I think we left off Perek Vav, Pasuk He. שובה ה' חלצה נפשי, Hoshieni lema'an chasdecha. Chaltza nafshi to extricate. Hoshieni lema'an chasdecha, the Malbim explains, if I'm not deserving, so do it lema'an chasdecha Hakadosh Baruch Hu. כי אין במות זכרך בשאול מי יודה לך. The Malbim explains maves, death, and shol, meaning the grave. And vayitzayer, reading in the Biur Hamilos, שבמות עדיין יש הודאה. There's no zichrecha, we'll see in the peirush itself about that bezras Hashem. Regarding maves, there's still room for hodaa. כי עד שם יגיעו טובותיו באיכות המות שיבחר לו מיתה קלה ויודה על טובותיו כל ימי חייו.
Thinking of maves, not as the final moment, but as the final chapter, not as a point in time, but a meshech zman, but as a period of time, so there is room for and it is appropriate to have hodaa then as well. The type of maves that a person has is something that he can be mispallel and if he sees that it's happening in a certain way, give hodaa for. The Gemara in Berachos has on daf ches that על זאת יתפלל אליך כל חסיד לעת מצא. The Gemara has different pshatim what le'eis mitzo refers to, but one of the pshatim the Gemara has is לעת מצא זה המות, that a person should be mispallel to Hakadosh Baruch Hu that he should be zocheh to an easy petira. So that's what the Malbim is referring to here, that bamaves ein zichrecha but there's still room for hodaa be'eichus hamaves. And bishol, that's what Dovid Hamelech says, it's compounded, so then nifsak gam hahodaa. Not only is there no room for zichrecha, but even for hodaa. Why is it that there's no zichrecha associated with maves? So the Malbim in the peirush, כי אין במות זכרך. זכר שמך הוא על המציאות וההויה כי אתה ממציא ובורא לא על ההעדר והאפס ולא על המות.
We know Hakadosh Baruch Hu and in that sense shemo nizkar, right? That we recognize Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we're able to recognize Hakadosh Baruch Hu because of what He brings into existence, because of what He sustains. When there's absence, so then we have no way of recognizing Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So that's what Dovid Hamelech says, I want to continue to serve as a vehicle, an instrument that shimcha yizacher, but זכר שמך הוא על המציאות וההויה. Our knowledge of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, our awareness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is through that which He created and sustains, but we have no way of knowing Hakadosh Baruch Hu through absence and nothingness, so mimaileh כי אין במות זכרך. And vegam continuing here in the peirush. once I at least from the perspective of Olam HaZeh, once I pass from existence and am no longer your beneficiary, no longer receiving your chesed, so I can no longer give hoda'ah, אשר זה תכלית הבריאה אשר בראת להיטיב להנמצאים שהם יודוך.
So the Malbim here is echoing the famous lines in the Ramban at the end of Parshas Bo: וכוונת כל המצוות שנאמין באלוקינו ונודה אליו שהוא בראנו. The intent and thus the goal of all mitzvos שנאמין באלוקינו ונודה אליו שהוא בראנו and we should acknowledge and thank him for creating us. והיא כוונת היצירה שאין לנו טעם אחר ביצירה הראשונה ואין לעליון בתחתונים חפץ מלבד זה שידע האדם ויוודה לאלוקיו שבראו.
So that's the same same idea is is expressed here in the Malbim: אשר זה תכלית הבריאה אשר בראת להיטיב להנמצאים שהם יודוך.
