What is Biblical Kinism?

By: Matthew D. Dyer

The term “Kinism” is a new term, but not a new concept. The term started being used in the 1990s to describe the Biblical concept that God created the different races, or kindreds (kin), and intended for them to stay separate from one another, and that interracial mixing is a sin. Those who adhere to this use the Bible as their foundation for why they believe this, so they are called “Biblical Kinist.” Now I understand in our current culture the idea of this would shock many people, and their knee jerk reaction would be to say that Kinism is sinful and wrong, and that anyone who would want to stay with their own race is an evil “racist.” For those who believe that, please bear with me as we explore what the Bible has to say about this, because I think you will find that Biblical Kinist are in good company among many favorite Bible heroes.

    In the Bible there are several words that denote kindred and separation. One of them is the Hebrew word môleḏeṯ which is often translated as kindred in our English Bibles. It is a word that is used to speak of a person’s native country or native kindred people.

James Strong in his The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible defines this Hebrew word as:

“nativity (plural birth-place); by implication, lineage, native country; also offspring, family:—begotten, born, issue, kindred, native(-ity)”

    We find this Hebrew word being used in Genesis chapter 12 when God commanded Abraham to leave his own kindred, which the context of the verse defines as his father’s house or Abraham’s direct relatives, to travel into the new land that God was going to give to him and his offspring.

Genesis 12:1 states:
“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:”

    The next place this Hebrew word môleḏeṯ appears is in Genesis chapter 24 when Abraham was old and getting close to death, and he desired that his son Isaac to take a wife from his own kindred (kin). This was so important to Abraham that he made his servant swear to him that he would take Isaac among Abraham’s own kindred to find a wife.

Genesis 24:1-7 states:
“And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed[1] will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.”

    As you read on in chapter 24 you see that Abraham’s servant went unto Abraham’s kindred and found Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel, and she became Isaac’s wife.Now many will attempt to make a point that the reason that Abraham wanted Isaac to go take a wife of his own kindred is because he did not want Isaac to marry an idolator among the Canaanites. The Bible does not say that though, and we do not know for sure if Bethuel and his household weren’t idolaters themselves. We do know that Bethuel’s son Laban was an idolater because his daughter Rachel hid his idols from him in Genesis 31:34. Also, if Abraham was only concerned about Isaac marrying an idolater, why not instruct his servant to find a wife that was willing to convert and worship Abraham’s God? The reason is because Abraham was concerning about Isaac marrying within his own kindred, or one could say race. Now in our current culture if a white father were to come out and tell his family that he only wanted his children to marry mates that were of their own kindred/race we all know that he would quickly be labeled an evil racist. Yet, that is exactly what Abraham did, who is known as father of the faith, because he was a Kinist.

The 1^st century A.D. Judean historian Flavius Josephus said the following concerning Abraham’s reason for wanting Isaac to take a wife of his own kindred:

“As soon then as this was over, she introduced the stranger; and for the camels, the servants of Laban brought them in, and took care of them; and he was himself brought in to supper by Laban. And, after supper, he says to him, and to the mother of the damsel, addressing himself to her, “Abraham is the son of Terah, and a kinsman of yours; for Nahor, the grandfather of these children, was the brother of Abraham, by both father and mother; upon which account he hath sent me to you, being desirous to take this damsel for his son to wife. He is his legitimate son, and is brought up as his only heir. He could indeed have had the most happy of all the women in that country for him, but he would not have his son marry any of them; but, out of regard to his own relations, he desired him to match here, whose affection and inclination I would not have you despise; for it was by the good pleasure of God that other accidents fell out in my journey, and that thereby I lighted upon your daughter and your house; for when I was near to the city, I saw a great many maidens coming to a well, and I prayed that I might meet with this damsel, which has come to pass accordingly. Do you therefore confirm that marriage, whose espousals have been already made by a Divine appearance; and show the respect you have for Abraham, who hath sent me with so much solicitude, in giving your consent to the marriage of this damsel.” Upon this they understood it to be the will of God, and greatly approved of the offer, and sent their daughter, as was desired. Accordingly Isaac married her, the inheritance being now come to him; for the children by Keturah were gone to their own remote habitations.”[2]

    Later on in Genesis chapter 26 we read about how Esau, the son of Jacob and Rebekah, and great-grandson of Abraham, went and married daughters of the Hittites.

Genesis 26:34-35 states:
^“And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.”

   In this passage we see how Esau took wives of these people, and it was a grief to his parents. Much like today when a son or daughter marries outside their race, it is often a grief to some parents when this happens. We learn more about what Esau did in the Book of Hebrews chapter 12, where the author identifies Esau’s sin as fornication, and a despising of his birthright.

Hebrews 12:16 states:
“Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. “

    Now many when they think of the word fornication, they think of a husband or wife “cheating” in their marriage with someone else. It is true that is fornication, but not the only type. The Greek word rendered as fornicator is the word pornos and is used to describe someone who committed a sexual sin. The Greek word porneia[3] is used in the Greek to describe the sin of fornication. The sin of fornication though is a broad term, and is used to describe ANY sexual sin, not just one of them.

Joseph Henry Thayer in his Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines pornos as:

“…a man who indulges in unlawful sexual intercourse, a fornicator…”

Thayer defines porneia as:

“…used properly, of illicit sexual intercourse in general…”

Albert Barnes in his Bible commentary concerning Hebrews 12:16 agrees that this passage is speaking of Esau marrying foreign wives:

“It is clearly implied here that Esau sustained the character of a fornicator and a profane person. The former appellation is probably given to him to denote his licentiousness shown by his marrying many wives, and particularly foreigners, or the daughters of Canaan.”

    Hebrews 13:4 speaks of how proper marriage is honorable to all, and that any kind of fornication and adultery defiles the marriage bed.

Hebrews 13:4 states:
“Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers (porneia) and adulterers God will judge.”

    In the next couple of verses I will demonstrate how fornication in the New Testament is identified with the sin of incest, harlotry, homosexuality, and of course interracial marriage like seen with Esau:

Incest – 1 Corinthians 5:1 states:
“It is reported commonly that there is fornication (porneia) among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.”

Harlotry – 1 Corinthians 6:13-15 states:
“Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication (porneia), but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.”

Homosexuality – Jude 1:7 states:
“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication (porneia), and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

    From the Biblical record we have no evidence to support that Esau “cheated” on his wife, was a homosexual, committed incest, but we do know he married outside of his own kindred into a forbidden lineage, and that was so bad that it grieved his parents, and the writer of Hebrews viewed it as fornication, which is a transgression of God’s Law. Isaac instructed Jacob to do the opposite of what Esau did, just as his father Abraham desired him to do when taking a wife.

Genesis 28:1-5 states:
“And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.”

    As mentioned before, a common objection to Kinism within these passages is that Isaac desired his son to simply not marry an idolator, so he sent him to people who were not idolators that just happen to be his kindred. This simply isn’t true, because Laben was an idolator and this is confirmed when Rachel, Laben’s daughter, hid his idols from him in chapter 31.

Genesis 31:34 (Brenton[4] Septuagint Translation) states:
“And Rachel took the idols, and cast them among the camel’s packs, and sat upon them.”

    From the above verses, it is clear that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all Kinist. They took wives of their own kindred and commanded their sons to take wives of their own kindred, and the thought of them not do this grieved them.