Psalm 51 is King David's psalm of repentance, uttered when Nathan the prophet came to him after the incident of Batsheva. In this part of the lesson, we stand in the midst of the psalm: from the verse "Behold, in iniquity was I fashioned" onward, where David presents a profound argument - that the Holy One, Blessed be He, desires the inwardness, the "hidden parts" (tuchot), and not the external veneer. From here he continues to his requests for purification: "Purge me with hyssop," "Make me hear joy and gladness."
הֵן־בְּעָווֹן חוֹלָלְתִּי וּבְחֵטְא יֶחֱמַתְנִי אִמִּי׃ - Behold, in iniquity was I fashioned, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
The holy Alshich explains: Who is called "mother" - the mother of royalty? Ruth. And there too there was a flaw, something that was not entirely clean or pure to all appearances. When she went to the threshing floor and lay at Boaz's feet, there was a risk of Chillul Hashem (desecration of God's Name) and a "strife of tongues" - as the Alshich phrases it - as if giving cause for evil gossip. Our Sages say that this is what Boaz prayed about: "Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor." What a Chillul Hashem there would have been had people said: "We saw a woman coming out of the threshing floor while Boaz was sleeping there; he sequestered himself with a woman at night!" This could have caused a tremendous desecration of the Name.
And nevertheless, David says, You, Master of the Universe, did not reckon this as an iniquity - neither the deed of Lot's daughters nor the deed of Ruth. Externally, things looked terrible: here immorality (arayot), there a strife of tongues, with people talking and saying, "Look, a woman came to the threshing floor." Why, then, did You not consider it a sin?
הֵן־אֱמֶת חָפַצְתָּ בַטֻּחוֹת וּבְסָתֻם חׇכְמָה תוֹדִיעֵנִי׃ - Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in hiddenness You teach me wisdom.
The answer is: "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts" - what Hashem seeks is the inwardness, the tuchot, what is embedded deep within. And so our Sages teach that Lot's daughters acted for the sake of Heaven; hence Chazal said regarding the older daughter that she preceded her sister to a mitzvah by one night - that is how Chazal refer to it, a mitzvah.
A story is cited from Mishnat HaChalomot regarding a man who spoke disparagingly of Lot's daughters and voiced harsh criticism against them: "Was it not enough what they did, but this one names her son 'Moav' - from a father (me-av) - and that one names hers 'Ben-Ammi' (son of my people)? Why did they need to publicize where they came from?" Sometime later, that man fell ill, bedridden and suffocating, reaching a truly critical condition. He requested that Rav Moshe Feinstein come to him. Rav Moshe came to visit him, and the man recounted that during the night, two bent old women appeared to him - their faces hidden - and said to him: "We are the daughters of Lot. What you spoke against us is extremely grave, and it is untrue, for Chazal testify that we performed a mitzvah. We were certain that we were preserving the world, as 'the world is built on kindness' (chesed); and just as it was not considered a sin for Adam's children to marry their sisters for the sake of 'the world is built on kindness,' so too was it no sin for us, since we believed we were sustaining the world."
They further said to him: "And as for our publicizing the origin of the matter in our sons' names - on the contrary, we wanted to prove that if an offspring is born, it is never from a woman conceiving through a holy spirit, but only from union with a male. For we could have founded a religion and claimed we conceived through a holy spirit, yet we did not do so; therefore, this is counted to our merit." Then they told him: "And you, because you spoke slanderously against us, will die an unnatural death and will be afflicted in your throat - the very organ with which you spoke." The man finished recounting this and breathed his last. Rav Moshe Feinstein related the incident and remarked that there was truth in these words, because the rationale they presented was so compelling, and he therefore affirmed that it was a true dream.
