We arrive at the conclusion of chapter 20 in Mishlei, at the final three pesukim. All three are connected to one another: the first teaches the secret of the survival of a kingdom - the combination of chesed and truth; the second speaks of the glory of young men and the splendor of the elderly; and the third about wounds and bruises that serve as a cleansing. We will proceed in the order of the pesukim, bring the commentaries of Rabbeinu Yonah, the Vilna Gaon, the Ralbag and the Malbim, and see how all of this touches each and every one of us.
חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת יִצְּרוּ־מֶלֶךְ וְסָעַד בַּחֶסֶד כִּסְאוֹ׃ (כ, כח) - Chesed and truth preserve the king, and he upholds his throne with chesed. (20:28)
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: when the king does kindness with his subjects and guides them in the way of truth, he protects them from injustice and judges them with righteous judgment - and by that very act he does kindness with them. And know this: it is this chesed that will sustain the king and safeguard him, so that rebels will not rise against him. The meaning is this: it is not enough that you walk in the way of truth, but you also do kindness, and through this the subjects love you and accept your kingship. One can be a tyrannical ruler, but a stage will come when they carry out a revolt against you. At a certain point people have had enough. But when you do chesed and truth, this will safeguard the king and guarantee him an enduring kingdom.
Rabbeinu Yonah adds: acts of chesed are among the things that have no fixed measure, as we learned in Masechet Peah, "these are the things that have no measure," and one of them is acts of chesed. And according to the abundance of the chesed - so will his kingship extend to his descendants after him. And where in the pasuk is the continuation of the kingdom hinted at? In the phrase "and he upholds his throne with chesed"; the throne expresses the continuation of the kingdom, as in "upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom," "and I will build up your throne for all generations, Selah." And so we saw with David: "and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the faithful mercies of David" - in the merit of chesed the Holy One, blessed be He, extends the throne and the dynasty onward. It emerges that chesed and truth are a support and a prop for the throne, so that the kingship should endure in his hand.
The Vilna Gaon explains "yatzru melech" from the sense of surrounding, like a siege (matzor) - chesed and truth surround the king on all his sides. The king who does chesed for one who needs chesed, and truth for one who needs the law to be upheld with him, has his throne supported by this. And even though the throne by its very nature is a throne of judgment, and the king sits upon it to render judgment - nevertheless "and he upholds his throne with chesed," he props and joins chesed to the judgment. And this is among the virtues of the king. And who is this king? The Holy One, blessed be He. For even though the Holy One, blessed be He, executes judgment, and even though "thrones were set for judgment," nevertheless His judgment is with chesed, and He does kindness with His creatures.
I am reminded of something I heard in the name of Rav Yaakov Galinsky, may the memory of the righteous be a blessing. He said: the Holy One, blessed be He, does kindness with His creatures, but my chesed is greater. They asked him: how can it be, kindness greater than that of the Holy One, blessed be He? He said to them: after all, what is the highest level in chesed? Giving in secret - that you give and do not know who received. And the Holy One, blessed be He, always knows who received, whereas I often do not even know to whom I gave. In any event, we see that the Holy One, blessed be He, even though He is truth and executes judgment, uprightness and justice, nevertheless "and he upholds his throne with chesed" - the throne of judgment He props and joins to it the chesed that He does with His creatures.
The Ralbag explains that through the chesed that the king does with his people, the heart of the people is drawn toward him, and by this he will have support, in the manner we explained according to Rabbeinu Yonah, that they will glorify him and exalt him and accept his kingship - for he is not merely a tyrannical king, but a man of chesed.
But the Ralbag, in his way, brings the matter down to the world of action, to the person himself. For the verses did not come to teach us how the king should conduct himself, but how you should conduct yourself. And who is the king? Who rules over the body of a person? It is the soul, and that is you - you are the ruler over the body. And know this: one who seeks perfection, it is not fitting for him to destroy his body. It is not proper, as fools would think, that he should fast and afflict himself and not eat and not enjoy and not do any act that has physicality in it.
On the contrary, the great ones of Israel say: eat well, sleep well, learn well. And a person thinks to himself: no, I will do fasts and afflictions. And in reality - a person fasts, comes to learn with his chavruta at nine in the morning, and you see him nodding off. What happened? He did not eat today, he did not drink today. So in practice this affects him for the worse. It is written about the Vilna Gaon that fasting was not his way, and through his eating he rectified more than what many other kabbalists and righteous ones rectify through fasts and afflictions.
