“And He chose David His servant, and took him from the flock folds” (Psalms 78). Michlaot [folds] comes from the word Maachal [food]. Tzon [flock] means Yetziot [exits]. That is, He took David to be a king because his food consisted of many descents, called “exits.”

“From behind the nursing ewes, He brought him to shepherd Jacob.” From behind the ascents [sounds similar to “ewes” in Hebrew], meaning from states when he was after the ascents, meaning from the descents. “To shepherd Jacob,” “shepherd” from the word “bad.”

Akev [heel] means “end,” and is discerned as Malchut, which is called “faith.” That means that from what was after the ascents, meaning from the descents, from the states, he shepherds his faith. This is called “a faithful shepherd,” when the nourishment that sustained the faith was from the work he did during the descent.

This is why it is written, “to shepherd Jacob,” meaning to shepherd, so that his faith would grow, meaning that the descents expanded the “in Jacob,” in faith. “His people,” for then it is called “the people of the Creator,” and then they were rewarded with inheritance, called a “lot.”