In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples but could not speak Hebrew. I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair.
I forced them to take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves! Didn’t King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin. Why then should we hear about you doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”
Nehemiah 13: 23-27
Last time we saw our governor continue with reforms required after returning to Jerusalem. His main concern in those verses was protecting the Fourth Commandment: Honor the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.
Today we continue in the final recorded reform which Nehemiah enforced: intermarriage with women of other nations.
“In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.”
Saw here is raah – to see, in sight of others, view, behold, have experience, take heed, be near, perceive. Married is yashab – to sit, remain, dwell.
In those days I beheld – along with others – the men of God married to, dwelling with, those from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
The Ashdodites and Ammonites have long been among the “peoples around” seeking to thwart the work of rebuilding among the Returned Exiles. And this problem with intermarriage among our rebuilders is not new; Ezra dealt with it some 30 years before.
Let’s keep going.
“Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, or the language of one of the other peoples, but could not speak Hebrew.”
What’s interesting is each of the words referring to speaking in this sentence are all different. Spoke here is dabar – speech, word, account, advice, business, matter, message, purpose, talk. In “language of Ashdod,” language is lashon – tongue, speech, babbler, evil speaker. And in “could not speak,” speak is nakar – distinguished, perceived.
The children of intermarriage used the everyday talk of the people of Ashdod, or the speech of other peoples around. But they could not recognize their mother tongue, the Hebrew language.
From The Expositor’s Bible Commentary:
“Nehemiah observed it first in the speech of children—an interesting point, since the mothers naturally taught their children to speak the only language they knew.” The Hebrews recognized other people as foreigners by their languages (cf. Exod 21:8; Deut 3:9; Judg 12:6; Ps 114:1; Isa 33:4-19, Ezek 3:5-6).” p. 765
His point? The next generation of returned exiles would naturally follow the hearts of their non-Jewish mothers. First in language, then more…
“So I contended with them and cursed them.”
Here contend is rib – To strive, dispute, quarrel, plead, grapple, wrangle, hold a controversy. And cursed is qalal – to bring into contempt, accuse, despise.
So I quarreled with them, held a controversy, and brought them into contempt.
Interesting that controversy typically implies a public disagreement – a heated debate. The one in charge of these people, who had led multiple reforms – including fortifying their city – publicly quarreled with those who married foreign women.
Onward…
“And struck some certain men and pulled out their hair.”
Struck is nakah – to beat, give wounds, kill, surely wound. Pulled out their hair is marat – To make smooth, bare, or bald; to polish, scour, sharpen.
I beat certain men and polished their heads by pulling out their hair.
From the Expositors Commentary:
“On Nehemiah’s rebuke of the others…Contrast Ezra’s action (Ezra 9:3), who pulled out his own hair, with Nehemiah’s here. Plucking the hair from another’s beard was an action designed to show anger, to express an insult, and to mark someone to scorn (2 Sam 10:4; Isa 50:6).”
I find it interesting that the removal of hair was involved in both the leaders’ actions. Once again from Expositors Commentary:
“Ezra’s act of pulling out his own hair is unique in the Bible. Elsewhere the head is shaved (Job 1:20; Ezek 7:18; Amos 8:10). Nehemiah demonstrates how different his personality was from Ezra’s: when confronted with the same problem of intermarriage, instead of pulling out his own hair, Nehemiah pulled out the hair of the offenders!
“Ezra’s influence was not due to his official position but to the moral outrage he demonstrated. According to N.H. Snaith, ‘his part was not an executive part, but comparable to that of Mahatma Gandhi in modern times. He is scandalized; he prays and he fasts.’ (Ezr 9:3-5; 10:6)
“The word ‘appalled’ is mesomem, which means ‘to be appalled or stupefied,’ ‘to be reduced to shuddering’ (cf. Dan 4:19; 8:27). Rare is the soul who is so shocked at disobedience that he is appalled.” p. 663.
Oh, to remember the different roles we play in appalling circumstances. Some of us have official positions and platforms in which to speak out. Even to bring to light what is appalling in a way that shows how shameful the person’s actions are, as Nehemiah did. Some are elected leaders required to speak up on behalf of the people they represent, and vote with integrity. And all of us can be shocked at moral horrors in our society, leading us to the kind of prayer that seeks repentance – first from ourselves, then on behalf of others.
“And made them swear by Elohim that they shall not give their daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.”
Swear is shaba – to be complete; to seven oneself, to swear (as if by repeating a declaration seven times).
Isn’t that interesting? I knew seven is a number of completion in the Bible, but this gives me pause. As in, ‘I swear to you…I seven myself.” Sure makes Peter’s question to Jesus about forgiving his brother up to seven times more meaningful, huh?
So what are those who have given their sons to, and taken for themselves, foreign wives to do? Swear – seven themselves – not to do it anymore.
The Expositors Commentary points out, “Nehemiah’s action was designed to prevent future intermarriages (‘you are not to give’), whereas Ezra dissolved the existing unions.” (p. 766)
I’m not sure why the two leaders, thirty years apart, called for different responses. But we know for certain both cared deeply about obedience from God’s people, particularly as ones only recently having returned from captivity for this very thing.
