The gemara speaks of human history consisting of 2,000 years of confusion, 2,000 years of Torah, and 2,000 years of Mashiach (Avoda Zara 9a), and the first transition is in our parasha, as Avraham ushered in the age of Torah by teaching Torah and belief in Hashem to thousands. Moshe is the most connected to Torah, and we will connect David as well.

In Birkat Hamazon of the recent Sukkot, we asked the Merciful One to erect the falling sukka of David. The phrase comes from the promise in the prophecy of Amos (9:11) that Hashem will do just that. It is unclear what the sukka has to do with David and why it is called falling (nofelet)?

In discussing when Mashiach will come, an Amora called him the son of nofel (Sanhedrin 96b). He explained that the name, which sounds negative, is justified due to the aforementioned beracha. It is also possible to connect David to the root nafol, as follows.

The famous midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Bereishit 41) tells of Adam being shown all of the generations and seeing the soul of David, which was palpably and powerfully special. Hashem confided in him that this soul would live only three hours, and Adam requested and received permission to gift the soul 70 of his own years. This connects David to the root nafol because a nefel is a non-viable baby, who lives less than a month. After all, this was David’s original status, before Adam’s help (see more in my new sefer, Tzofnat Shmuel). This still, though, does not explain the connection between David and a sukka.

Targum Yonatan (Amos, ibid.) understands that the sukka of David is the monarchal dynasty of David. He does not explain how David’s dynasty is a sukka. The Radak says that it is like a sukka because it is sochech (provides protection from above) on the nation. If sukka just means protection, then there is no connection between David’s “sukka” and the holiday of Sukkot, so why do we invoke it as a supplication on Sukkot? The Alshich explains that it is the Divine Presence, which acts as a canopy over His children. This nice idea does not explain the connection to David or to Sukkot.

The Maharal of Prague (Netzach Yisrael 35) provides a more involved approach. First, we must realize that every monarchal dynasty is called a house. In Sota 11b, in reference to the houses that Hashem made for the midwives in Egypt (Shemot 1:21), Chazal attribute them to “houses of priesthood and of kingship.” This is because a house is something strong and permanent. Priesthood is more permanent, but kingship is stronger while it is in place. The reason that David’s dynasty was called a sukka is because it was a house that had a G-dly element to it, as opposed to all other monarchies. Only physical things are considered permanent in the physical world, whereas spiritual things are considered transient (like the sukka) in this world. This explains the pasuk in Amos.

These beautiful ideas of the Maharal explain a lot but not why the prophet chose a metaphor that comes from the holiday of Sukkot. We will deal with that next time.