Chapter 59 was composed against the backdrop of "when Saul sent, and they watched the house to put him to death" - Saul's men surrounded David's house at night, lying in wait for him and waiting for him to emerge so they could put him to death. In this part of the chapter, David turns to the Holy One, Blessed be He, pleading that He act in advance to save him, and offers a unique prayer concerning his enemies: not that they die, but that they fall from their greatness. Let us examine the pesukim in order.
אֱלֹהֵי חַסְדִּי יְקַדְּמֵנִי, אֱלֹהִים יַרְאֵנִי בְשֹׁרְרָי׃ - The God of my lovingkindness shall precede me; God shall let me gaze upon my watchful foes.
The Metzudat David explains: "The God of my lovingkindness" - God, Who has performed lovingkindness with me to this very day. Rashi interprets "shall precede me": He will extend His help to me before the hand of the enemies can overpower me; He will anticipate them and save me before they reach me.
"Shall let me gaze upon my watchful foes [beshorerai]" - Rashi explains that this refers to what I yearn to see. The Radak explains that "shorerai" is related to gazing and looking, as in "I see it [ashurenu], but not now" - ashurenu means I shall see it; and similarly, "the daughters stepped over the wall [shur]" - a wall is called a shur because people would ascend it to look into the distance, and likewise "gaze [shuru] and see." Even in military parlance, the command "eyes right" [leyamin shur] means look. According to this, "shorerai" are those who look upon me with a hostile eye, as scripture says, "And Saul eyed David" from the day they sang to him, "Saul has slain his thousands." Those who look at me with a malevolent gaze - upon them Hashem will let me look, upon their downfall.
The Malbim explains according to the context of the chapter: the men who came to seize David and deliver him to Saul were surrounding his house, assuming that as they spoke among themselves, David could not hear them. Therefore David says: "The God of my lovingkindness shall precede me" - to inform me in advance of their plans, that they have now come to seize me. Had he not been alerted in time, they would have encircled the house completely and he would not have been able to escape through the window. "God shall let me gaze upon my watchful foes" - in the Malbim's words, I saw the guards who were keeping watch over me and encircling my house; the Holy One, Blessed be He, made this known to me beforehand, before they could tighten their guard, and thus I was able to escape through Michal daughter of Saul before they came to kill me.
The Malbim himself does not specify the etymological root of "shorerai." Simply understood, his intention is looking or watching - the guards watching over me. One could also suggest it derives from "serarah" (authority or domination), though this is less likely, as here it is spelled with a shin and there with a samech. It is also very plausible that the Malbim means it in the sense of "shur" - a wall, meaning that they form a barrier over me, encircling me like a wall.
אַל תַּהַרְגֵם פֶּן יִשְׁכְּחוּ עַמִּי, הֲנִיעֵמוֹ בְחֵילְךָ וְהוֹרִידֵמוֹ מָגִנֵּנוּ אֲדֹנָי׃ - Do not slay them, lest my people forget; scatter them by Your power and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
David usually asks that Hashem destroy his enemies, so what is different here? Rashi explains: "Do not slay them" - for that is not a visible retribution; "lest my people forget" - because the dead are eventually forgotten. If You slay them, they are gone in an instant and forgotten. Therefore, David requests something else: "Scatter them by Your power and bring them down" - displace them from their possessions, so that they become impoverished wanderers, moving from place to place. This is a retribution that will be remembered for days to come, as they remain constantly before people's eyes: look at so-and-so, collecting alms for twenty years now - the very one who pursued King David.
The Radak explains: bring them down from their wealth and cause them to wander, begging for bread "among Your host [becheilecha]" - the army of the Holy One, Blessed be He, referring to the Jewish people, as in "men of valor [anshei chayil]." And why the emphasis on "Your host"? One could say that if they were to beg from door to door among the gentiles, there would not be enough disgrace in it; but when they do so among Israel, before those who knew them in their greatness and now suddenly see them in their humiliation - that is the fitting measure they deserve. "O Lord our shield" - the Radak explains: You, Hashem, protect me and those pursued alongside me; show us this retribution upon them. In this way, the Radak resolves why the plural "our shield" is used - referring to myself and those pursued together with me.
