Moab and Ruth

No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the LORD, because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
Nevertheless, the LORD your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the LORD your God loves you. You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.” Deuteronomy 23:3-6 NAS

“…Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the LORD had visited His people in giving them food. So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.” Ruth 1:3-7 NAS

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.
Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, [see Numbers 1:1-7 –the generation during the exile and writing of the law] and Nahshon the father of Salmon.
Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.
Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah. (Matthew 1:1-6 NAS) [Bolding added]

According to Matthews genealogy above, Ruth was four generations removed from the prohibition to not allow those from Moab to enter into the assembly of Israel.

FINALLY THE QUESTION: Why was Ruth allowed to enter into the fellowship of Israel?

Rob

 

Regarding comment #1; who can argue?
Regarding #2; the time of the story of Ruth was during the period of the Judges (Ruth 1:1).

Would that distiction nullify one of the points of interest in book, namely the kinsman-redeemer line?

Have we been redeemed into a separate, less acceptable relationship with God?

Willing to learn. No arguments, only searching here.

Rob

 

This was only a distraction in my studies but I researched it further, out of curiosity.

Why was Ruth allowed to enter into the fellowship of Israel?

THEORY 1 – Ancient Jewish commentators
“Repeatedly the Midrash seems to be explaining that the law about admittance to the assembly of the Lord for Ammonites and Moabites in Duet 23:3 [Hebrew 23:4] does not pertain to marriage to women of these nations.” page 59 The Anchor Bible, RUTH; [by Edward F. Campbell Jr. (Doubleday, 1975)].

The men of Israel sometimes intermarried with Moabite women (1Kings 11:1; 1Chr. 8:8; Ruth 1:4; Neh. 13:23).

THEORY 2
Ruth is a foreigner (or even perhaps an Israelite) from the geographic local of Moab, Ruth was not Moabite by race, (sort of like saying “Rob is a Pennsylvanian, even though my ancestry is not from this area).

“For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon.
Therefore those who use proverbs say, “Come to Heshbon! Let it be built! So let the city of Sihon be established. For a fire went forth from Heshbon, A flame from the town of Sihon; It devoured Ar of Moab, The dominant heights of the Arnon.
Woe to you, O Moab!
You are ruined, O people of Chemosh!
He has given his sons as fugitives,
And his daughters into captivity,
To an Amorite king, Sihon.” (Numbers 21:26-29 NAS)

“But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as he is today.
The LORD said to me, ‘See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to occupy, that you may possess his land.’
Then Sihon with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz.
The LORD our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him with his sons and all his people.
So we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed the men, women and children of every city. We left no survivor.
We took only the animals as our booty and the spoil of the cities which we had captured.
From Aroer which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too high for us; the LORD our God delivered all over to us. (Deuteronomy 2:32-36 NAS). Also see Numbers 21:30-35,

All the land of Moab was previously settled by the Israelite tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. Deuteronomy 3:12-16, By 1450 B.C. All the land of Moab was Israel territory. in 1142 B.C.. We have proof that, three hundred years later, the land of Moab was still Israel territory. The proof is in Judges 11:12-26,

THEORY 3
Ruth would be excluded from the assembly of the Lord. A reason for this restriction is so that half-Israelite children would not grow up worshipping other gods. Ruth’s first Israelite husband disobeyed the law when he married Ruth the Moabite. However, God.s grace is amazing; He can even use disobedience in His plan. Ruth would be excluded, but even if someone had this lesser status and is excluded from the assembly, she still can worship God and follow Him. Sometimes Christians are excluded from some ministry opportunities because of sin (divorcing their spouse, etc.), or simply because the target people are prejudice against their nationality. But they can still serve God in the role that God has given them.

THEORY 4
Ruth would not be excluded from the assembly of the Lord. Her statement, "Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God" (Ruth 1:16) provides strong proof that Ruth bound herself to the Lord. If a person was classified as "a foreigner who bound himself with Israel" (Isaiah 56:3-7), then she would be an Israelite by adoption.

THEORY 5
In these dark times of Israel’s history, both Ruth and the villagers might have been unaware of this restriction. Sometimes God even uses our ignorance.

Rob