Introduction:    (This article is a transcript of a message from Chaazawan which includes our findings on the subject. To hear Chaazawan's original message, see link at the end.)

"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 Bethlehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons." These are important words, and upon these words hangs the whole truth of who Ruth was. When we understand the journeying of Israel into the Promised Land, the route they took, and the battles they fought on the way, and the land they conquered, annihilating the former holders of that land, the whole truth of the matter of Ruth's identity is revealed.

Have you ever wondered why Ruth an ancestor of Yahshua is widely accepted as being a Moabitess, when some Scriptures appear to be at odds with this assumption? Deut 23:3-4 reads, "An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of Yahweh; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of Yahweh for ever: Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you." If we reckon Ruth to be a true Moabitish women, who was indeed accepted into Israel. How, then, do we handle this apparent contradiction in Scriptural history?

Let us take a look at the history
Ruth 1:1 "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 Bethlehem-judah (Alimelech) went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons." We know the story. Both of the 'certain man's' sons married women from this 'country of Moab'. The sons died, and he himself died leaving his widow-wife Naomi and her two daughters-in-law. One of the 'Moabite' wives accompanied her Mother-in-Law Naomi back to 'Israel' where she met and married Boaz, the grandfather of King David, of the Tribe of Judah, and became part of Jacob/Israel who of course is the line of Kings from which Yahshua was born.
According to the scripture quoted above, Deut. 23:3-4 was anathema. Was Yahshua born of a line tainted with 'Moabite' blood? Christians attempt to explain this away by quoting the inclusion of the Commandment-keeping gentile nations into Israel? A poor argument, directly opposing Yahweh's command in Deut. 23. To answer, we need to examine these words in Ruth 1:1 '...he went to sojourn in the Country of Moab'

It all hinges on the word "Country".
This word is a derivation of the Hebrew word 'saday' which means, open countryside, plain, fields, i.e. grazing land, (which may have formerly used by Moabites to graze their livestock, hence the name, Plains of Moab) so not an actual 'country' of the Moabites.
When speaking about the actual nation of Moabites which sprung from Moab, the son of Lot, the original Hebrew word is from a different root. In Genesis 19:37 we read, "And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same the father of the Moabites unto this day." Strongs 4124 mo'ab=mo-awb "From a prolonged form of the prepositional prefix "m-" and H1; from her (the mother's) father; Moab, an incestuous son of Lot; also his territory and descendants: - Moab." i.e.these were direct descendents of the man Moab from Lot's daughter, his first child, and the nation descended from him called the 'Moabites' who lived south of the Arnon river.
This is different from the wording in the Book of Ruth. Here, in Ruth 1:4 it says: "And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years." The Hebrew word 'Moab' here, does not mean descendent of Moab, but rather someone who lived in the land (countryside) of Moab. Strongs 4125 when referring to Ruth is from a different root. Moab=mo'abiyth mo-aw-beeth' A Moabite or Moabitess, that is, a woman of (or from) A citizen of Moab, An inhabitant of the land of Moab. Moabitish.

Ruth and Naomi's story happened during the time of the Judges. Ruth Ch.1:1 "When the Judges ruled...a certain man (Elimelech with Naomi his wife) came to the 'country' (meaning countryside/grazing land) of Moab - i.e. not the land of Moab which was south of the Arnon river. The 'country' here, (from the Hebrew) means country-side or plains opposite Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan. The land that which had been given to Reuben, inhabited still, by the Tribe of Reuben. This land was an area of good grassland, plains where there was plenty food for Elimelech and his family and livestock would be sustained during the famine. The whole of the land East of the Jordon valley from Mt. Hermon in the north ending half way down the Dead Sea by this time was inhabited by three of the Tribes of Israel, namely Reuben, Gad and Manasseh.
From a simple study of the journey and invasion by Israel of the lands east of the Dead Sea and the Jordan river and Canaan by Joshua and the Tribes we are able to discover that this whole land mass was in fact now, and for a long time, Israelite territory. All the Moabites had been massacred and it was re-populated by the three tribes of Israel who chose to remain there when, after the 'take-over' of Canaan, the rest of the Tribes went over Jordan to inhabit Israel on the West Bank of Jordan and throughout the expanse of Canaan. (Numbers 32:1-5) How did the invasion take place?

We will begin with the Israelites leaving Egypt ...
We are able to find all this history in the books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua and Judges. Numbers 21:4-12 "...and they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom" In verses 11-13 we read: "And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ijeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrising....and pitched on the other side of Arnon, ...for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites."
Later, the Israelites skirted the then land of Moab (i.e. as opposed to the 'Plains of Moab') to the north of the Arnon river) as Yahweh had told them not to trouble the Moabites who had their land to the south of the Arnon... Deut 2:9 'And Yahweh said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.' )
If we look at the map, we can see that the land of Moab had to be traversed before the children of Israel reached the 'plains of Moab' which were to the north of the Arnon river, opposite Jericho. The 'Land of Moab' was below the river Arnon in the south.

