Chapter 21 in the Book of Mishlei continues to clarify what is the straight path a person should choose: what is truly desirable before the Holy One, blessed be He, and what is the root of evil from which all sins grow. In this lesson we will examine three verses - the superiority of righteousness and justice over sacrifice, "the plowing of the wicked" which is pride, and the virtue of the deliberate thoughts of the diligent.
עֲשֹׂה צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט נִבְחָר לַה' מִזָּבַח׃ - To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Rabbeinu Yonah explains that this verse is directly connected to the preceding verse: "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts." When a person does not merely follow what seems right in his own eyes, but prepares his heart and practices righteousness and justice - the Holy One, blessed be He, will help him so that his heart becomes pure for His service. "The Lord weighs the hearts" means that Hashem will assist him in structuring his heart and filling it with substance for the honor of Heaven. That is: the person initiates and performs the action, and the Holy One, blessed be He, becomes his aid and support. And what are the required actions? "To do righteousness and justice."
According to Rabbeinu Yonah, righteousness (tzedakah) is the love of the good, and justice (mishpat) is the love of truth. Through these two traits, a person finds favor before the Holy One, blessed be He, as stated in Michah: "He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: only to do justice and to love loving-kindness" - these are the desired and required traits: to love the good, and to love truth and justice.
The Vilna Gaon links this verse to a similar passage: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen is better than the fat of rams." Shmuel said this to Shaul upon his return from the war with Amalek, asking him: "What is this bleating of sheep in my ears?" Shaul replied: "The people brought them to sacrifice to the Lord." To this he was answered: to obey is better than sacrifice - the Holy One, blessed be He, prefers that you heed His voice rather than offer Him sacrifices. This is what Shlomo says: "To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice" - walking in His ways and keeping the way of Hashem to do righteousness and justice is more precious in Hashem's eyes than sacrifices.
This is especially true when we consider what a sacrifice is as people often perceive it: take an animal, slaughter it, place it on the altar, wash one's hands in innocence - and that is it, the matter is settled. It is similar to people who experience a problem in their home or apartment building, and what do they do? They bring a rabbi to slaughter a chicken and perform a kapparah ritual. Why a kapparah? Start keeping Shabbat - that is far better. Start behaving with derech eretz toward your wife and your fellow man, start acting with integrity in your business affairs. What could be simpler than taking a rooster, casting all your sins onto it, solving your problems with it, and continuing to indulge as before? That is a very easy solution - but that is not the way. The Holy One, blessed be He, prefers that you do righteousness and justice, rather than take an animal, cast your sins upon it, and think that this concludes the matter. For even with a sacrifice, as we will see in the words of the Malbim, repentance is required.
The Vilna Gaon brings an additional explanation: It is written, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord." What does Hashem desire? Righteousness and justice. And likewise: "For I desire loving-kindness and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings" - loving-kindness, understanding, and knowledge are more important before Hashem than burnt offerings and sacrifices. And this is what Shlomo says: "To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."
The Malbim explains that in those times, many believed that bringing a sacrifice was an end in itself, and therefore they brought numerous sacrifices and offerings. The prophets rebuked them for this many times, showing that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not desire the sacrifice for its own sake. The sacrifice is a means - a way in which a person shows submission to the Holy One, blessed be He, and demonstrates that he is ready to sacrifice himself. What is done to the sacrifice, the slaughter and the sprinkling of the blood, is what the person himself would have deserved because of his sin; but the Holy One, blessed be He, had mercy and compassion on him, and so he brings the animal in place of the sacrifice that he himself should have been.
