This part of the psalm presents a piercing rebuke. The Holy One, blessed be He, comes to uproot a corrupted notion from people's hearts: as if an offering gives something to the Creator, as if He needs our sacrifices, and as if one could bribe the Master of the Universe with an offering. Let us follow the order of the verses and examine how the Malbim and the other commentators explain these matters.
אִם אֶרְעַב לֹא אֹמַר לָךְ כִּי לִי תֵבֵל וּמְלֹאָהּ - "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all it contains is Mine."
This is a very puzzling verse. What could "If I were hungry" possibly mean? Does hunger apply to the Holy One, blessed be He? Ibn Ezra cites Rabbi Moshe Hadarshan: Even if I were like a human being with needs, I would not ask you to give Me from what you have - for you possess but a little, whereas everything is in My hands. That is to say, "If I were hungry" means: even if it were conceivable that hunger could apply to Me. And if even under such an impossible assumption I would not turn to you, how much more so when I have no need at all. This is the meaning of the verse's conclusion: "for the world and all it contains is Mine."
The Malbim explains that these verses form a single continuous thought: "If I were hungry, I would not tell you: 'Sacrifice a thanksgiving offering to God and fulfill your vows to the Most High.'" As it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: Even if it were conceivable that I could hunger, I would not come to ask you to sacrifice something so that I would have what to eat. The words "for the world and all it contains is Mine" function as a parenthetical clause: since the world and all its fullness are Mine, I have no need to request anything from anyone.
הַאוֹכַל בְּשַׂר אַבִּירִים וְדַם עַתּוּדִים אֶשְׁתֶּה - "Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of he-goats?"
In truth, eating does not apply to the Holy One, blessed be He, at all. Yet even according to your misconception, imagining that Hashem could ever hunger, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I do not need you, and I would not come to tell you, "Sacrifice a thanksgiving offering to God" - bring Me an offering so that I have what to eat. "Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of he-goats?"
Thus, I did not instruct you to bring Me a sacrifice because I need food. The entire purpose of the sacrifice is an expression of "I have spoken and My will has been done." Beyond the esoteric depths of the sacrificial service - as has been explained according to the mystery of reincarnation, for in the teachings of gilgulim the Kabbalists reveal wondrous insights regarding the offering and its mode of rectification, how souls transmigrate and what is truly accomplished through a korban - the simple meaning is: "I have spoken and My will has been done." And this is the meaning of "a pleasing aroma to Hashem": that His word has been fulfilled.
One must understand: to us, this seems simple and self-evident, and no person today would entertain such a foolish notion that the Holy One, blessed be He, is hungry and needs human food. Why, then, was it necessary to persuade the people on this matter so forcefully? Because among idolaters, this was precisely the belief. They burned incense to demons because they held that the aroma of incense gratifies and nourishes them, and in return they bestow favor upon the worshiper. They believed that with every sacrifice, one feeds these forces, and by providing them with sustenance, they grant goodness. From there, their concept of Divinity also became corrupted: they imagined that by bringing an offering to Hashem, they were, as it were, sustaining Hashem and empowering Him to bestow good upon them.
This was the corrupted notion that stemmed from idolatrous philosophy. They believed that demons and spiritual forces derive pleasure from human actions, and as a result, they grant favor. And why did they worship the stars and constellations? They would perform specific rites tailored to the astrological sign of each month and offer sacrifices to them, believing that the celestial forces draw and absorb energy from that influence. If one found favor in their eyes, the constellation would bestow good fortune - for influences indeed descend through astrological channels, as is well known.
The concept of astrology in its origin is a real concept. Not today's horoscopes - "you will meet interesting people midweek" - that is not what we are discussing. We are speaking of genuine knowledge they possessed based on these matters, just as we see that Pharaoh knew "see, evil is before your face", that "the leader of Israel is stricken through water", that he saw blood in the wilderness, and so forth. They had genuine knowledge - very general, to be sure, but real knowledge. Therefore they offered sacrifices to these celestial forces, because they believed that these forces consume the sacrifice - not necessarily in the sense of physical eating, but that it ascends as a pleasing aroma before them, meaning they receive satisfaction and pleasure, which provides their vitality, and consequently they bestow good upon you. And this misconception was also transferred and applied to the Holy One, blessed be He.
Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, and indeed all the prophets, reiterate this point countless times: do not make this mistake. The Holy One, blessed be He, needs nothing from you. The sacrifice gives nothing to Hashem - it can give to you, but not to the Holy One, blessed be He. And when Scripture speaks of a "pleasing aroma", the meaning is: "I commanded and My will was fulfilled." But God forbid, it is utter heresy to think that the Holy One, blessed be He, needs a pleasing aroma from you in order to derive pleasure.
כִּי לִי כָל חַיְתוֹ יָעַר בְּהֵמוֹת בְּהַרְרֵי אָלֶף - "For Mine is every beast of the forest, the cattle upon a thousand hills."
יָדַעְתִּי כָּל עוֹף הָרִים וְזִיז שָׂדַי עִמָּדִי - "I know all the birds of the mountains, and whatever moves in the fields is with Me."
This entire conception is childish. How could it be that I create right now something that I need? And how did I manage before I created it? Consider how absurd this is: I just created something that I cannot do without - so what did I do before creating it? And if I created it so that it would bring Me something, can it possibly bring Me something that I cannot provide for Myself? And this is the very argument here: "For Mine is every beast of the forest, the cattle upon a thousand hills." Do you think I need your animal? Am I lacking animals? And why did I create you - so that you would bring Me animals? I created the animals as well. The notion that the Holy One, blessed be He, created man so that man would bring Him something is a childish conception. What could you possibly bring Him that He could not take without you? After all, He created you.
זְבַח לֵאלֹהִים תּוֹדָה וְשַׁלֵּם לְעֶלְיוֹן נְדָרֶיךָ - "Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High."
According to the Malbim, the verse returns to and continues what we saw above: the Holy One, blessed be He, is saying, even according to your mistaken notion that I might hunger, I would not tell you or ask of you to "offer to God thanksgiving" - I would not ask you to bring Me sacrifices.
Rashi, on the other hand, explains that these words are spoken by way of rebuke: "Offer to God thanksgiving" - confess your deeds, for this is the sacrifice I desire. Do you want to sacrifice? Offer a confession to God. "Thanksgiving" (todah) here does not refer to a thanksgiving offering, but to an admission or confession. For hoda'ah carries two meanings: thanksgiving in the sense of "thank you very much for what you gave me," and admission in the sense of "acknowledging the truth." Here it is an admission of confession: confess your deeds, and then "pay your vows to the Most High" - and then your offerings will be favorably accepted before Hashem.
The Radak explains: if you wish to offer thanksgiving, let the sacrifice be a confession over your bad deeds, as Rashi said. "And pay your vows to the Most High" - I do not command you to make vows, but if you have made a vow, you have already bound yourself, and therefore pay your vows to the Most High. The commandment applies only once you have made a vow and taken it upon yourself; do not think that I am asking you to make vows so that you can bring sacrifices, as though I am interested in the sacrifice. No. It is good and preferable that you not vow at all - but if you have already vowed, pay it.
And the term "Most High" comes to tell you: this is not someone you can evade. A person who owes a debt to his fellow tries to avoid meeting him, but with the Holy One, blessed be He, this is impossible. Hashem is the Most High; in any event you will meet Him, it is impossible to escape Him, and impossible to deny your debt to Him. And again: it is not that I need the vow, but rather it is fitting for you to pay your vows to the Most High so that you may safeguard the utterance of your lips - fulfilling what has crossed your lips.
וּקְרָאֵנִי בְּיוֹם צָרָה אֲחַלֶּצְךָ וּתְכַבְּדֵנִי - And call upon Me on a day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you will honor Me.
Radak explains: If your sacrifices conform to this proper standard - that is, according to what I desire, that you mend your ways and confess sincerely, through genuine repentance and not as a way to bribe the Master of the World - then "call upon Me on a day of trouble." When you face a day of distress, call to Me; "I will rescue you, and you will honor Me" - because you honor Me and perform My commandments, I will bring you out of trouble. But one who offers sacrifices without turning back from his wickedness brings, as it were, disgrace upon God, as if the Holy One, blessed be He, needs his sacrifices. His offering is merely outward, assuming that Hashem does not know what is in his heart. That is not "and you will honor Me," but rather "and you will disparage Me." Only with a person who offers his sacrifices properly - "Sacrifice thanksgiving to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High" - is there honor to Hashem, and not a manner of disrespect as though He were in need of you.
