Deuteronomy 6:20-7:4 –
In
the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and
laws the Lord our God has commanded you?” tell him: “We were
slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and
Pharaoh and his whole household. But he brought us out
from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our
ancestors. The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as
is the case today. And
if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our
righteousness.” When
the Lord your
God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites,Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—and
when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you
must destroy them
totally. Make
no treaty with them, and show
them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not
give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from
following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly
destroy you.
Psalm
86:11 – Teach me
your way, Lord, that I may rely
on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may
fear your name.
Joshua
3:10 – This is how you will know
that the living God is among you and
that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites,
Perizzites,Girgashites,
Amorites and Jebusites.
1
Kings 11:2,4,6,11 – They were from
nations about which the Lord had
told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with
them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.”
Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love…As Solomon grew old, his wives
turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to
the Lord his
God, as the heart of David his father had been…So Solomon did evil in
the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely,
as David his father had done…So the Lord said
to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and
my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the
kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.
Ezra
9:2 – They have taken some of their
daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have
mingled the holy race with
the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this
unfaithfulness.”
Exodus
12:48 – “A foreigner residing among
you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his
household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No
uncircumcised male may eat it.
Numbers
15:30 – “‘But anyone who sins
defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord and
must be cut off from the people of Israel.
Malachi
2:11 – Judah has been unfaithful. A
detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in
Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by
marrying women who worship a foreign god.
Joshua
6:25 – But Joshua spared Rahab
the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her,
because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
Application:
- ·
What would be the benefit if God were to save
him from his enemies but abandon him to his own waywardness? David’s dependence
on God is complete, and so is his devotion to God—save me from the enemy
outside but also from my frailty within. Only one who is thus devoted to God
may expect God’s help and will truly fulfill the vow.
- ·
Righteousness refers to a true, personal
relationship with the covenant Lord that manifests itself in the daily lives of
God’s people.
- ·
The manner by which God is brought the
Israelites across the Jordan River, the watery boundary of the promised land,
brought assurance that the one true God was with them and that He would surely
dislodge the present inhabitants of Canaan.
- ·
Foreign women indeed did turn the Israelites
hearts after their gods.
- ·
Solomon’s wives turned Solomon’s heart after
the foreign women’s gods, as the Lord had warned.
- ·
Although David committed grievous sins, he
was repentant, and he was never involved in idolatrous worship.
- ·
Solomon had broken the most basic demands of
the covenant and thereby severely undermined the entire covenant relationship
between God and His people.
- ·
Marrying those who did not belong to the Lord
was an act of infidelity for the people of Israel.
- ·
The Lord’s command against intermarriage with
foreigners was not racially motivated but was intended to prevent spiritual
contamination and apostasy.
- ·
Only those consecrated to the Lord in
covenant commitment could partake of Passover; only for them could it have its
full meaning.
- ·
Unlike unintentional sins, for which there
are provisions of God’s mercy, one who sets his hand defiantly to despise the
word of God and to blaspheme His name must be punished.
- ·
Marriages to women who worshiped a foreign
God were strictly forbidden in the covenant law, not for ethnic or cultural
reasons but because they would lead to apostasy.
- ·
The faith of Rahab is noted twice in the New
Testament.
All Scripture verses taken from NIV
