Where in the Old Testament did God command the Jewish people to practice matrilineal descent?

Question

I am aware that Judaism accepts converts, but do not understand matrilineal descent. It doesn't make sense to me that the child of a Jewish man and a Catholic woman is not Jewish, but the child of a Jewish woman and a Catholic man is Jewish.

Answer 1

there is no commandment, it is just implied in several biblical verses/stories that make it clear that the children of a jewish mother were always jewish, but a non-jewish mother were not considered jewish.

EDIT

there are several reasonings behind it:

a) you ALWAYS know the religion of the mother, but the father is iffy.
b) the mother, in judaism, is the more spiritual and moral one, and therefore more likely to pass on "jewish values"

however, this rule only became absolute jewish law after the romans invaded israel, and were raping and impregnating the jewish women. the rabbis had to make it clear that children of jewish mothers were fully jewish, no matter who their father was, in order to prevent discrimination against these children

Answer 2

The Torah does not always state every law explicitly. In the case of Matrilineal Descent, the practice is derived from Deuteronomy 7: 4, "Because he will lead astray your son from before Me" To understand this verse, look at the preceding verse, which states: "And you shall not intermarry with them, your daughter you shall not give to his son and his daughter you shall not take for your son". Verse 4 should have stated "Because SHE will lead astray your son", for the non-Jewish girl that your son married ('your' meaning Jewish) should be the one that would lead your son astray. So who is the 'HE'? It might be the girl's father, but in general, women leave their father's house and live in their husband's house; they would then not be living with her father. Hence, it would not make sense for the girl's father to lead "your son" astray if your son doesn't live with him.

Answer 3

Well .. there's always a bit of humorous cynicism in these things. All you have to do is answer the question: Prior to DNA testing, how was anyone 100% certain who their father was? (And if you are a man with an identical twin brother, your "son" could turn out to be your nephew and DNA testing wouldn't reveal it.)

Answer 4

It has to do with the bloodline, specific to the prophecy of the Messiah.
Genesis 3:15

It is interesting to study all the ways Satan used in an attempt to compromise that singular bloodline.

Answer 5

Samantha has it right, she's quoting the Talmud in Kiddushin

Answer 6

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