Psalm 55, explains the Malbim, was composed concerning the events that befell David when he fled from Avshalom. Avshalom rebelled against his father, and Achitophel was among the advisors who stood at his side. It was he who advised Avshalom to consort with his father's concubines, so that it would be clear to all that he had utterly alienated his father, making any reconciliation impossible. David fled with his men and those who joined to assist him, while Avshalom planned to pursue and kill him.
What did David do? He sent Chushai the Archite - we might call him the "antibiotic" against Achitophel. If Achitophel proposed counsel, Chushai would counter with an alternative that would be accepted, thereby saving David. David's primary fear was of Achitophel, for "the counsel of Achitophel was as if a man inquired at the word of God," and therefore he offered a special prayer concerning him: "Frustrate, please, the counsel of Achitophel."
Achitophel advised exploiting the momentum: now that David is fearful, strike him in a single blow before he has time to regroup and flee - strike while the iron is hot. Chushai the Archite, on the other hand, countered: David's heart is like the heart of a lion; he will not let the troops sleep but will keep them on alert, so you will not be able to take him by surprise. And if you attempt to strike him and he inflicts a blow on your forces, everyone will say that his strength is still formidable and you cannot overcome him. Therefore, the counsel is to gather all the people into a massive army, ensuring a decisive blow that David cannot withstand. However, this required mobilization and would inevitably take time. Avshalom accepted the advice of Chushai the Archite.
When Achitophel saw that his advice was not followed, he went and hanged himself - so may all Your enemies perish, Hashem. Why? Because he knew that if his advice was rejected, the rebellion would fail. And he was right. Incidentally, when we studied this chapter in Sefer Shmuel, we noted the injustice done to Achitophel's reputation: in popular Hebrew idiom, bad advice is referred to as "the counsel of Achitophel," after his final advice. But this is unfair, because his advice was actually strategically sound. Avshalom did not adopt it, but had he followed it, he would have succeeded. It was only because David prayed, "Frustrate the counsel of Achitophel," that it was rejected. Thus, Achitophel was right even in that final piece of advice, and when he saw it was rejected, he understood that the rebellion was doomed.
For this, David offers praise and thanksgiving to the Creator, blessed be He, for saving him during his flight from Avshalom. While Psalm 3 was also composed regarding his flight from Avshalom, the psalm before us also relates the ultimate end of Achitophel.
לַמְנַצֵּחַ בִּנְגִינֹת מַשְׂכִּיל לְדָוִד׃ - For the conductor, with stringed instruments; a Maskil of David.
The Alshich explains: speaking so much of his grief brought upon him sadness, and he required musical instruments to lift him from sorrow and awaken joy, so that Ruach HaKodesh (Divine inspiration) could rest upon him - for David recited these psalms with Ruach HaKodesh. This is the meaning of "For the conductor, with stringed instruments": why were instruments needed? So that it would be "a Maskil of David," enabling David to gain enlightened insight through Ruach HaKodesh and utter his songs of praise.
הַאֲזִינָה אֱלֹהִים תְּפִלָּתִי וְאַל־תִּתְעַלַּם מִתְּחִנָּתִי׃ - Give ear, O God, to my prayer, and do not hide Yourself from my supplication.
The difficulty is evident: why use both "Give ear" and "do not hide Yourself," and both "my prayer" (tefillah) and "my supplication" (techinah)? The Malbim explains: when the news of Avshalom's rebellion reached him, he pleaded, "Give ear to my prayer" - tefillah refers to the outpouring of the soul to God. Techinah refers to the petition for his other needs, and regarding this he says: concerning my other needs as well, do not hide Yourself from my supplication; fulfill those for me as well.
And Ibn Ezra explains: "Give ear, O God, to my prayer" - in the manner of man, with the ear; "and do not ignore my supplication" - with the eye, gaze at me and see my supplication, how I plead before You.
הַקְשִׁיבָה לִּי וַעֲנֵנִי אָרִיד בְּשִׂיחִי וְאָהִימָה׃ - Attend to me and answer me; I lament in my speech and groan.
The Malbim explains: "Attend to me and answer me" - even when You hear my voice from afar, that is, at the very beginning when I just start to pray, answer me already; and also at the time when "I lament in my speech" and when "I groan" - listen and answer. "I lament in my speech and groan" - this refers to a person merely wailing, like the expression "Remember my affliction and my misery [merudi]" (Eichah 3:19). Rashi similarly explains: arid - I complain, I cry out; and Ibn Ezra: I wail. It all shares the same idea.
And what is "my speech" (sichi)? The Malbim says: siach is an utterance that a person blurts out from grief. That is to say, I am not only asking You to listen to structured prayer, but even before that - even before I detail my prayer, when I am merely wailing, hurting, and groaning, listen to this too, Master of the Universe; even to this siach that is not real speech, but like speaking innocently, like talking to oneself.
