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:
Even to their tenth generation shall they not enter. Many eminent writers think that this law of exclusion was applicable only to males; at all events, that a definite is used for an indefinite number (Nehemiah 13:1). Since God cannot do evil, the declaration must be considered not to foster enmity against the people (Ruth 4:10; 2 Kings 10:2), but against their crime; and it was the more necessary to make it at this time, as many of the Israelites being established on the east side of Jordan, in the immediate neighbourhood of those people; God raised this partition wall between them, to prevent the consequences of evil communications.
But it must not be supposed that in this case, anymore than in the former, an Ammonite or Moabite proselyte was debarred from the enjoyment of religious privileges. All that the interdict amounts to is, that an individual belonging to either of these two nations was incapable, by marriage, adoption, or purchase, of passing the barriers of Hebrew clanship-of acquiring a status, so as to entitle him to the rights and privileges of a citizen, or have his name registered in the genealogical roll of any tribe in Israel; and these civil disabilities were not removable.