Now we will read how Israel took over all the territories east of Jordan...
Sihon, king of the Amorites would not let them pass through his land and this ended up with war, for Sihon came out to fight Israel who simply desired to pass through his land! The result was, that Israel fought against him which resulted in Sihon's defeat. As a result, Israel took all of his land. Num 21:21-26 "And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon...and Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok,(see the two upper rivers on the map, Amorite territory) even unto the children of Ammon...and Israel took all these cities...and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof."
In Deut 2:26-36 we read that the Israelites literally killed everyone. "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." They only kept the cattle.

Previously, these lands had belonged to Moab and the Amorites
We read in Numbers 21:26 that the land of Sihon and the Amorites had previously belonged to Moab, whom the Amorites had defeated and utterly destroyed. Num 21:26 "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." So, the Moabites had long gone from this area of grazing.
In ch. 21 verse 26 and in chapter 22 verses 1-3, and in Deut. 2:32-34 it says, "No Ammorite or Moabite was left alive north of the Arnon river." Thus, Israel owned the whole of the land East of the Jordon from the Arnon river in the south, all the way up to the land north of the Jabbok river, up to Mount Hermon (just south of present day Damascus,) Deu 3:8. "And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon" In Deut 3:4-6 it says "Utterly destroying the men, women and children of every city" and in verse 8, "from the river Arnon to Mount Hermon."

Which Tribes became the inhabitants of this land East of the Jordan?
We read in Numbers 32 who that was. Num 32:1-5 "Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle...came and spake unto Moses...saying, Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon, even the country which Yahweh smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, ...wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession." As we read on, we find that this land was indeed given to them.

Land given to the Tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the Tribe of Manasseh.

"And Moses gave unto them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and unto half the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph...kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites...kingdom of Og king of Bashan...even the cities of the country round about."
All the land East of the Jordan from the river Arnon to the river Jabbok and north all the way to Mt. Hermon was therefore owned and inhabited by Israelites, so that by the time Naomi and her husband went east, it was to live amongst the Tribe of Reuben (who lived in the area which which was still known as 'The Plains (i.e. grasslands) of Moab' to be safe and to sustain life during the terrible famine in Israel.
So, Ruth and Orpah were not Moabites, but in fact women from Reuben the Israelite Tribe who had lived there for 300 years. Judges 11:26 "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 (borders) of Arnon, three hundred years"
In verse 25 it says, "And Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all the villages thereof." So now you have the land of Moab below the Arnon river where the actual Moabites lived, and the "Plains of Moab" above the Arnon river where the Tribes of Reuben and Gad lived.
In Numbers 36:13 we read... "These are the commandments and the judgments, which Yahweh commanded by the hand of Moses to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho." This region was still called the 'plains' of Moab long after it had been taken over by Moses and the children of Israel and re-populated by them.

So, let us conclude:
Where was the 'country' (as in country-side) of Moab where Ruth came from? Obviously, Reuben land, east of the Jordan.
This conclusively proves, from scripture that Ruth did not come from the actual country of Moab which was far to the south, below the Arnon river, but in fact from Israeli land, the land of the Reubenites. Alimelech and Naomi did not go down to the land of Moab, far in the south, below the Arnon river, but went to the fertile plains of Moab, east of the Jordan river, opposite Jericho where the land was fertile and there was plenty of food during the famine in Israel.
Now, to add an unrelated but interesting note...

What about the burial place of Moses?
Yahweh and the patriachs (as in Jacob desiring that his bones be taken to Israel after his sojourn in Egypt, Joseph too) were concerned about where his people are buried, and he spoke to Moses re. his death in Deut 32:52 "Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel."
Also in Deut. 34:5-8 it says: "So Moses the servant of Yahweh died there in the land (country-side) of Moab, according to the word of Yahweh and he buried him in a valley in the land ('country-side') of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day...and the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days." Although Yahweh's judgement of Moses was for him not to actually enter Canaan, he could see it, from the land which was given to Reuben and Gad. Indeed, 'Bethpeor' is 'the land east of the Jordan.'
This territory, called the 'plains of Moab' belonged to Israel, and was by now occupied by them. It makes sense that Yahweh would not desire His faithful servant to be buried in enemy-held land, the actual 'country' of Moab to the south, far from Israel!
No, Ruth and her sister Orpah were not descended from Lot,they were in fact Reubenites, living in the land owned formerly by Moabites who had been anihilated by the Amorites, who in turn had been anihilated by the Israelites and replaced by Reuben after the conquest of Canaan.
Thus, at the time that Elimelech moved to the Plains of Moab, Israel owned the whole of the land East of the Jordon from the Arnon river in the south, all the way up and beyond Mt. Nebo in the north, all the land north of the Jabbok river, up to Mount Hermon (just south of Damascus,) the former lands of Sihon and Og, Amorite kings.
King David in one of his psalms glorifies Yahweh for the conquest of Moses over the two Amorite Kings Sihon and Og, whose territories formerly stretched north of the Jabbok river, all the way up to Mt. Hermon. Psa 136:15-20 "But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: To him which led his people through the wilderness: To him which smote great kings: And slew famous kings: Sihon king of the Amorites: And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever:"

