Ruth and Moabites

Hi All,

Someone emailed me to gloat :

"according to the bible, it says that Jews aren't supposed to marry or convert Moabites, yet in the book of Ruth that happens and Ruth is the grandmother of King David! Doesn't this invalidate the whole David story and show what a made up jumble that is the bible?"

I believe that this is a reference to this part of Torah :

לֹֽא־יָבֹ֧א עַמֹּונִ֛י וּמֹואָבִ֖י בִּקְהַ֣ל יְהוָ֑ה גַּ֚ם דֹּ֣ור עֲשִׂירִ֔י לֹא־יָבֹ֥א לָהֶ֛ם בִּקְהַ֥ל יְהוָ֖ה עַד־עֹולָֽם׃

No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the L-rd , not even in the tenth generation.Deuteronomy 23:3

I would say this is unfortunately an example of how people try to study the Bible without the Oral Torah  alongside the written Torah and therefore get things wrong.

Firstly the Torah doesn't forbid a Moabite to convert , only to "enter the assembly of the L-rd" , which the Talmud tells us ,( Yevamot 77b)  means that a Moabite could convert , but could only marry either a Jew of  poor linage  or  another convert rather than a Jew by birth, but because of their historical cruelty to the Jewish people they did not permi their truly becoming a part of the Jewish nation ( see verse 5 of Deut 23) .

Secondly the oral tradition notes that the Torah writes Moabite in the masculine form and this indicates that the previous point only applies to Moabite men. Moabite women could convert and therefore marry into the nation.  Incidentally  in the mystical tradition (Zohar Chadash – Ruth 78a) Ruth's name spelt backward means dove and thus this is symbolic of the Temple sacrifices , indicating that Ruth was permitted to fully become a part of the Jewish people. 

Thirdly this definitely means that Ruth was a  Jew. Ruth converted to Judaism before marrying Boaz and bearing Obed. (Ruth 1:16, where Ruth states her intention to convert). After Ruth converted, she was a Jew, and all of her children born after the conversion were Jewish as well. But even if Ruth were not Jewish at the time Obed was born, that would not affect King David's status as a Jew, because Ruth is an ancestor of David's father, not of David's mother, and David's Jewish status is determined by his mother.