Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day..”
(Genesis 19:37-38)

These children were born out of an ungodly act. Out of something abominable. And the Moabites and Ammonites (different from the Amorites) were not always lovely people when it came to Israel and the children of God. Yet even in this, God shows mercy. Ruth, the great-grandmother of King David was a Moabite (Ruth 4:10; 18-21). God didn’t restrict them or condemn them because of how they started. They each of them had the same opportunity as everyone else to follow Him. But they chose not to. Moab chose the god Chemosh (1 Kings 11:33) and Ammon chose Molech (1 Kings 11:7).

Moab inhabited the coasts of the Dead Sea. They were not always at war with Israel, but there were times they rubbed elbows the wrong way. Balak, the king of Moab, tried to get Balaam to curse Israel when they came up out of Egypt (Numbers 22). One of the judges (Ehud) took their yolk off Israel (Judges 3:26-30). Elisha stood against them (2 Kings 3:21-25). David fought against them (2 Samuel 8:2). By the end of the sixth century A.D., they had ceased to be a nation or a people.

Ammon had a partial relationship with God in the beginning. God helped them clear the giants out of their land (Deuteronomy 2:19-21). When the Israelites came up out of Egypt, God forbade them to possess the land of the Ammonites. Yet they still chose an idol in the end and did not stick with God. By the end of the third century A.D. they had been fully assimilated into the expanding Nabataean and Arab populations and ceased to be a nation or a people.

The sage Ibn Ezra writes: ‘MOAB. Moab is the same as me-av and means from a father. [UNTO THIS DAY.] No other people were intermingled with them. Unto this day may also signify that the incestuous origin of the Moabites is known to this day.’

The sage Sforno writes: ‘ותקרא שמו מואב…ותקרא שמו בן עמי. They called the names of their children thus to show the world that the father was not someone who was an unworthy, sinful person. הוא אבי מואב…הוא אבי בני עמון, the ones who would in a short while inherit large parts of what would eventually be part of the land of Israel on the east bank of the Jordan river. Seeing that the intentions of both daughters in sleeping with their father had been honourable, they were rewarded with founding two nations, both from the same father. (Nazir 23) In a certain sense they had become heirs of Avraham to whom all the Canaanite lands had been promised. This reflects the statement in Proverbs 3,6 בכל דרכיך דעהו, “know (try to emulate) G’d in all your undertakings;” (even when involving an apparent sin.’

The sage Chizkuni writes: ‘והצעירה גם היא, “and the younger sister did also give birth to a son;” the reason this is reported in a separate verse, is to signal that her son too would be originator of a family destined to produce kings. A distant descendant of her was Naamah who became the mother of Rechavam, son of Solomon (Talmud Baba Kamma, 38).’

The sage Radak writes: ‘ותלד..מואב, meaning מאב, “from my father I bore this son.” אבי מואב, the founding father of the people called Moabites until this day. והצעירה…בן עמי, meaning “the father of this child was a member of my family.” This name was somewhat more chaste than the name given by her older sister, as she did not spell out that Lot was the father of her child.’

The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘37–38. Moabites…Ammonites. Two nations that according to this story are related to Israel. Deuteronomy 23:4 excludes Ammonites and Moabites from joining the Israelite community. The Book of Ruth, however, offers a different perspective in that it portrays Ruth the Moabite as the ancestress of King David.’