לַמְנַצֵּחַ מַשְׂכִּיל לְדָוִד׃ - For the Conductor, a Maskil of David.
The Metzudat David explains: "Maskil" - David came to enlighten the people and to warn them against lashon hara (evil speech). This psalm is not mere general ethical guidance; rather, it arose in the aftermath of an actual event - the episode of Doeg the Edomite and the massacre of Nov, the city of the Kohanim. To understand the background, let us briefly review the story as it appears at its source in the First Book of Samuel, chapter 22 (as studied there in depth based on the Malbim).
David fled from Saul to the Cave of Adullam, and around him gathered everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was embittered, about four hundred men, and he became a leader over them - a small army. From there he went to Mizpeh of Moab and entrusted his father and mother to the King of Moab, but ultimately the King of Moab killed his father and mother. Gad the Prophet told him: "Do not stay in the stronghold; go, and come to the land of Judah," and he went and entered the forest of Chereth.
Saul was sitting in Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the high place with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him. He turned to them: "Hear now, Benjaminites! Will the son of Jesse give fields and vineyards to all of you, too? Will he appoint all of you captains of thousands and captains of hundreds?" - meaning: Do you truly believe it is worthwhile for you to support him, that as soon as he becomes king he will hand out gifts and positions to you? "For all of you have conspired against me, and no one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse, and none of you grieves for me" - no one feels my pain. Saul did not feel at all that he was persecuting David, but rather that he himself was being persecuted by David.
And here our story begins: "Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing over Saul's servants, spoke up and said: I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nov, to Ahimelech the son of Ahituv. And he inquired of Hashem for him, and gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine."
And what really happened there? David had parted from Jonathan, and Jonathan had not given him provisions for the journey, and Chazal say that the entire sequence of events unfolded because of this. David arrived to Ahimelech son of Ahituv. The Kohen asked him what he was doing there, and he replied that he was on a mission for the king - after all, he was well known as Saul's army commander and the king's son-in-law - and that they had not had time to take either food or weapons. He requested bread, as he was overcome with severe hunger pangs (bulmus). The Kohen told him: I have no ordinary bread, only the sacred showbread. David told him: It is permitted, for it is a matter of saving a life (pikuach nefesh). He requested a sword, and Ahimelech said: I have no sword; there is only the sword of Goliath wrapped in a cloth. David said to him: Give it to me, there is none like it, for with it I achieved the victory.
And observe how Doeg distorts the facts: "And he inquired of Hashem for him" - meaning that Ahimelech consulted the Urim VeTumim on his behalf, which he did because he was confident that David was acting on the king's mission. But Doeg framed this as though Ahimelech were already treating David as king, since the Urim VeTumim are consulted only on behalf of a king. "And gave him provisions" - implying that he joined David's conspiracy against you; "and gave him the sword of Goliath" - so that he could kill you.
The king sent and summoned Ahimelech and his father's entire household, the Kohanim who were in Nov, and said to him: "Hear now, son of Ahituv!" - a derogatory expression: I will not even mention your name; you have no name of your own, you are merely your father's son. In the same way, when he disparaged David, he referred to him as "the son of Jesse," by his father's name. Ahimelech answered: "And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, the king's son-in-law, who obeys your command and is honored in your house? Did I just begin today to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me... for your servant knew nothing of all this, small or great" - is this the first time I have inquired for him? I have already inquired for him numerous times, since he always came on your mission! And I knew nothing, small or great - I had no idea that there was any conflict between you.