Rashi cites another example of an expression of lamentation, besides "Remember my affliction and my misery": "And I will go down upon the mountains" (veyaradeti al heharim) spoken by the daughter of Yiftach - there too the intention is an expression of sorrow: I will walk in my plaint, my grief, and my cries, and lament there upon the mountains. On the other hand, Rashi cites another explanation in the name of Menachem, that arid is an expression of dominion, like "and have dominion (u-redu) over the fish of the sea" and "who ruled (harodeh) from Tifsach to Gaza," with siach meaning speech. And how does this connect? Tehillim HaMeforash explains: arid besichi - I will hold sway over my speech.
מִקּוֹל אוֹיֵב מִפְּנֵי עָקַת רָשָׁע כִּי־יָמִיטוּ עָלַי אָוֶן וּבְאַף יִשְׂטְמוּנִי׃ - Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked; for they cast iniquity upon me, and in anger they hate me.
"Because of the voice of the enemy" - the enemy raises his voice against me, and therefore I speak out and groan. "The oppression (akat) of the wicked" - trouble that comes to me from the wicked; akah from the root of mo'akah (distress), to harass and torment. "They cast [yamitu] iniquity upon me" - spelled with a tet, from the root of bringing down and collapsing, as in "his hand falters [matah] with you."
And what is that iniquity (aven) they cast down upon me? Rashi explains: Doeg and Achitophel tip the scales of sin against me, to show that I deserve death and to permit shedding my blood. Aven means wickedness. For Doeg and Achitophel's constant justification for persecuting David was that David was wicked. That was always their claim. And when the matter of Batsheva occurred, it was a great celebration for them: "You see? We told you he is wicked; look how wicked he is!" And this is "for they cast iniquity upon me" - they falsely pin wickedness and sins onto me to claim that I am liable to death, and through this they seek to bring me down.
Incidentally, Achitophel's plan, as taught in Sefer Shmuel, was far more sophisticated: his ultimate goal was that the monarchy would eventually pass to him, and Avshalom was merely a stepping stone. Therefore, he advised Avshalom to kill his father, thereby clearing David out of the way; afterward, it would be simple to eliminate Avshalom through the Sanhedrin: he would testify that Avshalom killed his father, treating him as a wayward and rebellious son (ben sorer u'moreh), and the Sanhedrin would execute him - at which point the kingship would fall into his own hands. That was the ultimate outcome, the goal toward which he aimed. Avshalom was merely an instrument so that Achitophel himself could attain the throne.
Radak explains: "Because of the voice of the enemy" - from the voice that I hear from the enemy, who seeks to depose me from the monarchy and kill me, the enemy here being Avshalom. "Because of the oppression of the wicked" - because of the distress caused to me by this wicked one. And why do I lament and groan? Because of him and because of those who conspired with him to rise up against me. And this is "they cast iniquity upon me" - they rebel against me, aven meaning falsehood: until now they were with me, loyal to me, and crowned me king, and now they betray their allegiance and rebel against me. "And in anger they hate me" - they incited my own son against me.
The Malbim explains: "Because of the voice of the enemy" - for the enemy speaks words of hostility and contempt against me; "because of the oppression of the wicked" - for he oppresses and torments me. And how does he oppress? "For they cast iniquity upon me" - they plan to bring evil and ruin upon me; "and in anger they bear hatred against me" - in their wrath, they harbor animosity toward me.
לִבִּי יָחִיל בְּקִרְבִּי וְאֵימוֹת מָוֶת נָפְלוּ עָלָי׃ - My heart shudders within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
According to the peshat, "yachil" denotes fear and trembling, like "pangs [chil] as of a woman in childbirth." David says: I fear that they will kill me, for so Achitophel advised - "and I will strike the king alone." "And the terrors of death have fallen upon me" - this is already an outright dread of death. Sforno explains that there are two stages here: "My heart shudders within me" - even when they are not actively pursuing me, the dread of what is to come; "and the terrors of death have fallen upon me" - when what was feared has arrived, and they are pursuing me in earnest.
Yet the Malbim explains "yachil" not as fear, but in the sense of yearning and hope (tochalet): in all the troubles I experienced until today, there was hope and expectation in my heart that I would be saved. But now, "the terrors of death have fallen upon me," for consulting Achitophel was like inquiring of the word of God, and if Achitophel is against me, I am in dire distress. Thus, this is unlike all previous troubles where hope still remained; in this affliction, it seems as though I have no hope of rescue.
יִרְאָה וָרַעַד יָבֹא בִי וַתְּכַסֵּנִי פַּלָּצוּת׃ - Fear and trembling enter into me, and horror covers me.
Ibn Ezra explains: fear is in the heart, and trembling is in the body - a person enters a state of shuddering and begins shaking entirely out of fear. Radak explains: from the abundance of fear in my heart, my body convulses, and trembling and shuddering share the same principle; "and horror covers me" - my entire body is engulfed by this shuddering convulsion.
