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Exegesis in the Light of Reason (22 May, 2015, 4 Sivan, 5775)

1. Obama as a Simile. A place NAMED "Africa" in Florida, USA?
2. Previous Points Made Concerning Ruth
3. More Anti- Moabite Polemics
4. What Does the Expression "Field of Moab" Mean?
5. The Biblical Exegesis Principles of Brit-Am/Hebrew Nations
6. Some Hard Questions for the "Ruth was an Israelite" People.
7. Conclusion

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1. Obama as a Simile. A place NAMED "Africa" in Florida, USA?

Re
Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital (now called Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children) in Honolulu, Hawaii,[ to Ann Dunham,[ from Wichita, Kansas,and Barack Obama, Sr., a Luo from... Nyanza Province (in what was then the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya), who was attending the University of Hawaii.

It was claimed that Obama was really born in Kenya. if such were the case he would not have been eligible to serve as US President.
Suppose, just suppose, that a few years from now someone comes forward to testify that the mother of Obama once said he was really born in Africa.
That would be evidence for the Kenya theory would it not? Kenya is in Africa?
Right?
Not exactly.
There is also a place named Africa USA in the city of Boca Rata in Florida. It is a wild life preserve for tourists.
Maybe the mother of Brak Hussein was in an advanced stage of pregnancy when she paid a visit to the park?
May be an animal started her and that is how the 44th president of the USA came into the world?
May be that would be the solution?
Maybe.
Why Not?

The point is that if you want to contradict the primary meaning of a statement you need to do more than just raise the possibility of an alternative.
You have to work to prove it.

=============================

2. Previous Points Made Concerning Ruth
We wrote two articles of reasonable standard, emphasizing salient points, and repeating key details.

Moabitess! Was Ruth a Foreigner?
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/moabitess.html
King David and the Oral Law . Loyalty to David is Required:
Ruth and the Oral Tradition
http://britam.org/DavidandOralLaw.html
The Story of Ruth the Israelite!?

The theme of these articles was that Ruth in the Book of Ruth was born a non-Israelite native of Moab of Moabite stock and later attached herself to Israel.
That is what the Bible says. That is the main thread of the Book of Ruth.
That is what is repeated in the Book of Ruth where Ruth is described as a Moabitess (Ruth 1:22, 2:26) and as a foreigner (Ruth 2:10).
The country they were in was called Moab. It is a place that Ruth came from whose inhabitants were different from Israelites (1:15), where foreign gods were worshipped (1:15), and Moabite women were to be found (Ruth 1:4) who were considered foreigners to Israelites (2:10).
We are told that the family of Naomi had moved to Moab because of a famine. Later Naomi decides to return to her own land:
Ruth 1:
6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread. 7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.

NAOMI HAD DECIDED TO RETURN after hearing "in the country of Moab that the LORD had visited His people by giving them bread" (Ruth 1:6). Naomi was returning to Judah where God had visited his people.
She was already in the country of Moab and it sounds that there was not the place of HIS people.
From this it may be understood that "His people" (i.e. Israelites) were not in the country of Moab and that the place named Moab was peopled by Moabites.
This is the simple meaning of the verses and common sense.
This is what the Bible is saying.
This is what the Bible has ALWAYS been understood to be saying.
That is what the Jews who preserved the Bible and read it in Hebrew understood the text to be saying.
Anyone who suggests something different should be expected to prove it.
The simple literal meaning of the Bible is that they went to the Land of Moab and stayed there for a while and that Moab was a non-Israelite area.
It was Moabite! Ruth was Moabite!

=============================

3. More Anti- Moabite Polemics

After writing our new article on this subject

Moabitess! Was Ruth a Foreigner?
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/moabitess.html

we received, as expected, a few letters and articles.
Once again advocates of the idea that Ruth was never really from Moab were most vehement. This confirmed our impression that strong ideological motivations are involved.

One of the articles starts out as below:

=============================

The Story of Ruth the Israelite!?

Ruth 1:1 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.

So because they lived in the country of MOAB for 10 years, does that make them too MOABITES? NO Neither er am I who was born in Kansas but have lived in Texas a TEXAN just because I have lived in Texas 51 years.

Further, as we can see in the above verse, Naomi, with her husband and sons, went to sojourn 'in the country of Moab.'

First of all, the use of the word 'country' must be understood both by definition and also by context. The Hebrew word translated to 'country' here is one that simply means or refers to 'the country' as in a rural area or field, not a 'nation.'

H7704 s a deh s a day saw-deh', saw-dah'ee From an unused root meaning to spread out; a field (as flat): - country, field, ground, land, soil, X wild.

For one example we can look at:

1Sa 27:5 And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country <H7704>, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?

