Today we will study perek עא pasuk ז
כְּמוֹפֵת הָיִיתִי לְרַבִּים וְאַתָּה מַחֲסִי־עֹז
David HaMelech says, “I became an example for the multitudes, and You were my mighty refuge.
What does “I became an example,” mean?
The word for example,מופט Mofet, also means miracle.
The commentaries say that when people looked at David HaMelech, they thought it was a wonder, an open miracle, that he survived after all the challenges and difficulties that he went through.
Furthermore, the Alshech says that David HaMelech said that every step of the way was a miracle. “I was supposed to end in a miscarriage. I wasn’t supposed to be here at all. You saved me from so many challenges that even if I had thousands of merits, they would have been eaten up. Therefore, I have only survived for one reason- as an example; to show the world Your strength, Your supervision and Your goodness. You let me survive supernaturally, not based on my merits, just to show the world Your abilities.”
David HaMelech is showing us another technique:
“I might not merit what’s going on, but use me as a poster child for Bitachon- so people can say, this man is using bitachon and it’s working.”
David HaMelech knew how distanced he was, how hated he was, by his family and everyone. To the point that he said )in tehilim 118)
אֶבֶן מָאֲסוּ הַבּוֹנִים הָיְתָה לְרֹאשׁ פִּנָּה
The rock that was despised by the builders became the pinnacle stone.
מֵאֵת ה׳ הָיְתָה זֹּאת הִיא נִפְלָאת בְּעֵינֵינוּ
This is a miracle of God, it is a wonder ( same root as Mofet- פלא Pele) in our eyes”
The commentaries explain what this means with a mashal-
A man hired an architect and builder to build a beautiful building. A special stone would be inserted at the top of the main entrance. The stone had a very strange shape and it didn’t seem to fit anywhere. Therefore, when all of the materials arrived for the building, the stone was set aside. It didn’t seem necessary. It was the rock that the builders despised. But in the end, when the whole building was finished they saw one missing space with strange shape, above the doorway, they realized that the rock that they had despised the whole time would end up in the most prominent place.
The same is true of David HaMelech. He said, “Throughout my life, I was despised.
I was the rock that they felt they had no need for.
But in the end, הָיְתָה לְרֹאשׁ פִּנָּה
I was put on the top.
And it was a Pele/wonder. My whole existence was a Pele/wonder.
Sometimes in life, people wonder where they fit in. But we have to realize that we all fit in somewhere.
In the end, that wonder will be shown; where we fit in will be revealed… the wondrous creation that we are… and it all comes through constant Bitachon and reliance on Hashem.
כְּמוֹפֵת הָיִיתִי לְרַבִּים
I was an example
But why?
וְאַתָּה מַחֲסִי־עֹז
Because You were always my refuge.
The commentaries add that the עז /Ohz refers to the Torah, as in Tehilim (29,11)
ה׳ עֹז לְעַמּוֹ יִתֵּן
David HaMelech is saying that what gave him the ability to seek refuge in Hashem was his keeping of the Torah. Similarly, the first pasuk of עא, where it says,
בְּךָ־ה׳ חָסִיתִי
In You Hashem I seek refuge, the word for You, בך /Becha, refers to the 22 letters of the aleph bet, which is the Torah.
So what gives David HaMelech his strength is the 22, (numerical value of בך) which is the Torah.
We can evoke this belief and feeling of
כְּמוֹפֵת הָיִיתִי לְרַבִּים
I will be there example for the multitudes,
to show that relying on Hashem does work.