Author : Keith Sharp
As the Lord God through Moses prepared Israel to enter Canaan, He plainly forbade them to intermarry with the peoples that already inhabited the land, warning that these marriages with pagans would entice them to idolatry (Exodus 34:11-16; Deuteronomy 7:1-4). But King Solomon married women of the very peoples the Lord had forbidden Israel to marry (1 Kings 11:1-2)
And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David (1 Kings 11:3-4)
Thus, idolatry was reintroduced into Israel, which eventually led to their destruction by the Assyrians and Babylonians.
The Lord purified His people through the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, and brought a faithful remnant back to the land. There, through the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Jeshua and the preaching of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, Israel was restored as a nation.
But the people were prone to repeat old mistakes. When Ezra the priest and scribe came to Jerusalem he was informed that some of the people had married pagan women of the very tribes God had forbidden them to marry, “so that the holy seed” was “mixed with the peoples of those lands” (Ezra 9:1-2). Ezra was overwhelmed with grief, prayed a heart wrenching prayer to God, and led the Jews to put away their pagan wives (Ezra chapters 9-10).
Several years later the governor, Nehemiah, discovered that the people had either not fully repented or had returned to their old ways (Nehemiah chapter 13). Nehemiah reports:
In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people. So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out of their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin. Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?” (Nehemiah 13:23-27)
The disturbing proof that the feared evil of marrying pagan wives had indeed corrupted them was the fact that many of their children could not speak the language of the Jews, “but spoke the language of Ashdod,” a city of the Philistines, the inveterate enemies of Israel.
A people’s language is central to their culture and is properly cherished. Words convey thoughts, and language reflects the thinking of a people. Children who do not know the language of their forefathers have lost that culture. These children did not know how to be Jews; they had become pagan rather than worshipers of the Lord.
There are words peculiar to the New Testament that, when properly used, teach the doctrine of Christ. The Lord revealed His will to us in words (1 Corinthians 2:12-13), and we should use these words in the way they are employed in the New Testament (1 Peter 4:11). To change the use of a biblical term is to corrupt the idea it conveys and to teach error. People who consistently misuse biblical terms betray the ignorance and error associated with denominationalism.
“Baptism” is a good, basic New Testament word meaning “immersion, submersion”(Thayer. 94; cf. Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12). When people call the unauthorized acts of sprinkling or pouring water on a person “baptism,” they have corrupted the Bible term and perverted the gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). They are using “the language of Ashdod.”
The word “father” is found over a thousand times in the New King James Version of the Bible, but it is never used in the New Testament as a religious title for a man, and, when the Lord forbade His disciples to honor one another with religious titles (Matthew 23:8-11), He specifically commanded, “Do not call anyone on earth your father.” Those who wear the title “reverend” violate the Lord’s command in principle, but those who insist on being called “father” specifically disobey the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not so employ “the language of Ashdod.”
The term “pastors” is found once in the New Testament, in a list of offices the Lord placed in the church when He ascended on high (Ephesians 4:11). But it is the same word usually translated “shepherd.” Elders are assigned the task of shepherding the local flock where they are members (1 Peter 5:1-4). The New Testament pattern is to have a plurality of elders (pastors) in a local church (Acts 14:23; 15:4, 6, 22-23; 16:4; 20:17; 21:18; Titus 1:5; James 5:14; 1 Peter 5:1-4), and men must meet divinely set requirements to serve in this office (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1;5-9). The term “evangelist” is used in the Scriptures as a synonym for “preacher” (2 Timothy 4:1-5). A man doesn’t have to travel to be an evangelist. Philip stayed in one locality for at least around twenty years (Acts 8:40; 21:8), but he was still an evangelist (Acts 21:8). When denominations call a preacher who works with a local church a “pastor,” and only use the word “evangelist” for a traveling preacher, they are employing “the language of Ashdod.”
The New Testament uses the word “fellowship” to describe communion with God in Christ (1 John 1:3,7), communion with saints in Christ (1 John 1:3), communion with the body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 10:16), sharing in suffering for Christ (2 Corinthians 1:6-7), partnership in the work and worship of the Lord in His church (Acts 2:42; 2 Corinthians 8:23), partnership in financing the Lord’s work (Acts 2:42; 1 Timothy 6:18), partnership in the gospel by support of a preacher (Philippians 1:5; 4:15), and distributing to the necessity of the saints (Romans 12:13; 2 Corinthians 8:4; 9:13). Where do the Scriptures use this word to denote a common meal? Are some so carnally minded their mouths water when they think of fellowship in Christ? (cf. Romans 14:17; 8:6; Philippians 3:17-21; Colossians 3:1-4). Common meals are no more fellowship than sprinkling is baptism. Such “language of Ashdod” indicates unscriptural, denominational attitudes.
When Simon Peter denied even knowing the Lord Jesus, his speech betrayed him (Matthew 26:69-73). Does our speech betray denominational attitudes and concepts? Do we employ “the langauge of Ashdod”? “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracies of God” (1 Peter 4:11).
Work Cited
Thayer, J.H., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
