From Lot, via Ruth, to Dovid HaMelech

by HaRav Dov Begon
Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir

Dovid HaMelech was a descendant of Ruth HaMoaviah. As is known, “Moab” [literally, “from my father”] received that name due to the shameful deed of Lot’s daughter, who cohabited with her father while he was drunk, and thus bore Moab. She not only did that but she immortalized this terrible deed by calling her son “Moab.”

All the same, from Moab emerged Ruth, who converted and entered under the wings of the Shechina. From her emerged Dovid HaMelech, from whom will appear and be revealed Moshiach in the future.

From here, we learn that one must not mock or disdain any human being, even the most lowly. An example of such a person is Lot, a drunkard who became the symbol of a man who loses his Divine Image during his drunkenness. We thus use the expression “Drunk as Lot” to describe those drunkards who have lost their divine image.

Right now, we must learn from the stories of Ruth HaMoaviah, and from the chain of events leading from Lot to Moshiach, that we must not mock or dismiss any human being, even when he falls down low. We ask, “Who is like the L-rd our G-d, enthroned on high?” (Tehilim 113:5). At the same time, however, we believe that the same G-d who is “enthroned on high,” also “looks far down to behold the things that are in heaven” (Ibid., v. 6). He also “raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy out of the ash-heap, that He may set them with nobles, with the nobles of His people” (v. 7).

With the Love of Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael,
Wishing you a Chag Shavuot Sameach and Shabbat Shalom.