Deuteronomy 7:4, commentary and pictures

God forbade covenant, mercy, and intermarriage with the idolatrous nations around Israel because a foreign husband or wife would turn sons and children away from following Him to serve other gods, kindling His anger to destroy them suddenly.
The command was spoken by Christ as Israel's leader in the pillar of cloud to keep His people separate and holy as keepers of His law and a light to the world, where safety lay in preserving that peculiar character and not in political alliance or mingling for temporal gain.
Abraham therefore refused a Canaanite wife for Isaac lest he be corrupted and drawn from God, while Solomon's marriages for alliance and policy turned his heart and multitudes of Israel into polygamy, idolatry, and national apostasy until prosperity was withdrawn and the kingdom rent from him.
The same plain direction still forbids a child of God bought by Christ's blood to marry an unbeliever who does not fear and obey God, however moral or agreeable, because such a life union imperils the soul and turns heart and affections from loving and serving God.
It also forbids intimate commingling and alliance with the openly wicked and ungodly, and requires parents to train children from infancy in loyalty to God's law and to guard and guide them in marriage, that commandment-keepers may be blessed to a thousand generations and be translated to see the King in His beauty.

Speaker and Covenant Setting

The speaker is Christ Himself as Israel's invisible leader, guide and protector enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, the same Physician who later healed the sick in Palestine. The command belongs to what God required in Deuteronomy 4 to 8 that Israel might be a holy people to Himself. It is to be studied now to prepare for the day of final review when all must stand before the Judge of all the earth to answer for deeds, since the present is the time of investigation when every character is investigated and every case decided for eternity.

It is to be read with Deuteronomy 7:6 and the whole of Deuteronomy 7 and with Deuteronomy 1 and Deuteronomy 8, as written for the admonition of those upon whom the ends of the world are come. It commands Israel to keep covenant with God, remain distinct from surrounding peoples who knew His law but would not obey it, and displace nations devoted to idolatry. Blessing and prosperity depended on worshiping the true God in obedience, while disloyalty would bring loss of those benefits.

The restrictions on association were given to keep Israel from conforming to heathen practices and to preserve sacred truth as a channel of light so Israel could be the light of the world. They were not given to shut Israel away to escape temptation, to render selfish outward obedience to gain prosperity and national greatness, or to deny mercy to Gentiles. They were not given to build a wall of separation exalting Jerusalem as an exclusive heaven, or to refuse light to other nations.

The command is part of a barrier God put between Israel and other nations to keep Israel separate and holy as keepers of His law, where safety lay in keeping that peculiar holy character. Breaking the barrier through political alliances and intermarriage brings temporal honor and riches but corrupts character and turns away from following God to serve other gods. It specially guards against mingling with idolatrous nations lest hearts be deceived. The danger lay in attractive groves and shrines, temples and altars arranged in the most expensive, alluring manner that could pervert the senses so that God would be supplanted in the minds of the people.

Prohibition and Threatened Judgment

The verse forbids covenant, mercy, and intermarriage with the Canaanite nations around Israel, including the giving and taking of sons and daughters in marriage with them. Such covenants and marriage alliances were barred because they threatened faithfulness to God.

The reason for the prohibition is that a foreign husband or wife will turn Israelite sons and children away from following the Lord into idolatry and the worship and service of other gods, producing apostasy and unfaithfulness. Marriage with the nations Israel was commanded to drive out, and with the surrounding idolatrous peoples generally, would draw the Israelite away from obedience to the service of false gods. In particular a Canaanite wife brings a corrupting influence that leads her husband away from God into idolatry.

That turning to other gods kindles the anger of the Lord against His people so that He will destroy them suddenly. The same warning therefore supports refusing alliance and cooperation with idolaters, since cooperation could open the way for idolatry and compromise the distinction between God's people and the world.

Faithful and Unfaithful Examples

Abraham feared that a Canaanite wife would corrupt Isaac and draw him away from God, and therefore he would not allow Isaac to marry a Canaanite but required his servant to seek a wife among his own kindred who believed in the true God. The care was grave because Isaac was divinely appointed to succeed as keeper of God's law and father of the chosen people through whom the promise to Abraham's posterity would be fulfilled. Abraham therefore required his servant under solemn oath before the LORD not to take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanites but to go to his kindred to select one who would not lead Isaac from God, and he charged him not to take Isaac back to that country because nearly all there were affected with idolatry. Even a son habitual in faith in God and submission to His will, yet strong in affection and gentle and yielding in disposition, is in danger of sacrificing principle for harmony if united with one who does not fear God.

Solomon disregarded the command by making affinity with Pharaoh to strengthen relations to the south through marriage to Pharaoh's daughter, and further by marrying an Egyptian princess and many other heathen princesses for political and commercial alliances while following surrounding customs. Even though Pharaoh served Israel by taking Gezer from the Canaanites and giving it as a present, which Solomon rebuilt and fortified on the Mediterranean coast, the marriages were venturing upon forbidden ground contrary to God's law. Solomon hoped that his wisdom and example would lead his wives from idolatry to the true God and draw the surrounding nations into close touch with God's people, and the hope that a foreign wife might be converted was held, but it did not justify the alliance. Though his first Egyptian wife was converted and united with him in worship of the true God, the marriages were a vain and fatal mistake, since no man is strong enough to resist the influence of heathen associates and disregarding God's law never leads others to revere and obey its sacred precepts.

