Gaul Atreides (@gaulatreides)

Miscegenation and pollution of the racial bloodline became "bugaboos" (aka legitimately existential concerns) when, first, colonialism became entrenched empire policy for the Anglo powers and, later, when advances in communication and transportation enabled nonwhites to "reverse colonize" the White nations. These fears are understandable in the context of technologically facilitated racial mingling. They were not front and center fears in Biblical times, because empires of the past did not have the means to rapidly transport large numbers of racial foreigners into the towns of the native stock population. As a commenter noted, in Jesus' time, one's neighbor likely would have been a second cousin. Racial strangers without any blood ties to the locals were a rare sight, and their presence usually signified an attack by an invading army, or a slave market.