Adna
Who he was
Adna is mentioned in Ezra 10:30 as one of the Israelites who had married foreign women during the Babylonian exile. After the return from exile, Ezra the scribe led a reform movement to address the issue of intermarriage, which was seen as a violation of God's law and a threat to the identity and purity of the Jewish community.
During a public assembly, the people confessed their sins and made a covenant to put away their foreign wives and children born to them (Ezra 10:1–5). Adna was among those who were found to have married foreign women and pledged to separate from them as part of the reform process (Ezra 10:30).
The context of Ezra 10 highlights the importance of maintaining religious and ethnic purity among the Jewish people, especially after the return from exile. Intermarriage with foreign women was seen as a form of unfaithfulness to God and a potential source of idolatry and apostasy.
No further details are provided about Adna's background, family, or the specific circumstances of his marriage to a foreign woman. His inclusion in the list of those who had intermarried underscores the widespread nature of the issue and the collective response of the community to address it under Ezra's leadership.
Every mention
Ezra 1 mention
What the dictionary says
(rest, pleasure).
Sources
- STEPBible TIPNR · Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References · CC BY 4.0 · github.com/STEPBible/STEPBible-Data
- Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869) · Public domain