The older daughter has a son and names him Moab, meaning from my father. He is the father of the Moabites of today. The naming is bluntly honest — Moab means from father, making the origin of the nation transparent in its very name. The Moabites will be Israel's antagonists in Numbers 22–25 and Judges 3, but they will also be the nation from which Ruth comes. Ruth 1:16 — where Ruth says wherever you go I will go and your God will be my God — is spoken by a Moabitess, a descendant of this cave, and that covenant loyalty leads directly to David and to Jesus. The name Moab carries shame; the grace that flows through Moab carries glory.

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