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Lech-Lecha DT: Why is the king of Tzo'ar nameless?
Side note: I've been wanting to post this DT all week, but was trying to track down a certain source and unfortunately haven't managed to find it yet. If anyone has any idea and can point me to where it's located, I will very much appreciate it. Thanks!
This is an idea that I thought of last year. In Lech-Lecha, among other things, we read about the War of the Four and Five Kings. In the description of the two sides, we get the names of all but one of the kings:
"Now, when King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim made war on King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar" (Beresheet 14:1-2)
This raises the question: Why does the king of Tzo'ar/Bela remain nameless?
An answer to this, I believe, can be found in a Rashi in the next parsha, Vayera. Rashi writes:
"THIS CITY IS NEAR — Its settlement as a city is near in point of time — it has been populated quite recently and therefore its measure is not yet filled (Shabbat 10b)...When Sodom was destroyed Abraham was 99 years old, so that from the Generation of the Dispersal (in the 48th year of Abraham’s life) until this time was 52 years. The colonisation of Zoar took place one year later than that of Sodom and its sister cities..." (Rashi on Beresheet 19:20)
So in other words, the people of Tzo'ar weren't as evil as the people of the other cities in the area.
Now, there's a source* that says one shouldn't mention a righteous person among evil people. I believe that this explains why the king of Tzo'ar remained nameless. The other four kings, we know were very evil, as they were the rulers of the cities that Hashem destroyed. But Tzo'ar merited to not being destroyed, because it was less evil than the rest. Much like one of the opinions Rashi brings about Noach:
"...Others, however, explain it to his discredit: in comparison with his own generation he was accounted righteous, but had he lived in the generation of Abraham he would have been accounted as of no importance (cf. Sanhedrin 108a)."
Just as Noach was considered a righteous person in comparison to the rest of his generation, it seems the king of Tzo'ar was also considered righteous, when compared to the neighboring kings of Kikar Hayarden. For this, he merited to not have his name mentioned along those of the other kings.
*This is the source I'm looking for. I'm pretty sure it's a gemara in Brachot, but it might be in another masechet.
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