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The Mysterious Ancestry of David HaMelech by Rabbi Daniel Glatstein
Shavuos
The Mysterious Ancestry of David HaMelech
by RAbbi DAniel GlATsTein
Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, tells the following story in Igros Moshe, hakdama to Chelek Ches.
It was the winter of 1922. One of the baalei batim of Rav Moshe became deathly ill with a very strange sickness. His tongue became inflamed, and he felt like he was going to die. He asked for a private audience with Rav Moshe, and when Rav Moshe arrived, he explained to Rav Moshe the cause of his strange illness and why he knew it would be fatal.
“The previous Shabbos,” the man said, “we read Parshas Vayeira. I was very disturbed by the story of the bnos Lot and could not comprehend how Moshiach could possibly come from them. How could they be blessed with such an incredible zechus after what they did with their father? Moav was the son of the eldest daughter of Lot, and she would ultimately have a descendent named Rus, whose great-grandson would be Dovid HaMelech, the ancestor of Moshiach. Not only did the bnos Lot perform what seems to be an incredible sin with their father, but they had no embarrassment at all about what they had done! They named their sons in a manner that publicized to one and all that their father, Lot, was also the father of their sons!”
This man continued to tell Rav Moshe how he had spoken about bnos Lot in a very derogatory fashion. That night, he had a dream. In his dream, he was visited by two elderly women who were dressed with tremendous tzinius. They spoke to him in his dream, telling him that they were the bnos Lot, and that, in the Olam Ha’Emes, they heard that he has ta’anos against them. They were coming to him in his dream to answer his complaints against them.
They told him that after their miraculous escape from Sedom, they readily recognized that they were saved because of the zechus of Avraham Avinu. When their sons were born, they could have easily concealed the fact that Lot was the father of their sons. They could have said that they were impregnated by an otherworldly force, and they could have started a new religion, like the Christians. However, they wanted to publicize that every single person has human parents and must come “mei’av,” from a human father. Therefore, they intentionally called their sons Amon and Moav. In the zechus of them not allowing a false Moshiach to come about, they were zocheh to be the ancestor of the Moshiach.
The ailing man continued and informed Rav Moshe that it was because he spoke about the bnos Lot in a derogatory fashion that he was being punished with the strange illness he was experiencing – the same fatal illness that struck the Meraglim, who spoke lashon hara about Eretz Yisroel.
When the man concluded his story, he turned his face to the wall and passed away.
We see that the Ribbono Shel Olam was already sowing the seeds of Moshiach from the time of the bnos Lot.
Bnos Lot
There is a pasuk in Tehillim that says, “Matzati Dovid avdi.” Hashem says, “I have found my servant, Dovid.” The Medrash Rabba asks, where did Hashem find Dovid? Was Dovid lost that he needed to be found? The Medrash answers that Hashem found Dovid in Sedom. Dovid Hamelech was lost in Sedom; his ancestors, the bnos Lot, almost perished, and Hashem found Dovid by saving the bnos Lot. Similarly, when the malachim told Lot to save his two daughters who are “found,” the Medrash says that the malachim were alluding to the two metzios that would come out from Lot’s daughters: Rus and Naama.
The Ribbono Shel Olam was already orchestrating events in the wicked city of Sedom to be able to bring about Moshiach.
The Medrash Rabba goes even further to tell us that when the bnos Lot were planning what they were going to do, they said, “V’nichyeh mei’avinu zerah.” The Midrash comments that they did not say, “V’nichyeh mei’avinu ben.” What they were saying was that the child, the zerah, that was supposed to come from another place, we want to have! Which zerah were they referring to? Melech HaMoshiach!
In fact, the sefer Eitz Yosef, one of the mefarshim on the Medrash, says that that gematria of the phrase “V’nichyeh mei’avinu zerah” is the same as “zeh Melech HaMoshiach.” It would seem that the bnos Lot actually knew that they were going to bring about the Melech HaMoshiach.
We know that the job of Melech HaMoshiach will be l’takein olam b’malchus Sha-kai. Moshiach is going to bring the world to the highest levels of ruchniyus. In fact, the Seforno and the Chasam Sofer tell us that when Moshiach comes, we will be on such a high madreigah that we will not even need to have a Beis Hamikdash to serve as a medium through which we will come closer to Hashem.
The bnos Lot should be commended for their kavana tova, for their desire to be the ancestor of Moshiach. However, would it not have been more appropriate for Moshiach’s origin to be of a more modest nature? Moshiach’s role, as mentioned above, is to enhance the kedusha and ruchniyus in the world. Shouldn’t he come into the world in the most pure way possible?
