“In this new life it doesn’t matter if you are a Greek or a Jew, circumcised or not. It doesn’t matter if you speak a different language or even if you are a Scythian. It doesn’t matter if you are a slave or free. Christ is all that matters, and He is in all of you.” (Colossians 3:11, ERV)
God had forbidden the people of Israel to intermarry with the ungodly people who lived in the land of Canaan. This law remained valid through the centuries, although it was not always obeyed. After the Israelites came back from their exile, they promised: “We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons” (Nehemiah 10:30).
However, the book of Ruth is about a young Moabite widow who accompanies her Israelite mother-in-law back to Israel to live there with her. She is aware of her status as an outsider.
When she is treated in a friendly way by a “worthy man” called Boaz, she is astonished: “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” (Ruth 2:10). However, Boaz calls Ruth “a worthy woman” and even goes so far as to marry her. And God blesses their marriage.
This story (among others) shows that God’s prohibition to intermarry with other nations was based on their difference of religion, not of ethnicity. It is totally acceptable to marry a “foreigner”.
God does not mind ethnic and cultural differences. Do you?