Opening my Bible, the other morning, looking for a timely word from the Lord, I turned to that memorable verse, ‘No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the Assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation…’ (Deut. 23:3). I had actually opened to verse 1, but that was too inappropriate to quote in an en devotional!
Working your way through Deuteronomy becomes hard work when you get to the legal section. The next passage (v.9-14) is about uncleanness and making sure you go outside the camp if you want to relieve yourself – not quite the heart-warming devotional I was hoping for!
But for some reason the word ‘Moabite’ stayed with me, as I remembered that Ruth was a Moabitess. So, I quickly left the beauties of Deuteronomy 23, and turned to Ruth 1 to remind myself of the details. When famine hit Bethlehem, at an ugly time in Israel’s history, Elimelech had indeed taken his wife and family to Moab, the ancient enemy of Israel.
