Things Hard to be Understood | by Rob Thiele | Volume 26, Issue 1 | January – February 2020
The above quotation from Deuteronomy 23:2 (ESV) continues: “Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD”. A reader has asked us to comment on this statement. To the modern Western way of thinking, such a prohibition seems quite unreasonable. It is not “inclusive”. In fact, it’s just not fair. The parents may have erred, may have been guilty of sin; but why should the outcome of this “forbidden union” be that the innocent child that has now been born, be excluded from the assembly—the congregation of the LORD?
The larger context
This particular prohibition does not stand alone. It is one of a group of like prohibitions recorded in Deuteronomy 23, which, though unpleasant to contemplate, should be considered together. We will consider the exclusions noted in verses 1-8. These are:
A man w…
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