Nehemiah 13:23-25     “About the same time I realized that some of the men of Judah had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab… So I confronted them and called down curses on them. I beat some of them and pulled out their hair. I made them swear in the name of God that they would not let their children intermarry with the pagan people of the land.”

Nehemiah understood Deuteronomy 7:3-4 but in his absence, other Jewish fathers missed the mark.  So how big a deal is marrying outside the faith to God? Nehemiah gives us a sense of this…. 

1. He confronted them. *Would anyone in your local church do even this? 

2. He called down curses on them! 

3. He beat some of them! 

4. He pulled out their hair! 

If pastors and church leaders would be willing to privately and as needed publicly confront fathers on this, children would be far less likely to marry outside the faith.