Yagatti b'anchasi, אשחה בכל לילה מטתי, b'dimasi arsi amseh. I have exhausted myself, yegiah, I've exhausted myself in my sighing. אשחה בכל לילה מטתי, I've made my bed something repulsive because it's just so soaked with my tears, b'dimasi, with my tears arsi amseh, my sickbed amseh, it's as if I've melted it from the ribbuy habichiyah. Just in terms of the etymology here, so the Malbim comments in the Bi'ur HaMillos on v'aschah, me'inyan sechu u'mo'os. So we had this earlier as well back in Kapitel Hei, that often the samech and sin are interchangeable, and that's the same thing here, that the shoresh of aschah is lashon sechi, again, something which is repulsive. Asheshah mikka'as eini, atkah bechol tzorerei. Asheshah, the Malbim explains, the other meforshim as well, to wither, to be worn out, to wither, that as much as the illness, as much as my illness has taken a toll on me, but it's the it's my enemies' gloating over my suffering which has taken a greater toll. So עששה מן הכעס עיני, one eye has withered min haka'as, and the other atkah bechol tzorerei. Atkah, lashon shene'etkah mimmekomah, speaking figuratively as though it has actually left its socket, right? Vayattek misham haharah means to move. Le'hattek means to copy because as it were, you make the words move. Because of all my adversaries, meaning it's the idea I can't bear to see them, it's as if as if my eye has has moved and and left the the eye socket. Be-chol tsorerai, because of all my all my enemies, כי הם קשים לי יותר מן החולי. סורו ממני כל פועלי און כי שמע ה' קול בכיי.
Addressing those tsorerim, Dovid HaMelech says ultimately I'm gonna be vindicated, כי שמע ה' קול בכיי. שמע ה' תחנתי ה' תפלתי יקח.
And then as a result because Hakadosh Baruch Hu will vindicate me, so יבשו ויבהלו מאד כל אויבי unless right right now currently yashuvu yevoshu raga. If they'll repent now, so then there will be the momentary busha, the busha that that a person experiences in doing teshuva. But there'll be just that momentary busha rather than than the extreme prolonged busha if they if they don't do teshuva. לכן טוב לפניהם כי ישובו יבשו רגע שישובו תיכף ברגע הזאת ובזה ירויחו כי אך רגע יבשו.
The Malbim understands that the raga modifies both the yashuvu and and the yevoshu. כי אך רגע יבשו במה שיוכרחו להודות על האמת. However, ולא יבשו מאד וגם לא יבהלו מפני העונש. As as the psukim indicate, teshuva involves a sense of of boshas, boshti venichlamti, the Rambam's ikkar lashon of viduy: nichamti uvoshti bema'asai. So that's what Dovid HaMelech is telling them, yes, yevoshu, to do teshuva there is a sense of busha, there is a sense of shame in doing teshuva, one's ashamed of of one's chata'im, but that busha is a temporary, transient busha as opposed to the the busha that that overtakes one if if he doesn't do teshuva and and has to endure the the busha of of onesh. Maybe we'll just begin a little bit here the the next kapittel: שגיון לדוד אשר שר לה' על דברי כוש בן ימיני.
The meforshim quote Chazal, the Malbim does also a few psukim into the kapittel, who understand that Chush is is refers to Shaul. The Malbim for the most part doesn't interpret the kapittel that way, that he's some other some other individual who pursued Dovid, assembled a whole force to to try to to kill Dovid. ה' אלקי בך חסיתי הושיעני מכל רדפי והצילני. Hatzala, the Malbim explains, surpasses yeshua in the sense that hatzala is even once a person has already been entrapped. פן יטרף כאריה נפשי פרק ואין מציל. Absent your yeshua, absent your hatzola, he'll rip me apart limb from limb the way a lion rips its prey. השם אלוקי אם עשיתי זאת אם יש עול בכפי. So apparently there's a little bit of a gap in the sense of what the pesukim correspond to in the metzius, that the first pesukim were the tefilla that David HaMelech said when he was the object of pursuit. Now pasuk daled reflects הנה כוש הזה נלכד במעשי ידיו. That from pasuk daled we're talking about after the downfall of Kush. That Kush was killed. The reality is לא נהרג בידי דוד, despite the fact that many accused Dovid of having been the cause of his death. And Dovid HaMelech says, even if it were true, אם עשיתי זאת אם יש עול בכפי, הבא להורגך השכם להורגו,
even if I had, would there be any cheit, would I be in any iniquity in my hands? אם גמלתי שלמי רע ואחלצה צוררי ריקם. Was this a person who was in peace with me? Is there anything that I'm guilty of in having marshaled forces against someone who gratuitously was oyev li? ירדוף אויב נפשי ירדוף אויב נפשי וישג וירמוס לארץ חיי וכבודי לעפר ישכן סלה.
