Judges 3

"Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites.... And they took their adughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods" Judges 3:5-6.

God left some Canaanites among Israel, to test them (vss 1-4), and Israel fails the test quickly. Note HOW they fail, though. By exchanging intimate covenants (weddings) with them.

The language "they took and gave daughters" reminds me that in marriage, sons take and daughters are given by fathers.

I know (satire alert), this sounds so old-fashioned it could be in the Bible (oh, wait... it is...), but if you can bear with and tolerate the Bible through this post, kudos. (Satire siren, off)

What in heaven's name is Israel doing receiving idol-worshipping daughters for their sons to spend the rest of their lives with, and giving up their own daughters to live with idol-worshipping husbands? "Well, what can we do? They're young and in love, and God will work it out." (Oops: satire button is stuck on.)

I suppose if you're going to live together, Israel and Canaan, you'd better get along as best you can, which includes respecting each other's beliefs, learning to love the sinner and hate the sin, trading goods and children for marriage. Hmmm... A line was crossed there somewhere.

What would it have looked like for Israel to pass the test at this point? How would they have had to live, to not fall into idolatry? TOTAL isolation isn't an option - they are your neighbors; you pass them on the road and are curious about their different clothes and products. But giving daughters to them in marriage also wasn't an option. At Israelite dinner tables, fathers should have been saying, "Johnny, I know what you saw them doing today on their playground, but God has told us we may not do that." Instead, dad was whispering to mom after the kids were in bed, "Let's go to their worship service tomorrow and learn what they think; it looks pretty neat. Maybe I'll get some new ideas to throw past our elders to liven up our worship."

A line must be drawn somewhere between the believing community and the world at large. Where is it?

"You can enjoy popular culture without compromising Biblical principles as long as you are not dominated by the sensibility of popular culture, as long as you are not captivated by its idols." [Kenneth Myers, All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1989), p. 180]. From here.

"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?"
- 2 Corinthians 6:14-16