David and Esav

shney luchot hubris
We read in Samuel I 16,12 that David is described as אדמוני עם יפה עינים וטוב ראי, "ruddy cheeked, bright-eyed and handsome." The first person to be described as אדמוני was Esau; it is therefore hardly a compliment to David to be similarly described. The essential difference is that whereas Esau was עין רע, represented all that is negative associated with the eye, David was the reverse, and is therefore described as יפה עינים. In David's case the positive aspects of eyes are meant: the prophet therefore describes him as טוב ראי. Solomon, who says in Kohelet 10,8: פורץ גדר ישכנו נחש, that "he who breaches the fence will be bitten by a snake,” may have referred to David's forbear Peretz, whom the Torah had described as "bursting out" ( Genesis 38,29). The נחש referred to is the power of Esau. King Saul repaired the fence partially when he defeated נחש king of Ammon who went to war against Israel as reported in Samuel I 11,1. David also accomplished a great deal in this area during his reign. In the future, as the Messiah, however, he will take revenge on the forces of Esau in the manner of a serpent, as we know from Isaiah 14,29: כי משרש נחש יצא צפע, "For from the root of a snake there sprouts an asp."

En route to Israel, Yaakov met up with his brother Eisav who was coming to "greet" him with an army of 400 soldiers. Considering Eisav's earlier resolution to kill Yaakov, Yaakov prayed, prepared for war, and, also sent waves of gifts to appease his brother. At first Eisav refused the bounty, and responded with "yesh li rav, I have many things." However, Yaakov insisted and responded with "yesh li kol¸ I have everything." Yaakov prevailed, and Eisav accepted all the gifts.
What was the dialogue really about? How was Yaakov's possession of "kol," everything, the factor that determined that Eisav would accept the gifts after all?
Yaakov fused everything he owned to a larger whole, a transcendent oneness.
Eisav's initial protests flowed from his saying that he had rav, many or much. Indeed, Eisav represents a world predicated on multitudes, on many and on quantity. When Eisav's family numbered only a few people, the Torah referred to them as nefashot, souls, in the plural. In contrast, when Yaakov's family numbered 70, the Torah called them nefesh, soul, in the singular. The power of Yaakov and the meaning of his having kol is that Yaakov was not one who simply amassed wealth. Instead, there was a unifying theme in everything he owned, and every individual unit he had fused to a larger whole, a transcendent oneness. Yaakov truly had everything, and the gift was appropriate for Eisav, for whom more quantity was always a good thing.
In our countdown toward Shavuot, we strive to reach the level of Yaakov. We count 49 days, representing the world of Eisav, the realm of multitude in the full expansion of the number seven representing nature. We reach the maximum of a world of quantity. Not surprisingly, Moab, Ruth's mother nation, is 49 in gematria, representing the world of all that is physical, of amassing quantity. Yet we go a step beyond, and reach the 50th, represented by the kol possessed by Yaakov described. The numerical value of kol is 50. Our kol enables us to go beyond the details and to fuse them into one whole unit, to transcend the word of quantity and reach a unified whole. It is that lofty level that brings us from infancy, from our newborn status to maturity, and transforms every experience we have along the way into a single theme. It enables us to come from the lowest depths, for the Davidic line to come from the humblest origins, and to reach the highest places.
English