Dear Steven,
I am writing to inquire to you about the legality according to the word of Elohim on the intermarrying of races, specifically a man of a Lebanese mom and an Irish dad and a woman of a descent of a Caucasian mom (country unknown) and an African dad. What are the ramifications in such matters and what must one do in these circumstances, what are YHWH’s textual and traditional implicators on the just judgment in such matters…is it permissible?
Christopher
MYREPLY
Dear Christopher,
You ask a question that comes up from time to time. I’d suggest that you ask a minister or a rabbi for more detailed information if you wish, but here is my viewpoint, based on the scriptures.
Let’s first look at biblical examples and scriptural instructions. Moses had a Cushite (black) wife and God punished Miriam and Aaron for criticizing Moses about this. A “mixed multitude” came out of Egypt with the Israelites and surely they included other races and intermarried with the Israelites (Exodus 12:38). Numbers 31 records an incident where Moses asked God what to do with tens of thousands of Midianite, non-Israelite women who were taken captive as war booty. God and Moses allowed these non-Israelite women to be married to Israelite men (verse 18, 35). Abraham himself had an Egyptian concubine, Hagar (Genesis 16:3), and Joseph had an Egyptian wife (Genesis 41:45). The Egyptians were Hamites via Mizraim (Genesis 10:6). We have no idea what races the women were who were in Abraham’s harem of concubines (Genesis 25:6). Leviticus 19:33-35 and Ezekiel 47:22-23 give God’s instructions that gentiles who forsook their false gods and served the God of Israel could be given an inheritance among the tribes of Israel (and obviously could intermarry with Israelites).
In light of the above biblical examples and scriptures, it is hard to make a biblical case that it is sinful for Israelites to marry non-Israelites or for members of one race to marry someone in another race. There are injunctions given to Moses that the Israelites were not to marry the inhabitants of the Promised Land that they were invading, but that was so the Israelites would not be turned away from God to serve the false gods of the Canaanites with their evil practices. I cannot see that interracial marriage is a sin of itself because God clearly allowed it to happen with his blessing in biblical examples. However, anyone contemplating an interracial marriage ought to consider aforehand the cultural differences that could pose problems in such a marriage.
Steve
