Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Exodus 11:7: “But against any of the children of Israel shall a dog not move his tongue, against man or beast that you may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.”
I learned in seminary that the this verse was metaphoric. The Egyptians worshipped the god Orisis who had a son named Anubis who had the body of a man and the head of a dog. When Pharaoh asked in Exodus 5:2: “Who is this God?” He was asking a purely legitimate question. Pharaoh knew about a lot of gods, so what made this one God Jehovah so special? Moses proceeded to show Pharaoh through the plagues and even to the point where Pharaoh’s dogs did not bark when the Israelites left Egypt.
If you like this interpretation, go with it, more power to you. The Jewish sages have another interpretation which you might like. The Egyptians were guarding the Hebrew slaves with dogs. On the night before the Exodus, according to the Talmud, Jewish leaders went up to the dogs and said: “Hey guys, tomorrow we are packing up and leaving this place. When we do, would you just cool it and not make any noise like barking, Ok?” The dogs replied: “Sure, we are on your side, we will keep silent.”
In the Midrash, Rabbah 31:9 we learn that the when meat is improperly slaughtered for Kosher purposes, one was not to discard the meat but to feed it to their dogs as a reward for not barking when the Children of Israel fled Egypt.
Here is something interesting taught by the sages. The Hebrew word used for the sound a dog makes is Hav. We say “Woof, Woof, but the Hebrews say “Hav Hav!” when they imitate a dog’s sound. This is significant because the word “hav” means “give.” So when a dog barks he is saying “Hav Hav!” or “Give Give!.” Thus we have the verse in Proverbs 26:11 when a dog returns to his vomit. He is constantly seeking food from his master and when he barks he is saying “Give me, Give me!.” He will eat and eat until he vomits and then he still wanting more. He is still saying: “Give me, Give me!” and he will eat his own vomit seeking satisfaction. This is pictured like a fool who is constantly saying: “Give me give me!” and he will take as much as he can until he vomits and then still wanting more will return to his vomit.
But soft, we are speaking of the sound the dog makes. We spell “hav” as He, Beth. Yet if we add an Aleph in front of these letters it will be pronounced the same but will spell “Ahav Ahav” which is “Love Love.” So a dog could be saying “Give me, Give me!” or he could be saying “I love you, I love you!”
But there is more. The Hebrew word for dog is “kelav” which is spelled “Kap, Lamed Beth.” Now this could be the word for dog or we could assume the Kap is a preposition attached to the word Lamed Beth (lev). So “dog” could also be “as a heart.” A dog is like a heart in the sense that the root word for heart is “Levav” which is spelled Lamed, Beth, Beth. The word has two Beths which express a duality. The lamed shows half a heart. The two Beths shows a whole heart. Psalms 119:113: “I hate those who are double minded (half hearted) but I love thy law.” The word double minded means half hearted. When we are commanded to love the Lord God with our hearts, it is with our whole hearts. In other words with both hearts. So what are the two hearts of man? Well your pet dog Fido is telling you every time he sits up on his hind legs and goes “Woof Woof!” Or “Hav Hav!” He is either saying “Give me, Give me!” or “I love you, I love you.” Of course we will not hesitate to give Fido his dog biscuit whether his “Woof, Woof!” means “give” or “love.” If he has a nice smile and says: “Woof, Woof!“ are we not just as happy to give him a dog biscuit whether he is saying “Give me!” or “I love you?”
We have two hearts, one which says: “Give me, Give me” and another which say: “I love you, I love you.” God wants us to love Him with both our hearts. He is happy to give to us and happy to love us as well. But we must love Him with two “Woofs” not one. We can’t love him with half a “Woof.”.
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