The king said: "You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and your father's entire household!" and he commanded the runners: "Turn and kill the Kohanim of Hashem" - "but the king's servants refused to put forth their hand to strike the Kohanim of Hashem." Not one of the king's servants was willing to do this thing. "Then the king said to Doeg: Turn and strike the Kohanim!" - it is written "Doyeg" and read "Doeg"; and Chazal say: "You were caught like a fish (dag)" - a fish is caught by its tongue, and you too were trapped by your speech, so you shall kill them. "And on that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. And Nov, the city of Kohanim, he struck down by the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep, by the edge of the sword." And then a Heavenly voice (Bat Kol) went forth and proclaimed: "Do not be overly wicked." When Saul had gone to destroy Amalek, he argued: What sin did the men, women, children, and animals commit? And a Bat Kol proclaimed to him: "Do not be overly righteous." Yet here, when he commanded to kill the righteous Kohanim of Hashem, from infant to nursing babe, a Bat Kol went forth and said: "Do not be overly wicked."
One son of Ahimelech, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David and told him. David said: "I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I am the cause of all the souls of your father's house. Stay with me, do not fear, for whoever seeks my life seeks your life; you are safe with me." Thus far the background.
בְּבוֹא דּוֹאֵג הָאֲדֹמִי וַיַּגֵּד לְשָׁאוּל וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ בָּא דָוִד אֶל בֵּית אֲחִימֶלֶךְ׃ - When Doeg the Edomite came and told Shaul, and said to him, "David came to the house of Achimelech."
The Radak explains that he was called "HaAdomi" (the Edomite) because he lived in the land of Edom, not because he was of Edomite descent - just like Oved-Edom the Gittite, who lived in Gat. The Midrash states that he came from a place in Eretz Yisrael called Ma'aleh Adumim, which is why he was called Adomi. The Midrash further offers several interpretations: some say he envied David, who was ruddy (*admoni*); some say it was because he permitted shedding the blood (*dam*) of the Kohanim of Nov; Chazal say he permitted the blood of David; others say it refers to the blood of Agag, as he was the one who advised and argued, "It and its young you shall not slaughter in one day"; some explain that he would make David's face blush red in Halachic debate by embarrassing him; and our Sages said that he held a grudge and took vengeance like Edom, like Esav the wicked - his character traits were those of Esav.
The Radak notes that David does not detail the entire incident here because the story is well-known; he merely provides a reminder. But the Malbim, in his characteristic way, pinpoints what many overlook: Scripture says, "David came to the house of Achimelech" - and not "to the House of Hashem," to the Sanctuary, to the Mishkan, which is where he actually went. The Alshich makes this exact observation as well. The crux of the slander hinged entirely on this distinction.
Doeg himself heard David state that he was on a mission for the king, and that he was so ravenously hungry that he was seized by a weakness (*bulmus*); he saw that David did not disclose to the Kohen what he was inquiring about, for he told him that the king had commanded him to keep the matter secret and that he could not reveal classified matters; and he knew that David had not specifically asked for the sword of Goliath, but merely for any sword, and took Goliath's sword only because there was no other. All these facts prove that Achimelech acted in complete innocence and purity of heart - yet these are precisely the details Doeg withheld. He only reported that Achimelech gave him Goliath's sword and inquired for him through the Urim VeTumim, omitting the true context so that it would appear as though Achimelech were a co-conspirator in a rebellion.
The Malbim further notes: he did not say "Achimelech the Kohen," but "the house of Achimelech" - hinting that David did not come to him in his role as a Kohen, but as an accomplice to treason. After all, one can approach a Kohen in his capacity as a priest, or one can approach him as an ally in orchestrating a conspiracy. Doeg grounded his entire slander on this premise: pretending that David saw him there and therefore summoned Achimelech to his private home so no one else would overhear and leak the matter, and there, away from Doeg's presence, David revealed his secret that he was a fugitive. He also altered the sequence of events. The Malbim there enumerates six distortions Doeg made in order to bring down David and slander Achimelech son of Achituv - leading directly to their tragic execution.
מַה תִּתְהַלֵּל בְּרָעָה הַגִּבּוֹר חֶסֶד אֵל כָּל הַיּוֹם׃ - Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The kindness of God is all day long.