From here we learn that the Holy One, blessed be He, seeks truth "in the inward parts" (tuchot), in one's inner essence, rather than in externality. Our Sages say that during the First Temple period there were three severe sins: idolatry, forbidden relations, and bloodshed - and yet after seventy years "the palace returned to its former glory" and the Second Temple was built. By contrast, the Second Temple has not been rebuilt to this day, and no target date has even been set (though it will arrive by the end of six thousand years, no exact time was fixed), and we have already been in exile for two thousand years. What is the difference? We discussed this at length in the talks for Tisha B'Av, and it seems this is Rav Pinkus's explanation: the difference is immense. Those earlier generations were flawed on the outside, but more whole in their inner essence. In the Second Temple era it was the opposite - Torah and acts of lovingkindness on the outside, but within, baseless hatred, terrible and dread. Therefore, the palace did not return to the later generations, because "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts" - Hashem seeks internality, and the inner state of the First Temple era was far more rectified.
King David says: If with the daughters of Lot - "Behold, I was formed in iniquity," and with Ruth the mother of royalty - "and in sin did my mother conceive me," You did not hold this against them as sin and iniquity because "You desire truth in the inward parts," so too with me, Master of the Universe, do not count this against me as sin and iniquity. For what I said when asking "Be gracious to me" was said with sincere intention, to confront and overcome the sin, and my inner essence has remained as intact as ever.
And the proof is - "and in the hidden part You make me know wisdom." Here the holy Alshich adds a wonderful explanation: Our Sages say of Avraham Avinu that his kidneys flowed with wisdom. David says: Were my "inward parts" - my inner core and my kidneys - not pure in Your eyes, You would not make me know wisdom in hidden matters. And indeed, in his Torah attainments, none was greater than King David, and it was said of him that "the halachah follows him everywhere." After all, for every praise told to Shaul about David - "handsome," "skilled in playing music" - Shaul would reply, "Yonatan son of a man of Kish possesses this as well." But when they told him, "and the halachah follows him everywhere," he remained silent, for the halachah cannot follow two different people everywhere. From this we see that David was exceedingly lofty and mighty in his Torah comprehension. And from where did this come? "In the hidden part You make me know wisdom" - You placed wisdom within my heart, and had my heart been flawed, You would not have done so. From this David concludes: "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts" - the inner essence is what truly matters.
The Malbim explains that the Holy One, blessed be He, implanted faculties within man through which he can be saved from sin (chet) and iniquity (avon). As we explained, avon (iniquity) is a distortion of the intellect, whereas chet (sin) is more akin to an inadvertent misstep arising from desire. To counter the distortion of the intellect, Hashem implanted discernment (tevunah) within man, so that through contemplative insight (hitbonenut) one may reach correct conclusions in intellectual and conceptual matters. For iniquity does not stem from an overwhelming bodily desire - such as the desire for food or relations - but from something a person thought through and reasoned incorrectly. Countering this, binah (understanding) was given, so that one may contemplate properly and avoid distorting the intellect.
And to counter the surge of desire, Hashem implanted the powers of chochmah (wisdom) within the soul. Wisdom, as the Malbim explains frequently in Mishlei, pertains to matters of good and evil - what is good to do and what is bad. This is a received wisdom from Hashem, for just as people differ in their faces, so do their opinions differ: one says it is good to act this way, while another says it is not; one says family life is necessary, while another says each person should live as he sees fit. On every issue you will hear opinions this way and that, but what is right? Knowing what is right - that is chochmah, and we received it as a tradition from Hashem, through the Torah or through a prophet. For if not for that, who could say that wiping out Amalek is the right thing? Perhaps one should spare them and have mercy on women and children? Who can determine that killing them is the true act of mercy? For that, a divine commandment is required, and only the Holy One, blessed be He, can determine such matters. This is the wisdom that counters good and evil, and for this purpose we received the Torah to guide us on the proper path.
Binah, says the Malbim, corresponds to matters of truth and falsehood - true or false, irrespective of physical desire. It is like Adam HaRishon before the sin, whose free will operated in the realm of truth and falsehood; he had no bodily desires, "and they were both naked and were not ashamed," and his test, as the Rambam explains, was a test of truth versus falsehood. This belongs to the realm of the intellect, entirely divorced from bodily desire. Opposing this stands avon, which is a distortion of the intellect: a person chooses to act in a certain way because intellectually he believes it is more correct. The soul, the Malbim defines, is receptive to the conceptual forms of wisdom, through which a person is saved from sin - meaning that the Holy One, blessed be He, implanted within us the capacity to receive chochmah, the Torah, and through its power a person can overcome the inclination of desire and material temptations.
