The Holy Bible on Interracial Marriages

The Holy Bible sternly warned Israel not to intermarry with the pagan nations lest they end up worshiping their gods/goddesses:

“Be sure to keep what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Beware lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, lest it become a snare in your midst. But rather, you are to tear down their altars and shatter their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim—for you shall not worship any other god, for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invite you to eat of his sacrifice, and you take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. You shall make for yourself no molten gods.” Exodus 34:11-17

“When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and He clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and stronger than you, and when Yahweh your God gives them over before you and you strike them down, then you shall devote them to destruction. You shall cut no covenant with them and show no favor to them. Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. For they will turn your sons away from following Me, and they will serve other gods; then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and He will quickly destroy you. But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars and shatter their sacred pillars and cut their Asherim in pieces and burn their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God; Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for His own treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy 7:1-6

“Be very strong, then, to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you will not go along with these nations, these which remain among you, and you will not mention the name of their gods, and you will not make anyone swear by them, and you will not serve them, and you will not bow down to them. But you are to cling to Yahweh your God, as you have done to this day. For Yahweh has dispossessed great and mighty nations from before you; and as for you, no man has stood before you to this day. One of your men will pursue one thousand, for Yahweh your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you. So keep your souls very carefully to love Yahweh your God. For if you ever turn back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them, so that you go along with them and they with you, know with certainty that Yahweh your God will not continue to dispossess these nations from before you; but they will be a snare and a trap to you and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you.

“Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed. And it will be that just as all the good words which Yahweh your God spoke to you have come upon you, so Yahweh will bring upon you all the calamitous words, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you. When you trespass against the covenant of Yahweh your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of Yahweh will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which He has given you.” Joshua 23:9-16

As the readers can see, the issue isn’t with marrying someone outside of one’s race. The problem and danger, which God was concerned with is that of marrying outside of one’s religious beliefs and traditions.

God even warned the future kings of Israel from multiplying wives, which would cause their hearts to turn away from wholehearted devotion to YHWH, Israel’s true King:

“When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom Yahweh your God chooses, one from among your brothers you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your brother. Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses. Yahweh has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ And he shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

“Now it will be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to carefully observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his sons in the midst of Israel.” Deuteronomy 17:14-20

Unfortunately, this is what happened to Solomon whose foreign wives and concubines turned his heart away from YHWH to worshiping and sacrificing to the pagan gods/goddesses of these foreign women:

“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which Yahweh had said to the sons of Israel, ‘You shall not go along with them, nor shall they go along with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love. And he had 700 wives—princesses—and 300 concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. Now it happened at the time that Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to Yahweh his God, as the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites. And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and did not follow Yahweh fully, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

“Now Yahweh was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not walk after other gods; but he did not keep what Yahweh had commanded. So Yahweh said to Solomon, ‘Because this has happened with you: you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, so I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.’” 1 Kings 11:1-13

God was so strict in making sure his people kept this prohibition that, when the Jews returned from their captivity in Babylon, Nehemiah commanded all the men who had taken foreign wives to divorce them:

“On that day they read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. So when they heard the law, they separated all foreigners from Israel…

“In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but only the tongue of his own people. So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair and made them swear by God, ‘You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take up their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God gave him to be king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. Do we then hear about you that you have done all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?’ And even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I made him flee away from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

“Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign and ensured that the responsibilities stood for the priests and the Levites, each in his work, and I arranged for the supply of wood at fixed times and for the first fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.” Nehemiah 13:1-2, 23-31 – Cf. Ezra 10

The reference to Solomon’s sin makes it explicitly clear that marrying foreigners was not the issue. Rather, the concern had to do with marrying among the nations that would lead a person away from the worship of the true God. In situations where such was not the case then there was no sin marrying from among the nations.

This can be seen from the fact that there are cases of Israelites marrying foreigners without this being condemned by God.

