Welcome to our Perek Shira series. We're now up to the song of the eagle. The eagle says in Tehilim 59,6
נֶשֶׁר אוֹמֵר. וְאַתָּה יי אֱלֹהִים צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הָקִיצָה לִפְקֹד כָּל הַגּוֹיִם אַל תָּחֹן כָּל בֹּגְדֵי אָוֶן סֶלָה: (תהילים נט ו)
You, Hashem the God of the hosts, God of Israel. Wake up, to (usually remember, but in this case) punish the goyim. Have no mercy on all the rebels forever.
We're turning to Hashem asking Him to pay retribution against those that have been oppressing us. Why the eagle? Because God is compared to an eagle, as it says in Devarim 32,11 כְּנֶ֙שֶׁר֙ יָעִ֣יר קִנּ֔וֹ עַל־גּוֹזָלָ֖יו יְרַחֵ֑ף God is like an eagle that arouses his nest. Rashi says the eagle acts toward his children with mercy. He doesn't just come suddenly into its nest. It flutters its wings, it wakes them up by banging tree to tree, branch to branch, so they can wake up and accept him.
The eagle wakes up his children slowly, in a merciful way.
Then יִפְרֹ֤שׂ כְּנָפָיו֙ יִקָּחֵ֔הוּ יִשָּׂאֵ֖הוּ עַל־אֶבְרָתֽוֹ׃when it comes to take them, it spreads out its wings and asks its young to jump on its back because, unlike all other birds that are afraid of what might come from above, the eagle has no fear of anything from above, only arrows from below.
The mother eagle says, let the arrows come into me and not my children. So too, God carried us on the wings of eagles. He was like an eagle that the enemy shot arrows towards, but the Ananei HaKavod, which symbolize God, absorbed them.
Furthermore, says Rabbenu Bachye, when the eagle carries its young, it's all alone, high up in the sky where no other bird can come, and וְאֵ֥ין עִמּ֖וֹ אֵ֥ל נֵכָֽר׃/There are no other forces, no other gods. Just like the eagle is alone up there, so too, God is leading us alone, with no other forces. As it says, En Mazal L'Yisrael. And as the pasuk in Tehilim 73,25 says, מִי־לִ֥י בַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וְ֝עִמְּךָ֗ לֹֽא־חָפַ֥צְתִּי בָאָֽרֶץ׃There is no one in heaven for me other than You.
There's nobody other than God, leading the Jewish people.
The Mabit says on this pasuk, that first of all, we use the term V'Atah/and You. What does that mean? That You are the only One that really exists. The only One that truly gets the term Atah is God, because God is the only thimg we can say You to in a lasting way. Nothing else exists forever, only God. God is the One that's everlasting. He's the everlasting force. The Everlasting power. Although it looks like there are other forces (which refer to the goyim) that are oppressing us and taking us over, we know that God is the ultimate Force, the Constant that's in control of all other forces. That's why He's called Elohei Sevaot/God of hosts. Those other forces don't have a constant control-One goes up and one goes down. And that's why we ask Hashem, Please, we know You're above everything. Come down and take us out of Galut.
And why is the term Hakisa/wake up used?
The Midrash Tehilim, in Mizmor 59 tells us that in this world it's like God is, as if to say, sleeping because He's not saving us. That's why the pasuk says in Tehilim 78, 65, Vayikatz/God gets up, as if He was sleeping. But in the future, God is going be awake as our pasuk says הָקִיצָה לִפְקֹד כָּל הַגּוֹיִם/ Hakitza/wake up to punish the goyim. That means Hashem is going to come out in His full force. It's actually a pasuk in Tehilim 44,24 that is said by Sephardim during Elul. ע֤וּרָה ׀ לָ֖מָּה תִישַׁ֥ן ׀ אֲדֹנָ֑י הָ֝קִ֗יצָה אַל־תִּזְנַ֥ח לָנֶֽצַח׃Wake up. Why are you going to sleep? Don't leave us forever.
The Gemara in Masechet Sotah 48A asks, What about, 'Hineh Lo Yanum V'Lo Yishan,' -I thought God doesn't take a nap or go to sleep? So what does it mean Wake up?
The Tanna D'Rav Eliyahu in perek 23 asks same question, Does God sleep or does He not?
The answer is that when we're suffering it's as if God's sleeping. When we're not doing God's will, it's as if He's sleeping. The Maharal,in Bereshit 6,6, tells us that of course God doesn't sleep. What sleep means about God is that we're causing God not to be able to do what He needs to do. We're the cause, and it's up to us to get up.
When we wake up, then kal v'yachol, He will wake up. Of course He's always up, but it's up to us.
It says, God wakes us up like the eagle. This is the eagle's song. God wakes us up, like the eagle knows we have to wake up. The eagle symbolizes God waking up his children. God is waking us up, He's not sleeping. We have to get up. And when we wake up, then it's as is if to say He'll get up.
Finally, the Arizal says the words,
הָקִיצָה לִפְקֹד כָּל הַגּוֹיִם /wake up to punish the goyim are Rashei Tevot for הלכהHalacha,as it says, God only has the four cubits of Halacha, which means when we learn and we do what we need to do, that causes Hashem, as if to say, to wake up. And that's the song of the Eagle.