Next our leader makes an appeal to these men from history: “Didn’t King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations.”
In “did not Solomon sin,” sin is chata – to miss, go wrong, bear the blame. In “there was not a king like him,” like is kemo – as, thus, so, well as, in comparison of, like unto. And nations in “among the nations” is goy – every nation, Gentiles, people.
Among every people group there was not a king in comparison with Solomon. Yet, he missed the mark and bore the blame.
“He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin.”
Beloved is aheb – to have affection for. God made him (nathan – to give) king over all Israel. And pagan is nokri – strange, foreign, non-relative, adulterous. And in “caused him to sin,” sin is chata again: to miss or bear the blame.
Solomon had all he could want: God gave him the kingdom of Israel and had His full, divine affection. Yet he allowed foreign women to draw him into missing the mark, bearing the blame.
So, historically speaking, what was the big deal about all of this anyway? Simply that the children of these unions didn’t speak Hebrew? Nope. So much more.
The Expositors Commentary boils it down:
“Solomon was Israel’s outstanding king in wealth and political achievements…[he] reigned for forty years. He built the magnificent temple (1 Kings 6:1-38) and an even more splendid palace for himself (1 Kings 7:1).
His fame spread beyond his borders so that the queen of Sheba in southwestern Arabia traveled fourteen hundred miles to test his fabled wisdom (1 Kings 10:1-3). His international prestige is demonstrated in that he was given the daughter of a pharaoh in marriage (1 Kings 3:1). This is the only firmly attested instance in which a king of Egypt gave his daughter in marriage to an alien…
According to 1 Kings 11:3, Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, among whom were Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women (1 Kings 11:1). The mother of Rehoboam, Solomon’s successor, was an Ammonite princess. Hellenistic sources suggest that Solomon also married the daughter of Hiram of Tyre.
Solomon began his reign humbly by asking for wisdom from the Lord (1 Kings 3:3-15). In later years, however, his foreign wives led him to worship other gods, so that he built a high place for Chemosh, the god of the Moabites on the Mount of Olives (1 Kings 11:7)…
[Some] later examples of foreign queens who led Israel astray:
“Rehoboam’s wife, Maacah, daughter of Abishalom…erected an image to Asherah in the city (1 Kings 15:10-13); Ahab’s marriage to Jezebel brought the Sidonian Baal and Asherah to Samaria (1 Kings 16:32-33); and in consequence of Jehoram’s marriage to Ahab’s daughter, Athaliah, a temple for the Sidonian Baal was erected in Jerusalem (2 Kings 8:18; 11:1).” p. 766
Oh my. Did you catch where Solomon built the high place for the false god Chemosh? On Jesus’ beloved Mount of Olives. And the generational sin was repeated on and on until the entire nation was given over to what they ultimately chose: allegiance to foreign gods over the One True God Who had rescued them and set them apart to be His.
How about us? As the ekklesia – the sent out ones of Jesus, seeking to follow the Way – the Church must bow down to One only. If we do not, we can be assured our public witness will suffer. Remember Jesus’ message to the Ephesians in Revelation 2:1-6 about First Love? He talks about them repenting so He will not have to remove their lamp stand.
From the Expositors Commentary (volume 12): “The Ephesians are called on to reflect on their earlier works of fervent love… to humbly ‘repent’ (totally change) before God, and to do the former works motivated by love. These imperatives are all part of a single action designed to keep the Ephesians from the judgment of Christ, which would effectively remove them as his representatives in the world.”
Like you may be, I am currently appalled at this administration’s treatment of imago dei – including children – surrounding immigration. And there are absolutely things on the other side of the political aisle that I should be appalled by. We do not get to pick and choose what we will be appalled by, Believers. I’m talking to myself here, too. We stand on God and His Word, not what the right or left tell us. Our witness, our grace-and-Truth witness, willing to take up our cross and follow Him, is at stake.
How about our nation? We cannot compare our country to ancient Israel, a nation-state set apart for Him. But we can hold ourselves and our leaders to moral integrity. And if we don’t, we can be assured we will have what we allow, even ask for.
“Why then should we hear about you doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”
How then should we hear (shama – hear with intent to obey) you doing all this great (gadol – great, high, magnify, promote) evil (ra‘ – adversity, affliction, calamity; from ra’a’; bad or evil – grievous harm, heavy, hurtful, sorrow, trouble, wickedness, wretchedness, wrong). Transgressing – maal (commit, trespass; properly, to cover up; to act covertly, treacherously) against our God (Elohim) by marrying (yashab – to sit, remain, dwell) pagan (nokri again: strange, foreign, non-relative, adulterous) women?
After all history and the exile taught us, how should we hear of you magnifying such grievous, heavy evil, acting treacherously against our Elohim by dwelling with foreign women – in the sight of all?
History will repeat itself if we don’t pay attention. Generational sins will show up in each successive generation until someone in the line says, “Enough!” And whatever has our deepest heart, that seat from which all other decisions flow, that is what we worship.
May we humbly bow, each day, to the One seated on high.