Deuteronomy 23:2, No Bastards Allowed
A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
//Maybe the most famous bastard of all time is the offspring of Tamar and Judah. Judah, hoping to find a little action, is one day deceived by his daughter-in-law Tamar, who pretends to be a temple prostitute. They do the deed. Then, in Genesis 38:24, About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant."
They have a child named Perez. We turn now to the book of Matthew, and the genealogy listed there:
Judah begat PerezPerez begat HezronHezron begat RamRam begat AmminadabAmminadab begat NahshonNahshon begat SalmonSalmon begat BoazBoaz begat ObedObed begat JesseJesse begat David
Thus, after only nine generations of begatting (from Perez forward), we come to King David. Didn't today's verse promise ten generations of excommunication? Apparently, God relented.
//Maybe the most famous bastard of all time is the offspring of Tamar and Judah. Judah, hoping to find a little action, is one day deceived by his daughter-in-law Tamar, who pretends to be a temple prostitute. They do the deed. Then, in Genesis 38:24, About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant."
They have a child named Perez. We turn now to the book of Matthew, and the genealogy listed there:
Judah begat PerezPerez begat HezronHezron begat RamRam begat AmminadabAmminadab begat NahshonNahshon begat SalmonSalmon begat BoazBoaz begat ObedObed begat JesseJesse begat David
Thus, after only nine generations of begatting (from Perez forward), we come to King David. Didn't today's verse promise ten generations of excommunication? Apparently, God relented.
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John
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Mar 30, 2012 11:31AM
The phrase can also be translated "those born of an illicit union," and may include children of incest (Lev 18:6-18).
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John, your comments are always so illuminating. Maybe I can talk you into posting on my blog instead, where others are more likely to see and appreciate. :)http://www.dubiousdisciple.com
The posts feed lots of places, so I wind up with comments on facebook, twitter, goodreads, google+, librarything...everywhere but the source! Too bad I can't pull them all together somehow for conversation!
Define illicit union, please. According to rabbinic law, a bastard is the product of an adulterous relationship, of a woman and a man (any man who is not her husband). The child of a prostitute (assuming her to be unmarried!) is not a bastard in rabbinic law. That she was accused of prostitution does not cause her child to be a bastard. The ninth generation that Lee adduces can be seen as a lovely Midrash on the text.
As I said above, cases of incest. I would assume, though I don't know, that any child of a relationship forbidden in Torah would be illicit. No one knows for sure, as it was 4000 years ago. The Bible also implies that, at times, wives and children who were not part of the Covenant Community were considered illicit, though I do not know if it applies here.