A person who eats and maintains the health of his body for the service of Hashem, so that he will have the strength to fulfill mitzvot and engage in Torah - he is doing chesed with his body and with his limbs, so that they will be a help to him in the service of the Creator. For if his body is sick, the soul too cannot serve the Holy One, blessed be He, properly; and if he burdens his limbs too much, at a certain point they will collapse. And this is "chesed and truth preserve the king" - you, master king, be careful, "and he upholds his throne with chesed," be a man of chesed with your body, and do not ruin it.
As the Gemara relates about Hillel the Elder, who was going on his way and was asked where he was headed. He said to them: to fulfill a mitzvah. They asked: which mitzvah? He said: to wash my body. They said to him: is there a mitzvah in that? He said to them: consider that kings have an appointed official who cleans their statues, the images standing at every street corner, and I, who was created in the image of God and guard my body and clean it in honor of the Holy One, blessed be He, should I not have reward for this? Here, one person enters the bathhouse because he wants to refresh himself a bit, and the second enters the bathhouse because the body is the image of the King, a tzelem, "in His image, in the image of the likeness of His form," in the image of God He made man. The Holy One, blessed be He, formed this image, this body, and I must guard it and be clean for prayer and for the service of God. This person fulfilled a great mitzvah, while the first may very well be in the category of "the bruises of a wound are a cleansing against evil," as we will see later on, for he seeks nothing but ointments for his body.
It emerges, says the Ralbag, that you should not harm the body or ruin it, for you need it for the service of God. The Chazon Ish testified about himself that once he was learning and felt weakness and difficulty in his study, and he said to himself: this is the yetzer hara - and he pushed harder and exerted himself more. At a certain point a blood vessel burst, and they took him to a doctor, who told him he was in a dangerous condition. In general, the Chazon Ish all his life testified about himself that he was in the category of a dangerously ill person for whom one may desecrate Shabbat; all his days were illness and pains. He recounts that following that incident the doctor decreed upon him that for a full year he was not to learn in depth, and he had no greater anguish than this anguish.
We see from here that sometimes the body speaks and a person is deaf, does not listen to it, and thereby causes damage to himself. He thought this came from the yetzer hara and said, I will exert myself more - and it cost him a full year of in depth study. Therefore a person must know: guard the body. The body is essential for the service of God and for fulfilling the mitzvot. When the body is weak, a person becomes weak in the service of God; and when the body lies ill, a person cannot pray and serve God properly. Of this it is said "kindness and truth preserved the king" - do not act cruelly toward the limbs, but do kindness with them, and they will repay you with kindness and allow you to serve the Creator with contentment and rest.
The Malbim says that Shlomo's words are founded on the words of his father David, who said "kindness and truth, they preserve him." And what is the difference between kindness and truth? Truth is the line of judgment and the line of uprightness - let the law pierce the mountain. Kindness is beyond the letter of the law, where I forgo and give.
One who follows only the trait of truth is not properly protected, for embittered souls upon whom he poured the wrath of judgment will strike at him. When you exact payment from the one deserving of payment with the full severity of the law, you arouse against yourself great hatred and bitterness from those who will want to exact payment from you. Therefore a person must add kindness as well, and if out of kindness he forgoes a bit and does not exact payment with the full severity of the law - this will protect him.
And the same is true in reverse: if he acts only with kindness, this too would be very bad, for all the criminals and all the evildoers will do whatever their heart desires. And so is the reality in our times. A lawyer once told me: you would not believe what goes on in the courts. People were harmed, robbed, plundered, offenders hurt them - and in court, three months of service. The police are frustrated: they sit in investigations for weeks, submit clear and serious material, finally bring the offender to trial, and he comes out with three months imprisonment, and they deduct a third for good behavior. Why? They arouse mercy for him, and he has this problem and that problem. Have mercy on the one who deserves mercy - on the poor person who wants to live his life honestly, and does not need offenders circling around him and denying him his basic right to live decently. They have too much mercy on the offenders.
This is what the Malbim says: a king who governs his throne only with kindness, without judgment, will increase crime and increase delinquency. What, then? "Kindness and truth preserved the king." If you want your kingdom to be well founded, you cannot have pure kindness, and you also cannot have pure justice. You need justice joined with kindness. And then "preserved the king" - they will preserve him, and he will not need any bodyguard. For a king who does only kindness will have people rise up against him and topple him, saying: he is a weak king; and a king who does only justice will arouse the public against him with his harshness and topple him. But a king who does kindness and truth - this will protect him, the people will love him, and he needs no other guard.
