Nepal

Star of  King David on the hat of Nepal's King 1 Rupee (1985)

On February 1, 2005 Nepal's King Gyanendra announced on TV news the dissolving of the elected government because it wasn't democratic enough. On his head there was a hat with a few religious symbols; one of them looked like the Star of David. This is an opportunity to ponder about the difference between the different appearances of the hexagram in different cultures.

 In order to decide which is which one must consider the context. If the context is Jewish the shape is a Star of David…the king of Nepal has a non Jewish hexagram while the flag of Israel has a Star of David in its center. It may sound absurd that the conclusion is dependent on the assumption - but isn't it a part of the charm of this symbol: as above so below. You can look at it from the center to the corners and the other way round, from the assumption to the conclusion and the other way round.

Ingathering of the Israelites

On the Israel Science and Technology Homepage I found an interesting interpretation of the Star of David as a symbol for the Ingathering of the Israelites. Dr. Semion Natliashvili created a drawing of Jews standing in the shape of a Star of David and reading from the Bible. Beneath them there are Hebrew words from Isaiah 60:4:

 

"Lift up your eyes round about and see; they all gather together, they come to you. Your sons will come from afar..."

 

The author of this web page added:

 

"The Star of David symbolizes the gathering of the Jewish People from all corners of the world including Georgia (country of birth of the artist)"...

 

I like this interpretation. One can look at the Star of David from the center to the corners and have associations of development and expansion, but one can also look at it the other way round, from the corners to the center – and then the above mentioned interpretation shows itself naturally. 

 

Shield of David Verse

King DAVID wrote in Psalms 18:3 "The Lord...my SHIELD".

This is not the origin of the shape - it is only one of the prominent verses where one can find the concept...