D'varim 7:3

[alon]

19. It is a negative commandment not to intermarry with a non-Jewish person.

Devarim 7:3(OJB) "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy bat thou shalt not give unto his ben, nor his bat shalt thou take unto thy ben."

Deu 7:3 (CJB) "Don't intermarry with them -don't give your daughter to his son, and don't take his daughter for your son."

[alon]

Read in context, Deu 7:1 (CJB) "ADONAI your God is going to bring you into the land you will enter in order to take possession of it, and he will expel many nations ahead of you -the Hitti, Girgashi, Emori, Kena'ani, P'rizi, Hivi and Y'vusi, seven nations bigger and stronger than you. 2 When he does this, when ADONAI your God hands them over ahead of you, and you defeat them, you are to destroy them completely! Do not make any covenant with them. Show them no mercy. 3 Don't intermarry with them -don't give your daughter to his son, and don't take his daughter for your son. 4 For he will turn your children away from following me in order to serve other gods. If this happens, the anger of ADONAI will flare up against you, and he will quickly destroy you.

So he is speaking here specifically of intermarrying with the occupants of the land He has given to His people. However this is echoed in the B'rit Chadasha in 2Co 6:14 Do not yoke yourselves together in a team with unbelievers. For how can righteousness and lawlessness be partners? What fellowship does light have with darkness?

There are of course many examples where Hebrews married pagans, however in all the positive examples they became Jewish proselytes, and in all the negative examples they did not and exactly what God said would happen did; they brought destruction on that person and even on the nation. Ruth the Moabitess, for example made Naomi's God her God, married Boaz and was in the line of Yeshua (Book of Ruth). Izevel (Jezebel) the Phoenecian however never converted and turned the heart of Ahab to Baal and Asherah and away from YHVH. Three years later, Ahab was killed in battle and is son Ahaziah inherited the throne. But he died in an accident and was succeeded by his brother, Joram. Elisha anointed Jehu, commander of Joram's army, as king, so that he could destroy all of Ahab's descendants as punishment for Izevel's treatment of God's people. (2 Kings 9)

So I would think to tie this commandment with 2Co 6:14 as well as the examples in the TNK and say it applies to us today as believers in Yeshua and, for some as Messianic Jewish proselytes.

Dan C

[alon]

I'm a strange case (as most who know me will attest, but ignore them ...); I married a Jew who had converted to Christianity while I was still a pagan in rebellion to Christianity. Now I am a proselyte to Messianic Judaism while she absolutely hates anything Jewish. I can tell you it does create problems- serious problems at times. Fortunately there has always been enough of the Divine in our marriage to redeem it thus far. That and I do love her contrary butt often difficult self. She must love me to put up with me too, so that helps. I do not know why God has placed me in this situation, or even if it was just my own self-will later replaced by a driven search for the truth. But here I am and here is where I will be used. Not sure how yet, but I suppose God knows and that's what matters. Point being even when it works, being even this much unequally yoked is a struggle. So I must agree with the mitzvah (as though that makes it official!) just from personal experience.

Dan C