The Malbim continues his line of thought, that his watchers (shorerai) are the guards who waited to see him emerge from his house in order to bring him before Shaul. Now the request "Do not kill them" becomes clear: rescue could come in two ways. The first is that David would escape through the window, they would spot him and attempt to seize him, and David was not about to commit suicide - and "if someone comes to kill you, rise early to kill him first" - meaning David would be forced to kill them. This is what David feared, for they were Jews - Shaul's men, but Jews nonetheless. Therefore he pleads: Master of the Universe, when I escape through the window, save me in such a way that I will not have to kill them. "Do not kill them" - do not bring about a rescue that will lead to me killing them, "lest my people forget" what they did against me. "Scatter them with Your might" - with Your power, move them from their post so that they do not see my escape, so that I will not have to encounter them and kill them; and afterward, bring them down from their greatness. Thus, the request is twofold: that they be brought down from their high standing, and that he not be forced to kill them. And if one should ask: is demotion from greatness not enough of a punishment? David answers: this punishment is more than sufficient, for through it my people will not forget their deeds, and will see how much Hashem exacts retribution from David's pursuers.
An additional explanation can be built upon the Malbim's approach. There is a reality where a person is pursued, and as long as he is being pursued, people feel compassion toward him. But once he tries to defend himself against his pursuers, and strikes back at them, the pursuers suddenly gain legitimacy to keep pursuing him: "Did you see what he is doing?!" This is exactly what happens between us and the Palestinians: they pursue and harass us without limit, we are forced with no choice but to respond, and immediately: "Look how they are bombing in Gaza, look what they are doing" - and as if out of thin air, they gain legitimacy to pursue us. Therefore David asks: Do not kill them, for if I kill them, my people will forget that I am the pursued and they are the pursuers, and they will say, "Did you see? David killed Shaul's men; people came to his house and he murdered them" - and then he truly deserves to be pursued! Therefore: Do not kill them, lest my people forget who is the pursued and who is the pursuer.
חַטַּאת פִּימוֹ דְּבַר שְׂפָתֵימוֹ, וְיִלָּכְדוּ בִגְאוֹנָם, וּמֵאָלָה וּמִכַּחַשׁ יְסַפֵּרוּ׃ - The sin of their mouth is the word of their lips, and let them be trapped in their pride, and for the curse and lies that they recount.
Rashi explains: The sin of their mouth is the word of their lips - what they speak with their mouth, that is their sin. "And let them be trapped in their pride" - the poor who are pursued by them are trapped through the pride of those wealthy and powerful figures. And how? "And for the curse and lies that they recount" - they fabricate tales of curses and deceit filled with falsehood, and thereby rob the poor and the pursued.
The Radak explains: "The sin of their mouth" - through the punishment, all will recognize that it came because of the evil words they spoke about me, the slander they spoke against David. As we have seen, they would come and say, "David is hiding here, David is hiding there," all to curry favor with Shaul; just as Doeg reported that David came to Achimelech son of Achituv in Nov the city of kohanim, and that he gave him a sword. This is the sin of their mouth, and in it they will be trapped. "And let them be trapped in their pride" - in the pride with which they exalt themselves over me they will be trapped, for You will bring them down from their arrogance and their greatness. "And for the curse and lies (kachash) that they recount" - out of great curse and great emaciation; kachash being an expression of leanness, as in "my flesh is emaciated" (besari kachash), and people will speak of them: "Did you see so-and-so? In what pride and greatness he once stood, and look now at how gaunt and withered he is, and how a curse pursues him!" This is David's request: once You cast them down from their station, all will understand that the sin of their mouth and the word of their lips caused their downfall, and that very pride brought about their great crash; and then everyone will recount the curse and the wasting away that befell these men of power. And some explain, the Radak notes, that alah means an oath and kachash means deceit: the sin of their mouth - swearing false oaths and denying the truth - is what will ensnare them.
The Malbim explains differently: "The sin of their mouth is the word of their lips" - they themselves will confess with their lips the sin of their mouth, and say that everything that befell us is because we pursued David and tormented him. They will admit the sin they committed with their mouth, the lashon hara they spoke about him, and recognize that because of it they were punished. "And let them be trapped in their pride" - they will admit that through their pride they were trapped in that very net. "And for the curse and deceit that they recount" - they themselves will recount and confess: From where did all this come upon us? From cursing, from falsehood, from the evil things we did. According to the Malbim, the ones recounting are the stricken individuals themselves, unlike the Radak's explanation that those around them will recount it; the pursuers themselves, when they fall and wander from place to place as destitute beggars, will recount that everything befell them because of false oaths and deception.
