11. The land. The quotation from “the prophets” does not appear elsewhere in the , and must therefore either be from a noncanonical, but inspired, writer, or a free quotation giving the consensus of prophetic teaching on the subject. The first part of the quotation refers to the Mosaic age (see Deut. 7:1-3). The author of the book of Kings makes similar references to “the prophets” (2 Kings 17:23; 21:10; 24:2). The purpose of such references is to represent the truth in question as one frequently mentioned (see on Matt. 2:23).
It is true that elsewhere in Scripture (except for Deut. 7:1-3) there is no specific prohibition of marriages with Canaanites as such, though in the remarks made in Judges 3:6 (in the Hebrew Bible Judges is counted among the “Former Prophets,” see I, 37) such marriages are reproved as occasioning the seduction of Israelites to idolatry. Also, in the prophetic descriptions of the whoredoms of Israel with the various local Baals, and in the general condemnations of apostasy, the transgression of this prohibition is implicitly included. This certainly justifies the general statement that God had forbidden the Israelites to contract such marriages. It is therefore evident that these words of Ezra do not support the argument of critical scholars that Deuteronomy had a number of “prophet” authors.
Filthiness. Not literal, of the body, but figurative, of the moral and religious filthiness of the nations of Canaan. On the Canaanite religion see II, 38-41.