QUESTION E9: Dr. Graham used Moses 'marriage' to Adoniah in support of mixed race marriages. Do you agree or disagree with Dr. Graham?

(  ) Agree.         (x) Disagree.

Ruth the 'Moabite'

   Ruth the Moabite is used to justify interracial marriage.

   The territory of the Moabites was originally east and north east of The Dead Sea. Moab's borders extended from the Arnon river on the south to the Jabbok river on the north. From the Dead Sea and Jordan river on the west to the mountains on the east. It was called Moab after the people who once lived there. This land kept that name for many centuries even after all the Moabites were long gone from it.

    The Moabites were destroyed by the Amorites: Here's what happened. About 1450 B.C., the Moabites were conquered and driven from their land by Sihon, king of the Amorites.

It's in Numbers 21:26-29, "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. (29) Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon, king of the Amorites."

    The Amorites were destroyed by invading Israelites: The land of Moab, (now occupied by Amorites) was the first land conquered by the Israelites after leaving Egypt. It's in Deuteronomy 2:32-34, "Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. (33) And the Lord our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. (34) 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:"

    The war continues in Numbers 21:30-35, "We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba. (31) Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. (32) And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there. (33) And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. (34) And the Lord said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon, king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. (35) So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land."

    All the land of Moab was settled by the Israelite tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. Here it is in Deuteronomy 3:12-16, "And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites.

 (13) And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants.

(14) Jair, the son of Manasseh, took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashanhavothjair, unto this day.

(15) And I gave Gilead unto Machir. (16) And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;

    By 1450 B.C. All the land of Moab was Israel territory. in 1142 B.C.. We have proof that, three hundred years later, the land of Moab was still Israel territory. The proof is in Judges 11:12-26, "And Jephthah (of Israel) sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land? (13) And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.

    This is like Russia wanting Alaska back. Mexico wanting Texas or even the American Indians saying, 300 years ago you White men took our lands, now give them back without a fight.

Jephthanah's answer, "No, The land of Moab has belonged to Israel for the past 300 years and you have no right to the land today" answer is in verses 14-26.

    Also the Ammonite claim was fraudulent. Why? Because the Ammonites were not the Amorites. It would be like, 300 years from now, an Indian from India claiming land in North America because it once belonged to the Indians.

    Ruth lived about 1322 B.C. That is right in he middle of this 300 year time of proven Israelite occupation of the land of Moab. In Ruth 1:1 we read, "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 Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

    Note the accuracy of the Bible, not "among the people of Moab," but "in the country of Moab." This is like saying, "Ruth lived in Kansas." The State of Kansas was named after a Siouan Indian tribe. In Ruth's time the land of Moab was occupied exclusively by Israelites just as Kansas is now occupied, not by Indians, but by modern day Americans.

    Ruth 1:22, "So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest."

    "Ruth the Moabitess" is like saying "Mary Jones the Californian" or "George Bush the Texan." Indeed it could not have been otherwise. All the people in The Book of Ruth were Israelites.

   Long ago the Moabites had been exterminated by the Amorites. Then the Israelites drove out and exterminated the Amorites. The Israelites occupied the land of Moab for the next several centuries. So never let anyone tell you that Jesus Christ was only a mongrel or that The Book of Ruth justifies interracial marriage. Ruth was pure Israelite from the land of Moab, but not from the race of Moab.

    In Ruth 4 there is an application of Israelite law to land inheritance. By Israel's law, only Israelites could inherit another Israelite's real estate. If Ruth were a racial Moabite, then she could have made no lawful claim on the land. It's in Deuteronomy 21 and Numbers 27.

    Ruth was not Moabite by race. Ruth was an Israelite. The story of Ruth does not support interracial marriage.