Dovid (דוד) — King of Israel

Core definition

Dovid HaMelech — King Dovid — is the second king of Israel, the sweet singer of Tehillim, the founder of the Davidic dynasty, and the progenitor of Moshiach ("And My servant Dovid shall be king over them" — Yechezkel 37:24). In the corpus's Chassidic reading, Dovid's soul is the human embodiment of the sefirah Malchus: "the aspect of Dovid's root is the aspect of Malchus: that is, he was in the aspect of fear and bitul utterly, before the aspect of Malchus of Atzilus — he was a merkavah (chariot) to it, as the Avos were merkavos to Chagas of Atzilus" [60801/maamar_012 :: §30]. This is the secret of "דוד מלך ישראל חי וקיים" — "Dovid, king of Israel, lives and endures" (the Kiddush Levanah formula; Rosh HaShanah 25a): Malchus, having nothing of itself, endures precisely through its nullification to what is above it [60801/maamar_012 :: §27].

How the Rebbeim develop it

The seventy years. The Zohar's puzzle: "Adam Kadma'ah asked seventy years for Dovid the king" (Zohar I 55b); Adam HaRishon left Dovid seventy years, and the Avos added — Yackov five, Yitzchak nothing, Yackov twenty-eight, Yosef thirty-seven (Yackov, Yackov, Yosef = 70; Adam = 70) — "so that accordingly Dovid's life should have been a hundred and forty years... but he lived only seventy years (Shmuel II 5:4)" [60801/maamar_012 :: §18–24]. The resolution: Dovid, as Malchus, "has nothing of itself: that is, neither Chochmah nor middos" — like the moon, "לית לה מגרמה כלום" (it has nothing of itself — Zohar I 33b), shining only with the sun's light — so "all the supernal lights above" had to be drawn into him [60801/maamar_012 :: §619–625]. The seventy years are "a particular ha'arah" of the supernal wisdom — "this ha'arah from Ohr Abba to the aspect of Malchus of Atzilus is only a particular ha'arah alone — this is the concept of the seventy years that Adam Kadma'ah asked for Dovid" [60801/maamar_012 :: §589]. Seventy specifically: "corresponding to the seven middos that Malchus has — each one included of ten sefiros" — "as Dovid said: 'לך הוי׳ הגדולה והגבורה' ('Yours, Havayah, is the greatness and the might' — Divrei HaYamim I 29:11)" [60801/maamar_012 :: §598]. As Avigail said to Dovid: "ואדני חכם כחכמת מלאך אלקים" — "'and my lord is wise, as the wisdom of an angel of Elokim' (Shmuel II 14:20)" — for "'מלאך אלקים דא שכינתא' (the angel of Elokim — this is the Shechinah — Zohar II 47a)": Chochmah drawn in Malchus [60801/maamar_012 :: §592–595].

The humility of kingship. "לא גבה לבי ולא רמו עיני" (Tehillim 131:1) — "my heart was not haughty and my eyes were not raised": "his eye always below, like a servant before the king" [60801/maamar_012 :: Page summary]. "Through Dovid the king was drawn the aspect of the bitul of kabbalas malchus shamayim in each one of Israel, from great to small" — his kingship below channeled the acceptance of the Heavenly kingship above: "this is the main aspect of Dovid, king of Israel below — who is above the aspect of Malchus" [60801/maamar_012 :: §293–296].

The faithful shepherd. "So Dovid was a shepherd of flocks: as is written: 'ולקחתיך מאחרי הצאן' ('and I took you from behind the flocks' — Shmuel II 7:8)": as the shepherd "supervises every sheep and flock in particular — to watch all they lack in food and drink, to lead them in good pasture, to heal the broken and gather the strayed and lost on the way" — so "Dovid supervised well, with all his faithful heart, all the flocks — therefore called 'רועה ישראל' (the shepherd of Israel), 'רעיא מהימנא' (the faithful shepherd)" [60801/maamar_012 :: §954]. Hence "ודוד עושה משפט וצדקה לכל עמו" — "'and Dovid did justice and righteousness for all his people' (Shmuel II 8:15) — to each according to his measure: to gather the strayed and heal the broken"; and "your people Israel need livelihood" — he said: "go and stretch your hands in the troop" (Brachos 3b) [60801/maamar_012 :: §957–960]. Because his kingship had to include all, "specifically to Dovid the king all lent — Adam HaRishon, Yackov, Yackov, Yosef — and not to another king" [60801/maamar_012 :: §972–975].

Key distinctions

Dovid vs. the Avos. The Avos are merkavos to the three upper emotional sefiros (Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferes) of Atzilus; Dovid is the merkavah to Malchus — the receiving sefirah, "fear and bitul utterly," having nothing of itself [60801/maamar_012 :: §30].

Dovid vs. Shaul. "Dovid revealed the tractate (gali masachta); Shaul did not reveal the tractate" (Gittin): Dovid toiled in Torah and taught others — the Chassidic reading adds "that his [matter] was to reveal the hidden" — while Shaul kept his Torah to himself [58839/maamar_040 :: §590–599].

Dovid and Yehonasan. "Yehonasan and Dovid is Ze'ir Anpin and Malchus" — the bond of the two friends images the union of the masculine and feminine partzufim [58843/maamar_029 :: §3251].

Related concepts

Malchus (the sefirah Dovid embodies); Moshiach (the Davidic redeemer, "called by Dovid's name" for his humility); Tehillim (Dovid's songs); The moon ("לית לה מגרמה כלום"); "Dovid Melech Yisrael chai v'kayam" (his eternal endurance); Kiddush Levanah.

Sources