By Rabbi Daniel Dayan
When Moshe Rabenu recounts the different stages of Bnei Yisrael’s journey in the desert, he talks about the times when they came to the nations of Amon and Moav. Rashi makes note of the fact that when it came to the nation of Moav, the pasuk says that the Jewish people were not allowed to specifically provoke war against them, however they were allowed to harass them in other ways, short of a war. However, when it came to the nation of Amon, Hashem forbade Bnei Yisrael from harassing them in any way.
Rashi explains the reason for this. We know that after Sedom was destroyed, the two daughters of Lot both had children with their father. One of them named her child Moav, which clearly indicates the fact that her child came from her being with her father. The other daughter named her son Amon, which was a less direct reference to the fact that she had a child with her father. Rashi goes on to say that as a reward for her modesty of speech in naming her child , she merited that many years later her children were spared from any trouble from the Bnei Yisrael.
The Chafetz Chaim in his sefer חובת השמירה writes – that if for the daughter of Lot, who had no command of clean speech, yet Hashem didn’t hold back from rewarding her to such an extent, how much more so by a Jew, who’s words are so valuable and stand in the highest of places, will he be rewarded tremendously for being careful to speak with modesty and refinement. May we all be zoche to always be a source of Kiddush Hashem with our speech and our actions.
Shabbat Shalom