Concerning this, David says: The power of binah, by which I attain truth, is a profoundly inward faculty - tuchot, related to ti'ach (plaster): it has been plastered over by materiality, and it is not easily revealed; it is hidden and internal. "Behold, You desire truth" - we attain truth through contemplation, yet it is plastered over in the inward parts; there is a thick plaster of materiality, of physical existence and desires, that conceals the truth. Therefore, one does not arrive at the truth easily. Whereas "and in the hidden part You make me know wisdom" - chochmah, which counters sin and desire, countering good and evil, is sealed and not revealed at all. Why? Because wisdom is exclusively what Hashem states, not something a person can deduce on his own. Binah - you can attain on your own; even though it is plastered over, if you contemplate deeply you can arrive at the truth. But chochmah is sealed, and no matter how deeply you look within, you are liable to fall into error and intellectual distortion. From where can you attain it? Only from Hashem, through His making it known. David therefore pleads: "You make me know wisdom" - regarding wisdom, I need You to inform me, for it is sealed deep within the soul, and man cannot draw it out easily on his own, which could easily lead him to err and go astray.
תְּחַטְּאֵנִי בְאֵזוֹב וְאֶטְהָר תְּכַבְּסֵנִי וּמִשֶּׁלֶג אַלְבִּין׃ - Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
The Radak explains that this is the same request David made in verse 4: "Thoroughly wash me from my iniquity." Iniquity in the soul is equivalent to a stain on a garment or tzara'at on the body: just as a garment undergoes washing and becomes clean, so too the soul undergoes washing and becomes whitened; and just as the metzora is purified with hyssop, so too "purify me in the manner that a metzora is purified." And "purge me with hyssop" - just as they cleanse with hyssop, which is the final stage of purification, so too cleanse me of my iniquity: complete the purification to its very end, for the purging (chittui) is essentially the removal of the sin.
On a literal level, let us recall that the Gemara states that King David was afflicted with tzara'at for seven months, and according to this, "Purge me with hyssop" fits the context very well - if he was a metzora, he needed purification in the exact manner that a metzora is cleansed and purified.
The holy Alshich asks: What is the relevance of the hyssop here? And what is the meaning of "and I shall be clean" - would it not have been enough to say "Purge me with hyssop"? Furthermore, if you begin with "Purge me" - an action performed by Hashem - it would have been appropriate to continue with "and purify me," rather than "and I shall be clean," which implies an action that I myself perform. And why "and I shall be clean" rather than "and I will be purged"?
His explanation is as follows: Chazal say that the hyssop used for the metzora comes to hint to him that he should lower himself like the hyssop. For one who speaks lashon hara - where does it come from? From arrogance of heart. How does a person come to speak lashon hara? Because in his eyes this person is a nobody, that person is worth nothing, and the third is such and such. Lashon hara stems from a person being haughty and consequently belittling others. Therefore, the Torah hints to him through the hyssop and the crimson thread - lowly items: lower your pride, and then your heart will not become haughty to speak lashon hara. For arrogance and lashon hara are among the seven things that bring about afflictions of tzara'at.
Regarding this, David says: You, Hashem, desire that we initiate the process of purifying ourselves, and You will assist and help. But I ask of You that You initiate it - "Purge me with hyssop": You perform first the act of cleansing, cleaning, and purification. Just as You cleansed the metzora and commanded him regarding the hyssop, bringing him to modesty and humility, so too I ask that You plant submission and lowliness in my heart, so that I may recognize my deficiency and recognize that I have sinned. And then "and I shall be clean" - the purification will already come from me, for one who is humble acknowledges his sin and knows that he requires rectification. It is this lowliness of spirit, this sense of unworthiness, that I ask You to plant within me; then I will be able to rectify easily and become pure on my own.