So the vowelization here is very interesting, right? We would recognize yirdof, we would recognize yeradef, right? One would be a kal, one would be a piel. But what's yiradof? So the Malbim says in the Biur HaMilos that it takeh is a hybrid, murkav mibinyan hakal yirdof umibinyan hakaved the piel yeradef, שרודף בעצמו ומעמיד אנשים שרדפו. So it has both senses. The Torah blends the kal and the piel here, the piel has the same sense as the hifil, the causative, that the oyev not only gives pursuit himself to try to kill Dovid, but he also instigated others to try to trample me and וכבודי לעפר ישכן סלה. What more is there to do besides killing a person? How does one add to that? So the Malbim explains that by maligning me and claiming that I am deserving of that fate, so he was not only looking to kill me, but he was also looking to besmirch me and to lower my whatever dignity I have to the dirt. The Malbim, as we had earlier back in kapittel gimmel, says that when we have the word sela, it means siyum hainyan. It means that one section, one theme in the kapittel has concluded and that David HaMelech is segueing to another theme, to another section of the kapittel. סלה סלה בו זה סיום הענין of Kush's pursuit of him ומתחיל לצייר מפלת כוש. And now he's depicting the downfall of Kush. קומה ה' באפך הנשא בעברות צוררי ועורה אלי משפט צוית.
The pasuk speaks of af and evrah. The Malbim explains that the difference in the beiur hamilos, the difference between af and evrah is that the af, anger, is commensurate to what the person is deserving of. And evrah is related to la'avor. It passes the border, meaning it surpasses what the person is deserving of. It's above and beyond. And in that sense, evrah is related to the shoresh the ayin-veis-reish in evrah and anger is related to la'avor to pass. Vaya'avor hakushi lefanav or something to pass in front and the sense of passing, surpassing all gevulos that it means a seemingly disproportionate anger. So Dovid HaMelech just in terms of plugging that into the pasuk, so Kuma Hashem be'apecha. Dovid HaMelech as it were is saying Hakadosh Baruch Hu I'm not, at least at this stage in this pasuk, I'm not looking to avoid the just anger, but hinasei but what the tzorerai are trying to, the grievance they have against me that I should be disproportionately punished. So no, ועורה אלי משפט צוית. Hakadosh Baruch Hu you give the mishpat that I'm deserving of, not this exaggerated, disproportionate evrah that my adversaries are seeking. So you have a pasuk in Va'eschanan. How does the Malbim work with the pasuk in parshas Va'eschanan, ויתעבר ה' בי למענכם? So there too, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's anger, kaveiyachol, is described belashon evrah. ויתעבר ה' בי למענכם. So how does that work? So the emes is that the pasuk, the way the Malbim explains, he doesn't comment on semantics there, is really a rayah to his semantical analysis here. What does it mean le'ma'anchem? When Hakadosh Baruch Hu was angry at me on your account. You have the same thing earlier in parshas Devarim, and that's the beginning of Va'eschanan. Earlier in parshas Devarim, Moshe Rabbeinu recounts the cheit hameraglim and the gezeirah, the gezar din against the dor hamidbar, יראה איש באנשים האלה הדור הרע הזה את הארץ הטובה אשר נשבעתי לתת לאבתיכם, זולתי כלב בן יפנה הוא יראנה ולו אתן את הארץ אשר דרך בה ולבניו יען אשר מלא אחרי ה'.
