Greetings. I was thinking about the issue of marrying the Moabites etc., and I wondered why Chazal never offered the explanation that Rus was not a born Moabite, but simply grew up and lived in Moav. I suppose it would never have brought out the halacha of Moavi velo Moviah. Regardless, it would have been a big zechus on Machlon that he didn't violate the Torah prohibition because he thought she was not a native Moabite.
Similarly, can't it be said that Shlomo did nothing wrong by marrying Naama the Ammonite because the description of "Ammonite" was merely a kinuy, a nickname like Uriah the Hittite, who was called a Hittite because he lived among them. So she too wasn't really an Ammonite, thought Shlomo may have married others who WERE Ammonites according to the permissibility of the females.
Finally, regarding Bas Paro, why couldn't there have been a simple explanation that Bas Paro was not really an Egyptian, but had been ADOPTED and was born from another nation.
Chazal had a Kabalah (an accepted tradition) that Ruth was born a Moabite princess. They also knew that she was descended from Eglon, the king of Moav, and that there had been a discussion in various courts about whether her conversion could be accepted. As for Machlon, it seems that both he and his brother wished to cut off their ties with the Jewish nation and this is the reason for their Kares (as Rambam writes for those who marry Nochrim, they receive Kares bi'Yedei Shamayim).
Chazal do not even wish to minimize Shlomo's sin but they did stress (Shabbos 56) that he did not serve idols but did not oppose his wives' idolatry. They do not refer to the Amonite issue, so we must assume that Shlomo attempted to convert these wives but was not totally successful.
We must remember that the Tanach sometimes exaggerates sins; see, for example, the long descriptions of Achan's sin as opposed to the actual act, and it is possible that regarding this issue it is the same.
Regarding Bas Par'oh, I believe there is a Zohar which says she was actually a sister of Moshe and had somehow been adopted by Pharaoh. Some say she was a sister of Tziporah, also a foreigner (Midrash Talpiyos, quoting Zohar). So your point is made there.
Yoel Domb
Thank you. I meant the daughter of Paro who married Shlomo as an adopted child, since otherwise she would have been forbidden to marry Shlomo.
But in reference to Bisya, in that gemara I don't see why she was a proof about being a Yehudiah for the saying in the gemara ha'Kofer b'Avodah Zarah Yehudi after matan Torah. Especially since the only tribe that remained loyal was Levi, not Yehuda anyway.....
Regarding Shlomo, there must have been some kind of halachic reason that Shlomo felt he could marry the Egyptian princess. It is such a straightforward prohibition in the Torah. It's hard to imagine that he simply "overlooked" it or didn't think it applied to him, or that he forgot.
The Rambam in Hilchos Isurei Bi'ah 13:14-17 says that one should not think that Shimshon and Shlomo married non-Jewish women. He explains that anyone who converts due to ulterior motives such as monetary gain, potential political power, fear, or with the intent to marry a Jew is not considered a Ger Tzedek, yet the Gerus is nevertheless valid.
Shimshon's wife converted in order to marry Shimshon and her Gerus was performed by a lower Beis Din against the will of the Beis Din ha'Gadol. Similarly, in the era of David ha'Melech and Shlomo ha'Melech, a time of unprecedented economic and political success, Beis Din ha'Gadol issued a blanket ban on conversions out of concern that prospective converts had the wrong motives. Lower courts did perform Gerus against the will of Beis Din ha'Gadol, and the Pasuk refers to the wives of Shimshon and Shlomo as Nochriyos as an expression of the disappoval of Beis Din ha'Gadol and the fact that their wives never adopted a Jewish lifestyle as evidenced by their continued idolotrous practice. Still, they were Jews according to the Halachah.
Avraham Phillips