23 In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. 25 And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. 27 Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?”
28 And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. 29 Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
30 Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; 31 and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits.
Remember me, O my God, for good.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
The last thing Nehemiah had to deal with was people who had intermarried with foreigners, another thing they had promised not to do (Neh 10:31). God had forbidden intermarriage with foreigners because He knew that they would lead them to worship their gods instead of Him. It was clear that the foreign cultures were winning because their children could only speak the foreign language and not the Hebrew language of Judah. Nehemiah confronted them, called down curses on them from God, he even beat some of them and pulled out their hair (probably from their beards). Clearly Nehemiah was serious about this issue. He knew that God’s judgement would be far more severe and that was his ultimate concern. He reminded them about how even Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, was led into sin through his marriages to foreign women.
God requires that as a believer, you only marry a believer (2 Cor 6:14). Today we see far too many disregarding this requirement from God. An unbeliever will always pull a believer towards sin quicker and stronger than a believer has any hope of influencing the other way. Take God seriously in this issue and make sure that your closest relationships are only with believers. Yes, we must befriend unbelievers in order to win them for God but the relationships that have greatest influence on us must be influencing us to be more Christ-like.