And so too in matters of conduct in general, between a person and his fellow and in every area: conduct cannot be justice alone. The left hand repels and the right hand draws near - there must be a repelling left hand, but the right hand, which is the strong hand, is the one that draws near. So it is in educating children, so it is for a person with his wife, and so it is everywhere.
Take a boss with his workers. He says: if I am not tough with them, they will walk all over me. On one hand he is right, there is the repelling left hand; but on the other hand there also needs to be the drawing right hand. Give them credit, hold team building and fun days for them, be generous with the salary now and then, give bonuses - and they will love you. It is true that you need to keep a tight rein, but at the same time you must give the worker a good feeling.
The same applies to a parent with his child. Some think: keep a tight rein on him so he does not walk all over you. And what happens? When he reaches a certain age he kicks you and flings you off to the mountains of darkness, pays no attention to you and disregards you. Why? Because you pressed and pressed and pressed, and a pressed spring flings you to the end of the world. But if on one hand you demand of him and hold him to account, and on the other hand you give him much love and much warmth, take him on trips and give him rewards of encouragement - the child feels: they demand of me, but they also give to me.
The same is true of a teacher in the classroom. There are teachers who cannot maintain control, because they operate only through force: go to the principal, bring your parents, bring signatures, write it three hundred times. It does not work. In reality, with such a teacher the children will always try to outsmart him, always do things behind his back, always try to provoke him; and if they do learn, it will be by force and unwillingly, and they will not reach great achievements. Imposing endless fear and dread does not work. What does work? On one hand, to demand discipline, and on the other hand, to give the children enjoyment: to take them on fun days, take them to a game, be together with them, buy them prizes. There must be togetherness; if the two things do not go together, it will not endure.
This is "kindness and truth preserve a king." Every person is like a king: in his classroom, in his home, in his workplace. And as a king he must have kindness and truth, and the combination of both will bring about "they preserve a king": it will protect you, and afterward you will not need help and treatments and educational counselors and appeals to the principal for every problem. You become a king in your unit, in your classroom and in your home, and everyone acts according to your will. Any leaning toward one of the two extremes is flawed: too much kindness and they will walk all over you; too much judgment and they will despise you.
If so, what is the required attribute? If gevurah is an extreme attribute to the left and chesed is an extreme attribute to the right, what is the middle path? It is tiferet. Chesed is the right arm, gevurah is the left arm, and tiferet is the body itself. Avraham is the attribute of chesed, Yitzchak is the attribute of gevurah, and Yaakov is the attribute of tiferet. So too we learned in the Mishnah in Avot: "Which is the right path that a person should choose for himself? Whatever is a credit (tiferet) to the one who does it and brings him credit (tiferet) from others": the middle. Not endless kindness and not endless might, but the middle, gevurah sweetened by chesed. And this is exactly what we are discussing: that there be kindness and also truth.
We once explained that Yaakov Avinu was reincarnated in Rabbeinu HaKadosh, Rebbi bar Yaakov. And it was he, Rabbeinu HaKadosh, who said "Which is the right path that a person should choose for himself, whatever is a credit to the one who does it." Thus Rebbi alludes to the matter of tiferet, for he is the reincarnation of Yaakov. And why do I mention the matter of tiferet here? Because of the following pasuk.
תִּפְאֶרֶת בַּחוּרִים כֹּחָם וַהֲדַר זְקֵנִים שֵׂיבָה׃ (כ, כט) - The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of the aged is gray hair. (20:29)
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: in what do young men take pride? In strength. And when is strength most evident? In youth, "at thirty for strength." And the splendor of old age is the gray hair scattered through his hair, the whiteness in his hair.
We live in a strange generation, where everyone goes to dye their hair. Let them beware of those who dye (the hypocrites) - and I am not speaking about the actual prohibition of "a man shall not wear," that there is a prohibition for a man to dye his hair. But this is truly the splendor: "the splendor of the aged is gray hair." And even though a person might say: what splendor is there in this, for white hair testifies that your strength has waned, that you have grown old? Why do people today all go to dye their hair? Because today they say to the elderly person: grandpa, you are already old fashioned, you are something outdated, the world belongs to the young. That is how the elderly are treated in the street, sadly. But for us, in the Jewish outlook, the opposite is true: the more a person is one of gray hair and old age, the more he is worthy of honor, and we appreciate his wisdom, his composure and his Torah. The gray hair scattered through his hair is the splendor of the elderly. And this, says Rabbeinu Yonah, is an introduction to the next verse, and through the following pasuk we will understand the matter better.