Moreover, a person cannot sit in his house and send a sacrifice. If someone desecrated Shabbat unintentionally and is liable to bring a sin offering (chatat), he cannot say to his steward or one of his servants: take an animal, go up to the Beit HaMikdash, and say that this is the offering of so-and-so who stumbled into desecrating Shabbat. There is no such thing, for a person's offering cannot be sacrificed unless he stands over it. You cannot send a sacrifice by mail; you must be there. That is: you need to see what is done to the sacrifice, repentance must be awakened within you, and remorse must fill your heart. One cannot simply bring a sacrifice, slaughter it, finish, and think, "Well, Master of the Universe, I did something - take it." That is like a person who shows up once a year at the synagogue on Yom Kippur, purchases the opening of the Ark for twenty thousand dollars, and feels he has secured credit for another year of transgressions: "Master of the Universe, I settled the account, You got what You wanted, now leave me in peace."
Sir, you are mistaken - this is not a church with a priest, where you can do whatever you want and then confess and have it all wiped away. There is teshuvah, and there is a process through which a person genuinely regrets his actions. It is written in the holy books that if the kohen saw that the owner of the sacrifice showed no remorse, he would instruct the Levi'im to burst into song. The Levi'im would sing a plaintive song to Hashem, blessed be He, until the person began to weep, his heart stirred toward the service of Hashem, and he would repent. This is what the Holy One, blessed be He, desires. But people did not seek to demonstrate submission; rather, they said: "What do You want, a sacrifice? Here, I brought two." They did not wish to show self-sacrifice for the sanctification of Hashem's name, but merely to slaughter the animal and finish with a technical act. The Holy One, blessed be He, comes and says: listening to the mitzvot, heeding My word, doing righteousness and justice.
A consistent rule in the Malbim throughout Tanach: "righteousness" (*tzedakah*) refers to duties between man and God, while "justice" (*mishpat*) refers to duties between man and his fellow. Tzedakah denotes a tzaddik between himself and his Creator; mishpat refers to "And these are the judgments that you shall set before them," which deals with monetary laws and civil obligations between people. It follows that the ultimate purpose is righteousness and justice, between man and God and between man and his fellow, and this is chosen above sacrifice - for the sacrifice is nothing more than a means to an end.
From here, the Malbim explains, our verse is the very explanation of the preceding verse. A person who brings many sacrifices feels that it is "right in his eyes": "Behold, I did it. What did You want, a sacrifice? You got it." He offered a fat sacrifice, burning for hours upon the altar, and walks away with a sense of importance. He thinks he did the upright, straight thing. But in truth, it is not straight, for the Malbim already explained that "straight" (*yashar*) means the shortest distance between two points - a straight line, as in the familiar geometric term. A person performs a certain action and imagines that this is the straightest and shortest path to reach Hashem, blessed be He, but he is mistaken: this is a roundabout route, like reaching for your left ear with your right hand around your head.
And what is the straight, short path? If the purpose of a sacrifice is to awaken closeness to Hashem, humility, and the desire to fulfill Hashem's commandments - then if one skips the sacrifice and goes straight to fulfilling Hashem's commandments, righteousness and justice, is that not far better and more effective, without detours? A sacrifice is an indirect way to reach the will of Hashem, and it is not an absolute obligation in this context: you can reach it directly through righteousness and justice, and that is "chosen above sacrifice by Hashem." Thus, "Every way of a man is right in his eyes" - he thinks Hashem desires the sacrifices, but in truth, it is a tortuous, winding path.
In truth, the Malbim says, the physical action itself is not what is desired, but rather the heart, the thought, and the intent. Therefore, when a person goes to offer a sacrifice, Shelomo tells him: "and Hashem weighs the hearts" - Hashem sees what lies behind this offering of yours: a desire to get off the hook, a feeling of "I unloaded my sins upon it, and that is that; now I can continue as usual." Hashem examines your heart and your intention, and immediately reveals what He truly desires: perform righteousness and justice. That is the straight path, whereas the path of sacrifices may eventually lead to the result, but it is long and roundabout.
Note carefully: this does not refer to obligatory sacrifices that a person is bound to bring. One who desecrated Shabbat inadvertently cannot say, "I will perform righteousness and justice, and I do not need a sin offering"; when the Beit HaMikdash stood, omitting a required sin offering was not an option. The discussion here addresses the principle, sacrifices like the "thousand burnt offerings Shelomo offered," voluntary sacrifices. Regarding those, he says: you think you brought a sacrifice and settled matters between you and Hashem - "and Hashem weighs the hearts." Hashem prefers that you walk the straight path and demonstrate humility; that is far better to Him than a sacrifice devoid of submission.