The warning was fulfilled when Solomon's alliances with heathen nations led many of the children of Israel to violate God's law, contaminated multitudes with heathen principles and practices, introduced polygamy into Palestine, replaced the pure worship instituted by God with idolatry of the darkest hue including human sacrifices and licentious rites, and began the downfall through rejecting God's ways for men's ways until the people became a prey to the very nations whose practices they had chosen to follow. His idolatrous wives turned his heart after other gods so that it was not perfect with the Lord, showing the danger of turning from following Him to serve other gods. That turning kindled the anger of the Lord so that He withdrew prosperity and declared the kingdom would be taken from him and rent to his servant, proving that even the most exalted and wise will fail without trust in God and obedience to His commandments.

When king and people intermarried with idolaters and kept close company with those who had no love for God, rapid spiritual decline followed: love for God lessened and weakened until idol worship became acceptable, abhorrence of idolatry was lost, and the keen sense of His high and holy character was deadened. Heathen customs and rites entered, idolatrous mothers brought up children to observe them, and the Hebrew faith became a mixture of confused ideas about true and false worship. Refusing the path of obedience transferred allegiance to Satan, effaced the divine image from God's chosen representatives, and produced national apostasy, replacing worship instituted by God with idolatry. Such unions entrap believers, lead them to sacrifice faith and principle, pervert faith, and bring sorrow and reproach on God's cause, and even the wisest king was seduced by heathen wives estranged from God into building places for their idols.

Israel's unfaithfulness and willingness to intermarry, be led into idolatry, and follow idolatry explain why God allowed them to go into Egypt. Their disposition to intermarry and be led into idolatry is given as the reason the Lord allowed them to go there, lest intermarriage turn their children from God to idolatry and bring His anger to sudden destruction.

Marriage With Unbelievers Today

The command is a plain and positive direction of God, not of man, expressly and repeatedly forbidding a child of God, a subject of Christ's kingdom purchased by His blood, to marry an unbeliever. An unbeliever here means one who does not acknowledge God's claims, is not controlled by His Spirit, and has not accepted present truth, even if worthy in all other respects. Such a marriage is a life-lasting contract on forbidden ground that must not be approached, a snare that turns the heart and affections away from following God and puts the soul in constant peril. The warning applies to marriage with anyone who does not fear or obey God, even if moral, refined, wealthy, or agreeable, and it forbids marriage alliances with worldlings and idolaters and all commingling and intimate connection with the openly wicked. Christians should not form such a marriage alliance with the irreligious.

Such a companion's influence can draw a believer away from obedience, especially when the believer is yielding and avoids conflict. Joining oneself to an unbeliever places the believer under influences that draw the heart away from loving and serving God and imperil the soul. The verse gives the reason Israel was told not to marry the sons and daughters of unbelievers, that those spouses would turn their children away from following the Lord to serve other gods. That warning applies to marriage with those who persistently reject God, especially those who have clear gospel light and knowingly resist it, as illustrated when Solomon's wives turned his heart away from God. Obedience to this requirement is necessary because believers are God's property bought by Christ's blood and must be obedient children to all God's requirements in order to see Jesus as He is, be made like Him, and receive the crown of eternal life.

The safeguard is parental control of marriage: children must not contract marriage on their own responsibility, but the matter must first be laid before parents. Parents are to choose and to judge whether the person to be brought into close relation is worthy and whether the parties can provide for a family, and marriage contracted by children on their own responsibility is treated as a crime. Even after marriage children remain under solemn obligation to seek parental counsel and to respect and obey parental wishes and judgment unless those conflict with duty to God and His requirements. Self-willed marriage with disobedience and disrespect toward parents and age in the last days shows Satan's power and almost complete control over the minds of the young and is a sign that the end is near, contrary to Abraham who commanded his children and household after him.

Separation and Family Faithfulness

The same warning given against marriage and alliance with the surrounding nations reaches beyond marriage to forbid all commingling and intimate connection with the openly wicked. For God's people today it is a call to guard against worldliness and to avoid close ties and alliances with those who have no respect for the truth and with the ungodly, including secret associations. Such ties divert trust and attention from God to human things, divert people from God, and hinder cooperation with Him in the work of salvation.

The prohibition stands as part of positive directions reaching to the present that parents must train children from very infancy to form characters that will meet God's approval. They are to keep God's law before their children and train them in loyalty to God. Neglect of this work is sinful neglect, and nothing should be regarded as important enough to take the place of parents' work for their children. Reading Deuteronomy 5 to 7 guards children from influences that foster objectionable character.

That guarding must begin from babyhood against temptations coming through the words and practices of disobedient children and wicked associates. Parents are to shield their children from associating with the wicked, teach them obedience at home, and set them a right example in word and act in righteousness and justice. The reason is that those who place themselves in companionship with unbelievers are in great danger of being corrupted by the sentiments and practices of their associates. Sin soon loses its offensive features when constantly beheld, and the obedient are drawn into sin and turned from following God to serve other gods, so that the anger of the Lord is kindled to destroy suddenly.

God's commandments and covenant must be kept to a thousand generations, and blessing and divine respect rest on those who keep them that long. Only tried commandment keepers who love God supremely will be translated at the last day when the dead are raised. They will see the King in His beauty and will be welcomed by Christ through the gates of the holy city into the golden city. No disobedient father or mother or child will be brought in to spoil the heavenly courts, because there has been one rebellion and there will never be another.