In the sefer Tehillot Maharitz, he explains both pesukim together by way of homiletic wit. As long as a person holds power - a director, a minister, a mayor - he can commit foolishness and injustices and no one will speak against him, for each person thinks to himself: I might need him someday. "When the fox has his hour, bow down to him" - you bow to whoever is on top at the moment. And when do all the stories come out? When that person falls from greatness, and no one has any interest in covering for him anymore. Then: "Do you know what trouble he caused? Here he rigged a tender, here he cheated, here he stole!" Suddenly people are not afraid to speak, and they publicize his corrupt deeds for all to see. Therefore David requests: Master of the Universe, my enemies are prominent and distinguished men - "Scatter them with Your might," with Your great power shake them from their post; "and bring them down" from their wealth so that they become poor; "and let them be trapped in their pride," stumbling and falling from their stature; "and for the curse and deceit that they recount" - then you will see how many stories of curses, deceit, lies, and swindling will begin to surface about them, and everyone will speak about all the wrongs they did.
In the sefer Shaarei Chaim, cited by the Me'am Lo'ez, he explains that David is asking the Holy One, blessed be He, to punish those individuals who pretend to be righteous - types about whom another rumor and another terrible desecration of God's Name emerges each time. But there is a problem here: if Hashem punishes them, a desecration of God's Name will result, for the public hears, "Rabbi So-and-So was caught doing...", and they do not know how to distinguish between genuine techelet and imitation kala ilan, failing to realize that this person is no rabbi at all! Therefore David says: Master of the Universe, "let them be trapped in the sin of their mouth" - let it first become clear to all, from their own mouth and speech, that these are neither great men nor Torah scholars, but lowly people, and only afterward punish them. For then there will no longer be a desecration of God's Name, since it will have already been made clear to people beforehand that there is no substance to these individuals, and no one will say, "Look at what a great man he was, and look at the punishment he received!" And when Hashem destroys them, "they will know that God rules in Yaakov to the ends of the earth" - as stated in the following pasuk.
כַּלֵּה בְחֵמָה כַּלֵּה וְאֵינֵמוֹ, וְיֵדְעוּ כִּי אֱלֹהִים מֹשֵׁל בְּיַעֲקֹב לְאַפְסֵי הָאָרֶץ סֶלָה׃ - Consume them in wrath, consume them so that they are no more, and let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth, Selah.
Rashi explains: Consume them in Your wrath, You who are the King and Judge, and then they will know that You rule in Jacob. For when a person does evil, he does not feel that there is a Master of the palace and a Creator of the world; it seems to him that the heavens are empty, and he acts as he pleases without fear of giving an accounting. Therefore David pleads: Consume in wrath, consume, and then they will know that God rules, and that He is the Overseer and the Judge.
The Radak explains: Consume them little by little in Your wrath, and ultimately "so that they are no more" - that no remnant of them remains. Ibn Ezra explains similarly. The reason they were compelled to explain it this way is that they were troubled by a question: David had just said, "Do not kill them" - did he now retract that and ask to destroy them? Therefore, they explained that the destruction will be gradual, not in a single instant. Furthermore, they were troubled by the repetition: "Consume in wrath, consume so that they are no more" - if Hashem consumes them, they certainly are no more, so why must this be added? Rather, the destruction is gradual: consume, and consume, and consume, time after time, until ultimately nothing remains of them. And when people witness this retribution, they will know that God rules in Jacob and judges the wicked for their evil deeds.
The commentators also noted: "He rules in Jacob," whereas concerning the ends of the earth it uses different phrasing - the subject is individual, personal providence (hashgachah pratit). The special distinction of Israel is that they receive individual providence far more than the other nations, for among the nations providence is general (hashgachah kelalit). This is not the place to elaborate on the distinction between individual and general providence - Rav Friedlander discussed this at length, and some of it has been explored in the lessons on his works - but at all events, with us it is a much closer governance, in the sense of "The eyes of Hashem your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year." This is also like what is said in Amos 3:2: "Only you have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities." "I have known" denotes attachment and connection, as in "And Adam knew Eve his wife" - only to you do I bind Myself. And when Hashem binds Himself to us, the demand is also far greater: "Therefore I will visit upon you." When the neighbor's child misbehaves, why should one care? Let his father deal with it. But when it is one's own child, one disciplines him. Is he worse than the neighbor's son? No, but he is my son, I love him and he is precious to me, and therefore I will visit upon you.
