What is the meaning of Deuteronomy 7:3? Do not intermarry with them. “Do not intermarry with them.” (Deuteronomy 7:3) • “Them” refers to the seven Canaanite nations named in Deuteronomy 7:1. God was leading Israel into their land, but Israel was not to absorb their ways. • The command safeguards Israel’s covenant identity: “You are a people holy to the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 7:6). Holiness means being set apart, not blended with cultures committed to idols. • Intermarriage with idolaters easily leads to shared worship practices. God warns of this immediately: “For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods” (Deuteronomy 7:4). • History confirms the danger. Solomon “loved many foreign women,” and “his wives turned his heart after other gods” (1 Kings 11:1–4). • Ezra faced the same issue centuries later, tearing his garments when he heard that “the Israelites… have taken some of their daughters as wives” (Ezra 9:1–2). • The principle carries into the New Testament: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14). The spiritual mismatch, not ethnicity, remains the concern. • God is not against interethnic marriage; He is against union with those who reject Him. Rahab (Joshua 6) and Ruth (Ruth 4) are celebrated foreign women who trusted the LORD and married into Israel. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, “Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons.” (Deuteronomy 7:3) • Parents had authority—and responsibility—over marital arrangements. God calls them to guard their children’s faith above social, political, or economic gain. • The wording covers both directions: Israel was not to initiate marriages (give) or accept proposals (take) that crossed into idolatrous households. • Nehemiah confronted this very violation: “I rebuked them and cursed them and beat some of their men… because they had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab” (Nehemiah 13:23–27). • Malachi mourns, “Judah has profaned the sanctuary… marrying the daughter of a foreign god” (Malachi 2:11). The issue is spiritual adultery. • For believers today, the charge is echoed in 1 Corinthians 7:39—“she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord.” Parents, pastors, and friends should encourage marriages that unite two disciples of Christ. • When marriages do form across belief lines, 1 Peter 3:1–2 and 1 Corinthians 7:12–16 give counsel for faithful witness within the home, yet the ideal remains clear: guard the faith at the outset. summary God’s command in Deuteronomy 7:3 protects His people from compromise. He forbids marriages with those devoted to other gods so that Israel stays loyal, holy, and distinct. The timeless principle is that believers are to prize faithfulness to the LORD above every relational tie, ensuring that marriage fosters, rather than hinders, wholehearted devotion to Him. |
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