“A mamzer may not enter the assembly of Adonai, nor may his descendants down to the tenth generation enter the assembly of Adonai.”-Deuteronomy 23:3
Today, I want to go into depth about the real meaning of the word MAMZER or ממזר.
As I mentioned yesterday, it is incorrect to just willy-nilly say the word means “bastard” in an off the cuff manner.
There’s a lot more depth and nuance to the word than you might think.
Again, MAMZER does NOT mean “bastard”.
We’re NOT referring to a child born out of wedlock.
Per the strict Torah definition, MAMZERIM refers to the offspring of people whose relationship would be punishable by KARET.
Recall, KARET is the Biblical penalty know as “excision” or “being cut off” from the Jewish people.
Therefore, a MAMZER is anyone born from an incestuous union or to a woman legally married to a man other than the father.
There are three basic assumptions the Hebrew religious authorities made about the first nine verses of Deuteronomy 23 in their efforts to carry out the proper spiritual intent of this law.
This is very important to know because the Rabbis used these three assumptions when they established and then later modified all of the various rulings governing the MAMZERIM throughout the ages.
Let’s take a look at them.
ASSUMPTION ONE:
The core of these verses is fundamentally dealing with marriage relationships. In other words, when it says “A mamzer may not enter the assembly of Adonai“, the “enter the assembly” part is referring to becoming one with the Hebrew nation through marrying one of its members.
ASSUMPTION TWO:
Any gentile can convert to Judaism without exception.
ASSUMPTION THREE:
The KAHAL or “assembly” of Israel is referring ONLY to native-born Israelites who were the products of legitimate marriages.
So operating under these three assumptions, here are the three basic dos and don’ts of marriage the Rabbinical authorities established:
-A MAMZER is forbidden from marrying native-born Hebrews
-A MAMZER is permitted to marry converts to Judaism
…AND…
-A MAMZER can marry another MAMZER.
This might be a hard pill to swallow but per Torah, it appears that all children born from a sexual union between a Jew and a non-Jew would be MAMZERIM…
…even if they were “legally” married per the laws of a gentile nation they were residing in at the time.
The laws of some gentile nation don’t mean diddly squat.
God’s Law supersedes all of them.
Yikes!
That is indeed a hard pill to swallow.
But don’t misunderstand me.
Even though the resulting children born from a marriage between a Jew and a non-Jew are MAMZERIM, I ain’t saying they’re bastards man.
I’m just saying per the Torah, they are the products of an UNAUTHORIZED union.
Or let me rephrase that.
Per what the Hebrew religious authorities deemed as Torah-authorized, such children are products of an illicit union and are thus MAMZERIM.
The main point I wanna get across is the ancient Hebrew mindset on the matter.
Here’s the thing.
If a native-born Hebrew girl married a gentile man and had kids with him, the Hebrew authorities didn’t view the children as being born out of wedlock.
I know this is a subtle nuance but the children weren’t considered “bastards” as we understand the term today.
Rather the marriage was viewed as a flawed union that should never have occurred under the ideal the Lord has established in His Word.
Therefore, such children are MAMZERIM and thus NOT accorded the status of full citizens of Israel.
These children weren’t necessarily shunned or cursed to live a miserable life.
They just didn’t have the same rights of the other children who WERE the products of authorized marriages as defined by Torah.
My ex husband was Hebrew and I, a gentile. We were married at the courthouse but later I converted 2 Judaism and we had a Jewish wedding. Does that mean our son is Mazzarim?
No.