Those Excluded from the Congregation

231 No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord. 2 No one born of a forbidden marriage[1] nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. 3 No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deuteronomy 23:1-3

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.