Moabites Prohibited but Grace Permitted Access to Those Who Had Faith

Ruth, David, and all their descendants were of the Moabites, descendants of Lot by an incestuous relationship with his oldest daughter (Gen. 19:37). No prohibition of Israel intermarrying with them was mentioned at that time. Later, when Israel was in Wilderness of Sinai, God told them not to bother (“mess with”) the Moabites because He had given them land (Deut. 2:9), thus showing His grace toward them. But, before Moses wrote Deuteronomy (a recap of the wilderness experience), he recorded in Numbers that a Moabite king named Balak hired a prophet named Balaam to curse Israel (Numbers 22). God, however, turned Balaam’s curses into blessings (Numbers 23-24). The Israelites later killed Balaam (a Moabite) who was mysteriously among the doomed Midianites (Numbers 31:8). Most likely his love for making money caused his demise. Therefore, Moabites’ mistreatment of Israel is why the Lord told Moses, “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” (Deuteronomy 23:3-4). It didn’t seem to have anything to do with their incestuous pedigree. The words, “tenth generation” is taken by some commentators to mean “forever.” Others take it literally. If so, then the tenth generation from Lot’s time would have long passed by Ruth’s and David’s time, by at least four generations according to Matt. 1:17. If “tenth generation” means forever, then Ruth’s confession (Ruth 1:16-17) lines up with “by grace are you saved through faith” and thus God placed her among His covenant people like He did Rahab (Matt. 1:5; Heb. 11:31; James 2:25) and a Canaanite woman named Tamar (Gen. 38; Matt. 1:3). Space won’t permit me to list all OT Gentiles who came to faith in Israel’s God, the only true God (Yahweh). I believe the “tenth generation” is an idiom for “forever.” Therefore, Ruth and David were permitted to be in the assembly by God’s grace. If Boaz didn’t believe that, he probably would not have married Ruth, but he gladly did (Ruth 4:13). Whew! Thanks for asking the question. I enjoyed laboring to come up with a biblical answer. If I didn’t succeed, I hope at least you see a lot of food for thought . Blessings!