Kabbalists' Star of David

Picture is courtesy of "stevemonty" from Flickr

The following paragraph is from Dr. Asher Eder’s book The Star of David, which was published in 1987 in English in Jerusalem by Rubin Mass Ltd. The publication here is courtesy of Oren Mass

In the Middle Ages, the star also played quite some role in the Kabbalists' understanding and description of the world , while the very term,Magen David, rendered "Shield of David" or "Star of David") for describing the hexagram was used in Jewish literature for the first time, as far as we know, by the Kabbalist Joseph Gikatilla in the 13th Century, and then shortly after that by a grandson of the famous Rabbi Nahmanides, in his treatise Sefer ha'Gevul. There, he uses the hexagram twice, both times calling it Magen David .
It is not known whether these renowned rabbis were the first to identify the hexagram as Magen David, or whether they expressed an already existing custom. There are hints that David Elroi, the leader of a big messianic movement at the 12th century, adopted the Magen David as the sign for his campaign by which he tried to liberate the country from the Crusaders. Shortly after, the Karaite Yehudah Hadassi, who lived in Constantinople, used the term Magen David to describe the hexagram, but thought its six corners represented the four directions of the compass, the earth and heaven.
The examples cited so far may indicate a certain affinity between the Jewish people and the six-pointed star, but since other communities also used it, as we will see in the next chapter, we can only say that it was used in ancient times by both Jews and non-Jews. Yet, apparently the Magen David begins its consistent history in Judaism with these medieval Kabbalists.

Shem Ham and Yafet

The following paragraph is from Dr. Asher Eder’s book The Star of David, which was published in 1987 in English in Jerusalem by Rubin Mass Ltd. The publication here is courtesy of Oren Mass

The number three plays an important role in almost every nation and culture, and in various disciplines, appearing as a symbolic, sacred or mystical number. It can depict the father-mother-child relationship in any real or allegorical context. In Hindu philosophy, the prime power Brahm adopts three aspects: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva (Creator, Sustainer and Purifier). The Chinese I Ching refers to hexagrams, each one composed of two trigrams.
Our own creative processes can be depicted by an equilateral triangle. The three decisive properties involved could then be discerned as
a) the will to create;
b) the energies or forces which supply the means to create;
c) the giving of direction, order, and form to these forces so they do not remain in a state of chaos.
The number three has significance also in the Tanakh, where its appearance is usually linked to new developments. Among the obvious examples are the three types of light spoken of in Genesis, i.e. the Divine Light (אור , verse 3) and the two great lights מארת, (me'orot; verses 14-17) which are to rule day and night, respectively. Noah's Ark has three levels, and Noah's three sons Shem, Ham and Japhet are not only the physical ancestors of the nations after the Flood but, as their names imply, archetypal representatives of spirit, feeling and intellect - the three aspects of human nature.10 Abraham's three main descendants, Ishmael, Israel, and Esau gave to the Hamites, the Semites and the Japhetites their respective religio-cultural bearings, corresponding to the three lights (notwithstanding occasional mutual intrusions like Moslem Persia or Christian countries in Africa).