You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 3. Marriages. Some believe that it was unlawful to marry the people of Chanaan, if they were even converted, and also those of other nations, as we find that Esdras (1 Calmet. 10:2. 12,) ordered such strange wives to be sent away. But the context shews, as well as the practice of most pious Hebrews, that it was only forbidden to marry with those who adhered to their idolatry, verse 4. Salmon took to wife Rahab, of Jericho; Mahalon and Booz successively married Ruth, the Moabitess, and Moses himself allows the Hebrews to espouse their captives, and to preserve the lives of women and children, Calmet. 20:14. 21:11. Calmet. See Exodus 34:15.—Hence all the Chanaanites were not necessarily to be slain. The few exceptions did not hinder the rule from being general. See verse 16. Numbers 14:23.