Lay It on Me

16 / L AY I T ON M E

T HE D ANGER OF S TAYING IN M OAB As noted, the land of Moab was under a curse, according to the Law of Moses. A Moabite was not to enter the congregation of the Lord up to the 10th generation. The curse was caused because the Moabites were the descendants of an incestuous relationship between Lot and one of his daughters. In order to break the curse, a Moabite had to convert to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This meant they would have to leave their homeland and journey to a place they had never seen. Some were willing to break with everything they have ever known and cross the river of destiny. Most, however, continued on in Moab. When Naomi decided to return to her home, her daughter- in-law, Orpah, decided to remain in Moab. Her choice was a decision to continue in her past. Orpah could sit on the mountainside overlooking Israel and see the hills of Bethlehem, but she never crossed the Jordan. Her life was a humdrum existence of memories of death, three funerals and a mother-in-law and a sister-in-law she would never see again. Moab is a place of bad experiences and bad memories. In Moab, you're always living in the past. The country, Moab, was named after the son of Lot. When Lot fled Sodom with his two daughters, as far as they knew they were the only ones left on earth. The daughters, thinking this was the end of humanity, decided to get their father drunk and have sexual relations with him. This, they thought, would ensure that