Rashi explains "and you will honor Me" as referring to the very act of "I will rescue you": this is an honor to Me, that I save those who trust in Me. And so our Sages say, that when the Holy One, blessed be He, delivers His righteous ones and exacts retribution from the wicked, the honor of Heaven is magnified. But when the opposite is seen, God forbid, there is a desecration of Hashem's Name, where people say, "These are the people of Hashem, yet they had to leave His land" - look, the Holy One, blessed be He, lacks the power to save them. Then all sorts of claims and theories arise: that the Holy One, blessed be He, has grown old, that He has abandoned them, that His strength has waned, and all kinds of delusional assertions of this sort, including the claim that the people of Israel went astray and are no longer worthy of rescue and protection. Thus, when Hashem protects and guards His righteous ones, it brings honor to Hashem, as it is written: "And I will be magnified and sanctified in the eyes of many nations" - when? When Hashem exacts retribution from the nations. Then it is truly seen that the Holy One, blessed be He, pays a good reward to those who fear Him and punishes those who rebel against Him.
The holy Alshich explains: If you do this - offering your sacrifices with complete intention and correcting your deeds - you will not need to pray excessively. It will suffice to "call upon Me on a day of trouble," a mere call. Even if you did not anticipate trouble with prior prayer, and you are already stuck in the mire, you only need to call out to Hashem, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will save you. Furthermore: "I will rescue you" - Myself, not through an angel. And of this it is said, "and you will honor Me": the salvation I grant you will not be like someone doing you a favor. When a person receives salvation from someone who acts as though he is doing him a favor, his salvation is not complete, because he is left feeling indebted and degraded. The Holy One, blessed be He, tells him: The salvation I bring you will be an honor to Me.
This is comparable to when someone gives us something because he respects us greatly, and through his giving, he himself feels honored; we are glad to accept from him and do not feel needy. In contrast, when someone comes to give and says, "Well, what can you do, you are needy, so I will pull some money out of my pocket and give it to you" - the person feels degraded. Regarding this, the verse says: Call upon Me on a day of trouble with a mere call and I will rescue you, and do not think that in My rescuing you there will be humiliation like a pauper; on the contrary, it will be an honor for Me to rescue you.
This is akin to what is written concerning Avraham, where the Holy One, blessed be He, refers to him as "Avraham My lover" [Avraham ohavi], and were it not an explicit verse, it would be impossible to say. It does not say "Avraham ahuvi," meaning Avraham whom I love, but rather "Avraham ohavi" - like someone recounting: You know, that minister, that sage, loves me very much, and I take pride in this. I tell you, that Rav loves me very much, and to me it is a great honor. So, as it were, says the Holy One, blessed be He: Avraham is My lover. We see how much, so to speak, the Holy One, blessed be He, takes pride in Avraham and boasts that Avraham loves Him. The same applies here: "and you will honor Me" - as it were, it will be an honor for Me to save you. Not only will you not suffer degradation from being in need of My salvation, but on the contrary: give Me the opportunity to save you, for I will be honored by it, and through this the Name of Heaven will be sanctified, and all will see that there is a God in the land and that the Holy One, blessed be He, saves His devout and righteous ones.
The Malbim explains the verse completely differently, as part of the rebuke. The Holy One, blessed be He, is saying: You call to Me on a day of trouble and I rescue you from it, and you "honor Me" - with what? You bring Me other sacrifices for it? This is like a hungry man who asks for food, saying: If you feed me I will help you, and I will always do your bidding so that you keep feeding me. This is the intent of the verse according to the Malbim, and it does not speak of a righteous person as the others explained, but is rather an indictment: What do you think, that I am hungry for your offerings? That I need your sacrifices? Do you think that when you call Me on a day of trouble, I come to save you just so that afterward you will bring Me a sacrifice and I can eat My fill? Do you really think that when the Holy One, blessed be He, saves you, it is in order to receive an offering from you? All of this is part of the rebuke.
וְלָרָשָׁע אָמַר אֱלֹהִים מַה לְּךָ לְסַפֵּר חֻקָּי וַתִּשָּׂא בְרִיתִי עֲלֵי פִיךָ - And to the wicked God said: What have you to do recounting My statutes, and bearing My covenant upon your lips?
