Musar zu Dewarim 32:11

Nachmanides, in his commentary on Numbers 2,2, states that the flag of the camp of Yehudah featured the image of a lion, in accordance with Genesis 49,9, which compares him to a lion. The flag of the camp of Reuben featured the image of Adam, reminding us of the דודאים containing the letters "אדם," as we read in Genesis 30,14. The flag of the camp of Ephrayim featured the image of an ox, שור, seeing Moses had described Joseph as בכור שורו הדר לו, in his blessing in Deut. 33,17. Lastly, the flag of the camp of Dan featured the image of an eagle, based on Deut. 32,11, "כנשר יעיר קנו,” "like an eagle who rouses his nestlings." This was appropriate since Dan's position as the rearguard of the army required him both to protect the rear and hurry up the slow moving ones in front of him to move faster. The overall effect of these camps and their flags corresponded to the vision of Ezekiel of the מרכבה, as we have mentioned earlier. [Although Yonathan ben Uzziel has the flag of Dan displaying a snake instead of an eagle, as in Genesis 49,17, this need not contradict Nachmanides, since the Tziyoni quotes Kabbalists as saying that the body of the picture was indeed a snake, but that the snake had the wings of an eagle. The latter suggests the attribute of mercy, רחמים.]

When that time comes, the תיקון, "repair work" will have been completed and the world will be as good as at the time it was created when both body and soul were on an equally elevated level. It was said of Adam in Psalms 49, 13: אדם ביקר בל ילין; נמשל כבהמות נדמו, "Man does not even spend a single night on his pedestal; he is like the beasts that perish." This was the Psalmist's description of Adam's spiritual descent to the level of the ox. Our sages have said that the ox that Adam sacrificed had his horns protruding in front of his legs (Avodah Zarah 8). Had Adam not sinned, he could have lived up to the ideal described in Leviticus 1, 2: אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן לשם, "when you Adam will offer yourself as an offering to G–d." Adam, endowed with everlasting life, would then have cleaved to G–d in the same manner as the righteous nowadays are described as doing after their death. We are told that the angel Michael, in his capacity as the High Priest in the Celestial Sanctuary, "sacrifices" the souls of the צדיקים. The repair-work was begun by the "ox" as an extension of Joseph whom the Torah describes as בכור שור, firstling ox (Deut. 33,19). The repair will be completed by the "lion," i.e. Yehudah. When that has been accomplished, Israel will be transported "on wings of eagles," in contrast to the time of the destruction, when the prophecy of Deut. 28,49: "G–d will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, etc.," was fulfilled. In the future the blessing of Deut. 32,11 in which G–d is described as taking Israel under His wing like an eagle, will come true. We observe that the different גלגולים, wanderings of the Jewish people, follow the pattern of the animals Ezekiel saw in his vision of the מעשה מרכבה, in Ezekiel 1, where the Chashmal is described as equipped with the features of man, ox, lion and eagle. At that time Israel will achieve an unparalleled degree of unity and not only the Lord will be One, but His name will be One. The last letters in the words אחד ושמו אחד combine to make the name דוד. When that has come to pass all the participants will have achieved ever-lasting life as had been intended by the Creator from the beginning.