Three Notable Biblical Women Misrepresented by the Clergy!

Isa. 56:10-11: “¹⁰ His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. ¹¹ ...greedy dogs which can never have enough ...shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain ....”

Nearly all of today’s inept clergy will insist that Ruth was a racial Moabite, and that the Almighty made an exception in her case. Geographic History will prove otherwise!To understand that Ruth was an Israelite instead of a Moabite, we must know some of the history which led up to Ruth’s time.

Amorites absorb Moabites:The most important thing we must understand is the fact that the Amorites had conquered and absorbed the Moabites. The Moabites descended from Lot’s incest with one of his two daughters, named Moab. By the time of the incident at Baalpeor, the Moabites were no longer a racially pure people. We can be quite sure of this as Paul called Israel’s sexual encounter with the Moabite women ‘fornication’ i.e., race-mixing (1 Cor. 10:8). What we can be certain of is, shortly before the Israelites arrived in the Transjordan, Sihon, a king of the Amorites, had defeated the previous king of Moab (Num. 21:26) and absorbed much of the Moabite territory as far south as the Arnon(The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, vol. K-Q, p. 414). For verification of this fact, Num. 21:26 reads:

“For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amor- ites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon.”

What the serious Bible scholar must understand is that during the Joshua period, the Israelites destroyed the Amorites, who had absorbed the Moabites, killing and/or displacing both of them. Upon driving the Amorites (+ absorbed Moabites) out of the promised land, it is recorded at Joshua 18:7 that half of the tribe of Manasseh, along with the tribes of Gad and Reuben, moved into the former land of Moab east of the Jordan. It was later, during the Judges period, that an Israelite lady from the conquered land of Moab by the name of Ruth journeyed with her mother-in-law Naomi from the land of Moab back to Bethlehem. Yes, Ruth was an Israelite, and surely NOT a Moabite!

Nearly all of today’s mediocre clergy will insist that Tamar was little more than a heathen prostitute, while Scripture states unconditionally otherwise. At Ruth 4:11-12, four women are equally praiseworthy: Ruth, Rachel, Leah & Tamar!

It would appear that the only way we are going to make any logic out of this confusion is to go back to the beginning of the story of Judah. According to Gen. 29:35, we are told Judah was the fourth son of Jacob-Israel. Judah, we are informed, married a Canaanite woman, daughter of Shuah. By her, Judah had three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. The Almighty destroyed Er and Onan, leaving only Shelah. Upon the death of Judah’s wife (daughter of Shuah), Judah’s intended daughter-in-law, Tamar, dressed up like a whore and enticed Judah, who fathered a set of twins by her, named Pharez and Zerah. Because Judah was an eligible widower and Tamar was unwed (marriage not consummated by Er or Onan), the union could not be considered illicit. From the Pharez line came our Messiah.

Thus by Tamar’s self-sacrificing action, the royal enclosure within the House of Judah was saved from contamination by forbidden racial stock. Tamar was well aware that in taking the course she did to preserve the purity of her race in the House of Judah she ran the risk of being burnt by fire, and it was not until she was brought forth to receive this punishment by her unsuspecting father-in-law’s command that she revealed the true state of affairs. “Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, the bracelets, and staff.”The signet, or ring, was the emblem of power and authority; the bracelet was the cord, usually of gold, from which the signet was suspended; and the staff, which also signified the sceptre, an emblem of authority as head of the tribe.

The Book of Jasher, chapter 45:23 reads thus: “And in those days Judah went to the house of Shem and took Tamar the daughter of Elam, the son of Shem, for a wife for his first born, Er.”

Also, Evidence That Rahab Was Not A Harlot:

At Joshua 2:1, The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge says in part: “... sent, or, had sent. Shittim ... to spy secretly ... even Jericho ... harlot’s house. Though the word {zonah} generally denotes a prostitute, yet many very learned men are of opinion that it should be here rendered an innkeeper or hostess, from {zoon,} to furnish or provide food. In this sense it was understood by the Targumist, who renders it, {ittetha pundekeetha}, ‘a wom- an, a tavern-keeper,’ and so St. Chrysostome, in his second sermon on Repentance, calls her ... by which the LXX render it, and which is adopted by the Apostles, is derived from ... to sell, and is also supposed to denote a tavern keeper. Among the ancients, women generally kept houses of entertainment. Herodotus says, ‘Among the Egyptians, the women carry on all commercial con- cerns, and keep taverns, while the men continue at home and weave.’ The same custom prevailed among the Greeks ...”

Once we understand that the word should have been “zoon” rather than “zonah”, we can begin to see that Rahab either owned or had a concession on a combination hotel and restaurant. The problem is, when we are reading, we sometimes overlook all that is being said. Joshua 2:4-6:

“⁴ And the woman (Rahab) took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were: ⁵ And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them. ⁶ But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.”

And lest we overlook the most important part of Rahab’s story, let’s read Joshua 2:18, which is after Rahab had asked the Israelite spies to spare her and her family when they came to conquer the city: “Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of *scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s house- hold, home unto thee.” (Scarlet Thread familiar to the spies.)

Please notice that the line by which the spies were let down was made up of *scarlet thread. Either it was solid scarlet or had a scarlet thread woven in it. This is also found at Genesis 38: 28-30: “²⁸ And it came to pass, when she [Tamar] travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a *scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. ²⁹ And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez.(* = The Israelite tribe of the Scarlet Thread.)

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