Deuteronomy 23:1

Moses proceeded in this chapter to give instructions regarding the purity and sanctification of the corporate Israel, their official "congregation," "giving directions for the exclusion of certain persons from it, and the reception of others into it (Deuteronomy 23:1-8), and for the purity of the camp in time of war (Deuteronomy 23:9-14), as to the reception of foreign slaves into the land, and the removal of licentious persons out of it (Deuteronomy 23:15-18), and as to certain duties of citizenship."[1]

"He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah.

"A bastard shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah, even to the tenth generation shall none of his enter into the assembly of Jehovah.

"An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter into the assembly of Jehovah forever: because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Nevertheless Jehovah thy God would not hearken to Balaam; but Jehovah thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because Jehovah thy God loved thee. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days forever.

"Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a sojourner in his land. The children of the third generation that are born unto them shall enter into the assembly of Jehovah."

Concerning the laws in this chapter, Watts declared, that, "They have been reworked in the preachy style of the editor."[2] This of course is incorrect. There is no "editor" of Deuteronomy. It is amusing to this student that critical scholars pretend to know everything, except the names of any of those editors and redactors they are always talking about! The "preachy" characteristics of Deuteronomy are exactly what should be expected from a long address like this delivered by one of the greatest preachers of all time.

The exclusion of eunuchs from the official assembly of Israel was given in Deuteronomy 23:1 here, and the reasons are not clear to us. It could be that the widespread use of eunuchs in the pagan religions of the times lay behind this prohibition. That God never excluded eunuchs from the eternal hope of true religion is certain; because Isaiah foretold that the day would come when God would give unto eunuchs a name better than that of sons and of daughters and "an everlasting name that shall not be cut off" (Isaiah 56:6). The conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8) stands as an epic fulfillment of this. See Leviticus 21:17-24.

"Bastard ..." (Deuteronomy 23:2). Technically, any person born out of wedlock, but Cook stated that persons "born of incest or adultery" were also included in this category.[3] Also, persons excluded for ten generations were, in fact, perpetually excluded, as indicated by the last word "forever" in Deuteronomy 23:3. "Ten is the number of perfection and completeness"[4] and should be understood as meaning "forever" or "always."

Regarding the Ammonites and Moabites whose descendants, along with bastards, were forbidden to enter the assembly of Jehovah, we reject the distortions of the critical scholars who place the rise of the Ammonites in times long after Moses, consequently affirming that the mention of the Ammonites here "is not of equal antiquity with the mention of the Moabites, being a later explanation."[5] Any person familiar with Genesis 19 must be aware of the fact that the Ammonites and the Moabites originated simultaneously in the incest of Lot with his daughters and that, therefore, there is no reason whatever to make the rise of the Ammonites a later historical development. The error of the critics here is based on the fact that the Bible does NOT specifically mention the Ammonites during the passage of Israel through Trans-Jordan. Very well, but they are specifically mentioned here! And, as we have already pointed out a hundred times in this series, "When the sacred writings refer to events already mentioned, there is almost always the inclusion of additional information. So it is here; and this is a far more acceptable understanding of Deuteronomy 23:3 than the radical splitting of the verse in two, dating the parts from different historical periods.

It is of the greatest interest that this prohibition of the Ammonites and Moabites from the assembly of Jehovah "forever," did not prohibit the intermarriage of Israelite men with Moabite women or Ammonite women, as exemplified by Boaz who stands in the ancestry of Jesus. He married Ruth, the Moabitess.

"Ruth's mother, Naomi, according to Jewish tradition was an Ammonite."[6] This was not a reciprocal privilege, however, for Moabite and Ammonite men were NOT permitted to marry JEWISH women.

This exclusion of Moabites and Ammonites was discerned by Jamieson as a hedge against the possibility that these prolific peoples might amalgamate with the tribes east of Jordan and through the sheer weight of their numbers become a dominating force in Israel.[7]

All of the exclusions here should be understood as necessary to the times and peoples in which these rules applied, and, as Ackland said, "This admixture of exclusion and concession would eventually give place to a gospel which says, `Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely!'"[8]

Kline pointed out that the danger of viewing these verses (Deuteronomy 23:3-8) as primarily concerned with racial or ethnic factors was prevented by the rules concerning Egyptians and other foreigners, making it clear that, "Mercy and morality were the vital principles of covenant administration."[9]

The rules in Deuteronomy 23:7,8, regarding Edomites and Egyptians made provision for relaxing any ban against them in the third generation. "Israel was to keep the bond of kindred sacred in the case of Edomites (`he is thy brother'), and not to forget in the case of the Egyptians the benefits derived from their sojourn in their land."[10]