Why would Hashem carry out such a sacred mission in such a seemingly profane manner? For this seemingly incestuous act to result in anything good would be surprising, but for this to be the origin of the Melech HaMoshiach is a pliyah!
Even more troubling is the fact that this problem seems to repeat itself. Rabba and Yalkut Shimoni both say that while the Shevatim were busying themselves with the sale of Yosef to Mitzrayim, Yosef was busy mourning, Reuven was busy mourning, Yaakov was busy mourning, and Yehuda was busy finding a wife. And Hashem was busy creating Moshiach.
This is the way Hashem chose to create Moshiach? Through Tamar posing as an immoral woman? We can put aside the halachic aspect of what transpired, since it was before Matan Torah and Yehuda was actually coerced into being with Tamara. The Midrash tells us that Yehuda was actually going to walk right past her, when Hashem dispatched the malach who was appointed over taivah to confront Yehuda and ask him why he would pass by Tamar. “Where will kings come from? Where will gedolim come from?”
The Midrash continues and tells us that he turned to her, and it was against his will. He was forced into it. So there is no halachic issue. But is this the optimal fashion in which to bring about Moshiach? Isn’t there a finer way to bring Moshiach into existence? Why did Hashem’s plan have to be carried out in such a seemingly unbecoming way?
And it does not stop here. In Megilas Rus, Naami tells Rus that she thinks that Boaz would be a good shidduch for her. She tells Rus that she has a plan as to how to arrange the shidduch: “Find out where Boaz lies down, go there, uncover his feet, and lie down.”
This is good advice? What kind of idea is this for Rus to go down to where Boaz is sleeping!?
The Sefer Igros Shmuel was written by Rav Shmuel de Uzeda, who was born in 1540 in Tzfas. He was a chavrusa of the Arizal who learned kabbala with him and with Rav Chaim Vital. His most popular sefer is the Midrash Shmuel on Pirkei Avos. On this pasuk in Rus, he asks a “very strong question”: How could this isha kesheira, Naami, advise her daughter-in-law to do such a seemingly disgraceful act? Is Naami making Rus into a zonah? How could Naami put her into such a dangerous situation?
What was Boaz’s reaction to finding Rus in the middle of the night? “And he was frightened.” Boaz was Ivtzan Ha’Shofet. He could have had her arrested or he could have cursed her. Why would Naami put Rus into such a precarious situation?
The Sefer Igros Shmuel continues: Would it not have been better if Naami had carried out her plan in a more respectable manner? Naami herself could have personally mentioned her idea to Boaz, and if Rus was truly his “bashert,” then Hashem would make it happen, and they would marry.
The Alshich Hakodesh asks: Was there a shortage of shadchanim in Klal Yisroel? That would be impossible. Anyone can serve as a matchmaker. So why did Naami carry out her plan in such an unusual and disgraceful way?
Yishai, the father of Dovid, was one of the four people who ever lived without committing a single sin. We would think that here we would finally see everything come about in a smooth and upstanding manner. However, this was not the case.
The Sefer Moadim U’Zemanim brings down from the Chida and the Arizal that before Dovid Hamelech was born, Yishai began to question his own kashrus as a Yid. “Perhaps Doeg was right, and my grandmother Rus was not mutar lavo b’kahal?” Maybe the drasha of Moavi v’lo Moavis was wrong?
Yishai then decided that the only way to be metaher his children would be to marry a shifcha, a maidservant, and have children who would be slaves. He could then free these children, and they would then be able to enter into the Jewish nation.
Yishai separated for his wife for over three years, and then informed his maidservant of his plan to marry her. The maidservant, however, was loyal to Yishai’s wife, and she informed her of Yishai’s plan. They developed a plan, and Yishai thought he was with the maidservant when in reality he was with his wife. That night, Yishai’s wife became pregnant with Dovid Hamelech. And so, Yishai’s sons, who saw that their father had separated from their mother for over three years and then saw that she was pregnant, thought that Dovid was a mamzer. Yishai’s wife did not want to embarrass Yishai, so she did not disclose the truth. When Dovid Hamelech was born, his brothers wanted to throw him to the dogs.
This is how Hashem brings Dovid Melech Yisroel into the world – b’derech bizayon – without anyone knowing who his father is.
