Are there such things as “mamzers” — good and bad seeds?
Question:
I am confused about good seeds and bad seeds and the children produced from the joining of good and bad seed; called "mamzers." Could you give me some help, please? If there are children, they are supposed to be void -- neither good or bad. Would I be considered one for my father was an adulterer with a heavy hand and cruel voice and my mom was a virgin who never loved or even looked at another man, so wouldn't that make him a bad seed and her a good seed? So where does this leave me? I was taught all children were good and pure in God's eyes until they proved Him wrong.
Answer:
"Mamzers" is a product of Jewish thinking -- not biblical teaching. Under modern-day Jewish law, a person who was born from an adulterous relationship or from incest is considered a mamzer. The status is inherited. Thus children of a mamzer are also mamzer. Children born because of fornication or to people of two different religions are not considered to be a mamzer. Also, the mamzer status is only applied to Jews. Gentile relationships of any sort do not produce mamzers according to Jewish thinking.
In the Jewish faith, the mamzer status does not affect their role in the Jewish religion or in family status. The only restriction placed on them is that a mamzer and non-mamzer are not allowed to marry. A mamzer is only permitted to marry another mamzer or a proselyte to the Jewish religion. [See: Mamzer, Wikipedia]. To complicate things further, many Jews find the laws unwieldy and unenforceable. They have taken to not asking about the mamzer status and thus are not enforcing the requirements.
All of this legal craziness is based on a corrupted view of: "One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD" (Deuteronomy 23:2). There was a list of seven nations that God forbade the Israelites from intermarrying (Deuteronomy 7:1-4). Such marriages would be illegitimate (i.e. "illegal"). It had nothing to do with children from adultery or incest. Children who had parents from one of the seven forbidden nations were not allowed to become Israelites. See "Mixed Marriages" for details about what the Bible did teach.
What you understand is the correct biblical view. All children are innocent until they reach the age when they understand the difference between good and evil (Deuteronomy 1:39). Whether a person is good or bad is based on that individual's choices (Ezekiel 18:20).