Rashi explains: Why do you boast and glory in the evil you commit, you who are mighty in Torah? "The kindness of God is all day long" - the Holy One, blessed be He, has abundant acts of kindness to rescue the one you pursue. Another interpretation: Had Achimelech not given me bread, do you think I would have starved to death? The kindness of the Holy One, blessed be He, encompasses Israel all day long, and if he had not given it to me, others would have. The Holy One, blessed be He, looks after me, and on this occasion He provided for me through him - yet you come to malign him with evil slander?
The Radak explains: What will your talebearing achieve against me? You thought to deliver me into the hands of Shaul, but the kindness of Hashem is with me all day. How many times has the Holy One, blessed be He, already rescued me from Shaul's grasp, sometimes at the very last moment - and just as He saved me then, so too will He save me now.
The holy Alshich explains: What were you thinking? Do you imagine that committing evil will be accounted to you as might, and that glory will come of it? Certainly this is not might. And if you should say that you intended to perform kindness with Shaul - for Shaul complained, "None of you is grieved for me, or discloses to my ear," and you thought, "I will share his pain and disclose it to his ear, so I am acting with kindness" - concerning this, David offers a wondrous explanation: "The kindness of God is all day long."
It is written, "And God (Keil) is indignant every day." The Gemara asks: And how long does His indignation last? A single moment. And that was the very moment that Bil'am knew how to pinpoint. Seemingly, what kindness is there in God being indignant? After all, "Keil" is a Divine Name denoting lovingkindness, while indignation is the opposite of the attribute of the Benevolent! Rather, if the indignation came all at once in great fury, the world could not endure. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, divides it up - each day one moment of indignation, rather than concentrating it once a year into an unbearable wrath. This is "the kindness of Keil": that the attribute of Keil, the attribute of kindness, is to express indignation each day for only a single moment.
Now David says to Doeg: If you thought you were doing a kindness for Shaul, you turned "the kindness of Keil" into "all day long." The indignation of the Holy One, blessed be He, lasts for only a moment, but you poured out the fury of Hashem upon the Kohanim of Hashem, putting them all to death in a single day - causing that momentary indignation to extend across an entire day.
The Malbim interprets "chesed Keil" completely differently from all other commentators: not as kindness, but from the root chisuda - as in "lest the listener put you to shame (yechasdecha)" - which denotes disgrace. David says to him: In what are you boasting regarding the evil you committed? In this terrible disgrace, in the desecration of God's Name you caused by slaying the Kohanim of Hashem?
In Midrash Tehillim: "And the king said to Doeg, 'Turn around and strike the priests'" - he arose and struck them down, as it says, "And he put to death on that day eighty-five men." See what strength he had, for no man in the world assisted him; he himself killed them. And not only these, but "and Nov, the city of priests, he struck with the edge of the sword." What a great "mighty warrior" - he killed eighty-five men on his own, and an entire city besides! And David cries out: "Why do you boast of evil, O mighty one?" A mighty man, the head of the Sanhedrin, should involve himself in such evil and speak lashon hara?
The Midrash continues: And is this might? If a person sees his fellow standing at the edge of a pit and pushes him in, is that might? If he sees him on the roof and pushes him, is that might? When is one truly mighty? When his fellow is about to fall and he grabs hold of him with strength so that he does not fall; when his fellow falls into a pit and he raises him out of the pit with his strength. But you saw that Shaul was angry with me and you poured fuel on the fire - you saw an opportunity: "Shaul is angry at David; let us finish him off." Thus, "mighty one" here is said cynically: Doeg, you are a great hero - you saw someone about to fall and gave him a push.
The Kabbalists explain: "Keil" (אל) has the numerical value of 31, and corresponding to this, there are thirty-one hours of lovingkindness on Shabbat. How so? From midday on Friday, the sanctity of Shabbat already begins to shimmer, extending until the hour added from the weekday to the holy on Saturday night. Calculate it: the day itself is 24 hours; add six hours from midday of Friday afternoon, and you have 30; add the hour by which we extend Shabbat at its conclusion, or if you will, even according to the opinion of Rabbeinu Tam - and you have 31. "The kindness of Keil is all day long" - thirty-one hours of Hashem's lovingkindness upon us on the day of Shabbat.