Notice that the 'town' is 'in' the country, as opposed to a major city in a metropolitan area. As a result of this we now have absolutely no reason to assume that 'the country of Moab' was 'the nation of Moab.' Nor do we have any reason to claim that the 'plains of Moab' were 'in' the nation of Moab, the location of which we previously addressed.
=============================

and so on.

=============================

4. What Does the Expression "Field of Moab" Mean?

The words translated as "the country of Moab" in Ruth 1:1 are "sadey-Moab" meaning literally the Plain or Field of Moab.
This expression occurs at least 4 times in the Bible.

Genesis 36:35
Numbers 21:20
Ruth 1:1,2,6
1-Chronicles 8:8

Let us see what the Commentator Yehudah Kiel ("Daat Mikra" on 1-Chronicles 8:8) says about this expression:

# A poetical term for the Land of Moab (cf. Ruth 1:16). So too we have the Field of the Amalekites (Genesis 14:7); the Field of Edom (Genesis 32:4) meaning the Land of Edom; the Field of the Philistines (1-Samuel 6:1 and elsewhere) meaning the Land of the Philistines, etc.#

If someone wants to claim that the term "Field of Moab" does not mean "the Land [or country] of Moab" they should prove it.
So far they have not done so.

=============================

All the other claims in the article have already been answered by us in our two previous essays:

(a) Moabitess! Was Ruth a Foreigner?
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/moabitess.html

and
I(b) King David and the Oral Law . Loyalty to David is Required:
Ruth and the Oral Tradition

http://britam.org/DavidandOralLaw.html

=============================

5. The Biblical Exegesis Principles of Brit-Am/Hebrew Nations

The word exegeis means "critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially of scripture".

Biblical Exegesis in our own studies goes according to the following principles.

a. Literal meaning. See The Literal Bible. When is Scripture to be Taken Literally?
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/ten-tribes-and-biblical-philosophy/literal.html

b. Consistency with context and with the Bible in General.

c. Compatibility with the Sages and with Classical Jewish Rabbinical sources.

============================

 

6. Some Hard Questions for the "Ruth was an Israelite" People.

In the article above and in the other articles,

Moabitess! Was Ruth a Foreigner?
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/moabitess.html

King David and the Oral Law . Loyalty to David is Required:
Ruth and the Oral Tradition
http://britam.org/DavidandOralLaw.html
The Story of Ruth the Israelite!?

We have answered ALL arguments claiming that Ruth was born an Israelitess.
It is now the TURN of those on the opposite side to answer our points or to hold their silence.
As they used to say when I was in Australia, PUT UP OR SHUT UP!

(1. The Hebrew expression "Sedeh Moab" literally the "Field of Moab" in the Book of Ruth has always been understood to mean the Country of Moab meaning the Moab of the non-Israelite Moabites.
Where in the Book of Moab is there the slightest hint as to a different meaning?

(2. Ruth is described as one of the Moabite women (Ruth 1:4) whom the sons of Naomi married before their death. Ruth is described as a Moabitess (Ruth 1:22, 2:26) and as a foreigner (Ruth 2:10).
IT IS CLAIMED that the intention is to Ruth the "Israelite" who lived in the country of Moab.
Using this type of argument however one can prove anything.
Where do you draw the line?

The text has to be taken in its literal sense unless the context and realted consdierations indicate otherwise. We know Ruth was a Moabitess because that is what she is called every time she is mentioned.

(3. If Ruth was not a Moabitess but an Israelitess why does the Bible not say so?
Why did the Talmud and Josephus and other sources all take it for granted that Ruth was a Moabitess?
When did the misunderstanding come about?
Are there any other examples of this?
The Sages in the Talmud (Yebamoth 76b) said that Ruth was a Moabitess and that the interdiction applied to males and not to females since the reason for prohibition is given (DEUTERONOMY 23:4) as not supplying food and water to the migrating Israelites.
This was the task of the menfolk, not of the females. THEREFORE THE FEMALES WERE NOT PROHIBITED! What is wrong with this solution? It has parallels in Biological Genetics. - Apart from the fact that it is Jewish?

You have no problem with using computers, and cell-phones, and medicines, etc, produced by Jewish experts. Why should solutions to Biblical problems be any different?

There are probably a few more difficult questions we could ask to be answered but let us first say the No-Sayers answer satisfactorily just ONE of the above.
============================
7. Conclusion

The "Ruth was an Israelite" People appear to be driven by ideological predilections. This is not a disqualifying point in itself BUT you need facts.
This especially applies when you are going against all known parallels in the text and all traditional opinions.
They have not supplied facts but rather keep repeating the same assertions without substantiating them in any way.
At all events it is good to learn the Bible and discuss it.
We all make mistakes. It is part of the learning process.

 

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