��������������������� Ruth
Was An Israelite.
It is unfortunate that many preachers,
in their ignorance, teach so much false doctrine. One such false doctrine is
the statement that Jesus Christ was not of pure Israelite blood; they say that
one of His Ancestors was Ruth, � a
Moabitess. �
From the use of this term, they believe that she was racially, not just
geographically, Moabite. In this they are greatly mistaken.
The territory of the Moabites was
originally east and northeast of the Dead Sea, extending from the River Arnon
on the south to the river Jabbok on the north, and from the Dead sea and Jordan
River on the west across the plains and foothills into the mountains to the
east. From the name of the people who lived there, it was call � Moab, � and it kept that name for many
centuries AFTER ALL THE MOABITES WERE GONE FROM IT!
When the Israelites entered the
Promised Land, after their 40 years wandering in the Exodus, the land of Moab
was the first territory they conquered. God had commanded them to totally
exterminate the former occupants of the lands they were to settle; and in Moab,
they did just that. At that time, about 1450 B.C., Sihon, King of the Amorites,
and conquered and occupied the kingdom of Moab, and was its ruler when the
Israelites came in.
In Numbers 21:26, 29, we read: � For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the
king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, AND
TAKEN ALL HIS LAND OUT OF HIS HAND, even unto Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab!
Thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and
his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites. �
The Israelites conquered the land of
Moab, killing all the people they found therein. We read in Deuteronomy
2:32-34:
� Then Sihon came out against us, he and
all his people, to fight at Jahaz. And the LORD our God delivered him before
us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. And we took all his
cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the
little ones, of every city, we left none to remain. �
From here, the Israelites advanced
northward into the land of Ammon. Numbers 21:30-35:
� We have shot at them; Heshbon is
perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which
reacheth unto Medeba. Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. And Moses
sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the
Amorites that were there. And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and
Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the
battle at Edrei. And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have
delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt
do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.
So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left
him alive: and they possessed his land. �
This entire area, east of the River
Jordan, was settled by the Tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the Tribe of
Manasseh, after all the original inhabitants, Moabites and Ammonites, had been
killed or driven out.
In Deuteronomy 3:12-16, Moses tells
us:
� 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. And the rest
of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe
of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the
land of giants. Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the
coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashan‑havothjair,
unto this day. And I gave Gilead unto Machir. And unto the Reubenites and unto
the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and
the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of
Ammon. �
All of this was accomplished about
1450 B.C. From that time on, this was purely Israelite territory; even more so
than the land west of the River Jordan, because in the old lands of Moab and
Ammon none were left alive. Today, Anglo-Saxon Americans who live in California
are called � Californians. � But bearing this name and living in a
former Mexican territory doesn � t
make them Mexicans. Likewise, pure Israelites living in the old land of Moab
were often called � Moabites, � just as those who lived in Galilee
were called � Galileans. �
Three hundred years later, about 1143
B.C., we find evidence that the Israelite occupation of the lands of Moab and
Ammon was still unbroken, in Judges 11:12-26, which says:
� And Jephthah sent messengers unto the
king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou
art come against me to fight in my land? And the king of the children of Ammon
answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land,
when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan:
now therefore restore those lands again peaceably. And Jephthah sent messengers
again unto the king of the children of Ammon: And said unto him, Thus saith
Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children
of Ammon: But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness
unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh; Then Israel sent messengers unto the king
of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of
Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of
Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh. Then they went
along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of
Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other
side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border
of Moab. And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king
of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy
land into my place. But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but
Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought
against Israel. And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people
into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land
of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. And they possessed all the
coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness
even unto Jordan. So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites
from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it? Wilt not thou
possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the
LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess. And now art
thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever
strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them, While Israel dwelt in
Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that
be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not
recover them within that time? �
So the Israelites had held unbroken
possession of the land of Moab and Ammon all that time. Right in the middle of
this period, about 1322 B.C., or 130 years after the Israelites of the Tribes
of Reuben and Gad had occupied the land of Moab, ELIMELECH, A MAN OF
JUDAH, WITH HIS WIFE NAOMI and his two sons was driven by famine out of
Judah; and Ruth 1:1 says that he � went to sojourn in the country of
Moab. �
� Now it came to pass in the days when
the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And A CERTAIN MAN OF
BETHLEHEMJUDAH WENT TO SOJOURN IN THE COUNTRY OF MOAB, HE, AND HIS WIFE, AND
HIS TWO SONS. And THE NAME OF THE MAN WAS ELIMELECH, and the name of his wife
Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of
Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.
And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And
they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and
the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. � (Ruth 1:1-4)
Note the accuracy of that expression:
NOT AMONG THE PEOPLE OF MOAB, BUT IN THE COUNTRY OF MOAB, WHICH WAS OCCUPIED BY
ISRAELITES EXCLUSIVELY. His sons married women of that country; one of them
being Ruth, became an ancestor of David, and through David an ancestor of Jesus
Christ. SHE COULD NOT HAVE BEEN OF ANY RACE OR NATION BUT ISRAEL, FOR NO
OTHERS LIVED THERE.
Indeed, it could not have been
otherwise. From the beginning God very strongly condemned the Moabites and Ammonites.
In Deuteronomy 23:3 He commanded: � An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter
into the congregation of God; even to their tenth generation shall they not
enter into the congregation of God Forever. �
In the tenth generation there could be
as little as one part in 1056 of Moabite blood: yet Forever a person with even
on part in a thousand of Moabite blood could not enter into the congregation.
And God was always consistent, in this as in other matters. In Sephaniah 2:9 we
read: � Therefore
as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab shall be as
Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah... �
The whole 48th chapter of
Jeremiah is a terrible condemnation of the people of Moab. In prophesying the
triumphant return of Jesus Christ, Isaiah tells us: � For in this mountain shall the hand of
the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is
trodden down for the dunghill. �
(Isaiah 25:10)
Certainly God would not take from a
people whom He condemns like Sodom one to be an ancestor of Jesus Christ. So
never let anyone tell you that Jesus Christ was only a mongrel, with the blood
of other races flowing in His veins. God was so insistent that even the least
peasant among His people Israel must keep the race line pure, under penalty of
being cut off from His people for violation of this law; and Jesus Christ said,
� Think not that I am cone to
destroy the law or the prophets: I am come not to destroy, but to fulfill. � (Matthew 5:17).
We have the clearest proof that, both
as God the Father and as God the Son, He was consistently true to His own
commandments: Ruth was a pure Israelite, from the land of Moab, but not from
the race of Moab. But even if she were, the Moabites were descended from Lot,
Abraham � s
nephew, and as such were not racial aliens either. (Taken, in part, from a
study by Bertrand L. Comparet, from � Covenant Report, � New Zealand)