The holy Arizal explains "the kindness of Keil is all day long": that a person who commits a sin should do teshuvah on that very day and not wait until tomorrow. If he repents on that day, he is forgiven immediately, the iniquity is easily removed, and the Holy One, blessed be He, does not harbor wrath against him. But if the day passes and he has not repented, "behold, Keil is indignant every day." The holy Ari says similarly regarding one who experienced a nocturnal emission: he should immerse in a mikveh on that very day, and not delay by saying, "In two days it will be Friday, and I will go before Shabbat" - but rather today. If he immerses and repents on that day, it is very easy to eradicate the destructive force created; but if he delays until tomorrow or the next day, that destructive force takes root. It is like a stain: if you clean it immediately, it is clean; if you let it soak in, sometimes even many launderings will not help. So a person must know: Hashem's kindness extends to him "all day long," and if the day passes, it becomes far more difficult, for the special kindness departs and he becomes rooted in the sin.
The Sefer Brit Avraham in Me'am Loez asks: What did Doeg have to boast about in the first place? He answers: He had a halachic justification. Doeg was the head of the Sanhedrin, and he was no simple reed-cutter - rather, he was among those scholars about whom the Gemara relates that they expounded three hundred halachot, and some say three thousand, concerning a tower flying in the air, the most intricate and complex halachot. He was an expert in the dexterous twisting of fingers and sharp pilpul. And what was his pilpul? Nov, the city of Kohanim, descended from Eli, and concerning the house of Eli it was said, "I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father's house." He said: Happy is my lot that I have merited to execute the divine will; this was decreed, and this decree was waiting until Doeg would come and fulfill the will of Hashem. Leshem Yichud, behold I come to fulfill the mitzvah of "I will cut off your arm" - bring the Kohanim, and let us eliminate them one by one. Here he found his justification.
But in truth, Chazal expound on the verse, "if the iniquity of the house of Eli shall be atoned for with sacrifice and meal offering": with sacrifice and meal offering it is not atoned for, but it is atoned for through Torah and acts of lovingkindness. And this is what he told him: "Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?" - you boast that you found a pretext to kill them, but it is a falsehood, for "the lovingkindness of God endures all day" - the lovingkindness of the Holy One, blessed be He, is always extended over them to atone for them through Torah and acts of lovingkindness. And who told you that their rectification would come specifically through their slaughter?
הַוּוֹת תַּחְשֹׁב לְשׁוֹנֶךָ כְּתַעַר מְלֻטָּשׁ עֹשֵׂה רְמִיָּה׃ - Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharpened razor, practicing deceit.
The expression is seemingly difficult: the tongue does not think! It should have said "your heart devises" or "your mind." The Radak explains: because the tongue relates the thoughts of the heart, thought is attributed to it. The heart thinks, but what brings it into actuality? Speech, the tongue. This is like "and with the skillfulness of his hands he guided them" - do hands possess understanding? Rather, because the hands guide the flock according to the understanding of the heart, understanding is attributed to the hands.
The meaning of the word havot in most places and according to most commentators denotes destruction and evil - you think only evil. "Like a sharpened razor, practicing deceit": like an extremely sharp knife, where a person intends to make a small cut and inadvertently cuts deeply. This is the "deceit" of the razor - you intended a little, and it deceived you and cut a great deal. So too, your tongue speaks evil words; and in the words of the Radak: the words were few, but the consequence resulting from them was enormous - a sentence or two, and eighty-five Kohanim were killed, besides the children.
