231 No eunuch is to enter the congregation of God. 2 No bastard is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children. 3 No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children, ever. 4 Those nations didn't treat you with hospitality on your travels out of Egypt, and on top of that they also hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Mesopotamia to curse you 5 God, your God, refused to listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing - how God, your God, loves you! 6 Don't even try to get along with them or do anything for them, ever. 7 But don't spurn an Edomite; he's your kin. And don't spurn an Egyptian; you were a foreigner in his land. 8 Children born to Edomites and Egyptians may enter the congregation of God in the third generation.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deuteronomy 23:1-8
Commentary on Deuteronomy 23:1-8
(Read Deuteronomy 23:1-8)
We ought to value the privileges of God's people, both for ourselves and for our children, above all other advantages. No personal blemishes, no crimes of our forefathers, no difference of nation, shuts us out under the Christian dispensation. But an unsound heart will deprive us of blessings; and a bad example, or an unsuitable marriage, may shut our children from them.