Nehemiah 13:23 In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. 25 And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. 27 Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?”
After rebuilding the wall, restoring worship, and renewing the covenant, Nehemiah stood back to evaluate how the resettling in the land was going, and he found several things that were not being done properly: unqualified people were serving in the temple; some Levites were not being properly cared for; pagans were selling their goods in the city on the sabbath, etc. But the one which grieved him the most was the intermarriage taking place with idol-worshipping women. Nehemiah saw that this was the slippery slope which began Israel's decline, beginning with Solomon. It was "acting treacherously," a phrase used in the scriptures to describe the worst possible departures from God's covenant. His reaction may have been "over the top," but do we tend to go the other way in taking lightly acts of treachery?