This is very similar to what is explained in the lessons on Megillat Eichah: "Turn us back to You, Hashem, and we shall return" - this is the enduring debate between the Community of Israel and the Holy One, blessed be He. He says, "Return to Me and I will return to you," open for Me an opening like the eye of a needle; while we say: Master of the Universe, You begin - turn us back to You and then we shall return. The debate is over who starts.
And this connects deeply to the words of Rav Dessler regarding the sin of David: that his sin stemmed from the subtlest trace of pride, for he had approached and asked, "Why do people not say 'the God of David'?" For such a subtle blemish he would not have done teshuvah had Hashem not caused him to stumble into sin, through which he recognized his own unworthiness and repented. And this is precisely the idea of "Purge me with hyssop": the hyssop is designated for the metzora whose heart grew haughty and proud, and the hyssop, being the lowest and humblest of plants, comes to remind him to lower himself. So too - grant me submission and humility, and through this, "I shall be clean."
The Alshich says: "And I shall be clean" - I will be cleansed of the filth of iniquity by humbling my heart, and then I will not need "Thoroughly wash me," which implies scrubbing after scrubbing and cleaning after cleaning; rather, in a single stroke, "Wash me," and "I shall be whiter than snow" - with one action I will emerge clean and white as snow. And what is "I shall be whiter than snow"? Not only will the iniquity be removed, but I will also acquire whitening - and whitening signifies merits, that the sin will be transformed into an aspect of merit. Then, not only will there be no sin or iniquity within me, but I will be in a state of whiteness, where intentional sins are transformed into merits.
The Malbim adds another reason for the request here: Why is it fitting that You wipe away my iniquity and my sin? Because I have already suffered, and affliction is the greatest atonement for a person's sins. Furthermore, David was afflicted with tzara'at and purified with hyssop according to the law of the metzora, and therefore it is fitting that I receive purification from both sin and iniquity.
And how so? The hyssop is the instrument through which the metzora is purified, and it is effective in removing sin: "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean" - through the hyssop the sin is removed, and the purification is from sin, as in the phrase "and cleanse me from my sin." The hyssop purifies by subduing the physical nature and fostering humility, so that one will no longer feel pride. But the plague of tzara'at is more severe, and it portrays avon (iniquity), because the affliction is an internal matter - "an affliction in his heart." For iniquity is something internal, a distortion of the intellect, unlike sin (chet) which is committed out of a momentary desire and does not involve an intellectual distortion; however, if you built an ideology around the sin, you created a distortion of the intellect, so that the mind is already warped, and "who can make straight what is crooked": what is crooked tells you that this is how it should be and how one ought to act. Iniquity is a distortion of thought, an internal affliction, and the stain clinging to the soul bursts outward, as it were, through the skin of the flesh, as it is written, "And the leper in whom the plague is" - "in him," internally; do not look for it on the outside, and do not bring cosmetic remedies, for they will not help; the affliction is deep within his heart.
According to this: corresponding to sin, which is external, it is sufficient that You humble me with hyssop "and I shall be clean" - that I come to recognize my lowliness, and through this I will be purified. But corresponding to the distortion of the intellect - "wash me," here actual scouring is required, "and I shall be whiter than snow." And just as we find regarding the metzora that when "it has all turned white, he is clean" - when it has all turned white he has the status of being pure - so too with me, "I shall be whiter than snow," and even from the affliction deep in the heart, which is the distortion of the intellect, I will become completely white.
תַּשְׁמִיעֵנִי שָׂשׂוֹן וְשִׂמְחָה תָּגֵלְנָה עֲצָמוֹת דִּכִּיתָ׃ - Make me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
The Radak explains: Let me hear through a prophet that You have forgiven my iniquity, and this will be joy and gladness to my soul, which is aching and mourning over the sin. And then, "let the bones You have crushed rejoice," in accord with the statement of Chazal: "Good news fattens the bone."
