Nehemiah 10:30   “We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons.”

So why was there such a strong reaction from Nehemiah? Was it the flagrant disobedience of God’s clear commands in Deuteronomy 7:3-4 and Exodus 34:15-16?

Was it the blatant disregard of the legacy changing consequences that God included in these clear commands? (They will turn your children away from following me). 

It was in fact the additional factor of the covenant promise that these fathers made in writing to God and to one another. 

Nehemiah 9:38 “We are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.”

That ‘binding agreement’ was a marker, a moment of personal and national repentance and renewal. This was an acknowledgment of their past sin and a solemn promise not to do it again.  

Promises, Promises!