Well there was a prohibition against Hebrews marrying Gentiles but David's grandmother was a Gentile.
"You shall not marry them (the gentiles, about which the Bible speaks in the previous verses), you not give your daughter to their son and you shall not take his daughter for your son." (Deut. 7:3)
Let me describe a scene from Nehemiah, the Israelites have returned to Jerusalem and nearly completed the Temple and Wall rebuilding. There’s just one problem, they are marrying foreign wives, so they all have to come to Jerusalem, stand outside the Temple in the rain, and repent:
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days… and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain. And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel. Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. (Neh. 10:9-11)
Then there's Rahab the prostitute that took the spies in, in the time of Joshua, in the city of Jericho. She is not only in Jesus family line but also mentioned in the Hebrews 11 hall of faith line up.
These two prohibitions were somehow related and if there is one thing God complained about in the Old Testament is when they would draw near with their lips but their hearts where far from him. The oblations, sacrifices, sacred convocations, even circumcision and the Sabbath God set aside because what is partial must give way to what is complete. Just like one of these days creation will wear out like an old pair of jeans:
And: “In the beginning, Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; They will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed; but You remain the same, and Your years will never end.” (Heb. 1:11)
I don't think we are going to need any Bibles in heaven, because now we know in part but one day we will know him, even as we are known:
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.(1 Cor. 13:10-12)
The temporal (temporary) must give way to the eternal, the shadow to the substance, the partial to the complete. The biggest problem with the dietary laws isn't that they were a bad idea, it's because they spent all their time keeping the minute details and couldn't hear the weightier elements of the law.
But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matt. 9:13)
They want to know why Jesus is hanging around with sinners, actually it's because the sinners were repenting and those strictly obeying every minute detail to the point of obsessive, compulsive narcissism that hated him. The Pharisees would fast twice a week minimum, Tuesdays and Thursdays like clock work and most of them would have been better off cooking out. The Sabbath was never more then a day when everyone, including slaves and beasts of burden did no work. Guess what they did? Turned it into a works righteousness.
What changed? They were missing the whole point. So enjoy your pork chops, I know I do.
Grace and peace,
Mark