This is like the incident involving Vespasian and Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai. He said to him: You are destined to become emperor, you are destined to reign - "O king." He replied: You are guilty of treason against the crown, for I am not king; and if I am king, why did you not come to me until today? And if I am not king, then you have rebelled against the monarchy by calling me king. He answered him: You are destined to reign, as it says, "And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one" - the one who conquers the Beit HaMikdash is a king. And so it was, that in the end he did reign, and while they were still speaking, a messenger arrived and notified him that he had been appointed king. It is recounted that he then wanted to remove his shoe and could not, and he wanted to put on the second shoe and could not do that either. He asked: What should we do? He said to him: "Good news fattens the bone" - since you heard good news, your bones swelled, and therefore you can neither put on the shoe nor take off the one you have on. He asked: And what should I do? He told him: Have someone you despise pass before you, one of your soldiers who immediately makes your blood boil - and then your bones will contract. And so it was; his bones contracted and he was able to remove his shoe. And to our point: through "Make me hear joy and gladness," "let the bones You have crushed rejoice" - the bones that until now were crushed and broken will rejoice, be enriched, flourish, and be restored.
The Radak asks: Did not the prophet already say to him, "Hashem also has put away your sin; you shall not die," so why does he request to hear further from a prophet? He explains that the promise there was only "you shall not die," not that he would be spared other punishments - on the contrary, the prophet also told him, "the sword shall never depart from your house," and "Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house." If so, what is the request "let the bones You have crushed rejoice" - is it to remove the punishments?
Pay attention to the words of the Radak: "And he did not pray concerning those punishments, for it was fitting to receive them as atonement for his iniquity, and he could not achieve atonement without them" - and should he ask that they be removed from him, that punishment is actually good for him! Rather, the request is not that the suffering be removed, but "Make me hear joy and gladness" through a prophet that You have forgiven my iniquity, so that the sin will be completely atoned for - "and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged." For when the prophet told him, "He has put away your sin; you shall not die," that meant only that I will not die, that Hashem had mercy on me. But as we see with the Golden Calf, "and on the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them," there is a reality where the Holy One, blessed be He, bears iniquity and pardons it, yet the iniquity is not entirely wiped away. Therefore, David asks to hear that You have completely forgiven my iniquity: I am not asking that You waive the punishments - they are part of the refining process - but I want to hear that You have completely forgiven.
And this is just as Rabbeinu Yonah explains: the longing of the righteous is to attain the level of "and You, in Your abundant mercies, desire us" - to achieve Hashem's desire, and their entire will is to be desired and favored before Him. For it is possible, says Rabbeinu Yonah, that a person sins and does teshuvah and Hashem forgives him, yet Hashem has no delight in him and will not accept an offering from his hand - He forgives you, but does not want to see you. It is fearsome to contemplate. This is a reality often seen between one person and another: someone hurt you deeply, and you say, "I forgive him, but let us keep our distance." The righteous yearn to return to "You desire us," to closeness with Hashem. Therefore, "Cause me to hear joy and gladness" - that You have completely forgiven my iniquity; that is the joy and that is the gladness.
In the end, the Holy One, blessed be He, did let it be heard, yet not to him directly, but to his son: when they needed to bring the Ark inside, and only when he said, "Remember the pious deeds of David Your servant," did the doors of the Beit HaMikdash open. What do we learn? As long as he had not mentioned David, the doors would not open, and then the faces of David's enemies turned black like the bottom of a pot. During his lifetime he did not merit that this become known and publicized, but in any case we see that Hashem made it heard - albeit after his death - that He had forgiven him for the sin.
The Alshich explains: David is asking one thing of the Holy One, blessed be He - not to leave the announcement aside, but to notify him that He has forgiven him for the sin, and not wait until after his death. Just as You made it heard to me through a prophet that You were angry with me, so too make it heard to me through a prophet that You forgive me. "Cause me to hear joy and gladness" - joy (sason) over the fact that You pardon the iniquity, and gladness (simchah) over "and I will become whiter than snow," that the iniquity is transformed into merit and into a state of whiteness.
