Deuteronomy 23:1-7--Those Excluded from the Assembly

Deuteronomy 23:1-7
English Standard Version

Those Excluded from the Assembly
23 “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.

2 “No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD.

3 “No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the LORD forever, 4 because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 But the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you. 6 You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.

​7 “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land.

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This is the list of people that would be excluding from approaching the LORD's altar and worshiping in the Temple or Tabernacle.  First, would be any man who had been emasculated--often times these people were called eunuchs in the Bible.

No one born of a forbidden union, even to the tenth generation.  While that sounds harsh, the LORD wants to make sure that there is no paganism mixed with their worship in His Temple and at His altar.  The meaning of the sacrificial system to point to Christ and the salvation that only He provides is too important to let anyone mess up.  If you were going to be disobedient in the laws of remaining pure in who you would marry and have children with, then you would probably also be disobedient in every other way as this is an act of willful disobedience.  So then, what are some of these forbidden unions?

The Ammonites and Moabites were excluded from the assembly and their descendants to the tenth generation because they did not give comfort and aid to the Israelites in the way of shelter, food and water when they came out of Egypt and they hired Balaam to try to curse them.  The people were commanded to not make treaties or alliances with these people.  They would be at war with them until it was time for the LORD to let His people destroy them.  Yet we will see in the story of Ruth that God does allow the Moabite woman Ruth to be a part of Naomi's family and to be redeemed by Boaz, and she is in the list of the ancestors of Jesus.

However, the Israelites were told not to abhor the Edomites or the Egyptians.  The judgment on the Edomites would come eventually, but not yet, and the Egyptians for a long time did take care of the LORD's people and He did not forget about that.  They were treated well for many years and those who mistreated them were judges already.  However, Egypt is still blessed to this day because it has traditionally treated Israel fairly well...when it has decided to try to join its Arab brothers in going to war against Israel, it has not gone well for them.