Ruth 1:5-6
When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.
Ruth 1:5-6
When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.
Ruth was Really an Israelite
As per these Scriptures, Ruth was really an Israelite, she could not have been anything else:
Deuteronomy (Devarim) 1:5
“On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,”
Deut. 2:32-36
32 “When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, 33 the LORD our Elohim delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. 34 At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed[a] them—men, women and children. We left no survivors. 35 only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken. 36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even unto Gilead, there was not a city too high for us: the LORD our God delivered up all before us.”
Deut. 3:12, 16:
12 “And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites.
16 But to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites.”
Deu 23:2-3
2 “No one born of a forbidden marriage[a] nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, not even in the tenth generation.
3 No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, not even in the tenth generation.”
Numbers, Be-Midbar 21:21-26
“21 Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:
22 “Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
23 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel. 24 Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified. 25 Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements. 26 Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.”
Numbers 26:3 – “And Moses and Eleazar the priest spake with them in the plains of Moab by Jordan [near] Jericho”
Numbers 26:63
“These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.”
Numbers 33:49 – “And they pitched by Jordan, from Bethjesimoth [even] unto Abelshittim in the plains of Moab.”
Numbers 36:13
“These are the commandments and the judgments, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.”
Joshua 13:32 – These [are the countries] which Moses did distribute for inheritance in the plains of Moab, on the other side Jordan, by Jericho, eastward”
So are all these scriptures wrong? Really? If all these scriptures are wrong then we have a serious problem! ‘Papa don’t lie!’ He says Ruben got the territory of Moab; that is the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan River, not the country of Moab (Num 33:50). He says all the Moabites in that area (above the Arnon where Ruben went) were killed, and furthermore, He said NO MOABITES can join His assembly PERIOD (Deu 23:2-3).
Yes I know, many, both Jew and Gentile, preach Ruth was a Gentile but that is not what the word says and that is not what HISTORY shows us. We all know that the Jezraelites and Carmelites, etc were in effect Israelites living in those cities same as an American Jew is called an America, a Cuban Jew a Cuban, etc. People are normally called by the name of the area they are from. Nobody called Yeshua a Jew but what? A Nazarene, He was known as the Nazarene.
Also there are expressions to be kept in consideration such as “going back to your gods” (Ruth 1:15) meaning going back to worshiping the territorial gods believed to be in control of a given region. In the case of Israel we know they often fell into the idolatrous practices of the areas they conquered. The people living in Moab were Israelites mostly from the tribe of Ruben who instead of destroying the pagan idols embraced the local powers and principalities of the region. Ruth as a Rubenite went back to Torah when she accompanied Naomi declaring what in effect is teshuva, a return to the faith of her ancestors, leaving behind the pagan practices Ruben had adopted and embracing Torah.
Israel had long before Ruth’s time taken over the former Moab territory exterminating its inhabitants even as brought forth in Judges 11:12-26. Ruth takes place during the time of the Judges, Ruth 1:1. We are talking about 300 years of possessing that territory. Yet we notice an area below the Arnon still bearing that name Moab (which King David later subdued as well, 2 Sam 8:2). This is the area Moabites kept for a while, nonetheless, we are told Israel had subdued Moab and the Amorites above the Arnon even though the name “Plains of Moab” remained. In Num 21:18-20, we specifically see Israel went conquering the country or plains of Moab, including Bamoth-baal*. This is the area Naomi and her family moved into and where Ruth lived. Normally an Israelite family would not have gone into enemy territory to live. Moreover, they would not have taken wives for their sons from Moab because Torah told Israel not to do so, Deu 23:2-3. Besides, why live with what Israel historically considered to be unclean dogs when Israel already had the fertile country or Plains of Moab in its possession?
When you live in a territory all your life you are often said to be from that area regardless if originally you came from another area or whatever ethnicity or religion you may belong to. Thus in Ruth 1:4 she is described as a woman of Moab, 4125, that is a citizen or inhabitant of Moab, in this case the Plains or Country of Moab. She was a Moabites in the sense she lived there. Even in this country we refer to “Americans” even when talking about Europeans and people from other countries that settled here making this a whole new nation. The term ‘American’ became a territorial reference to where Americans are born and now live, it does not indicate race, ethnicity or religion. Israelites where also identified by geographic areas simply by the place they lived in; American is anyone from the US, regardless of background and so were the Israelites. Nazarenes for example were known as such, not necessarily where they or their parents were originally from. This was the case with Ruth the “Moabites”. She was a Hebrew, quite possibly a Reubenites that apparently was born and raised in territory conquered long before by Israel. Ruth was an Israelite living in the conquered plains or country of Moab and was therefore referred to as “Moabites”, 4125.
Of course we know that Ruth being a “Moabites” vs. a Rubenite does not change our relationship with Yahveh. However, why keep on repeating a lie? Why ignore scripture that says Moab cannot enter the assembly of Yahveh, Deu 23:2-3? Why not identify Ruth as what she really was, a Rubenite from the plains of Moab who left idolatry and went back to the Elohim of her ancestors embracing Yahveh’s ways? Oh wait, that sounds too much like repentance and it shows Moshiach’s blood line to be according to the promise, undefiled all the way to Seth, who was born in the image of the first Adam, whom Yeshua vindicated as Second Adam.
*Bamoth-Baal was an elevated point in the land of Moab (Num. xxii. 41), which was allotted to the Tribe of Reuben (Josh. xiii. 17) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamoth-Baal
Also
Be-Midbar 26:3, 26:63, 33:49 testifies that all this happened in what continued to be called the “plains (or country) of Moab”. The USA has lots of places that continue to be known by their former Native American name yet the people living there now are oftentimes not Native Americans. This was the case with the plains of Moab. Israel took over the fertile plains but the name stuck, thus Israelites born there were known as “Moabites”, meaning someone born or living in that area. Since the blood (racial) Moabites living in the area north of the Arnon were totally destroyed, then the conquerors (namely Ruben) of that area were the ones to re-populate that area. Again, if we examine the history of Israel we can see were time and again Israel fell into idolatry adopting the local deities. This appears to have been the case with the tribe of Ruben. However, Ruth instead of doing what Orpha did, decided to cling to Naomi and did what in effect seems to amount to teshuva. How fitting for King David’s grandmother to have done that! Isn’t that what Israel did as a nation during Shavuot, do teshuva and accept Torah? Ruth did just that! Shouldn’t all Israel dispersed among the nations do the same?
4125-Moabite= 1) a citizen of Moab 2) an inhabitant of the land of Moab