The Danger Faced by David
Gate of Reincarnations: Chapter Seven, Section 10
Translation by Yitzchok bar Chaim;
explanation by Shabtai Teicher
Although his Nefesh was intact, King David
was in danger of losing his portion in the Resurrection of the Dead as a result
of his sin with Bat Sheva because his Ruach had entered the world while
his Nefesh was still completing its tikun.
Knowing this, you can understand what concerned King
David when he said, "Many have said, 'For my Nefesh
there is no salvation for it from
G-d.' Selah." (Psalms 3:3).
Knowing what was taught in the previous section we
will now be able to understand how King David could seem to be poised on the
verge of destruction.
It is strange that people should have spoken so badly
about such a great person as King David. However, to understand this we must be
precise about what is written. It is written, "...There is no salvation for
it (him)." It should have been written, "...There is no salvation for
it (her)" if it referred back to the word "my Nefesh" mentioned at the beginning of the verse.  | | " The Nefesh of King David...descended to the Malchut of spiritual impurity..." | | |
It was written in the verse, "...There is no
salvation from G-d for it." At first glance it would seem that the subject
referred to by the pronoun "it" is the Nefesh of King David
that has no hope of salvation because of his sin with Bat Sheva. However, the
Hebrew word used for the pronoun "it" is "lo", which
refers to the masculine. If "it" were referring to the Nefesh
of King David, then it would have to use the feminine word "lah",
because Nefesh is a feminine noun.
It will now be understandable based upon what has been
said. The Nefesh of King David was
very elevated. As a result of the primordial sin of Adam it descended into the
depths of the kelipot on the side of
the Nukva [the feminine side] of the kelipot.
In other words, it descended to the Malchut
of spiritual impurity. Malchut is the lowest of the sefirot, and
the feminine side is generally below the masculine side. Therefore, at the
least, we must understand that it descended very low indeed.
When David was born, it was the first time it had left
the kelipot. Therefore, it began its tikun
only from the level of Asiya, which is called
Nefesh. The reason [for this] is that it
was a gilgul from Level Three.
Like all Third Level souls, the soul of King David
fell from Adam into the kelipot. However, this particular soul
did not begin any tikun whatsoever for many, many generations.
Therefore, when it was reborn into a human body to begin the process of tikun,
it had descended to the lowest possible level.
We often meet the rule that the highest levels
ascend to the lowest places. And things that were on the lowest levels must
eventually ascend to the highest places. This is exactly the case of the soul
that was born into King David. | | " In the time of the Resurrection of the Dead there would be no salvation for the body of David..." | | |
This is the secret of what is mentioned in
Sabba of
Mishpatim ( Zohar, 103a), and many other places as well, that David
was from the "feminine side" and not the "masculine side".
Rather, [the origin of his soul was] in the "World of Death" that is
called Nukva. Understand this.
It is said of the Malchut-Nukva that
"Her feet go down to death..."; this is a
general characteristic of Nukva-feminine relative to the masculine in
all places. Indeed, the soul of King David descended to such a low place that
it was devoid of the ability to survive in this world even one second, but Adam gave it seventy years of his own life.
Thus, it was asked there [in Saba of
Mishpatim], "Why was he called
'Oved'?"
Oved was the grandfather of David. He and his son,
Jesse, the father of David, made possible the birth of this soul that had sunk
to the lowest of levels. The name "Oved" means "devotee" or
"worker". The Holy Zohar in Saba of Mishpatim
compares him to someone who is working on an orchard. His name derives from the
fact that he did such good work rectifying the supernal tree that becomes the
line of Mashiach.
The tree was lacking, and he rectified it.
(Zohar, 2:103b)
In other words, Oved began the process of
tikun that resulted from the sin of
Adam, and the Zohar says that Jesse, David's father, continued the process,
paving the way for King David to become king and prototype of
Mashiach. However, since the
tikun was not complete, the ability of
the soul of David to grow was limited in its first lifetime.
It [the soul of David] was immersed in the depths of the
kelipot of the
Nukva. Since this was the case, David was only able
to acquire his Nefesh, leaving his
Ruach to come in the body of another person. When David sinned with
Bat Sheva, he blemished his Nefesh.
Although the Talmud teaches that David did not
commit any formal sin, his behavior throughout the incident of Bat Sheva was so
dismal and disappointing for someone on the level that he had already attained
that it amounted to a very serious setback to his spiritual progress.
As a result, it became possible for the one who possessed
his Ruach to merit completion of its
tikun before David could rectify his
Nefesh. In the time of the Resurrection
of the Dead there would be no salvation for the body of David. The other body
belonging to the one who had the Ruach
will take both the Nefesh and the Ruach.
Consequently, this phenomenon that was originally
considered a blessing becomes a curse. Originally it was considered a good
thing that the Ruach can be made through kavana to descend into a
second body to be rectified there while the Nefesh is still undergoing tikun
in the first body. Nevertheless, there is a danger in this phenomenon to the
body and person of the Nefesh, as we have learned. The one with the Ruach
might finish its tikun first, and come to take both the Ruach and
the Nefesh in the time of Resurrection of the Dead. Apparently this
upheaval can occur if the evil committed by one with such an important and high
Nefesh is serious enough, or if he repeats the evil consistently enough.
However, the Nefesh
itself will not be damaged, only the body. This is why he said, "there is
no salvation for it [lo-him],"
and not, "there is no salvation for it [lah-her]."
"There is no salvation for it (lo-him),"
refers to the body of David, and not to his Nefesh, which would require
a feminine pronoun.
This is the way the verse goes. "Many say..." - that
since there is only a Nefesh within me, she has no hope in the body of
David at the time of the Resurrection of the Dead. To link to the previous article in this reincarnation series,
Dangers of Nefilat Apayim, click here
To link to the next article in this reincarnation series,
Transferring Merit, click here
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