Elul Hallel VI.II

“God is with me, I have no fear; what can people do to me?” (Psalms 118:6) The ‘people’ mentioned refer to the ‘man’ described in Daniel’s vision of the Four Beasts,when he says, “I was watching in night visions and behold! with the clouds of heaven, one like a man came; he came up to the One of Ancient Days, and they brought him before Him. He was given dominion, honor and kingship, so that all peoples, nations and languages would serve him; his dominion would be an everlasting dominion that would never pass, and his kingship would never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14) Jacob saw this ‘man’ in his dream of the ladder, when the fourth (exile) ascended the ladder and did not seem to come back down. (Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer 35) Jacob was terrified, until God came and said, “Behold I am with you.” (Genesis 28:15)

In Obadiah’s prophecy against Edom, the ‘man’ in Daniel’s vision, and the fourth exile in Jacob’s vision, he promises: “Even if you raise your nest like an eagle or if you place your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there.” (Obadiah 1:4)

Our verse, “God is with me, I have no fear; what can people do to me,” explains Rabbi Yitzchak Eizek Chaver (Yad Mitzarim) is a reminder of Obadiah’s promise. Although we may feel that the exile is unending we must grasp and hold onto Obadiah’s promise, and David’s song, “God is with me, I have no fear; what can people do to me?”

We approach the end of the Jewish calendar year, another year and the exile has not ended. We sing this verse with joy as we celebrate Obadiah’s prophecy and David’s promise; as long as we feel that “God is with me,” especially during this month of intense relationship with God, “(we) I have no fear, what can the ‘man’ do to me?”

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