And if you ask: Why is "Cause me to hear" demanded, and specifically now, when the Holy One, blessed be He, will make it known after his death? To this David says, "Let the bones You crushed rejoice": for when the prophet told me, "You are the man," "The man is deserving of death" - my bones were crushed. Therefore, I ask that after "the bones You crushed," You also grant me joy in life. Had the bad news come only after death, it would be understandable that the forgiveness also be announced after death; but the bad news and the suffering were experienced in life, and so I ask that the good tidings - that You have pardoned and forgiven - also come in life.
The Malbim explains that David describes here how the affliction, as it were, destroyed his entire body, and now the body is being rebuilt. Corresponding to what he said, "Purge me with hyssop and I will be clean," he requests, "Cause me to hear joy and gladness": for the metzora sits outside the camp, his garments torn and his head bare, and all these are the opposite of joy (sason), a state of depression and alienation. And now I ask that You show me things containing joy and gladness - how? Through "Purge me with hyssop and I will be clean," so that I may enter the camp, and there will no longer be "He shall call out: Contaminated, contaminated!" which is the opposite of gladness (simchah). And corresponding to the plea that He remove the pains and plagues from him, he says, "Let the bones You crushed rejoice" - the bones that were crushed will find exultation (gilah).
And what is the distinction between sason, simchah, and gilah? Sason (joy), says the Malbim, is external: a person is joyous and jubilant and dances; it is visibly apparent. Simchah (gladness), on the other hand, is in the heart, without outward displays, as in "You put gladness into my heart, from the time their grain and wine increased." Furthermore, simchah is constant, whereas gilah (exultation) is always over something newly occurred, as in "and my heart shall exult in Your salvation" - salvation suddenly arrives, and therefore "my heart shall exult." Thus, "Let the bones You crushed rejoice (tagelnah)": the bones that were crushed will suddenly, through immediate healing, experience exultation (gilah). And "Cause me to hear joy and gladness" address the external and internal aspects: corresponding to his dwelling outside the camp, which is visibly noticeable and the antithesis of sason, and corresponding to "He shall call out: Contaminated, contaminated!" which is the inner anguish and the antithesis of simchah. Master of the Universe, take me out of this state so that I may have joy and gladness, and when You bring me tidings of healing - "Let the bones You crushed rejoice," exultation over something newly received.
According to this, the explanation also aligns beautifully with the words of the Alshich. The Alshich stated that the tidings that You have forgiven my iniquity are the sason, and that everything will be transformed into merits is the simchah - and this is how the matters correspond: the first message, that You have forgiven my iniquity, leads me to rejoice openly, to emerge from the depression in which I find myself, and I am glad and jubilant; while the next stage in forgiveness, wherein deliberate sins are transformed into merits, is an internal gladness, and does not bring about external jubilation like the first tidings.
In this section of the psalm, David presents the plea of internality: "Behold, You desire truth in the hidden places" - the Holy One, blessed be He, seeks the internal and not the external, just as He did not count as iniquity the deed of Lot's daughters or the deed of Ruth, mother of royalty, and just as the rectified internality of the First Temple availed it more than the splendid externality of the Second Temple. And according to the Malbim, the truth is concealed beneath the "plaster" of physical matter and grasped through understanding (binah), while the wisdom of good and evil is obscure and acquired only through notification from Hashem. From there, David proceeds to the request for purification: "Purge me with hyssop" - instill in me humility to counter haughtiness of heart, and then "and I will be clean" on my own; "Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow" - so that the internal plague, the distortion of the intellect, will also be removed, and even iniquities will be transformed into merits. And finally, "Cause me to hear joy and gladness": David is not asking that the afflictions be removed, for they are his atonement, but rather that it be made known to him in his lifetime that he has been fully forgiven and that Hashem delights in him - joy on the outside, gladness in the heart, and exultation for the bones that were crushed.