רוּם־עֵינַיִם וּרְחַב־לֵב נִר רְשָׁעִים חַטָּאת׃ - Haughty eyes and an expansive heart, the tillage of the wicked is sin.
First, a grammatical note: The Minchat Shai notes that the Targum translates this as "and the candle of the wicked is sin" (*veshraga dirshiei lechata'ah*), and *shraga* means a candle (*ner*) - implying that his textual variant was "נֵר רשעים חטאת" (with a *tzeirei*), as appears in some editions. However, the Minchat Shai states that in the most accurate manuscripts it is vocalized with a *chirik* (*nir*), and Ibn Ezra likewise writes "*nir* lacking a yud," meaning his reading was *nir* (plowed field or tillage). They cite the *Sefer HaShorashim* that the *nir* here is equivalent to *ner* with a *tzeirei*, which matches the Targum's translation *shraga dirshiei* - meaning it is quite possible the Targum himself had the reading *nir* and simply interpreted it as *ner* (lamp). Thus, the established text is "ניר רשעים חטאת."
"Haughtiness of eyes" refers to arrogance: a person who walks with his eyes lifted high, turning up his nose. Today people describe this as being "stuck up," while in biblical times the expression was "haughtiness of eyes." "And a broad heart" - who possessed an expansive soul? Bilam the wicked and his disciples. A "broad soul" indicates that his desires are never satisfied; he constantly craves more and more. So too here, Rashi explains: he yearns to satisfy the desires of his heart. And what is "the tillage of the wicked is sin"? This refers to the plowing and tillage of the wicked. Plowing expresses what a person is constantly contemplating, what his heart plots - "a heart that plots iniquitous thoughts" - what he churns and deliberates in his mind. Thus: haughtiness of eyes represents arrogance, a broad heart represents lusts, and this is the perpetual plowing of the wicked, which constitutes their constant sin.
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: pride is the tillage (*nir*) of the wicked. *Nir* refers to the plowing done before sowing - and when you plow, sowing follows soon after, and then something grows. And what causes all the actions of the wicked to sprout? What is the fertile soil from which thorns and thistles grow within them? It is pride. Arrogance is the tillage of the wicked, and from it their sins multiply like grain that flourishes after the plowing. In other words, the foundation and groundwork of all their sins is pride.
Indeed, the early authorities held various views as to what constitutes the root character trait upon which all traits are founded - some count one, while others count several - but pride is undoubtedly among the most central. Almost every human action stems from some degree of ego, a desire for prominence, or self-aggrandizement. One could even say that at the beginning of a person's Torah study, the way to encourage him utilizes this very trait: initially he is given sweets and candies, and at the next stage, as the Rambam writes, he is told, "Study so that you may become wise and people will call you Rabbi" - through study and effort you will gain fame and renown, and gradually he will come to learn for the sake of Heaven. We see that the driving force behind many human actions is the force of pride. So too with the wicked: what drives them to all their evil deeds? The trait of pride. That is their *nir*, their plowing, and that is the "sin" - that which brings them to every sin.
Rabbeinu Yonah now explains how this happens. First, in their pride and arrogance, they persecute the humble of the earth. Such a person feels superior to everyone - he feels like the boss, the CEO of the world - and therefore persecutes the humble and the simple folk: "Through the arrogance of the wicked, the poor is pursued" (Tehillim 10:2); he pursues the poor man, tormenting and afflicting him. Second, they subjugate those who are better than them, for in his own eyes he is someone grand and everyone else seems inferior to him, even though in truth they are better than him. Third, they spread terror in the land of the living: because he feels he is important, he constantly threatens and lets everyone know that there will be hell to pay if they do not do his bidding. And woe to him for this, for those who cast terror in the land of the living descend to Gehinnom and are judged there for generations - how terrible that is. One can be a finance minister and decide to suffocate everyone because "I control the main valve" - he lives well, and feels that the poor should just go to work; yet we are speaking about working people, where the poverty line applies even when both spouses work! "There's nothing to be done, the country has a deficit" - but reality does not bear this out; "I am the manager here, don't confuse me with the facts." Furthermore, they speak lashon hara and forget Hashem, which also stems from pride, as it says, "And your heart will become haughty, and you will forget" (Devarim 8:14): when there is haughtiness of heart, one inevitably forgets the Creator.