Take, for instance, the example of Ruth who was a Moabitess whom God used to preserve the family line of her father-in-law, which resulted in the birth of king David, the ancestor of Jesus Christ!  

“Now it happened in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab with his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they came to the fields of Moab and remained there. Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and her husband.

“Then she arose with her daughters-in-law and returned from the fields of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that Yahweh had visited His people to give them food. So she went forth from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May Yahweh show lovingkindness with you as you have shown with the dead and with me. May Yahweh grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.’ Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, ‘No, but we will return with you to your people.’ But Naomi said, ‘Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is more bitter for me than for you, for the hand of Yahweh has gone forth against me.’ And they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

“Then she said, ‘Behold, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.’ But Ruth said, ‘Do not press me to forsake you in turning back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may Yahweh do to me, and more, if anything but death separates you and me.’ So she saw that she was determined to go with her, and she said no more to her. Then they both went until they came to Bethlehem. Now it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, ‘Is this Naomi?’ She said to them, ‘Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but Yahweh has caused me to return empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Yahweh has answered against me, and the Almighty has brought calamity against me.’ So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the fields of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.” Ruth 1:1-22

“Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the right of redemption and the exchange of land to establish any matter: a man removed his sandal and gave it to another; and this was the manner of attestation in Israel. So the kinsman redeemer said to Boaz, ‘Acquire this for yourself.’ And he removed his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, ‘You are witnesses today that I have acquired all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon from the hand of Naomi. And also, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the one who had died, on behalf of his inheritance, so that the name of the one who had died will not be cut off from his brothers or from the gate of his birth place; you are witnesses today.’ And all the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, ‘We are witnesses. May Yahweh grant the woman who is coming into your home to be like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel, and so you shall achieve excellence in Ephrathah and shall proclaim your name in Bethlehem. Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the seed which Yahweh will grant you by this young woman.’

“So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And Yahweh granted her conception, and she gave birth to a son. Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed is Yahweh who has not left you without a kinsman redeemer today, and may his name be proclaimed in Israel. May he also be to you a restorer of your soul and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.’

“Then Naomi took the child and put him on her bosom and became his nurse. The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, ‘A son has been born to Naomi!’ So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron, and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmah, and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.” Ruth 4:7-22

Other examples include the Canaanite prostitute Rahab, whom God spared when she showed favor to the Israelite spies due to her fear of God:

“Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, ‘Go, see the land, especially Jericho.’ So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab and lodged there. And it was told to the king of Jericho, saying, ‘Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.’ And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, ‘Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.’ But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, ‘Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. Now it happened when it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.’ But she had brought them up to the roof and concealed them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan to the fords; and as soon as those who were pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate.

“Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, ‘I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. Indeed we heard it, and our hearts melted, and a courageous spirit no longer rose up in any man because of you; for Yahweh your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. So now, please swear to me by Yahweh, since I have shown lovingkindness to you, that you also will show lovingkindness to my father’s household and give me a pledge of truth, and preserve my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters alive, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.’ So the men said to her, ‘Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it will be when Yahweh gives us the land that we will show lovingkindness and truth to you.’”

“Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall. And she said to them, ‘Go to the hill country, lest the pursuers reach you. And hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you may go on your way.’ And the men said to her, ‘We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household. And it will be that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be free from the oath which you have made us swear.’ And she said, ‘According to your words, so be it.’ So she sent them away, and they went; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.” Joshua 2:1-21

Rahab became so great that she is even cited as an example of true saving faith:

“By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after welcoming the spies in peace.” Hebrews 11:31

“You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” James 2:24-26

As a result of her faithfulness, Rahab married an Israelite named Salmon, who was the very ancestor of Boaz, the husband of Ruth the Moabitess!

What makes their cases so remarkable is that both of these Gentile women ended up being included within Jesus’ legal genealogy!

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. And Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron was the father of Ram. And Ram was the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab was the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon was the father of Salmon. And Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed was the father of Jesse. And Jesse was the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah.

And Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam was the father of Abijah, and Abijah was the father of Asa. And Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat was the father of Joram, and Joram was the father of Uzziah. And Uzziah was the father of Jotham, and Jotham was the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah. And Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh was the father of Amon, and Amon was the father of Josiah. And Josiah was the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

And after the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel. And Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, and Abihud was the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim was the father of Azor. And Azor was the father of Zadok, and Zadok was the father of Achim, and Achim was the father of Eliud. And Eliud was the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar was the father of Matthan, and Matthan was the father of Jacob.

“And Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. Therefore all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.” Matthew 1:1-17

Moses himself married a Cushite or Ethiopian woman without God rebuking him for doing so.

In fact, when his older siblings Miriam and Aaron complained about his marriage and about his ruling over them, YHWH himself came down in the pillar of cloud to severely rebuke them and even punished Miriam with leprosy for complaining:  

“Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had taken as a wife (for he had taken a Cushite woman); and they said, ‘Has Yahweh indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And Yahweh heard it. (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) Suddenly Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.’ So the three of them came out.

“Then Yahweh came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. And then both came forward, and He said, ‘Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; With him I speak mouth to mouth, Indeed clearly, and not in riddles, And he beholds the form of Yahweh. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?’

“So the anger of Yahweh burned against them, and He went away. But the cloud withdrew from over the tent, and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. Then Aaron said to Moses, ‘Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not place this sin on us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!’ And Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, ‘O God, heal her, I pray!’ But Yahweh said to Moses, ‘If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her dishonor for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.’ So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was received again.” Numbers 12:1-15

One final example would be the case of Sheshan, a man from the tribe of Judah who had only daughters. God used his Egyptian servant Jarha to sire a grandson named Attai, who was born from Sheshan’s daughter, in order to preserve Sheshan’s lineage:

“The sons of Nadab were Seled and Appaim, and Seled died without sons. The son of Appaim was Ishi. And the son of Ishi was Sheshan. And the son of Sheshan was Ahlai. The sons of Jada the brother of Shammai were Jether and Jonathan, and Jether died without sons. The sons of Jonathan were Peleth and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel. Now Sheshan had no sons, only daughters. And Sheshan had an Egyptian slave whose name was Jarha. Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant as a wife, and she bore him Attai. Attai became the father of Nathan, and Nathan became the father of Zabad, and Zabad became the father of Ephlal, and Ephlal became the father of Obed, and Obed became the father of Jehu, and Jehu became the father of Azariah, and Azariah became the father of Helez, and Helez became the father of Eleasah, and Eleasah became the father of Sismai, and Sismai became the father of Shallum, and Shallum became the father of Jekamiah, and Jekamiah became the father of Elishama." 1 Chronicles 2:30-41

Now if God was against interracial marriages, then he would not have allowed an Egyptian to marry Sheshan’s daughter to procure a grandson in order to save an Israelite’s genealogy from perishing!  

The foregoing examples clearly show that the Holy Bible does not condemn interracial marriages since all individuals from any nation and language are one and the same in God’s sight, if and when they are baptized into Christ Jesus:

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.” Galatians 3:26-29

“But now you also, lay them all aside: wrath, anger, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you put off the old man with its evil practices, and have put on the new man who is being renewed to a full knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and freeman, but Christ is all and in all.” Colossians 3:8-11

The concern that God has is marrying those who do not have the same faith and religion as true believers in Christ, since this will affect one’s devotion to the Lord as well as negatively impact the children born from such unions.

This explains why the Holy Bible exhorts believers to not be yoked together with unbelievers, and that Christians are to marry only those who are in union with the risen Lord:

“A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband has fallen asleep, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 7:39

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has a sanctuary of God with idols? For we are a sanctuary of the living God; just as God said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘And do not touch what is unclean, And I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,’ says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

All scriptural references taken from the Legacy Standard Bible (LSB).

Further Reading

God’s Love of Gentiles in the Hebrew Bible