Nehemiah 10:39, Deut. 7:1-4 Deut.7:3-4, Exodus 34:12-16, Ruth 1:16, 1 Corinthians 7:39, 1, Corinthians 7:12-14, 2 Corinthians 6:14-15
Tags: Marriage and association with non-believers
Before the words of Nehemiah 10:30-29 we had the firm agreement we talked about last week from chapter 9 verse 38
‘in view of all of this – which was God’s continuing providence, love, and forgiveness in the face of the repeated apostasy or denial of God by the people, in view of all of this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, Levites and our Priests are affixing their seals to it.’
Now we see Nehemiah Firming up the law- making it more comprehensive:
And he starts by dramatically insisting that men from the community should not marry foreign women, and that the community should not give their daughters to foreigners in marriage. Nehemiah expands intermarriage prohibitions from the much earlier Deuteronomy 7:3-4 and repeated in Nehemiah chapter 9 verse 8 to all the people around us, or `all the people of the land’ as the NRSV reads. So he now includes Ashdodites, Ammonites, and Moabites against whom himself in chapter 4 and Ezra in chapter 9… protested against.
With language such as `who do detestable things’ suggesting they worship other Gods’ are immoral in many ways, and eat detestable things – at least from a Jewish point of view. (Like pork and black pudding presumably).
The laws given by God were viewed by the Jewish people through the lens of a people who truly believed they were chosen as God’s special representatives on earth. God’s chosen people- and yet in pre- exile to Babylon and during exile they had forgotten and denied God’s law as found in the bible which at that time was the first five scrolls from Genesis to Deuteronomy. Now – returned to Jerusalem they affirmed their wish to obey these laws.
And the first matter raised and expanded by Ezra and Nehemiah is an injunction on marrying foreigners.
On the face of it a recipe for inbreeding which could lead to a higher incidence of gene disorders, structural abnormalities and inherited disease conditions, caused by harmful recessive genes.
But Nehemiah and Ezra wouldn’t have known about any of that- they were just following God’s law as given directly to Moses from Deuteronomy—but they added to it.
And the focus of Today’s sermon stays with chapter 10 verse 30
“We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons. Looking at the Old Testament and the new to answer that question for ourselves, and I doubt we will all agree.
In Deuteronomy, the restriction on marriage was only against the Canaanites – God’s concern for his people that the immorality of these seven nations would corrupt the Hebrews. It can be argued that the restriction would only last as long as the immorality did.
Ezra’s scope in Nehemiah was more universal – and hasn’t lasted the test of time. Today in admittedly a recent significant change:
Of the non orthodox Jewish Rabbis. The vast majority will conduct interfaith marriages, especially of those living outside Israel.
In 21st Israel itself however, matters with the Orthodox Jewish remain much the same, intermarriage is not recognised. And when it comes to Israeli Arabs who number roughly 21% of Israel’s over 8 million population the fractious relationship that existed at the time of Nehemiah and before remains.
A 2007 opinion survey in Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper found that more than half of Israeli Jews believed intermarriage is equivalent to "national treason”. And government funded agencies enforce psychological assessment on Jewish Girls with Arab Boyfriends.
So what can we learn about interfaith or faith and no-faith partnerships and marriage when we apply New Testament teaching to Old Testament:
The Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament in the vast-majority of cases, condemn inter-faith marriages:
I’m not going to say them all now, that would take all day, but a few:
Exodus 34:12-16: "Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you. You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles...You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land...And you will take wives from among their daughters for your sons, and their daughters who prostitute themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute themselves to their gods."
Here, God orders the Israelites to destroy the religious structures of the people of the land that they were invading. He further instructs the Israelites to not allow their sons to marry foreign wives - women who would follow a different religion and worship other Gods.
In some other passages the language is even stronger ……………….to the point of killing everyone.
Deuteronomy 7:1-4: "When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, and he clears away many nations before you...you must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for that would turn away your children from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly."
This passages is a little confusing. On the one hand, God orders the Israelites to commit genocide against the inhabitants of the lands that they were invading, and totally exterminate them. Then, God assumes that there will be foreign survivors because he specifically prohibits inter-marriage with them. As above, the concern is over the spouses bringing other faiths into Israel. The penalty for a father who allows a child to marry outside their faith is death.
And then we have our present study from Ezra and Nehemiah in which these leaders express distress at inter-faith marriage and describe it as a terrible sin. In Ezra chapter 10 we read of the forced divorce of Jewish men to non-Jewish women. For those now divorced women and men who remained married to foreigners….. they and their children were thrown out of Jerusalem – losing whatever property they had.
However- as seems to be nearly always the case with God’s teaching on morality there are exceptions to what seems to be the rule
The Scriptures contain a few cases of inter-faith marriages that appear to be approved by God. One is:
Numbers chapter 12 starts
12:1,
Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses
Numbers 12:1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.
Moses is recorded as having married a non-Israelite woman who presumably followed a different religion. Aaron and Miriam criticized Moses because of this. God supported Moses' decision. He is said to have retaliated against Miriam by making her leprous.
And what of Boaz who married the Moabite Ruth in the wonderful story of grace from the book of Ruth?
