Nonsense --- is this some kind of Possibility Thinking?
Ruth is clearly said to be a Moabitess --- and that is not because she is living in the Plains of Moab or even in Moab itself. She and others are identified on the basis of national origin, familial descent --- not location. There were Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, etc all living and migrating from one area to another all the time. Did that change them from one nationality to another as they migrated??? No.
And there were Edomites, Amorites, Moabites, etc all living in the Land of Israel. Did their living in Israel or even amongst the Israelites make them Israelites???
The map in my Bible shows that the area given to the Reubenites overlapped with the Moabites and that border between them was very fluid and floated back and forth over time. There were more than likely plenty of Moabites living amongst the Reubenites, and vice versa, and as the Book of Ruth says so clearly:
"And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left and her two sons, and they took themselves wives of the women of Moab" [not the Plains of Moab, but Moab, the nation of Moab]
BTW: If she were from the Plains of Moab, as you claim, and identified by her last known address, then the writer of the book of Ruth would have called her Ruth the Plainswoman :) --- but it doesn't].
Nonsense --- is this some kind of Possibility Thinking? (Chip)
[Joshua 1:12-15] And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them; Until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD's servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising.
[Joshua 13:8-12] With whom the Reubenites and the Gadites have received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond Jordan eastward, even as Moses the servant of the LORD gave them; From Aroer, that is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of the river, and all the plain of Medeba unto Dibon; And all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, which reigned in Heshbon, unto the border of the children of Ammon; And Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maachathites, and all mount Hermon, and all Bashan unto Salcah; All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants: for these did Moses smite, and cast them out.
This used to be Moab also before the Amorites killed them all and took it for themselves. Moses then did likewise to the Amorites. This is why the land was still called Moab until the Assyrian dispersion 700 years later. Ruth was an Israelite resident of this Moab.....not the Heathen Kingdom of Moab.
Yup....it was fluid...that's for sure. It was the River Arnon: [Numbers 21:13][Numbers 21:26][Deuteronomy 2:24][Deuteronomy 2:36][Deuteronomy 3:8][Deuteronomy 3:12][Deuteronomy 3:16][Joshua 12:1][Joshua 12:2][Judges 11:13][Judges 11:18][Judges 11:22][Judges 11:26][II Kings 10:33].
There were Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, etc all living and migrating from one area to another all the time. Did that change them from one nationality to another as they migrated???
They did not migrate into Israelite held Moab for at least three hundred years: [Judges 11:26] While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time? This takes place in the early 1100 B.C. time frame and Israel is still in control of these lands. There is no mention of anyone floating back and forth over a fluid border. This is longer than the United States has been a country and Israel continues to control this land until the Assyrian exile (721 B.C.)....400 years later.
The reason I believe Ruth was not a Moabite woman of the Kingdom of Moab is really because of this scripture. [Deuteronomy 23:3] An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever. King David was only three generations down from Ruth and could not have possibly ascended the throne of Israel without making a mockery of God's words. To further teach that Our Lord would have descended from a marriage which was condemned by God's word would be further mockery.
[Ezra 9:1-4] Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice.
Why do you think it would be O.K. for a Moabite to Marry Boaz.... but yet have Ezra speak against it in scripture 800 years later?