It
is a well known Rabbinical exegesis on the verses in Deut 7:
3
neither shalt thou make marriages with them: thy daughter thou shalt
not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
4
For he will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve
other gods; so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and
He will destroy thee quickly.
Based
on the phrase “For he will turn away thy son from following Me”,
the rabbis errantly claimed that the “he” refers to the husband
of the Israelite woman, and hence the son of this marriage will be
turned away. The rabbis deduce from here, that the other way round,
i.e. an Israelite male marrying one of the daughters of the heathen
nations, will not have “Jewish” offspring, and hence there is
matrilineal descent.
This
claim is false for a number of reasons.
a)
The “he” that is mentioned in v.4, is referring the same “he”
in v.3, i.e. the Nation, who has daughters and sons (both forbidden).
In fact, v.1 specifies these as 7 nations “Hittite, and the
Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite,
and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations”. Read correctly,
the Nation will turn away your son of offspring. If the rabbis claim
that the “son” is the produce of intermarriage, then it logically
proves both matrilineal and patrilineal descent. The Torah is not
referring to the offspring, but to the son or daughter who
intermarries.
b)
Based on the logic of the Rabbis, if we look at the same concept when
expressed in Exodus 34, we see something very interesting:
“6
and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters
go astray after their gods, and make thy sons go astray after their
gods.“
If
the “son” is referring to offspring of an intermarriage, as the
rabbis claim, then this verse would suggest that the offspring of a
heathen woman is also “your son”, and therefore Jewish.
However,
the argument of the rabbis is taking the verses out of context. Both
Exodus and Deuteronomy are referring to the foreign spouse's
influence on the Israelite spouse.
Another
argument is made, based on Ezra Ch. 9-10. In a situation of
intermarriage with daugters of the 7 nations (who were Idolaters),
Ezra said in 10:
“3
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the
wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of the
LORD, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and
let it be done according to the law.”
Not
only the wives were to be put away, but also the offspring! This
seems very cruel. However, they were idolaters, and even Israelite
idolaters must be put away. Hence it is not making a statement on the
Jewishness of the offspring. Rabbi Goren wrote that the wives did
not wish to convert to Judaism, but that would have been a solution
if they had so chosen.
The
argument of matrilineal descent is further demolished if we look at
King Solomon. Although the marriage itself was forbidden, Solomon's
Ammonitess wife Naama, was the mother of King Rehaboam. Thus 1
Kings 14: 21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah.
Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had
chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there; and
his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.
Ezra
was trying to stave off the ingress of idolatry into Israel, which
occurred as a result of Solomon's intermarriages. The issue of
matrilineal descent is not raised in Ezra. However, the case of King
Rehavam proves the validity of patrilineal descent.
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