Radak explains: Until now, he rebuked those who bring sacrifices while persisting in their wickedness without correcting their deeds; from here onward, he rebukes those who study but do not practice - who learn Torah, but the aim of their study is not to perform Hashem's will and fulfill what they learn.
Radak adds a major fundamental principle: One who is wicked and shows himself openly as wicked is considered less wicked in the eyes of God and man. Such a person is closer to repentance, because people see him and rebuke him - he is an "official evildoer," so there is a chance he will repent. But one who brings sacrifices and presents himself as a servant of Hashem, while his evil deeds are performed only in secret, is worse than the overt evildoer. He essentially denies God, as if saying that the Holy One, blessed be He, is not there. He conceals himself and hides his deeds from people rather than from Hashem - yet before Hashem, your deeds are completely revealed. The proof is that outwardly, where people can see, you hide and present yourself as righteous, while internally, you act wickedly.
This is like the difference between a thief (ganav) and a robber (gazlan), where in a certain sense the thief is worse. The robber snatches openly, fearing neither God nor man, but the thief treats the Eye Above as if It does not see - he takes secretly and in hiding, meaning he fears people but does not fear God. Here, then, Scripture is addressing this worse type of person.
And so it is with Torah study, just as with sacrifices. When a person studies Torah but does not practice what is written in it, Radak says, he sins and causes others to sin. People see him learning and assume he is righteous, and then when they observe his actions, they say: If he does this, it must be permitted, it must be fine - after all, he studies Torah. People look up to him as a role model: here is someone who learns Torah, who sits in the beit midrash, who has the appearance of a talmid chacham knowledgeable in Torah - yet they see him doing the exact opposite of what he studies and teaches.
Through this, people will come to say: These things are permitted; look, I saw so-and-so do it, and if these actions were evil in God's eyes, he would not do them - after all, he is wise and learns Torah. This is a terrible chillul Hashem, and it would have been better had he not learned Torah at all rather than learn and desecrate Hashem's Name and cause others to sin - unlearned people who do not know Torah, who will think and act like him. And even if they know his deeds are not good and contradict what is written in the Torah, some will say: If he does it, there must be a source, he surely has what to rely on, and I am no better than him, so I can permit it to myself too. This includes all manner of people seeking unwarranted leniencies. On the other hand, if observers know his actions violate halachah, there is a profound chillul Hashem, as people say: Look at so-and-so who studied Torah, how corrupt his deeds are! He brings a curse and harm upon himself, his father, and his teachers, as people say: "Cursed is the one who gave birth to him, cursed is the one who raised him."
About this, Wisdom proclaimed in Mishlei (8:36): "All who hate me love death," and Chazal expound: Do not read mesan'ai ("those who hate me"), but rather masni'ai ("those who make me hated") - people who make the Torah despised through their conduct. They seek to glory in their Torah knowledge while concealing their deeds from others; then, when people discover their evil conduct, they say: I will not send my son to study Torah, for look at how so-and-so behaves, and how that one behaves. It turns out that such individuals cause the public to sin, inflicting far greater damage than if they had never brought an offering or studied Torah at all. This is what was said: Beware of hypocrites. One need not fear the Perushim nor the Tzedokim - the Perushim are known as Perushim, and the Tzedokim are known as Tzedokim - but hypocrites are the most dangerous: they act like Zimri and demand the reward of Pinchas.
This is the plain meaning of the subsequent verses: "When you saw a thief, you ran with him, and your lot was with adulterers" - these are deeds done in secret. But My statutes and My covenant, the Torah and mitzvot through which you entered into a covenant, you do not observe. And Chazal expound: "'And to the wicked God said, What is it to you to recount My statutes?' - this refers to Doeg. 'And take My covenant upon your lips' - for his Torah was merely from the lip outward, only mouth-service." It was Torah that did not change him, did not make him more virtuous; on the contrary, look at the wicked deeds he committed, even using his wisdom and Torah knowledge to incite against David and commit sins, and he lost his share in the World to Come.
