David, in Psalm 18:36, sings a sentence so audacious that the rabbis read it again and again looking for the trick. "You gave me Your shield of salvation, and Your right hand sustains me, and Your humility has magnified me." Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit 4:1 insists the translation is correct. God's humility — not His power — is what made David great.

The three pieces of the verse

The midrash breaks the verse into three teachings. "Your shield of salvation" points back to Psalm 18:31 — "He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him" — and applies to Israel as a whole. "Your right hand sustains me" refers to the Torah, because Deuteronomy 33:2 calls Torah a "fiery law at God's right hand." And the third phrase, "Your humility has magnified me," is the shocker. How can God, the Creator of the universe, be called humble?

R. Abba bar Aha's parable

R. Abba bar Aha offered a beautiful image. A student sits before his master learning Torah. When the lesson ends, the student says: "How I have tired you, my master!" The roles are conventional. The junior thanks the senior for the effort.

Now look at Sinai. Israel had been learning directly from the Holy One for days. When they finally prepared to move on, it was not Israel who said "we have tired You." It was God. Deuteronomy 1:6 records the Divine line: "The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: you have sat long enough at this mountain." The Master thanks the students for their attention. The Creator treats the created as equals.

R. Abba's conclusion: "Ergo — Your humility has magnified me."

What humility means for God

Jewish theology has always insisted that God is great, but equally insisted that greatness and humility are not opposites. A ruler who cannot lower himself to meet his subjects has no subjects worth ruling. A teacher who cannot come down to the level of the student has no students worth teaching. The God of the Torah, the midrash argues, does both constantly — descending to Abraham's tent, to Moses on the mountain, to David in his palace.

David understood this. His throne rested on the shoulders of a God willing to bend. That bending was the real shield.

The takeaway: the most surprising attribute of the Jewish God is not majesty. It is humility — and it is the quality that, the midrash insists, makes everything else possible.