Sanhedrin 104A

מעמון ומואב.

from Ammon and Moab. Although they were relatives of the Jewish people, as they descend from Lot, Abraham’s nephew, it is prohibited for a Jewish woman to marry a convert from either of those nations, because they failed to provide bread and water to the Jewish people in the wilderness.

ומקרבת את הרחוקים ⁠– מיתרו, דאמר רבי יוחנן: בשכר ״קראן לו ויאכל לחם״, זכו בני בניו וישבו בלשכת הגזית, שנאמר: ״ומשפחות סופרים ישבי יעבץ תרעתים שמעתים שוכתים המה הקינים הבאים מחמת אבי בית רכב״, וכתיב התם: ״ובני קיני חתן משה עלו מעיר התמרים את בני יהודה מדבר יהודה אשר בנגב ערד וילך וישב את העם״.

And the fact that it draws near the distant is derived from Yitro, as R' Yoḥanan says: In reward for Yitro telling his daughters: “Call him, that he may eat bread” (Exodus 2:20), inviting Moses to join them for a meal, Yitro’s descendants were privileged and sat as scribes in session with the Sanhedrin in the Chamber of Hewn Stone. As it is stated: “And the families of the scribes who resided in Jabez; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, the Sucathites. These were the Kenites who came of Hammath, father of the house of Rechab” (I Chronicles 2:55). And it is written there with regard to the identity of the Kenites: “And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the city of the palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and resided with the people” (Judges 1:16).

ומעלמת עינים מן הרשעים ⁠– ממיכה.

And the fact that it averts eyes from the wicked is derived from Micah, who was not punished, because he provided bread to passersby.

ומשרה שכינה על נביאי הבעל ⁠– מחבירו של עדו הנביא, דכתיב: ״ויהי הם ישבים אל השלחן ויהי דבר ה׳ אל הנביא אשר השיבו״.

And the fact that it causes the Shekhina to rest on the prophets of the Baal is derived from the colleague of Iddo the prophet, the elderly prophet who convinced Iddo to eat with him contrary to the directive of God, when Iddo went to Bethel to prophesy to Jeroboam, as it is written: “And it happened as they sat at the table, that the word of YHWH came to the prophet that brought him back” (I Kings 13:20). Although the elderly prophet was a false prophet, he was rewarded with true prophecy as a reward for hosting Iddo.