Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar;
Exodus 11:7: “But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that you may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.”
An Internet news service just recently released what they felt were the most moving photos taken during 2011. Among the top most emotional photos taken during 2011 was the photograph of the casket of a fallen Navy Seal and laying before the casket was his service dog who accompanied him in Afghanistan.
Many people have found a deeper understanding of God through the faithfulness of their pet dog. They see how a dog will love unconditionally, regardless of one’s race, occupation or appearance. He doesn’t question who or what you are, he will just love. It is said that a dog has a sixth sense. They believe that a dog can sense when someone is dying, is aware of impending danger, and can almost read their master’s mind. Sometime ago soldiers were testing a dog’s ability to navigate a minefield. They strapped a radio receiver around the neck of the dog while his master stood on hill almost a mile away and observed his dog through a telescope. He whispered directions through a radio. The dog obeyed each one of his master’s command to turn, back up, move forward etc. When the dog returned they discovered that the batteries had failed on the receiver. There was no way the dog could have heard his master’s commands except through some “sixth sense.” This is likely how the Hebrews communicated with the dogs in Exodus 11:7
There is a sort of love/hate relationship between Jews and dogs. Some aspects of Judaism view dogs as dirty, scavengers and others give great honor to dogs. Many orthodox Jews today so honor dogs that they will feed their dogs before they feed themselves. This respect for dogs is the result of this verse in Exodus 11:7.
In Matthew 15:21-28 we have a story where it appears that Jesus is insulting a Canaanite woman by calling her a dog when she comes seeking help for her sick daughter. Actually the Greek word used here is not the word used for outside dogs but puppies that were domesticated and household pets. And when she said that even dogs would eat the crumbs that fall from the table she was making a reference to how the Jews would honor a dog my letting some of their food fall off the table before they would eat. Jesus marveled at the faith of a Gentile woman who would have studied the Torah so well that she knew this passage in Exodus and the little bit of trivia involving the practice of allowing a dog to eat first in honor of their not barking when the Hebrews fled out of Egypt.
Exodus 11:7 tells the story about the time that the Jews fled Egypt. You see the Jewish men who worked as slaves under the Egyptians numbered up to 600,000. In order to keep the slaves in line the Egyptians employed guard dogs. If any slave attempted to escape the dog would bark out a warning or even attack the slave.
What happened at the time of the Exodus is explained in Exodus 11:7. The Lord was going to show the difference between the Egyptians and Israel by the fact that the dogs would favor the Hebrews and not their masters, the Egyptians. They would not bark out a warning or attack the Jews when they sought to escape from the Egyptians. The Talmud teaches that the Jews were actually able to speak and have a conversation with the dogs and the dogs listened and followed their instructions.
In Genesis 1:26 God gave man dominion over the animals. As I explained in an earlier devotional , there is a debate over this word dominion here. Christians say the root word is radah which means to subdue. The sages. However, teach that the root is yadah which means to come down to. They believe the ability to speak to the dogs comes from this understanding of yadah, that you come down to their level, their world.
There is also a spiritual understanding here. The ancient sage Chazal, which is really the initials for three sages Chochmenu, Zichrona and Levaracha, teach that the Holy Scriptures were given without any vowels and thus you are allowed to assign each vowel as you wish according to the idea behind your dresh.
You see the word for dog is Kalev. This is a play on words. For Kalev also means “like a heart.” The pashat is that the dog would not wag his tongue or bark out a warning and thus the Jews could escape from slavery. The dresh is that like their heart was their tongue. The difference that God showed between the Egyptians and Israel is that their heart was like their tongue. What they said with their speech was what was in their heart. The Egyptians speech was filled with falsehood and unbelief. This led to their destruction. Israel’s speech was filled with truth and faith, this led to their deliverance. When one’s speech is filled with truth and faith, judgments are eliminated. By the way, I think many dog lovers can appreciate the play on the word “Kaley” as meaning both “dog” and “like a heart.”
Anyways, the sages try to teach that to exercise yadah over a dog, one’s speech must be as ones heart. Let’s just say I won’t try this on your local junk yard dog. But it a go with Fido. Just keep in mind that stuff about one’s speech being filled with truth and faith – that is worth consideration.
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