It seems that every step in Dovid Hamelech’s origin is shrouded in safeikos and mystery! Starting with the bnos Lot, to the story of Yehudah and Tamar, to the events with Rus and Boaz, to the events with Yishai and his wife and his shifchah (maidservant)! What is the pashut?
Bribing the Satan
entire Malchus Beis Dovid was going to come from Boaz and Rus. The Oro shel Moshiach was being created. Naami knew that any time Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to bring about a davar she’b’kedusha someone wakes up and comes running to be mekatreig, coming up with accusations so that the davar she’b’kedusha does not come to fruition. This mekatreig is none other than the Satan.
Therefore, says the Igros Shmuel, Naami wanted to cloud the vision of the Satan. She wanted to “give the Satan his chelek.” If the ma’aseh is done in a way that seems to be assur, then the Satan won’t try to stop it. He will view it as something which is prohibited and therefore allow it to continue unimpeded. After all, why be mekatreig on something that appears to be assur anyway? Only by giving the Satan his chelek did Naami think that the Malchus Beis Dovid could come into fruition.
The Chofetz Chaim in Chofetz Chaim on the Torah tells us the same yesod. The Chofetz Chaim writes: All the lofty things that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to bring about are subject to the efforts of the Satan, who tries hard to stop them. There is no eitzah other than to perform the action in a crooked manner, in order to pacify the Satan. For if the action were performed in the normal, straight path, in the true path of the Torah, the Satan would be mekatreig and the attempted action would not come into fruition. This is why, says the Chofetz Chaim, Hashem had to bring about Malchus Beis Dovid through the ma’aseh of Yehuda and Tamar, so that the Satan could be given his chelek and would therefore not be mekatreig.
Now we can understand why every step in the creation of Malchus Beis Dovid was somewhat tainted, starting with the incident of the two daughters of Lot with their father, and continuing with Yehuda and Tamar, Boaz and Rus, and ultimately, Yishai not realizing he was with his wife and not his maidservant. You cannot take on the Satan head-on – if you do attempt the derech ha’yashar, you’ll find the Satan right there, ready to thwart your plans, ready to be mekatreig. The only way around this problem is to take a circuitous, seemingly inappropriate and perhaps sinful-appearing route – thereby giving the Satan his chelek.
The Igros Shmuel compares this idea to the sa’er l’azazel on Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year, and Klal Yisroel are trying to affect selicha and kapara for an entire year’s worth of sins. The Satan is not going to stand idly by as we beseech Hashem for forgiveness – he is going to rear his ugly head and be mekatreig. Therefore, says the Igros Shmuel, we bring a sa’er l’azazel. It is the chelek for the Satan. The Gemara says that at the time that Moshe was bringing the Torah down to the Bnei Yisroel, the Satan asked Hashem, “Where did the Torah go?” Tosafos asks, Did the Satan not know about Matan Torah? Why did he not know where the Torah had gone? Tosafos answers, based on a midrash, that Hashem preoccupied the Satan during Matan Torah so that he would not be mekatreig and say things like, “Why are You giving them the Torah when in 40 days they are going to worship an Egel?”
Similarly, the Gemara Sanhedrin explains why the Torah is referred to as “toshiah.” The Torah was given secretly to avoid the kitrug of the Satan. Kabbalas Ha Torah was an event upon which the entire universe is dependent, and, incredibly, the Satan would have succeeded in his kitrug to prevent it had Hashem not had the Satan otherwise pre-occupied.
The Shelah Hakadosh in Parshas Shoftim goes so far as to say that most of the aveiros that Bnei Yisroel did while in the Midbar were performed at times of their greatest ma’alos. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu grants a person or a nation ma’alos, the Satan is there to rear his head and be mekatreig. After Kabbalas HaTorah, when Klal Yisroel had just attained the highest level of nevuah, Moshe Rabbenu was on his way down from Har Sinai with the luchos. The Bnei Yisroel were eagerly anticipating a tangible and physical representation of the d’var Hashem, and the Satan comes along and was mekatreig! He was a meisis, convincing the Yidden to make the Egel. The result, we know, was that the much-anticipated luchos were shattered.
When Klal Yisroel was going to enter Eretz Yisroel, there was the Satan yet again – ready to be mekatreig. The result? The chet ha’meraglim.
The Shelah teaches us something fascinating. It seems that even in his times, when a shidduch was made there were, at times, disagreements about the financial arrangements. Why is this? Because the Satan is being mekatreig! Hashem is bringing about a tremendous accomplishment – a zivug between two Yidden, and the Satan therefore feels that it is an opportune time to be mekatreig, to try to be m’akeiv.
