“A man with crushed or damaged private parts may not enter the assembly of Adonai.”-Deuteronomy 23:2
From verse 2 of Deuteronomy 23, we are given a series of instructions dealing with the topic of who can and cannot join Israel.
Recall that when God first approached Abraham, He made it clear that Abraham’s faith would not only benefit the whole world but that gentiles who wished to join Israel would be allowed to so.
This was clearly demonstrated by the mixed multitude of non-Hebrews who left with the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt.
However, interestingly enough, right here in Deuteronomy 23 we are given a whole list of exclusions that seem counterproductive to the goal of allowing foreigners who earnestly seek to do so to join Israel.
In order to have an intelligent talk about this, there is one key word we need to properly understand.
I’m talking about the word “assembly” from the phrase “assembly of the Lord”.
Some other Bible versions may use the word “congregation”.
The original Hebrew word here is KAHAL.
Literally, KAHAL means a “gathering”.
However, in our English Bibles, KAHAL is usually translated into “assembly” or “congregation” regardless of the context and the many different parts of the Scriptures in which the word appears.
As with any word, in order to grasp its proper meaning, context IS EVERYTHING.
KAHAL can actually be referring to different things depending on the situation.
Here are the different meanings of KAHAL depending on the context:
-The Nation of Israel
-The Government of Israel
-A specific committee formed to fulfill a special purpose (such as the 70 elders that Moses selected to help him rule over Israel for a time)
-The Tribal Leaders
-A group of citizens who come together to achieve a common goal (such as uniting to fight a war against a common enemy)
-A Religious Gathering
Now here in Deuteronomy 23:2, the word probably does NOT mean a “religious gathering”.
Why?
Because any religious gathering would have to be comprised of the set-apart religious authorities over Israel, namely the Levites and Priests.
Therefore, it’s probably not a good idea to use the word “congregation” here because the word connotes a religious gathering.
Also, I highly doubt that KAHAL is referring to “all Israel” in this context either.
There are two reasons for this.
The first reason is that these laws cannot be referring to certain folks being barred from joining Israel without exception because of all the other laws that specifically welcome the GOYIM to join Israel.
The second reason and I’ve mentioned this before is that by this time in Israel’s history, the genetic makeup of Israel was already quite diverse.
A perfect example is the one I spoke about a couple of weeks ago when Israel absorbed a huge population of Hivite women and children from Shechem after Levi and Simeon led the slaughter of all the males on the town as an act of revenge in retaliation for their sister Dinah being raped.
It is simply impossible that every Israelite alive during Moses’ time possessed genetically pure blood tracing back to only Abraham.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
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