Dear Rabbi Kornfeld shlita,
I have difficulty understanding Dovid Hamelech using iti hagiti to be mevatel an avodah zara (as a amora also forced a goy to be mevatel a avodah zara for him ).
I would have expected him to spit on it....... and say shakaitz teshaktzenu and walk away, did he need this kind of wealth ????
Elozer Kanner
Lawrence/Far Rockaway, NY
I posed your question to Hagaon Rav Moshe Shapiro (of Yerushalayim). His answer (in my own words) went along the following lines:
David Hamelech, through his great-grandmother Rus ha'Moaviyah, was a descendant of Moav, the son of Lot. By bringing "back to Kedushah" this branch of the family of Avraham (Lot was a nephew of Avraham) he became able to build his Malchus to the extent that he would eventually bring about the full Tikun of the world.
But the Gemara in Bava Kama 38b, makes it clear that Hash-m's plan was not only to bring Moav into Klal Yisrael, but to bring in Amon as well. This was eventually accomplished through Na'amah ha'Amonis, the wife of Shlomo. But David ha'Melech wanted to draw Amon into his own kingship as well, in order to combine both Amon and Moav in his Malchus and bring about the Tikun. This was accomplished by his taking and using the crown of "Malkam" (from the word Melech -- which is why he wore such an extravagant crown), the idol of Amon.
Best wishes,
Mordecai Kornfeld
PS (Sorry for the delay!)