to the risk of spiritual apostasy (Ezra 9:1-2). Bedeiah is listed among those from various Israelite families, including priests, Levites, and laypeople, who stood before the assembly and agreed to send away their foreign wives and any children born of those unions (Ezra 10:11). This act of covenant renewal, though painful and costly, represented a communal commitment to covenant fidelity and the preservation of Israel's distinct identity before God.
Significance
Bedeiah's story, though limited to a single verse, speaks powerfully to themes of repentance, covenant faithfulness, and communal accountability. His willingness to comply with Ezra's reform, giving up a foreign wife, illustrates the costly nature of obedience when personal relationships conflict with divine commands. Theologically, the post-exilic reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah were not simply ethnic exclusivism but were rooted in Israel's calling to remain a holy people set apart for God's purposes. Bedeiah's inclusion in this list affirms that genuine repentance involves concrete action, and that covenant restoration requires individuals, not just communities, to make difficult choices in submission to God's word.
Verse Appearances (1)
Ezra
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]