The Vilna Gaon explains: the glory of young men is their strength, in which they take pride, and the splendor of the elderly is gray hair. And what does this mean? There are two aspects in the Torah: there is Torah and there is the wisdom of the Torah. Torah is the level of the plain meaning (peshat), and the wisdom of the Torah is the level of the secret (sod), the inner dimension of the Torah. Torah is called strength, as it says "and much produce comes through the strength of the ox"; and wisdom is called gray hair (seivah), as in the expression "an elder who sits in the yeshivah," and "one who increases sitting increases wisdom" - seivah from the language of sitting (yeshivah), which one attains through sitting extensively and engaging in Torah.
"The glory of young men is their strength" - strength refers to Torah on its plain level, and this is indeed what young men learn: peshat, an ox that gored a cow. As the Gemara says: until forty years eating is beneficial, from then on drinking is beneficial - until age forty eating benefits a person, and from then on drinking benefits him. Eating corresponds to Torah on the level of peshat, and drinking refers to wine, and "wine enters, secrets come out" - the secrets of the Torah, which are in the category of wisdom. The splendor of the elderly is wisdom, the aspect of sod in the Torah, and when? From age forty onward, when there is more wine, the aspect of the secrets of the Torah.
This is what is brought regarding David HaMelech, that just as in his youth he made himself small before one who was greater than him in Torah, so in his old age he made himself small before one who was greater than him in wisdom. Note the wording: in his youth he made himself small before one who was greater than him in Torah - the level of peshat; and in his old age, when he was among older people who were already attaining wisdom, he made himself small before one who was greater than him in wisdom - the level of sod. "And the splendor of the aged is gray hair" - splendor refers only to wisdom, and this is the splendor of the elderly, that they engage in the level of sod. But as a young man, engage in the level of peshat, and this is the strength, and this is the sharp analysis (pilpul) and engagement. Go to a yeshivah and you will see young men waging the war of Torah, pilpul and enthusiasm - amazing. As a young man, this is the way, and when he matures he will already engage in the deeper concepts and the level of sod.
The Malbim connects this verse to the one that follows. A person's seminal fluid is the strength of the body, and one who preserves this strength, expending it only at the proper time, with the proper partner, and in the proper measure, retains his vigor from his youth, and premature old age does not overtake him. But one who is consumed with illicit passion and squanders his vigor in youth, our Sages have already taught us that old age leaps upon him prematurely. The Rambam likewise writes that one who expends without boundary is overtaken by premature old age: his hair falls out, his teeth fall out, his body weakens, and his breath turns foul. This is the body's vitality, from which one will later sustain himself in old age; if he expends it excessively, he thereby diminishes his bodily strength.
חַבֻּרוֹת פֶּצַע תַּמְרוּק בְּרָע וּמַכּוֹת חַדְרֵי־בָטֶן׃ (כ, ל) - Blows that wound cleanse away evil, and strikes reach the innermost chambers (20:30).
The Malbim continues: one who scours and grooms himself excessively for sin - the Sages' phrase "scours himself for sin" means primping and adorning oneself for sin - goes and engages in all kinds of cosmetic beautification. Today, men get pedicures, manicures, eyebrow shaping, laser treatments; in short, men behaving like women, manicuring nails and the like. This is not referring only to those from fringe subcultures, but to people who ostensibly should be normal and grounded. This is what is called tamruk be-ra, adorning oneself for evil. And what does such a person bring upon himself? External wounds and internal pains - "blows that wound, and strikes to the innermost chambers."
Rabbeinu Yonah explains that just as in the previous verse strength is the glory of young men and gray hair the splendor of the aged, so too are afflictions and bruises fitting and seemly for an evil person. For an unworthy person, suffering fits him just like a lid fits a pot, and one should not grieve over the afflictions that befall a wicked person. On the contrary, the bruises and wounds are his cosmetics, meaning ornaments, as in the verse, "and to speed her beauty treatments (tamrukeha) and her portions." Why? Because through them he is purged of his sins, and moreover, they prompt him to contemplate repentance for his evil deeds. And for one who sins in secret - this is "strikes to the inner chambers," meaning that he too, an improper person, will receive blows in the innermost recesses.
