The Blessing is Greater than the Curse
Deuteronomy 23:3-4
“No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the LORD forever, because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way …”
The severity of this Mosaic ex cathedra is lessened by the context of Deuteronomy 23, because in this chapter eunuchs who’ve been castrated (surely against their will) as well as Egyptians up to “the second generation” are also forbidden from the assembly. Yet, remember from our study of Leviticus that even lepers, who weren’t sick because of something they did, and even woman during their menstrual period, weren’t permitted to join the assembly either. So this banishment from church as it were does not necessarily imply banishment from heaven. Christ Himself said that “some have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom,” so while ceremonial ostracism from the assembly was certainly a bad thing in this commonwealth, it wasn’t the end all be all. Not even with that bold, irreversible word ‘forever’ stamped above it.
How do we know that Moabites aren’t eternally cursed by this Deuteronomy 23 decree? Because generations later, a widowed Moabitess named Ruth will move back to Israel with her Jewish but wayward mother-in-law, Naomi, and glean wheat as a beggar in the fields of a godly landowner named Boaz. And he’ll be captivated not only by her beauty but by her courage to leave Moab behind and pursue the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So he’ll marry her, redeem her in fact, and from their holy matrimony God will give them a son named Obed, and then a grandson named Edom, and then a great grandson named Jesse, and then a great, great grandson named David, from whose lineage the Savior of the world will rise! Don’t miss the divine irony here, friend: when God incarnates into humankind, He’ll have a bit of Moabite blood in Him.
No matter what tribe we’re from, no matter what cultural mores and traditions we once practiced, no matter what bloodline courses through our physical veins, we come to Heaven by a shared meal, of shared body and blood, from our shared sacrificial Lamb Who takes away the sins of the world! No one who draws near by faith will ever be cast out of that assembly.