Rabbeinu Yonah adds: In addition to everything we have shown - that haughty eyes and a greedy heart are a plowed field that yields sin and a cause of grave transgressions - know that pride itself is a sin. Even if a person were to claim, "For me, pride leads to no sin at all," pride itself is a sin and an abomination before Hashem: "Every haughty heart is an abomination to Hashem" (Mishlei 16:5).
Rabbeinu Yonah says: We find that preparing the heart for teshuvah is also compared to a plowed field, as it says, "Plow yourselves a plowed field, and do not sow among thorns" (Yirmeyahu 4:3). What does this mean? A person committed sins, and then said: "Never mind, let us do mitzvos as well." Heaven forbid - are you sowing upon thorns? What have you gained by that? "Plow yourselves a plowed field": first uproot the thorns, clear them out, plow, and only then sow. Start on a clean slate, with a clean table, not a soiled one. There are people who say they have done teshuvah, but what is their repentance? They continue in their sins as usual, but they have also begun observing mitzvos: putting on tefillin every day. And what about everything else? Living like a gentile, "but I put on tefillin every day!" May Hashem have mercy. "Plow yourselves a plowed field, and do not sow among thorns."
It turns out that a nir is a plowed field, and you are the one who decides what purpose it will serve. If it is haughty eyes and a greedy heart, then "the plowing of the wicked is sin" - plowing in order to sow iniquities, for pride is the plowing for transgressions. Whereas for an upright and decent person, on the contrary, "plow yourselves a plowed field" - he plows so as not to sow among thorns, but rather to sow mitzvos and good deeds. You decide what to sow in your plowed field and for what purpose it will serve: you can cultivate teshuvah in it, or you can sow sins and iniquities in it.
The Vilna Gaon explains the verse in light of the three traits that distinguish the disciples of Avraham Avinu, peace be upon him, from the disciples of the wicked Bil'am: an evil eye, an arrogant spirit, and a greedy soul, which are the traits and nature of Bil'am's disciples. Incidentally, why does the Mishnah speak of the disciples rather than Bil'am himself? The answer is that sometimes with Bil'am himself, this is not outwardly apparent; one must wait and see what happens with his disciples, and then his true way and method become visible. He himself may outwardly appear to observe mitzvos as usual, but go and look at his disciples - and then you will understand who you are dealing with.
These three things express envy, lust, and honor. "Haughty eyes" - this is an arrogant spirit, honor. "A broad heart" - this is a greedy soul, lust. "The plowing of the wicked" - this is an evil eye, for the wicked person is constantly plotting with his evil eye against his fellow and always viewing him negatively; this is the plowing, the scheming thoughts he plows in his heart. And "sin" (chatas) - this is envy. And how is sin related to envy? Because chatas denotes a deficiency or lack, as in "Then I and my son Shlomo will be lacking (chata'im)" (Melachim I 1:21) - lacking the monarchy, having missed the target and fallen short. And envy drives a person out of the world, subtracting and removing him from the world. Thus we have: haughty eyes - an arrogant spirit; a broad heart - a greedy soul; the plowing of the wicked - an evil eye; and all of them are "sin," for envy, lust, and honor drive a person out of the world and deprive him of it.
