By: Denis Toderashko
Assimilation is a slow process where a person or a group of people adopt the ways of another culture: fully becoming part of a different society, the country they moved to. It was one of the things that Moses and Joshua repeatedly warned the Israelites about before they entered the Promised Land. Assimilation strips old values and replaces them with new ones. Some of the prominent men of God took radical actions against this assimilation. Although they were not always popular, they were approved by God. Do you recognize the things/actions that are sinful or leading to sin? Or have you become comfortable with these? Do you recognize the people that God placed in your life to help you extract the things that harm you? Do you rebel against such people? By honestly answering these questions and taking action you can grow into a stronger person of God.
“In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.”
(Nehemiah 13:23-25 NASB) Insight on Bible Reading: Ezra 7-10, Psalm 126, Nehemiah 1-13, Esther 6-10, Malachi