Bais HaVaad on the Parsha, Parshas Chukas-Balak

Foreign National

Excerpted and adapted from a shiur by Rav Moshe Zev Granek

June 29, 2023

Moav said to the elders of Midian, “Now the congregation will chew up our entire surroundings, as an ox chews up the greenery of the field.” Balak, son of Tzipor, was king of Moav at that time.

Bemidbar 16:19

Rashi, quoting Chazal, says that Balak was actually from Midian and ineligible to be king of Moav, but fearing an imminent attack by the Jews, Moav appointed Balak king to replace the recently killed Sichon (Bemidbar 21:24). The Maharit asks that this contradicts the Gemara, which says (Sotah 47a) that Rus descended from Eglon, king of Moav, a descendant of Balak, and says (Yevamos 76a) that Rus was only permitted to marry Boaz because the issur for a Moavi convert to marry into Klal Yisrael applies only to the males. If Balak was not actually a Moavi, why did Rus require that dispensation?

The Maharsha (Sotah 47a) answers that the two statements are indeed divergent views. The view cited by Rashi holds that Rus did not descend from Balak, but the Gemara in Sotah holds that she did, and that Balak was a Moavi.

The Piskei Tosafos answers that Balak’s daughter married a Moavi, and because lineage for non-Jews follows the father, Eglon and Rus were Moavim.

The Yikra Deshichvi answers that although lineage for non-Jews generally follows the father, neither a patrilineal nor a matrilineal Amoni or Moavi may marry a Jew. Although Balak was not a Moavi, perhaps his wife was and that made their descendant Rus a Moavis.