Marriages to the people of the land (i.e., Canaanites) were strictly forbidden (Deut 7:3; cf. Judg 3:6). Deuteronomy 23:3[4] does not prohibit marriages to Moabites and Ammonites; it only prohibits the offspring of such unions from entering the assembly of the Lord until the “tenth” generation.29 Ironically, the marriages of Mahlon and Kilion lasted ten years, until their deaths. Both marriages, however, are marked by infertility: ten years, but no children (Ruth 1:4). The covenantal implications are clear: As Yahweh withheld the rain and thus produced the famine, so he withheld fertility,
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