We have a custom to break a glass under the chuppah. The well-known reason for this practice is that Klal Yisroel took a shevuah: even at a time of tremendous happiness, we will always recall the sorrow of the destruction of Yerushalayim. The Shelah gives us another reason for breaking the glass under the chuppah. It is shochad l’Satan – we need to bribe him. We have to give the Satan his chelek, so we give him the broken glass. The Satan is then appeased, and he chooses to not be mekatreig. of Moshiach from coming into being. Therefore, he would do anything he could to prevent Dovid Hamelech from coming into existence. This is why every step of the creation of Dovid HaMelech was covered over with what seems to be questionable acts. This gives the Satan his portion, his chelek, allowing him to be happy and to choose to not be mekatreig.
What can be learned from this, and how does this concept of shochad l’Satan impact our lives in a practical way?
The Michtav Mei’Eliyahu writes that just like the Satan is a master at deceit and can easily trick and deceive us, so, too, can he be easily deceived. He can readily be given a taste of his own medicines, and we can trick him, too. We can use the Satan’s methods against him.
For example, says the Michtav Mei’Eliyahu, ifa person is in the middle of learning Torah and the yetzer hara tells him that he needs to stop his learning to go take care of one thing or another, he can try to take on the yetzer hara head-on, and tell him, “No! I will not stop learning! My learning is more important!” Unless a person is extremely strong, a true gibor, the yetzer hara will ultimately win. What does one have to do to be victorious over the yetzer hara? He has to bribe him! Give shochad l’Satan! Tell the yetzer hara, “You are right; it IS more important for me to stop learning and go run that errand. That is exactly why I am going to stop learning and go do that errand in five minutes.” The Satan thinks that you are giving in to him, and he is pacified and happily backs off. When the five minutes elapse, in all likelihood, you will be able to continue learning without any temptation to stop.
Anytime the Satan tries to convince a person to commit an aveirah, he should not just say that no, he is not going to do the sinful action. Rather, tell the Satan that you will do it – tomorrow. The Satan will take his shochad and beat a hasty retreat.
Captive Neshamos
The issue that still has to be resolved is that in the Midrash mentioned above it states that Hashem says that He “found” Dovid. Where did He find him? In Sedom. What was Dovid Hamelech doing in Sedom? Why did Moshiach have to come from the goyim? Couldn’t Moshiach at least be a descendent of a member of Klal Yisroel?
The Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh in Parshas Vayechi introduces his comments as follows: “One clear and bright introduction, that has been beautifully illuminated for us from the light of our Torah,” is that Adam HaRishon originally contained within him all the neshamos that would ever exist in the world. When Adam then sinned with the Eitz HaDaas, the forces of evil took an innumerable number of those neshamos captive. Ever since the beginning of Klal Yisroel, we
have been struggling to redeem these captive souls.
How can we redeem these neshamos that were captured? The Ohr HaChaim tells us that there are two ways to free these captive souls.
Sometimes, learning Torah and doing mitzvos with sincerity releases a very powerful koach ha’Torah that can draw forth these captive neshamos.
But sometimes, if a nefesh kedushah connects to a nefesh temei’ah, the nefesh kedushah has the power to draw forth the captive neshamos. The Ohr HaChaim says that this is the secret of the pasuk that states that the nefesh of Dinah drew forth the holy neshamos that were captive in Shechem. Who was Dinah able to rescue from Shechem? Whose holy neshama was trapped in Shechem? The Ohr HaChaim Ha’kadosh tells us that it was Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon.
Sometimes these captive souls realize on their own that they originate in holiness, in kedusha, and they return of their own accord. This is why we have people who are geirim, converts. At times, the only way the captors will release the neshama is through a lowly act, as is in the case of Rus who was a product of ze’nus between a father and daughter.
And Who can withdraw purity from impurity? The Midrash in Parshas Chukas says that only Hashem can do this.
The Ramchal says that Hashem is able to rescue the holiest neshamos from the most impure captors. He begins his peirush on Rus by saying: “It is known to all whom Hashem has placed wisdom in him that the soul of Dovid HaMelech was clothed in the ‘shell’ of Moav, and it was freed from Moav through Rus….
“Every act of Hashem travels through byways, although they are often complex and crooked.”
The Ramchal concludes: “For such has occurred to all the great souls as they go among the shells and extract the good.”
