Spiritual and Ethical Issues in the Historical Books of Tanach; JOSHUA, JUDGES, SAMUEL, KINGS (Nevi’im Rishonim)
by Dr. Meir Tamari

Righteousness & Kingship [5] (Ruth 4:1-13)
"I FOUND MY SERVANT DAVID IN S'DOM!" "Ruth the Moabitess, who returned out of the field of Moav" (Ruth, 1:22); another stage in the chain of Chesed that had its source in S'dom, and its finale in David HaMelech.

The Patriarch Abraham symbolizes Chesed, undeserved acts of righteousness and kindness. Chazal tell us that Hashem showed Moshe the rewards that awaited people in the World to Come. This pile of treasure is for those who have studied Torah, this one for those who have good deeds, and this pile for those who have yichus and zechut avot. Coming to the largest pile, Hashem said, "And this is for those who are undeserving, this is Chesed". The Midrash tells us that the sons of Noah once complained to Hashem that they, rather than Avraham, should be the symbol of Chesed. After all, they labored in the Ark for a year cleaning, feeding and watering animals and birds of different habits and needs, while Avraham dwelling in his own encampment with servants around, catered to the needs of a few passers by. Hashem's answer was that Avraham was under no obligation to the strangers and wayfarers, while they were simply doing their job, not Chesed.

Chesed was what symbolized the whole Abrahamic family from its very inception. "Why was it necessary to send to Haran to find a wife for Yitchak? Avraham's family there were idolaters, just like the people of Canaan; Yitzchak therefore could just as well have married one of their daughters. Now we know that idolatry is an error of the mind, of the intellect, while Chesed is an attribute of the heart, of the soul. Rivka could be weaned from idolatry by education and logic, like the daughters of Canaan. However, Chesed was integral to her family's traditions; even Lavan had it as witnessed by his acceptance of the penniless refugee Yaakov.S he inherited Chesed by her genes and drank it with her mother's milk as it were, whereas the daughters of Canaan had no such inheritance" (Shem Mi Shmuel). So too, Lot had inherited this Chesed. It remained with him, even though in everything else he deserted Avraham, and was no different from the people of S'dom.

The Torah is not specific as to what the sin of S'dom was that justified its destruction, but Chazal taught that they were selfish, were worried that the poor and weak would take away their wealth and refused to do favors with their property. "He who says, what is mine is mine and yours is yours; some say that is the mark of S'dom" (Avot 5:10). "One who refuses to do another a favor with his wealth, we doubt if he is of the descendants of Avraham Avinu". In halakhahic terms, the Bet Din can force somebody not to act according to the egoism of S'dom and to act according to the principle, "If one party has a benefit and the other does not suffer a loss, the benefit must be granted" (Baba Kama 20a). Nevertheless, it was in that S'dom that Lot, Avraham's nephew continuing the family ethos, risked his life to extend Chesed. In his being rescued by the angels from the destroyed city, Moav and Amon were born. The inherited Chesed of the Abrahamic family should have been reflected also in the descendants of Moav and Ammon. Yet we read, "They did not greet you [Israel] with bread and water in the way, when you came forth from Egypt" (D'varim 23:4). Because of this desertion of Abrahamic Chesed that same verse reads, "An Amonite or a Moabite shall not enter the congregation of Israel even after ten generations forever. You shall not ask their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever". This may be contrasted with the Torah's injunction against hating Egypt's enslavement of us and the permission for the third generation of Egypt who could enter Israel. "Despite their enslavement of us,we should remember the Chesed that they performed for us by hosting us in their land" (Abarbanel)

No wonder that the kinsman feared to marry Ruth. No matter that she had converted so completely that she has remained the model for all generations and that many of the halakhot associated with giyur flow from her case. No matter the tremendous Chesed she had performed and no matter the risks she had taken to ensure Yibumand the memorial to the dead. He was not moved even by Boaz's Bet Din's declaration that the halakha, which over the centuries had been forgotten, laid down that the ban only applied to Moabites and not the females of that nation. The kinsman was worried that despite all of the above, he would lose the inheritance for his future generations. This is merely one example of how personal biases, non-halakhic customs and self- serving piety thwart and disfigure Torah teachings.

Moav and Amon remained enemies of Israel right until the end of Bayit Rishon, constantly trying to injure and assist the attacks of the Babylonians on the weakened Jewish State. The Midrash tells that when the exiles were on the way to Bavel, these tribes gave them salt water and mouldy bread on which to satisfy their hunger and thirst. Their battle against the Chesed of Avraham continued. Yet there sparks of holiness and Chesed still in Moav and Amon, the residue that had gone down to S'dom with Lot when he departed from Avraham. Since nothing is lost or goes to waste in the physical world and likewise in that of the spirit, these sparks of Chesed finally came home. There was Na'ama of Amon who married Rechavam, the son of Shlomo HaMelech and above all there was Ruth of Moav; truly Righteousness and Kingship. When the purity of descent of David HaMelech was questioned because of his ancestry from Moav, Shmuel HaNavi wrote Megilat Ruth to show the greatness, the holiness and the purity of these sparks brought from S'dom.

This is the 78th installment in Dr. Tamari’s series on “Tanach and its messages for our times”

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