Simon Says, August 12, 2022

In the last verses of this week’s Portion, Va-etechanan, Moses said to the Children of Israel that God will lead you to the land of Canaan.  There are seven nations that are greater and mightier than you:  Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivvites, and Jebusites.  Don’t fear them, because your God will deliver them.  Moses continued, “You shall not intermarry with them,” because the spouses will lead you astray.

“You shall not intermarry with them” is ambiguous.  The commandment may refer to the seven nations.  The commandment may be construed more broadly.  Cf. Ezra 9:12.    

However, Boaz married Ruth, a Moabite.  Moses married Zipporah a Midianite (and/or a Cushite woman), Solomon married an Egyptian, a Moabite, an Ammonite, an Edomite, a Sidonian and a Hittite.  God rebuked Solomon (the kingdom will be torn, 1 Kings 11), probably because he married a Hittite woman.