The Conclusion of the matter
The two girls, daughters-in-law of Naomi were inhabitants of the country-side of Moab, north of the Arnon river, which was included in the land owned by Israel and inhabited by the Reubenites Gadites and half of the Tribe of Manasseh. When the army of Israel defeated Og the Amorite who had formerly used this land of Moab in the south to graze their cattle in the rich country-side east of the river Jordan.

So, we can therefore conclude:
1. Ruth came from the northern countryside of the Plains of Moab
2. She was not an ancestor of Lot's daughter
3. She descended most likely, from the Tribe of Reuben.

Incidental interesting facts
Ruth 1:10 reads: And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. Also, Ruth's famous statement in verse 16: "And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge: your people my people, and your God, my God:"
In both verses, the word 'people' is from the Hebrew am. This word is from Strongs H6004; specifically a tribe (as those of Israel)
So, Ruth was referring to returning with Naomi to her Tribe, as opposed to her own Tribe, Reuben, who lived East of Jordan. She loved Naomi, and was willing to change her Tribe (Reuben) for that of her Mother-in-law, Judah.
Also, 'God' in this context is, from the Hebrew, 'elohiym el-o-heem' the plural of which, H433 - when specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; but in this context, is applied by way of deference to magistrates; the great, and of course, judges, or Tribal leaders.

In verses 1-8, when Naomi was telling Ruth and Orpah to return to 'your mothers' house' and to 'your gods' (verses 15-16) she was not speaking about different 'Gods' but different Tribes and Tribal judges. These 'judges' (i.e. Heb. Elohim) were placed in each tribe to rule over the people just as local councils and governments in our day. We can illustrate this point by reading Deuteronomy 16:18: "Judges and officers shall you make in all your gates, which Yahweh gives you, throughout your tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment."

Naomi and her husband were from the Tribe of Judah, and formerly lived there. They were Jews. We see this from Ruth1:1 "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 Bethlehem-judah went to sojourn in the country (countryside) of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons." Also from 1:7: "Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah."
Another example of this would be in Exodus 22:28: "You shall not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of your people." Here the word 'gods' again is Elohim or Judges. This is not talking about gods as in idols, it is again speaking about the Judges set up to rule the Tribes.

Where Ruth says "Your people shall be my people" The words "shall be" are not in the original text. In Biblical texts when words are in italics they have been added by translators to afford greater understanding for the readers. Here are a few of the many translations in which the translators have not added to the text, 'shall be' so it actually reads "Your people, (tribe) my people, your judges my judges" making much more sense.
1. The Literal Standard Version
2. The Aramaic Bible in plain English
3. Youngs Literal Translation

What about Ruth's comment to Boaz?
Ruth 2:10 "Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I a stranger?"
The word 'stranger' here is misleading. It simply means different, a non-relative. Heb: 'nok-ree' From H5235 (second form: foreign, non-relative, different)
Also, the servant set over the reapers (when Ruth was allowed to glean) replied, when asked about her, that she was from the Plains/Countryside of Moab as explained before.
Boaz, when speaking to Ruth in Chapter 2:11 mentioned to her how kind she had been to Naomi, and how she had left the country of her birth in order to be with her. He obviously would have known that she was from the Tribe of Reuben because of where she had been born.

The Law of the Kinsman
In Numbers 27:8 it says that an inheritance should only pass down to a family member, and there was a direct order re. these relationships. The nearest (i.e. closest in birth and parentage)'kinsman' or relative as we would understand, must have the first 'choice' or 'decision' re. inheritance and personage of the line of the inheritance, i.e. a widower. Boaz mentioned, when asked re. marrying Ruth that there could be a 'nearer' kinsman to Ruth than he. It is obvious that he would not have said this to a Moabite woman.
Boaz was adamant that the Law should be kept, he was sincere in his following of Yahweh's Commandments and judgements
He knew the Law in Deut. 23:3 re. the prohibition of Moabites in Israel, so Boaz would never have married an actual descendent of Lots incestuous relationship with his daughter. Also, because he was law abiding, Boaz went to the trouble of meeting with 10 Elders to discuss the issue. However, it turned out that the nearer relative of Elimelech refused to marry Ruth, so he was able to marry her. Ruth was indeed honoured by Yahweh in being welcomed into the Tribe of Judah and becoming the great grand-mother of King David who was the ancestor of Yahshua, Who was Himself of the Tribe of Judah.

If you would like to listen to Chaazawan's message, here is the link: Enjoy!

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