The Malbim explains the progression here: first "my heart shudders within me," then "fear and trembling," which is already a greater degree, and finally "and horror covers me." Such is always the way of Scripture: when describing something, it progressively intensifies, for if one were to state the greatest matter first, what could be added by smaller details afterward? Therefore, one begins with the smaller: I was apprehensive, then I truly feared, and then a terrible dread seized me. The description steadily escalates.
What is this palatzut? The Malbim states: the shuddering convulsion that seizes a person at the moment of death. And the Malbim explains in Yeshayahu 21: palatzut is greater than fear, shivering, trembling, and all expressions that denote fear and shaking - of all such terms, it is the most extreme. Its essence is the violent convulsion of all the life forces and sinews of a person, akin to a shattering of the body. The commentators there explain according to the context that palatzut denotes terror and panic, but it is the most extreme and severe dread, a convulsing of all bodily foundations, as in the phrase "shuddering seized me."
The sefer Sha'arei Chaim on the Malbim quotes from the Netziv. The Netziv writes on the verse "And Yaakov was greatly afraid, and he was distressed": why this duplication, and what does "and he was distressed" add to "and he was afraid"? He explains based on what Iyov said: "For the fear I feared has come upon me, and that which I dreaded has overtaken me."
There is a very real truth here. The Gemara says: Even though he does not see, his soul's spiritual counterpart sees. Often a person is gripped by fear and cannot explain why - and we are not talking about someone on medication, but ordinary, healthy people. Afterward, it becomes clear to him that something bad has happened. Where does this come from? "And my soul knows it well." The body is limited, but the soul is not limited; I have not yet heard with my ear, but the soul fills the entire world, and it can be here and also above beyond the Heavenly Curtain in a single moment. And when the soul knows, it sometimes sends flashes of awareness to the body, and the body feels uneasy, feels ill at ease, not knowing that a trouble or disaster has just occurred - but it has a foreboding, and later it becomes clear. There are thousands and tens of thousands of such examples. This is "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me" - the fear that I feared ultimately arrived; "and that which I was afraid of is come unto me" - for it turned out that the fear was genuine, because the soul knew what was to come and sensed it beforehand.
Based on this, the Netziv explains: "And Yaakov was greatly afraid" - and from that very fear itself, "and it distressed him." If I am afraid, evidently my soul senses something; the very fact that fear falls upon me teaches that the soul perceives it - and this caused him to be distressed, for he understood that evil lay before him.
Similarly, he cites there in Harchev Davar regarding the verse: "And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were dreadfully afraid," spoken concerning Goliath. Seemingly, it should have said the reverse: they were dreadfully afraid, and fled from him. Rather, "they fled from him" - fear gripped them and they fled; and from this very fact: if fear grips me, evidently something bad is about to happen here. And this led to "they were dreadfully afraid" - this brought them to immense dread, as they sensed that the matter was going to end badly. Especially since the beginning of defeat is flight: when a person is in flight, that is the beginning of the battle's downfall, and from this they understood that something terrible was about to occur.
This is also what Dovid Hamelech says: "Turn away my reproach which I dread." This teaches that it is a reproach for a person to be afraid - he who trusts in Hashem will be exalted. You are afraid? But you are with the Holy One, blessed be He; "Sinners in Tzion are afraid" - so why should you fear? Trust in Hashem, blessed be He. And this is what Dovid is saying: the very fact that I dreaded is a reproach to me, for it appears as if I fear something, whereas I ought to trust in Hashem.
To return to our subject: the Sha'arei Chaim explains that if a person feels fear in his heart - even though he does not see, his soul's spiritual counterpart sees - that very fact adds fear upon his fears. And this is what Dovid Hamelech says: "My heart trembles within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me," and not only that, but "Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror has covered me" - the initial fear added fear and trembling to me, until out of the immense dread in my heart, my body shuddered and was overwhelmed with horror. Thus, the trigger for this was the very initial fear: "My heart trembles within me, the terrors of death have fallen upon me," and from that I say to myself: Why do I have this fear? Evidently something bad is about to happen here. And this brought me to fear, trembling, and shuddering horror.
Psalm 55 was composed concerning Dovid's flight from Avshalom and the counsel of Achitophel. In it, Dovid opens with a plea that Hashem lend an ear to his prayer and not hide Himself from his supplication, listening to him not only when he prays in an orderly manner, but even when he merely wails and pours out his heart in his distress. He describes the voice of the enemy and the oppression of the wicked, who cast iniquity upon him and hate him in wrath, and he describes the intensifying stages of his fear: from spent hope, to the terrors of death, to fear and trembling, and finally to shuddering horror - the most extreme expression of fear in the language. And we learned from the words of the Netziv and the Sha'arei Chaim that the very fear that falls upon a person is itself a sign that his soul senses what is to come, and this itself compounds his dread - and yet, the hallmark of a believer is to trust in Hashem, for he who trusts in Him will be exalted.