The Kingdom of Moab



Courtesy of Wikipedia

 In Hebrew, the name “Moab” sounds like “from (my) father.” The people of Moab were descendants of an incestuous union between Lot and his oldest daughter after the destruction of  Sodom and Gomorrah around 2065 BC. According to Genesis 19:37-37 "Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.  And the first born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day."

The Moabites eventually settled in a land east of the Dead Sea. Many years later, when Israel had been delievered out of Egypt, Balak king of Moab hired Balaam to pronounce a curse on Isreal. Balaam would not curse Israel because God had blessed them. Later on, however, Balaam influenced Balak to have the Moabites intermarry with the Israelites so the children of Israel would commit idolatry and bring the wrath of God [Numbers 31:16; Rev. 2:14]. Unfortunately, the Israelites fell into temptation. They became an idolatrous and immoral nation which drove them away from the Lord.

When Israel came into Canaan , the Lord told them to stay away from the Moabites [Deuteronomy 2:8-9]. Also, Deuteronomy 23:3-4 states that no Moabite [nor Ammonite] was to enter the assembly of the Lord until the tenth generation [around 1200 BC] because of the way they refused to help the Israelites when they came out of Egypt, and for leading Israel into immorality at Peor [see Numbers 25]. The events of Ruth occurred after 1150 BC.

Now with background information, We are ready to dig into the book of Ruth. If you have not done so, I suggest you "like" Darlene Schacht's facebook page and download the free study guide. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/timewarpwife?ref=ts