Marrying Pagan Daughters and Sons - Judges 3:6

In the book of Judges we learned how, “the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites” and in chapter three and verse six of Judges, we learn how, “they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods” among pagan people where we read,

And they took their daughters to be their wives, 

and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

The verse reads, “And they took their daughters to be their wives, …” The writer began with the words, “and they took their daughters” which means “and they, the people of Israel, fetched, lay hold of, seized and acquired their, the pagan nations’, female offspring and progeny” “to be their wives” or “to exist as their, the people of Israel’s, female spouses”. The writer shared how the men of Israel acquired the female offspring of the pagan nations to exist as their spouses. 

The verse continues, “… and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.” The writer added the words, “and gave their daughters” which means “and granted, bestowed and assigned their, the people of Israel’s, female offspring and progeny” “to their sons” or “to their, the pagan nations’, male offspring and progeny”, “and served their gods” which means “and worshiped and labored for their, the pagan nations’s, deities”. The writer shared how the people of Israel granted their female offspring to the pagan nations’ male offspring, and the people of Israel worshiped and labored for their deities. 

When we think through the words in this verse, we discover how the people of Israel became fully engaged and involved with the pagan nations who lived among them. They intermarried with them, and they worshiped and labored for their deities. We can imagine how much this angered Jehovah God. Rather than serving Jehovah God who delivered the promise land into their hands, they “served” deities that did nothing for them. This is the temptation of the world. God wants to be first in our lives, (See Matthew 6:33) and when we receive His Son Jesus who died on the cross for the sins of all mankind and was resurrected from the dead after three days as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and give us His Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth and empower us to live according to that truth without “serving” and worshiping the “gods” of this world. (See John 3:16; Romans 12:2)

Next time we learn how the people of Israel, “forgot the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves” among pagan people, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".