The Royalty of Moav
We have learned that Dovid HaMelech’s ancestry has to be clouded in mystery. There had to be shochad l’Satan, and Dovid Hamelech had to come from the other nations, as the holiest neshamos were taken captive by the other nations and had to be released from them. However, we still don’t understand why Dovid HaMelech and Moshiach have to specifically come from Moav?
The Kotzker Rebbe made the following enigmatic statement: Royalty, a monarchy, was not found in Klal Yisroel and we had to take it from Amon and Moav. What did the Kotzker Rebbe mean?
The Kotzker Rebbe’s son-in-law was the Avnei Nezer, the Sochetchover Rebbe. The Avnei Nezer’s son was the Shem MiShmuel, and he strove to explain these words of his grandfather.
The Shem MiShmuel says that all of Klal Yisroel is one unit, k’ish echad b’lev echad. Just like one limb in someone’s body could never be ruling over the other limbs, so too it is not possible for one Jew to rule over another. We are all one, we are all equal parts of a whole. This is why melucha was not something found in Klal Yisroel.
However, the middah of Moav was that of ga’avah. It was this quality of ga’avah that we had to acquire from Moav in order to establish a meluchah l’Shem Shamayim. This is why Dovid HaMelech was hidden in the “shell” of Moav.
Earlier, we quoted the Midrash that states that Hashem “found” his servant Dovid in Sedom. Hashem “found” Dovid by saving the daughters of Lot. Naami was aware of this Midrash. Even back then they had a tradition that Moshiach was going to come from a descendent of the bnos Lot – they knew that
Moshiach was going to come from Moav. In fact, after Machlon and Kilyon passed away and Naami was going to return to Eretz Yisroel, she told her two daughters-in-law to return to their respective families. She told them, “You should find rest.”
The Alshich Hakadosh asks why the word “found” is spelled without the “hey” at the end. The pasuk is written that way because Naami was only addressing one of her daughters-in-law. She was referring to the “metziah, the finding” of Moshiach. She was saying that she knew that Moshiach would come from Moav and she was giving Rus a bracha that it should come specifically from one of her daughters-in-law.
The Alshich adds that when Naami saw that her daughter-in-law Rus was willing to leave her family behind in Moav, and she was ready to give up her status as a princess so as to come join Klal Yisroel, and that she was extremely modest, Naami had a strong hunch that this woman, Rus, is the one. She is the special neshama from whom the metziah of Moshiach is going to come.
When Naami told Rus to go to Boaz, the Alshich says that Naami was, in fact, acting in a proper manner, with tremendous wisdom and ruach hakodesh.
Boaz was the Rosh Sanhedrin, the gadol ha’dor. Even if Rus were the perfect shidduch, there was not a chance in the world that the gadol ha’dor was going to marry a convert. It would have been impossible. There was only possibility, one chance in a million to arrange that Boaz would marry Rus. That was to convince him that Naami’s hunch was, in fact, correct. Naami would have to convince Boaz that Rus was the pereida tova from whom the Moshiach would come.
How would she go about convincing Boaz that Rus is the pereida tova? Why would the gadol ha’dor listen to her?
The Alshich explains that as Naami pondered how to go about achieving what seemed an impossible task, she had the following idea: Rus would have to do something that only a descendant of the bnos Lot could do. Rus must somehow hint to Boaz that she is, in fact, the pereida tova which is expected to arise from Moav.
Naami devises a plan as to how Rus could achieve this impossible goal, and reveals her plan to her daughter-in-law. She tells Rus that just like the bnos Lot, after their father drank, came secretly and quietly – and Lot did not know – so, too, Rus have to do the same.
That night, when Boaz awakens at midnight and finds that he is not alone, he tells Rus, “My daughter, you have nothing to be afraid of.”
“I get the message” says Boaz. “I understand your point – you are acting like your great-grandmother, the daughter of Lot. You are following in her footsteps. Thus, you must be the pereida tova which is expected to arise from Moav.”
Boaz married Rus, and that night he passed away. This was sufficient time for Hashem to carry out His Plan, and that very night, the night of their wedding, Rus conceived Oved, the father of Yishai and the grandfather of Dovid Hamelech.
Hashem said, “Matzati Dovid avdi, I found Dovid my servant!” The Master Planner carried out His plan to perfection. The Satan was given his shochad every step of the way – by the bnos Lot, by Yehuda and Tamar, by Rus and Boaz, and finally with Yishai and his wife.
May we be zocheh to “es tzemach Dovid avdecha me’heira tzatzmiach,” and may we soon witness the coming of Moshiach ben Dovid, may it come soon in our days.
