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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 23:1 - 23:8
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Some Rules Concerning Membership
v. 1. He that is wounded in the stones, a man whose testicles are crushed, or hath his privy member cut off, the urethra severed, thus being castrated, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. Because the children of Israel were consecrated to Him, the Lord wanted them to possess also bodily perfection. For that reason, men that were thus injured or were eunuchs were not admitted to the full privileges of the congregation of Jehovah, though they were received as proselytes, Act_8:27.
v. 2. A bastard, one born as the result of adultery or incest, one upon whom rests this evil stain of his conception and birth, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord. This rule cut him and all his descendants off forever, since the stain resting upon him would be transmitted to the entire congregation, whom the Lord, above all, desired to be holy.
v. 3. An Ammonite or Moabite, who, as the descendants of Lot, were related to Israel, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever,
v. 4. because they met you not with bread and time water in the way when ye came forth out of Egypt, thus violating every custom of hospitality, as it was practiced even by savage tribes, Deu_2:19-20, not to speak of the natural affection of kindred, and because they hired against thee Balaam, the son of Beor, of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee, Num_22:5-6.
v. 5. Nevertheless the Lord, thy God, would not hearken unto Balaam, would not permit him to carry out his intention of cursing Israel; but the Lord, thy God, turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord, thy God, loved thee, as Balaam himself was obliged to admit to Balak, Num_24:9.
v. 6. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity, not be concerned about advancing their good fortune, their welfare, all thy days forever. Their treatment of Israel had cut them off from all considerations of kindness, all this being done without the slightest motives of personal revenge, as the following section shows.
v. 7. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother, and the obligations of brotherhood had not been ignored by them to the extent practiced by the Ammonites and Moabites, Deu_2:6; thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian because thou wast a stranger in his land; they had received hospitality in Egypt, though they had been oppressed by Pharaoh.
v. 8. The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in their third generation, that is, the great-grandsons of those who had become proselytes to the religion of Israel. In all these cases, the Lord Himself permitted individual exceptions, as in that of Ruth, Rth_1:4, who became an ancestress of Jesus. Cf also 2 Samuel 10.