The Malbim explains that eyes always signify intellectual grasp - what a person perceives, sees, and observes in the higher realms. "Haughty eyes" means that a person takes pride in his intellect: he imagines that he has grasped everything through his theoretical reasoning, that he knows and understands everything, and that he can even grasp and master the truth of matters beyond human intellect - supernatural phenomena, metaphysics, whatever transcends nature - after all, he has a mind! From this he arrives at heresy, for he has criticisms of the Creator of the universe as well, and it slightly bothers him that the Creator did not consult him as an advisor, since he had several suggestions on how the world could have been better ordered and more successful. At a certain point, he may even decide to dismiss the Creator of the universe, since there are indeed several things that seem "illogical." And where does it all stem from? From haughty eyes: the person thinks he has grasped it all, thinks he understands, and has already set himself up as an advisor with opinions and critiques.
"And a broad heart" - the heart represents desires, as in "You granted him his heart's desire" (Tehillim 21:3). A "broad heart" refers to someone with boundless desires, who always craves more and more. We find two things here: on the one hand, someone who prides himself on his intellect, his contemplation, and his powers of comprehension, and on the other hand, someone whose lusts are endless.
And what is the nir? The Malbim says: it is the plowing of the field to remove all obstacles to sowing, through which the seed can be planted in the ground, thorns can be uprooted, and the crop can grow properly. The wicked sow sin in their hearts - but it is very possible that the seed will not grow; not everything that is sown necessarily grows. The evil one sowed might not develop, because theoretical intellect or practical intellect prevents it. Theoretical intellect: even if he committed an evil act, he contemplated the matter and realized that this is not the right path. Practical intellect: even if he committed an evil act or aspires to one, common sense tells him that it does not pay, that he will suffer damage, that trouble will come of it - you thought you would steal and profit, but in the end you will sit in prison and pay a heavy price. Thus, one of these two faculties of intellect might ultimately restrain him from carrying out what his heart plots: he prepared the plot and even sowed, but nothing will develop from it.
But "haughty eyes and an expansive heart" remove both brakes. The one with haughty eyes believes he understands better than anyone else; in his arrogance, he imagines that he has attained the highest level of theoretical intellect, even lapsing into heresy as a result. Therefore, theoretical intellect does not restrain him - on the contrary, it tells him that he understands better than all others, and who is to tell him that something is improper? And the one with an expansive heart - when you tell him that the consequences will be ruinous, his desires are so overwhelming that he is blind to the consequences. Therefore, the plowing of the wicked yields sin, checked neither by theoretical intellect nor by practical intellect, for such a person lacks the necessary brakes to keep that sin from taking root and flourishing.
מַחְשְׁבוֹת חָרוּץ אַךְ לְמוֹתָר וְכָל אָץ אַךְ לְמַחְסוֹר׃ - The plans of the diligent lead only to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to loss.
Rashi explains: "The thoughts of the diligent (charutz)" - an upright person who conducts himself with truth and resolute justice, meaning decisive and absolute integrity. "Lead only to abundance (motar)" - an expression of surplus, as in "the lobe (yoteret) of the liver," indicating that he will have profit, success, and an increase in his wealth. It is not as people mistakenly think, that all who walk uprightly end up on welfare; on the contrary, conduct yourself with integrity and you will see that you will prosper. By contrast, "and everyone who is hasty" - one who rushes impulsively and forces the moment, "comes only to loss," for nothing will come of it for him except deficit.
These three verses trace a single continuous line: the Holy One, Blessed is He, is not seeking mechanical actions, but the heart. "To do righteousness and justice is preferred by Hashem over a sacrifice" - the sacrificial offering is merely a tool to awaken humility and repentance, whereas the straight and direct path is to turn straight toward Hashem's will: righteousness between man and the Omnipresent and justice between man and his fellow, for "Hashem weighs the hearts," examining the inner motive. "Haughty eyes and an expansive heart" are the plowing from which all the sins of the wicked sprout: pride dismantles the brake of the theoretical intellect, and lust dismantles the brake of the practical intellect. Opposite them stands the call, "Plow for yourselves a plowing" - that a person must uproot his thorns and sow mitzvot upon a cleared field. And finally, "The plans of the diligent lead only to abundance": one who walks in truth and justice profits, while he who is hasty and rushes the hour achieves nothing but loss.