“You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will swiftly destroy you…….For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy 7:3-4, 6 CSB https://bible.com/bible/1713/deu.7.3-6.CSB
One of the primary reasons Israel was to destroy the nations living in the Promised Land was because those people living there would lead Israel to worship idols, false gods, gods that were really no gods, causing them to deny and disobey the One True God Who called them, gave them their land, and loved them. Of great concern to God was the relationship between the man and woman in marriage, particularly the religion of the woman. It is the woman God describes as leading the men astray. Why is this so? The passivity of Adam continues to all men. The curse of Eve to desire control over the man continues through all women. Spiritual headship of the family has been given to the husband by God for leading the family to Him and keeping the family in obedience to God’s will. It is the husband’s responsibility to see to it that his family rightly worships God and fulfills His commands as the people of God in his household. Yet, more often than not, the woman leads the family spiritually and initiates the pursuit of God in the home. Spiritual leadership is required by men, and men need to embrace this role by choosing to obey Jesus first and foremost. We must love God more than our wives and children and more than the pleasure we so desperately want from our wives. We are to lead our homes like Jesus leads His church. We are to lead with unconditional love, sacrificial service, and continuous initiative in seeking God and obeying His commands.
My book MAN Up! Helps men begin the journey by setting the target for true Biblical manhood.
