On this day, Ezra the Scribe went up to the Holy Temple and fasted, prayed, and cried in public. While he prayed and confessed, weeping and prostrating himself in front of the Temple, a large assemblage of men, women, and children gathered around him.
At that time, all of the assembled priests and Israelites swore to send away their non-Jewish wives. Ezra then issued a proclamation that all Jews residing in Israel should assemble in three days' time in Jerusalem (see Today in Jewish History for the 20th of Kislev).
Links: Ezra - Chapter 9; Ezra - Chapter 10.
When the spies that Moses sent returned from their reconnaissance of the Land of Canaan, they included in their report these words:
“We felt like ants before them,
and so we were in their eyes.”
Because they felt like ants in their own eyes,
therefore, others saw them as ants as well.