The Ralbag notes: certain ailments can only be cured by something unpleasant. As the saying goes, a medicine that is not bitter is not a real medicine. Medicine must be something that stings, something bitter. Today, thank God, medicines have been developed in palatable, refined forms, but in the past, it was well known that medicine was generally painful, bitter, and unpleasant. Frequently, an evil thing is healed through another evil thing.
For example, the Sages teach that when the Jewish people arrived at Marah and the water was bitter, Moshe Rabbeinu threw a bitter branch into it - healing bitter with bitter. Another example is found with Chizkiyahu, where a cake of pressed figs was placed upon his boil, an agent normally harmful to boils, and through it the boil and wound were healed. One sees that the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not necessarily require a conventional healing agent; rather, evil is sometimes healed with evil.
This is the meaning of "blows that wound cleanse away evil": how does one scour and cleanse bruises and wounds, how does one draw out all the bad from them? With something harsh. For example, when there is a wound and pus must be drawn out, a substance that consumes flesh is applied. Ostensibly, this seems destructive, but in reality, that substance eats away the infected flesh at the site of the wound, allowing healthy, clean tissue to grow in its place. Likewise with a snakebite: snake venom is taken and injected into a horse, the horse produces antibodies against the venom, creating an antivenom serum that is then injected into the person. Ostensibly, the person already has snake venom in his system, and more is being added? Yet that very venom is what helps him overcome the venom in his body. The same principle underlies homeopathy, where harmful substances or toxins are diluted by factors of three hundred or three thousand and administered to heal the patient. Thus, we find that evil can indeed be cured by evil.
And how does this apply to us? The same holds true in personal conduct. If one asks what the proper character trait is, as previously explained, it is tiferet, the middle path. As the Rambam writes, a person must walk in the middle path - neither being like a corpse who feels nothing, nor being someone provoked and infuriated by every minor annoyance due to hypersensitivity, but rather maintaining a balanced middle ground, and so too in every area of life.
However, if a person suffers from "blows that wound," meaning an affliction of anger where every small thing irritates and upsets him, how is it cured? Bad with bad. One should go to the opposite negative extreme: total indifference. Maintain this stance for a period of time. Just as a bent piece of iron is straightened by bending it all the way in the opposite direction so that it returns to the center, the same applies here: adopt the opposite extreme for a time, and then return to the middle path. There are two approaches to this, gradual or extreme, which need not be detailed here. In any case, we see that evil is sometimes cured with another evil: "blows that wound" are cleansed and healed through harshness, and the flaw of excessive anger is cured through the flaw of excessive indifference, ultimately arriving at the balanced middle path and equilibrium.
Finally, the Malbim explains the precise meaning of the word "tamruk" in the verse. "Marak" refers to the body's moisture produced by anointings and oils, as in the scriptural verse, "it shall be scoured (umoruk) and rinsed in water" - meaning to purge from it the residue and fat absorbed within it. So too here, "tamruk b'ra" means that he drains the body's moisture, which is the vitality of the body - namely, a person's seed, which is his strength, as we have explained. The inner moisture and vitality that sustain and strengthen the body - these he expels in excess. This is the meaning of the word "tamruk" in this verse. Thus concludes Chapter 20.
The conclusion of the chapter teaches us three interconnected lessons. "Kindness and truth preserve a king" - not kindness alone, for then wrongdoers would multiply, claiming that the king is weak; and not truth alone, for then he would provoke bitter rebellion against himself. Rather, it requires their integration - the attribute of Tiferet, the middle path. This is the proper way in the rule of a king, in raising children, at home, at work, and also in a person's relationship with his own body, over whose limbs he is king, and with which he must act charitably so that they may serve him in the service of Hashem. "The glory of young men is their strength, and the beauty of old men is the gray head" - youth is meant for strength and the study of the revealed Torah (peshat), while old age is meant for majesty and the esoteric wisdom (sod); and one who guards his strength in his youth will not find old age rushing upon him prematurely. And "bruises from a wound cleanse away evil" - suffering and wounds serve as a scouring and an ornament for the wicked person, purifying him and bringing him to repentance; and just as an illness is sometimes cured by that which is harmful, so too a corrupted trait is straightened by bending it toward the opposite extreme, until the person returns to the balanced middle path.