The Malbim explains that the Holy One, blessed be He, addresses here the wicked person who seeks to bribe Him with sacrifices: he brings an offering and as if says, Master of the Universe, I brought You what You like; now leave me alone - all stemming from his distorted conception that the Holy One, blessed be He, needs his sacrifice. To this, the rebuke responds: "What is it to you to recount My statutes?" Hashem commanded mitzvot that have no apparent human rationale, which is the definition of a chok - "I have enacted a statute, I have decreed a decree." In contrast, there are rational mitzvot: do not steal, do not murder, do not commit adultery, the prohibitions against lashon hara and slander, and the like. Yet here you transgress the rational commandments, and then come to recount My statutes - bringing sacrifices, which are chukkim - and to bear My covenant upon your lips, as if because of this I have a covenant with you!
He tells him: Before you come to fulfill the chukkim, which sacrifices represent, fulfill the rational commandments first! For "when you saw a thief, you ran with him, and your lot was with adulterers" - you do not fulfill the rational laws at all. How can you come to beautify commandments that are categorized as statutes? And you think that through this "you take My covenant upon your lips," that I will have a covenant of love with you, as mentioned earlier, "those who seal My covenant over sacrifice" - he believes that by offering a sacrifice he seals a covenant with Hashem: he brought an offering, and now he possesses a covenant with the Holy One, blessed be He.
וְאַתָּה שָׂנֵאתָ מוּסָר וַתַּשְׁלֵךְ דְּבָרַי אַחֲרֶיךָ - "For you hated discipline, and cast My words behind you."
אִם רָאִיתָ גַנָּב וַתִּרֶץ עִמּוֹ וְעִם מְנָאֲפִים חֶלְקֶךָ - If you saw a thief, you ran with him, and with adulterers was your portion.
פִּיךָ שָׁלַחְתָּ בְרָעָה וּלְשׁוֹנְךָ תַּצְמִיד מִרְמָה - You gave your mouth over to evil, and your tongue harnesses deceit.
תֵּשֵׁב בְּאָחִיךָ תְדַבֵּר בְּבֶן אִמְּךָ תִּתֶּן דֹּפִי - You sit and speak against your brother; against your own mother's son you cast a blemish.
In Ohel Yaakov, the Dubno Maggid offers a fascinating insight. The wicked person does not observe the mitzvos at all, and regarding the chukim (statutes beyond human reason) he makes excuses that they have no rationale: 'I see no reason and no logic for keeping shatnez, or why we cannot mix species (kilayim), and so on.' He does not observe the chukim because, in his eyes, they make no sense. To this the verse responds: but even the rational, self-evident mitzvos, you do not keep either! And that is the continuation - 'Yet you hate discipline and cast My words behind you,' 'If you saw a thief, you ran with him, and with adulterers was your portion,' 'You gave your mouth over to evil, and your tongue harnesses deceit,' 'You sit and speak against your brother; against your own mother's son you cast a blemish' - all of these are violations of rational mitzvos.
So what are these excuses that the chukim are not logical? Start with the rational mitzvos! If you do not even keep what human reason demands and requires, how can you make up excuses that you refrain only because the statutes lack logic? 'You hate discipline and cast My words behind you' - these are the rational mitzvos about which I warned you in the Ten Commandments: do not steal, do not murder, do not commit adultery - and this very moral discipline you cast behind you.
The core of the rebuke in these verses is the uprooting of a warped concept borrowed from idolaters: as though the sacrifice feeds the supernal forces, and as though the Master of the World can be bribed with it. 'If I were hungry, I would not tell you' - even if a need were conceivable, Mine is the world and all that fills it, Mine is every beast of the forest, and what could a creature possibly bring to his Creator that was not already His? The sacrifice Hashem desires is 'Sacrifice a thanksgiving offering to God' - confession and the rectification of one's deeds; and then, 'and fulfill your vows to the Most High,' and your sacrifices will find favor. 'And call upon Me on the day of distress' - with a mere call, and 'I will rescue you' Myself, and 'you will honor Me,' for saving the righteous brings glory to Heaven and carries no humiliation for the one in need, like 'Avraham, My beloved,' in whom the Holy One, blessed be He, takes pride. By contrast, 'And to the wicked, God said': Do not boast of statutes and sacrifices while trampling the rational mitzvos, and do not be among those who learn but do not practice, who sin and cause others to sin and bring the Torah into disrepute - for hypocrites are the most dangerous of all, acting like Zimri while expecting the reward of Pinchas.