The concept of marriage with strangers, or those outside the covenant community of Israel, is addressed multiple times in the Bible, reflecting the importance of maintaining religious and cultural purity among God's chosen people. The term "strangers" typically refers to individuals who are not part of the Israelite community, often encompassing foreign nations with differing religious practices and beliefs.

Old Testament Prohibitions

The prohibition against marrying foreigners is rooted in the Mosaic Law, where God explicitly commands the Israelites to avoid such unions. In Deuteronomy 7:3-4 , the Israelites are instructed: "Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you." This command underscores the concern that intermarriage with those who worship other gods could lead the Israelites astray from their covenant relationship with Yahweh.

The narrative of Solomon serves as a cautionary tale regarding the dangers of foreign marriages. Despite his wisdom, Solomon's marriages to foreign women led him to idolatry, as recorded in 1 Kings 11:1-4 : "King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women. They were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, 'You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.' Yet Solomon clung to these women in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away."

Post-Exilic Reforms

Following the Babylonian exile, the issue of intermarriage with foreigners became a significant concern for the returning exiles. Ezra and Nehemiah led reforms to address this issue, emphasizing the need to separate from foreign influences to restore the community's faithfulness to God. Ezra 9:1-2 highlights the problem: "After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, 'The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the peoples of the lands, practicing the abominations of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. Indeed, the Israelites have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the peoples of the lands.'"

Nehemiah also confronted this issue, as seen in Nehemiah 13:23-27 : "In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah. I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God, saying, 'You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves. Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin.'"

Underlying Principles

The prohibition against marrying strangers is not merely a matter of ethnic exclusivity but is deeply rooted in the theological concern for maintaining the purity of worship and devotion to Yahweh. The Israelites were called to be a holy nation, set apart for God's purposes, and intermarriage with those who did not share their faith threatened to compromise this calling. The biblical narrative consistently emphasizes the dangers of syncretism and the need for the covenant community to remain distinct in its worship and obedience to God.Deuteronomy 25:5
If brothers dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without to a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in to her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother to her.
Nave's Topical Index

Whether the Degrees of Consanguinity that are an Impediment to ...
... Hence in olden times marriage was forbidden even within ... scarcely a greater bond of
friendship with their more remote kindred than with strangers: and it ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether the degrees of consanguinity.htm

1 Timothy v. 15-Nov
... Therefore the receiving of strangers, and the washing of the Saints' feet, he has
represented by "attending upon ... Because marriage is not forbidden, and it ...
/.../homily xv 1 timothy v.htm

Homilies on the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
... Marcionites, [3538]444 (note) . Marriage, not forbidden, [3539]446; he ... Stephen, St.,
prayer of, [3864]427. Strangers, kindness to be shown to, [3865]455. ...
/.../homilies on the epistles to.htm

Whether it was Lawful to Divorce a Wife under the Mosaic Law?
... Apostle by not prescribing virginity, permitted marriage (1 Cor ... to be permitted because
they are not forbidden. ... to lend money for usury to strangers, on account ...
//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether it was lawful to.htm

Luke of Prague and the High Church Reaction. 1473-1530.
... The meetings of the Brethren, public and private, were forbidden. ... If a man does this
he is yoking himself with strangers. Marriage never made anyone holy yet. ...
/.../hutton/history of the moravian church/chapter vi luke of prague.htm

On Helping the Poor.
... work; to the unable, commiseration; to the strangers, an house ... of marriage, and ye
give her in marriage to a ... of an harlot; for both of them are forbidden by the ...
/.../various/constitutions of the holy apostles/sec i on helping the poor.htm

On Matrimony
... thrown out into the world, among strangers to provide ... contrary, they are given to
vices forbidden by good ... to fulfill the end for which God instituted marriage. ...
/.../kinkead/baltimore catechism no 4/lesson 26 on matrimony.htm

Twenty-Seven Articles Respecting the Reformation of the Christian ...
... unlawful possession of all German foundations, to give and sell them to strangers
at Rome ... The degrees of relationship in which marriage is forbidden must be ...
/.../iii twenty-seven articles respecting the.htm

1 Cor. xiii. 8
... And He devised also another foundation of affection. For having forbidden the marriage
of kindred, he led us out unto strangers and drew them again unto us. ...
/.../homilies on the epistles of paul to the corinthians/homily xxxiv 1 cor xiii.htm

Letter ii.
... the mind of God but the former has been forbidden. ... have any; for in the latter case
marriage has been ... and try to rescue the men, although strangers, known to ...
//christianbookshelf.org/chrysostom/on the priesthood/letter ii.htm

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