The Alshich HaKadosh explains: If you claim that you did not target me at all, but only the matter of Achimelech, who acted improperly and deserved death for inquiring of God on my behalf - since one may only inquire for a king - and that this was merely zealousness for justice and truth, this too is a lie. For havot is plural, and your tongue devises falsehood and evil against two: against me and against Achimelech. Toward Achimelech you were "like a sharpened razor" - to slaughter him; and toward me, "practicing deceit" - for you wanted Shaul's wrath against me to burn even more, making him believe that my rebellion was advancing and that I had already drawn the Kohen Gadol and Nov, the city of Kohanim, into my conspiracy. Thus the havot, the destruction, was twofold.
The Malbim explains: Your tongue devised thoughts to bring about destruction and ruin, and it is like a sharpened razor practicing deceit. The purpose of a razor is to remove hair and unsightly dishevelment from a person, but instead of removing the hair - you slaughtered. This is the deceit. Instead of removing the obstacle from the house of Shaul, who was pursuing David without cause, you brought down the house of Shaul itself - for the deaths of Shaul and Yehonatan were brought about because of this matter; they died on account of the slaughter of Nov, the city of Kohanim. You claim that you came to help Shaul and tell him what Achimelech did, but you ended up like a razor that cuts the throat of the one being shaved instead of shaving him: instead of saving the house of Shaul you destroyed it, and you also shed the innocent blood of Achimelech son of Achituv and all of Nov, the city of Kohanim.
In the book Shevet MiYisrael in Me'am Loez, it is explained why lashon hara is compared to a sharpened razor: One of the characteristics of a sharp knife is that a person is cut by it without feeling it. According to the simple meaning, this is also the reason why the Torah insists that a shechitah knife must be razor-sharp, and any tiny notch invalidates it - for any notch causes pain to the animal at the time of slaughter, whereas with a smooth blade it feels nothing at that moment. People have been cut by a sharp knife and did not realize they had been cut until they felt their hand wet with blood. When a knife is like a saw, one feels it immediately; it tears at the flesh and hurts right away. But when it is sharp, it sometimes takes time for the nerves to transmit the sensation of pain to the brain.
Such is lashon hara: one who is cut by a razor does not feel the pain immediately, but only afterward. Sometimes lashon hara that has been spoken does not cause immediate pain, and only after some time does it cause immense troubles. This is why Chazal compare it to an arrow rather than a sword: a sword stabs on the spot, whereas an arrow is shot and strikes even from a distance and after a long time.
They also explain regarding "your tongue is like a whetted razor": Doeg was a great Torah scholar and exceedingly sharp and keen - and he was called "the Edomite" also because he would make David's face blush red in halachic debate. David says to him: It would have been better for you had you not been like a whetted razor, but rather like a dull razor. When people want to describe someone as brilliant and incisive, they say he is "razor-sharp" - and see how much your sharpness destroyed you! When a person's brilliance leads him to grave transgressions, it would be better for him to be a simpleton; you should have prayed for this - if only I had been born a fool, I would not have suffered such ruin, nor would I have caused so much harm. Indeed, your sharpness, your being a whetted razor, is what led you to great sharpness in sin.
The psalm is a "Maskil" - to enlighten the people and warn against lashon hara, and it was composed concerning the episode of Doeg the Edomite, who distorted a few facts and thereby caused the death of eighty-five Kohanim and an entire city. The Malbim reveals that the crux of the slander lay in a single nuance: "David came to the house of Ahimelech" - and not to the House of Hashem, nor to Ahimelech the Kohen - as though he came to him as a partner in a conspiracy. Over this David cries out: "Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?" - is it might to push someone standing on the brink of a pit? The true hero is one who holds his fellow so that he does not fall. And "the lovingkindness of God endures all day long" - whether referring to the lovingkindness of the Holy One, Blessed is He, Who saves and atones every day, or according to the Malbim's explanation that it denotes disgrace and chilul Hashem. And "your tongue devises destruction, like a whetted razor" - few words, yet an immense and terrible consequence emerges from them, for a razor cuts deeper than intended, and its wound is not felt immediately, but only after some time. From here comes an eternal warning: the destructive power of the tongue is greater than any sword, and unbridled sharpness can become the most dangerous weapon in the hands of its master.