גם בימים ההם ראיתי את היהודים השיבו נשים אשדדיות עמוניות מואביות
ובניהם חצי מדבר אשדודית ואינם מכירים לדבר יהודית וכלשון עם ועם
ואריב עמם ואקללם ואכה מהם אנשים ואמרטם ואשביעם באלהים אם תתנו בנתיכם לבניהם ואם תשאו מבנתיהם לבניכם ולכם
…
זכרה להם אלהי על גאלי הכהנה
In those very days, I saw that the Jews had taken Ashdodite, Ammonite and Moabite wives,
and half of their children spoke Ashdodite and couldn’t speak Judean, but [spoke] the language of other nations.
So I fought with them and I cursed them, and I hit some of the men and I pulled out their hair. And I made them swear to God: “If you so much as give your daughters to their sons, or if you take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves!”
…
Remember it against them, my Lord, how they defiled the priesthood…
- Nehemiah 13:23-25, 29
The more that I read this book, the more that I come to hate its main protagonist. How is it that I had never noticed before what an incredible jerk he was?
Yeah, it’s quite blatant in both Ezra and Nehemiah. Maybe even cuts closer to the bone of a modern reader than some massacre in Judges since it’s much closer to modern day experience.
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