In Deuteronomy 23:3 we have a stern prohibition from the Lord,"No...Moabite shall enter the congregation of the Lord... forever". This sounds fairly final. He means it! You know the Lord has put his foot down. But as we look at the beautiful story of Ruth and Boaz we realize that Ruth was a Moabitess! But she also received the right of kinsman, goel, from Boaz. It sounds like Ruth had become a part, may be even an important part of the assembly of Israel. How then could this happen? May be God didn't really mean it. (I know some fathers like that.) But let us take a closer look and see if we can find out what made God change his mind or make an exception or whatever.
First this story is a wonderful story of redemption. It is loaded with God's grace. We mentioned the genealogy of Ruth, but we did leave out one other genealogy, Boaz's. At the beginning of the book of Ruth the author as most good author's do, tells us the time of the story. It happened during the time when "judges judged" (literal Hebrew). This period is immediately after the conquest and settling of the land of Canaan. As we look to the book of Matthew in the first chapter we find that Boaz's father was Salmon. And look who his mother is! That's right the righteous hooker on the wall of Jericho. (Could Salmon have been one of the spies that she hid? A great love story may be hidden there too.) But back to Boaz the son of a harlot. So the apple doesn't fall far. I guess that is a bit unfair. He did not ask for this Moabitess to come "uncover" his feet while he was drunk on the threshing floor, did he? Well she did and the rest is history. But wait that still does not explain how God has made this exception to his congregation. It just might show a pattern of grace.
To really answer that question we should look at two places. One is Genesis 2:23. Here the man leaves his mother and father, which is backwards to the way we do our ceremonies, and cleaves (KJV) to his wife. This word in Hebrew is q∞Ab∂d which means, to cleave, is the same word that is used when Ruth cleaves to Naomi in chapter one verse 14. Did the author intend this to be a literary bridge to Genesis? Interestingly enough both of these verses are used in marriage ceremonies! And I think it is no accident. Ruth joined Naomi as a husband would "leave his father and mother". Ruth left all her family in favor of Naomi, and a bitter Naomi at that. This act is followed by the beautiful, oft quoted, proclamation, "Where you go I will go, where you lodge I will lodge, your people will be my people and your god will be my god...." Ruth married into the Jewish faith that day. She was no longer a Moabite. Agreeing with this line of thinking is Dr. Tremper Longman. He sites the acts against mixed marriages in Nehemiah are against marriages that involve unbelievers, fulfilling the Deuteronomic prohibition. He feels that this was a marriage, Ruth and Boaz, involving two believers.
We know that Boaz's mother was included in the "role call of faith" in Hebrews 11:31. The author of Hebrews basically stops with her. It is obvious that Ruth belongs on that long list of the faithful, too. We know this because she became the Great grandmother of David out of which comes the "root of Jesse", our redeemer Jesus Christ (Romans 15:12). The redeemed becomes the womb of the redeemer. Ruth a righteous daughter of Abraham by faith, and there is no other way, takes her rightful place in the genealogy of our Lord the redeemer of the world and of course a Jew. As a foot note it is said that the Jewish blood line is trace back through the mothers. Don't you love the Bible!