And then pasuk lamed-zayin, גם בי התאנף ה' בגללכם לאמר. Again, the same as le'ma'anchem in Va'eschanan that Moshe Rabbeinu says גם אתה לא תבוא שם. So in both these cases, Moshe Rabbeinu seems to attribute the fact that he doesn't enter Eretz Yisrael to the cheit of the dor hamidbar, not to his cheit at Mei Merivah. So the Malbim takeh in a few places, one of them is here in Va'eschanan, and he gives the cross-references to where he spoke about it earlier. תחלת הגזרה שלא יכנס משה לארץ היה בחטא המרגלים כמו שכתוב בפרשת דברים גם בי התאנף ה' בגללכם לאמר גם אתה לא תבוא שם שמבואר שבעת שגזר בחטא המרגלים שלא יכנסו לארץ גזר גם על משה.
What's pshat, so how does Mei Merivah enter into the picture? So the Malbim says that had Moshe Rabbeinu, Moshe Rabbeinu would only enter Eretz Yisrael if that generation could enter Eretz Yisrael. If that generation was not deserving of entering Eretz Yisrael, so Moshe Rabbeinu was not going to enter Eretz Yisrael either. Had Moshe Rabbeinu succeeded in creating a Kiddush Hashem which would have overturned and reversed the cheit of the meraglim, so then the Dor Hamidbar would have also entered Eretz Yisrael and he together with them. So kumt ois that ויתעבר ה' בי למענכם is exactly the same teitch as the Malbim here is telling us, right? That ever means something which is over es hagvul and that Moshe Rabbeinu said ויתעבר ה' בי למענכם. The anger that Hakadosh Baruch Hu directed towards me was takeh mei-al u-mei-ever for what I would have been nidon as a yachid, but rather I suffered the fate of Kal Yisrael. And aderaba, the Malbim would say, the lema-anchem is megaleh on the vayisaber, that the vayisaber means that if I would have been sort of isolated as a yachid, so then I wouldn't have been liable, vulnerable for this onesh. I seem to recall, I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I seem to recall that the Rav zichrono livracha used to say a similar mahalach. He actually referred to the Malbim, but the second part of it differed in terms of how Mei Merivah, what the interaction was between Mei Merivah and the cheit hameraglim, the cheit of the Dor Hamidbar. If I'm recalling correctly, he said, I don't think he mentioned it at the time, but he said along the lines of, remember the Ramban that we had at the beginning of Parshas Noach? So we saw that the Ramban teitches that נח איש צדיק תמים, he teitches tamim as an adverb, that Noach was completely innocent. He was totally innocent. And the Ramban says, ישכיל הכתוב להצדיקו ולהודיעו שהוא ראוי להנצל מן המבול שאין לו עונש כלל.
So we said what does that שאין לו עונש כלל mean? What does it mean? So be-emes, there really is a midah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, again speaking here about Noach and the Dor Hamabul, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, he's dan a yachid, he's dan a medinah, but he's also dan kol ha-olam kulo. The Rambam quotes in Hilchos Teshuvah from the Gemara in Kiddushin. And based on that midah, so if the world itself is be-chlolaso is given a certain gezar din, so that applies to the collective. So how is it that Noach, how in light of that do we understand that Noach is spared? So we understood that what the Ramban is telling us is that if the person is a tzadik tamim, so that in that sense he's not a part of the collective. He's not a part of the collective. If he's a tzadik and not a tzadik tamim, he is a part of the collective. He's better than the others, but lemaiseh he's still a part. But the tzadik tamim sets him apart. That's what allows him to stand apart and not be nidon as part of that collective. So kimdumani that what the Rav said, again like the Malbim, referring to the Malbim, that Moshe Rabbeinu was included in the gezeirah of the Dor Hamidbar. Ella mai, had Moshe Rabbeinu been entirely naki mi-cheit, so then like Noach, he didn't give this moshal, but like Noach, so then he would have been excluded from that collective gezar din. But the very minute Moshe Rabbeinu was nichshal, whatever the cheit was at Mei Merivah, but the very minute Moshe Rabbeinu was nichshal, so then Moshe Rabbeinu is nichlal in the gezeirah of the Dor Hamidbar. But either way, again, it's the same thing that the vayisaber. Vayisaber Hashem bi taka means that the anger is mei'al u-mei'eiver and that's what the posuk goes on to explain why is that just? Because l'm'ancha, because I'm part of your generation. ועדת לאומים תסובבך ועליה למרום שובה. So Dovid Hamelech is depicting k'ilu Kush's whole entourage, his whole forces surround Hakadosh Baruch Hu looking to fault and indict Dovid Hamelech. But You, Ribono Shel Olam, remove Yourself from them. ועליה למרום שובה. You should not give them the audience. You should ascend on high and not give them an audience. Hashem yodin amim שפטני השם כצדקי וכתמי עלי. אחר שידין השם ויבקר את הכל כולו.
