Daily Verse: Tehillim - Psalms 55:7
Tuesday 10 Tevet 5783 (03.01.23)
Be a Dove like King David
וָאֹמַ֗ר מִֽי־יִתֶּן־לִ֣י אֵ֭בֶר כַּיּוֹנָ֗ה אָע֥וּפָה וְאֶשְׁכֹּֽנָה׃
"I said to myself, "If only I had wings like a dove, I would fly far away and rest safely."
Why does Dawid choose a dove? He wants to fly away and not come back; however, a characteristic of a dove is precisely that it does come back. Think for example of Noah's dove, it flew away but came back with a good message.
A dove can symbolise ambivalence. It wants to leave, and it wants to come back. Malbim writes; with one wing it flies and with the other it stands still.
So too Dawid he wants to get away from his enemies, on the other hand he wants to perform his task HaShem gave him as well as he can. A king cannot flee but is supposed to fight his position and fight for his people and country and fight against her if it is in her interest.
Somewhere we all have a "dove" inside us. On the one hand, we know that we have a job to do here on earth and that we must therefore connect with this material world and learn to use it for good. On the other hand, we would prefer to detach ourselves completely from this material world and focus completely on the spiritual world and connect fully with HaShem and engage only with the Divine.
We should behave like a dove. We fly away to the spiritual world to learn about our 7 Mitzvot and absorb the message of G-d's Oneness. We convey G-d's message of establishing a healthy society to our (immediate) surroundings. And so we fly, back and forward....
Sources: Chabadapp: chumash with Rashi, Sefaria
Angelique Sijbolts is one of the main writers for the NoahideAcademy.org website. She contributes for the admin of the website in English and Dutch. She teaches Hebrew to beginners and intermediate students at the Academy.
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