For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Will God destroy those that intermarry?
Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:
Yes.
“Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them: you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. 4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, and they will serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.” (Deuteronomy 7:3-4)
No, some of God’s favorite people had foreign wives and he didn’t seem to mind.
“Now to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.” (Genesis 46:20)= The Skeptic Annotated Bible commented on Genesis 46:20 saying “Joseph married an Egyptian woman, from whom were born of two of the patriarchs of Israel, Manasseh and Ephraim.”
“Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman);” ( Numbers 12:1)
“And the anger of the Lord burned against them and He departed. 10 But when the cloud had withdrawn from above the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous.” (Numbers 12:9-10)= And Moses married an Egyptian woman. When Aaron and Miriam complained about it, God gave Miriam leprosy as a punishment.
(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)
Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:
- When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction. A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time. To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
- One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible. See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions. Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do. But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
- The skeptic tries to pit Deuteronomy 7:3-4 as affirming the claim “God will destroy those that intermarry” against three other passages (Genesis 46:20, Numbers 12:1, Numbers 12:9-10) as affirming “God will not destroy those that intermarry.”
- The skeptics is correct to note that all three verses (Genesis 46:20, Numbers 12:1, Numbers 12:9-10) does show God’s people marry Gentiles (non-Jews).
- Joseph married an Egyptian in Genesis 46:20.
- Moses married a Cushite from Africa in Numbers 12:1 and Numbers 12:9-10.
- In the instance of Numbers 12, given God’s punishment on Aaron and Miraim was to make them have skin white as snow, it seems to be the opposite of Moses’ wife’s skin color. Numbers 12 seems to be a direct condemnation by God of racism by skin color.
- Yet Deuteronomy 7:3-4 does not contradict with any of the three passages (Genesis 46:20, Numbers 12:1, Numbers 12:9-10). Deuteronomy 7:4 mentioned the reason why the Hebrews were not to inter-marry with foreigners: “For they will turn your sons away from following Me, and they will serve other god.” Its so the Hebrews don’t apostate and follow after other gods, which would then commit the sins of idolatry. But those who married Joseph and Moses chosen to follow after the living God. So Detueronomy 7:3-4 is a non-issue for them and their marriage.
- There is no contradiction here. Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
- We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity. The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible. In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview. Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”
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[…] Will God destroy those that intermarry? […]
I’m not a skeptic but this answered some questions I had since I have family who hold to kinism. My usual reply has been to look at the book of Ruth but I didn’t know how to respond to passages like the one you gave from Deuteronomy.
Ah true I wasn’t thinking about kinists. My interactions with kinists have been from the internet only. I hope this is helpful in some ways, thanks for reading this
My relatives normally don’t say it publicly but it comes out in hush conversations. They need to learn there’s a difference between Must be vs biblical.
Astounding that some believers agree with nonbelievers’ interpretation
“A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.” This made me laugh! So true. Sometimes people think they see a contradiction, but they really just don’t understand, and sometimes they aren’t even trying to understand.
You are so right to say this: “Sometimes people think they see a contradiction, but they really just don’t understand, and sometimes they aren’t even trying to understand.” I think asking for a definition of what is a contradiction at the front of the conversation helps and also shows whether or not they want to understand or don’t even want to understand, but be argumentative in a way that they just want to bash the Bible. There’s a big difference between paraodox and actual contradiction. I find it amazing that people can believe the nature of light is paradoxical (travel in wave, travel in line) and then turn around and think some of these Bible verses are contradictions when its less paradoxical than the nature of light!
You made me think of this verse. 🙂
A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
Proverbs 18:2 ESV
Good verse from Psalm 18:2. Before you used ESV, what versions of the Bible did you used Mark?
I grew up in the Lutheran church with the RSV. After I got saved at age 20 my primary Bibles included the RSV, KJV, NASB, NKJV, NIV, and TS2009. 😊
Ha! Amen, it’s true. Somebody smart once said we listen to one another mostly so we can express an opinion, rather than listening so we can understand what someone is saying.
Thanks for this debunking of Steve/Stephen Well’s fraudulent “contradiction.” This discussion reminds me that Christians should not marry (or have ecumenical fellowship with) unbelievers, including pseudo-Christians who hold to works-righteousness false gospels.
Agreed. Christians must be courting to marry Christians. How was your Friday? I fell asleep yesterday at 3 AM so heavy and didn’t get to finish this post until the morning, hence the late post! Let me know how your shift went!
RE: shift
Thanks! Fridays are always crazy busy but settling down today. I have enough work to keep me busy all weekend without needing any help, which is the way I like it.
How does your prep day look?
Thanks for the great insight. Glad you got some rest.
Shalom!
Thanks brother. Yes I got some rest hence this later post on Friday. Have a blessed weekend Michael, May all that you do be blessed!!!
This point resolved the tension: “But those who married Joseph and Moses chosen to follow after the living God. So Deuteronomy 7:3-4 is a non-issue for them and their marriage.”
Good points and clarification! This is an ongoing issue with God’s people. I recall in Ezra that all the ‘foreign wives and their children’ were identified and sent away.
While there are exceptions, God knows that when we His people align with unbelievers, we become like them, they don’t become like us.
I hope all is well brother!
Thanks for reading this and commenting! Good points you made here. Been meaning to ask how has church been???
Good point showing there is no contradiction: ” Its so the Hebrews don’t apostate and follow after other gods, which would then commit the sins of idolatry. But those who married Joseph and Moses chosen to follow after the living God.”
Thanks for your comments and also here observing the thought that reconcile these passages. Hope your Saturday is going well brother Frank with much rest, both physical and spiritual!
Thanks for asking! Last week Bob and I officially became members and presented our testimonies to the church. (Although we’ve been Christians for many years!)
It was exciting. There were two others joining and everyone celebrated.
This really means a lot to me. I’m so grateful to the Lord!
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing your response to the atheist. The ending is important as it turns the table on the atheist with their own contradictory worldview
Point 8 catches the atheist no matter what alleged contradictions they bring up
It does. It goes to the the heart of true contradiction in these discussions: the atheist trying to talk about contradictions
Point 8 is important; how can the atheist say “contradiction!” when the law of non-contradiction doesn’t exist in their worldview?
Exactly Silas. Christians shouldn’t let the atheist get away with that
[…] 2.) Bible Contradiction? Will God destroy those that intermarry? […]
Great article Jim! The period of time between Joseph and Moses is around 400 years, so the circumstances would most assuredly be different. The reason for God to forbid intermarrying with the people in the promised land was more about keeping clear of idolatry that racism.
You hit it on the nail!! This is on point what you said: “ The reason for God to forbid intermarrying with the people in the promised land was more about keeping clear of idolatry that racism.”. How is your day going this new week so far???
This delivered a big punch on the critics’ thinking!