Bikur means to scrutinize. The korban Pesach was טעון ביקור ד' ימים from mum. I think it's the Ibn Ezra who explains that boker means morning because at night, erev, so you can't see clearly so things get mixed up. One's vision is blurred and things are me'uravin, things get mixed up. And then in the morning, le-or haboker, when the light returns, so then a person is able to scrutinize and distinguish. Lashon boker, bikur. אחר שידין השם ויבקר את הכל כולו ויערוך מעשה אלו נגד אלו.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu will compare the actions, the relative righteousness of Kush va-adaso relative to that of Dovid Hamelech. אז תשפטני במשפט הצירופי הזה. Then You'll judge me in this combined, in this joint mishpat, ma'asai mul ma'aseihem. And then שפטני השם כצדקי וכתמי עלי כי לנגדם אצא צדיק בדיני.
I don't adequately understand to explain it, but there is a midda. Rashi quotes a Chazal in actually he actually quotes it twice. Once in Chumash and once in Navi. In Parshas Vayeira when Lot asks הנה נא מצא עבדך חן בעיניך ותגדל חסדך אשר עשית עמדי להחיות את נפשי ואנכי לא אוכל להמלט ההרה פן תדבקני הרעה ומתי.
Lest the evil of the destruction overtake me and I'll die. So Rashi and I think they say this is a Midrash in Bereishis Rabbah, so Rashi comments as follows: פן תדבקני הרעה כשהייתי אצל אנשי סדום היה הקדוש ברוך הוא רואה מעשי ומעשה בני העיר והייתי נראה צדיק וכדאי להינצל.
When I'm in the context of anshei Sdom, so says Lot, I'm a good guy, I'm a tzaddik. However, u-kshe'avo eitzel tzaddik, but when I'll be in the company of Avraham Avinu, ani rasha. וכן אמר הצרפתית לאליהו and if you look at this posuk in Melachim, Rashi repeats the same Chazal there in Sefer Melachim. כי באת אלי להזכיר את עוני. When her son whom Eliyahu then resurrects, dies. So she plaintively says to Eliyahu HaNavi: כי באת אלי להזכיר את עוני. What does that mean? עד שלא באת אצלי, before you came into my daled amos, היה הקדוש ברוך הוא רואה מעשי ומעשי עמי ואני צדקת ביניהם.
u-mishebasa etzli, now that I'm in your presence, לפי מעשיך אני רשעה. So there is such a, there is such a midda. So there is such a midda that a person is nidon. The din reflects the context of the person. So maybe, maybe part of what it means is this: The person can sort of objectively be the same, the same mixture of zechuyos and averos. But the perspective on that will differ if that individual is living in Sdom. So then it looks like an incredible achievement, an incredible accomplishment, that part of his profile is this, some zechuyos. But you take that same profile and the person is not living in Sdom, not resisting the pernicious influence of Sdom, but the person is next-door neighbors with Avraham Avinu. So then that's all? Despite the hashpa'a of Avraham Avinu, that's all the person is? That same blend and mixture of... maybe, maybe that's part of it. Yeah, okay, we'll stop there for today.