Exceptions to the rule; Ruth for certain converted to be a follower of God
Widowed Ruth having been urged by her Israeli mother in law to go back to her own land with her also widowed sister-in-law said this:
In Ruth 1:16 Ruth 1:16New International Version (NIV)
1:16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
Perhaps then in God’s wisdom, even just through the lens of the Old Testament without the dramatic intervention of Jesus in person, there are exceptions to a general rule of non-marriage between those of a different faith as it invites the possibility of God’s revelation in the unfaithful.
Let’s look at some New Testament Scriptures:
ON Screen only:
The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah Matthew 1:1-6
1 This is the genealogy[a] of Jesus the Messiah[b] the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
In the genealogy of Jesus at Matthew 1:5: The passage refers, without comment, to the marriage of Salmon, a Jew, and Rahab, a Canaanite. Their great-great grandchild was King David.
The Apostle Paul makes two negative references to inter-faith marriages in two of his Epistles to the Christians at Corinth:
1 Corinthians 7:39: A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.
The Bible in Basic English translates the final phrase "but only to a Christian." A woman cannot divorce her husband. If he were to die, then she could marry anyone that she wished to, but only if they he is a fellow Christian.
A couple of matters here: earlier on in chapter 7 at verse 15 Paul wrote that divorce is allowed for abandonment, and in Matthew chapter 5 Jesus indicates acceptance of divorce for infidelity.
It is not clear whether St. Paul intended for women to marry only a member of a Pauline church, or whether she would be free to marry a member of another 1st century Christian movement – but his intent is clear enough.
In 2 Corinthians 6:14-15:
Warning Against Idolatry
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial[b]? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
Belial, Baal, Bal, Bel, Balder or similar were Pagan Gods from the Middle East and beyond. Belial is translated Satan or the Evil One in some Bible translations.
Here, some commentators regard Paul as exhibiting total intolerance of non-Christian faith groups. He defines them as Satan worshipers. He sees Christians as being righteous and exhibiting light, while non-Christians were unrighteous and showing darkness. His prohibition appears to extend beyond marriage to any close cooperative activity with non-Christians.
Other commentators regard the reference to Belial as to be derisory and meaning ‘worthless’, giving rise to the meaning – yoking- which means in this case associating with sexually immoral people – do not associate with them it’s worthless. That would include in marriage.
However, he recommends that existing marriages in which one spouse converts to Christianity and the other remains Pagan should not be terminated by divorce:
1 Corinthians 7:12-14:
1 Corinthians 7:12-14New Living Translation (NLT)
12 Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a fellow believer[a] has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her. 13 And if a believing woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him. 14 For the believing wife brings holiness to her marriage, and the believing husband[b] brings holiness to his marriage. Otherwise, your children would not be holy, but now they are holy.
So, in such a union the couple should stay together if they can, the believer bringing holiness to the union and any children.
So- we see a general theme in both old and new testaments. The intention is that in marriage, a believer should marry a believer, but there are exceptions, and if you find yourself married to an unbeliever then you bring holiness, AND in some cases God is revealed and the unbeliever comes to believe.
But it’s risky- since the believer may be subject to the unbeliever’s values and at risk of coming to share some un-Christian ones. A Christian marrying a Christian is definitely the preferred option most Christians would think.
The bible passage referred to today were applied in their various contexts: Nehemiah and Ezra to a returning god fearing but not God honouring in terms of the law, Jewish people.
For the Corinthian Church of Pauls time- we know they were confused by his teaching, the rich took advantage of the poor – and the references of yoking and immorality are in the context of a Roman Town with extremely lax sexual morals and pagan worship.
So the question is raised
Should we apply these biblical passages literally today? In our own context.
Perhaps yes, or perhaps less. You decide for yourself:
Reading these passages literally, they appear to generally prohibit the creation of new inter-faith or more likely faith and no-faith marriages: But, there are exceptions, and within them God is revealed, and marriage is recognised as valid, except in the Ezra example.
And the context is so different in so many ways. For so many it’s not about inter-faith, it’s more likely to be about no-faith, and no-faith is often not no-faith at all, it’s about ignorance, and ignorance can be addressed. In programmes like the pre-marriage Alpha course and Christianity Explored or Alpha.
Even if one veers towards literal application of the Old Testament teaching of faith only partnerships, and even if you can somehow get past the differing viewpoints given by the apostle Paul, one would be perhaps being simplistic in approach.
For why?……….Christianity has historically shifted its interpretation of other themes in the Bible.
Slavery is no longer tolerated. We no longer burn some prostitutes alive (Lev. 21:9), murder sorcerers (Exod. 22:18), or kill gays who engage in sexual rituals in Pagan temples (Lev.20:13).
To the question about marriage raised today, I would suggest there are different answers to different contexts and circumstances. And raises a bigger question:
How should Christians relate to the world around them? Is association with unbelievers appropriate?
We have learned today that there are very different answers in the New Testament. There are even different answers in Paul’s letters. At times Pauls knows and condones – that believers are married to unbelievers. Likewise, he knows that unbelievers may wander into worship (1 Cor. 14:24).
And yet in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6, the lines are drawn ever so sharply. Stressing our obligation to honour God and examine our associations, surely, including romantic relationships for singles, in light of the one central, and most important relationship- the one we have with God.
Perhaps yes or perhaps less, in terms of literal application of the text we have considered today when thinking about sons and daughters and marriage. But certainly not less when it comes to examining one’s own perspectives when it comes to your relationship with God.
