the Bible on inter-racial marriage
Unfortunately, the Bible has been used to promote all sorts of mischief. One particularly odious example is racism and a disapproval of inter-racial marriage.
In my Sunday School lesson this morning, we covered Numbers 12 which has, among other things, the strongest refutation of such baloney beliefs. In 12:1-2, Miriam and Aaron complain about Moses, pointing to "his Cushite wife" and the monopoly of sorts he had in his relationship with God. God responds with a tongue-lashing for them, amazing praise for Moses, and a week-long bout of leprosy for Miriam.
In a word, God's Word reveals no judgment/bias against inter-racial marriage.
posted by Eric Schansberg @ 10:21 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Eric,
I don't think we can actually draw conclusions about inter-racial marriage from this passage.
Zipporah was a Midianite, a people who lived in Cush.
One of your favorite commenators, Matthew Henry, says that the sedition on display from Miriam and Aaron was "because of Zipporah, whom on this occasion they called, in scorn, an Ethiopian woman, and who, they insinuated, had too great an influence upon Moses in the choice of these seventy elders."
In other words, Miraim and Aaron may have been slurring her as an Ethiopian, effectively violating the 9th Commandment rather than making any commentary related to inter-racial marriage.
In short, I think we bring presuppositions to the table and make more of the passage than we should.
I agree that it is not the strongest proof-text. But we can say that Moses was not condemned in the face of something that Miriam and Aaron brought to God's "attention".
Beyond that, there is nothing in Scripture to condemn trans-racial marriage. So the use of other passages (which was common "back in the day") to substantiate odd tastes and preferences is deplorable.
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