“Do not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for that would TURN AWAY YOUR CHILDREN from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly”. Deut. 7:3-4
“In those days also I saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab; and half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the LANGUAGE OF JUDAH, but spoke the language of various peoples”. Neh. 13:23
The Lord has a real heart for children. He knows they model their parents. It’s not just theoretical, children do go astray, children are lost forever because of an ungodly upbringing. In Nehemiah, we see a whole generation of mixed-up children, unable even to speak the language of Judah but adopting the language, culture, and beliefs of the nations around them. Judah means praise and those children could not speak the language of Praise to God Almighty. But rather, they spoke the language of Ashdod.
Ashdod means “stronghold, fortress”, which represents the stronghold of Satan.
When children are turned away from God, His anger is kindled and it says He “would destroy you quickly”. We see God’s anger coming through Nehemiah on this issue in verses 24-27 “And I contended with them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair; and I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or yourselves”.
God cares about the kids and He will be very angry if you marry an unbeliever. He knows what he is talking about. One can never underestimate the influence a father has on his children. A strong, godly, steady father most often produces strong, godly, steady children. This is one reason to marry a godly man.