The Malbim explains: Consume them in Your wrath, and consume them time after time until "they are no more" - that they will not exist in the world at all, and then all the ends of the earth will know that God rules in Jacob, and this knowledge will spread to the ends of the earth. And one can explain why it specifically says "in wrath": when destruction comes gradually, it is not evident that it is from Hashem. Anything that occurs gradually is not easily recognized as an act of Heaven, for all the natural processes of the world are gradual - grass grows gradually, as does man, and likewise the seasons of the year: it is not winter today and summer tomorrow, for there are spring and autumn in between. But when something happens that is not gradual, where everything overturns in a single second, the hand of God is immediately apparent - that there is an intervention of a higher spiritual power here, bringing down hailstones from heaven in an instant, or sending down manna. Here, the destruction is gradual, one destruction after another, so there is a concern that people might not draw the necessary lesson that Hashem punishes the wicked, since it might seem natural. Therefore David asks that it be "in wrath" - that it come with such manifest wrath that it will clearly be the hand of Hashem and not a natural, gradual occurrence; then they will know that God rules in Jacob, and this will become known to the ends of the earth. "Selah" - as the Malbim consistently explains, marks the conclusion of the matter.
וְיָשֻׁבוּ לָעֶרֶב יֶהֱמוּ כַכָּלֶב וִיסוֹבְבוּ עִיר׃ - And they will return at evening, howling like a dog and prowling around the city.
Rashi connects this verse to the preceding one: "The sin of their mouth" - by day they speak, and that is their sin, and toward evening they rise early to lie in wait. Those informers speak against me by day, and in the evening they lie in wait around my house to seize me.
Ibn Ezra explains: "And they will return" - those who remain among them will be like dogs roaming about begging for bread. Yet this is somewhat puzzling, for it says, "Consume them in wrath, consume them so that they are no more" - consume them slowly until they no longer exist at all, so how could any remain?
The Radak explains that this verse repeats what was said earlier in verse 7: "They return at evening, howling like a dog and prowling around the city," only here it has the addition of the letter vav ("And they will return"). Corresponding to what he said above, he now says: They return toward evening on my account, circling the city to trap me - so You, Master of the Universe, make it so that they return toward evening to the houses to beg for bread, and prowl around the city seeking food. Let them not return to seek me, but rather go begging door to door; bring them to such poverty that they must go from doorway to doorway seeking food, and when they are preoccupied with that, they will not be preoccupied with pursuing me. This is also the continuation in the next verse, that they will wander from their place to search for bread, like a poor and destitute person begging at the door.
The Malbim explains: Corresponding to what he said initially, "They return at evening, howling like a dog and prowling around the city," to watch the house in order to kill David, he curses them now that even after their downfall they will return at evening, howling like a dog and prowling around the city - but unlike before, when they prowled like dogs to take the life of a righteous man, it will be as stated below: "They shall wander about to eat."
הֵמָּה יְנִיעוּן לֶאֱכֹל, אִם לֹא יִשְׂבְּעוּ וַיָּלִינוּ׃ - They wander about to eat; if they are not sated, they spend the night.
Radak explains: Even though they go from house to house and door to door begging for bread, they will not be sated when they sleep; they will spend the night hungry. Not one of them will manage to obtain what he needs by begging at doorways and go to sleep satisfied; rather, he will spend the night hungry. And the letter vav of vayalinu means "when": they will not be satisfied when they spend the night.
Metzudat David explains: "They wander about to eat" - they move from place to place seeking food, and when they are not sated, having failed to find enough food, "and they complain (vayalinu)" - they will complain, suffering heartache and being filled with grievance and anguish. This is surprising, because veyalinu with a soft lamed denotes sleeping, whereas vayallinu with a dagesh in the lamed denotes complaining, as in "and what is Aharon that you complain (tallinu) against him?" How could he interchange the two meanings? Indeed, an homiletic explanation - though not the literal peshat - was once offered for the verse "Not to us, Hashem, not to us" (Lo lanu Hashem lo lanu): Haman argued to Achashverosh that the Holy One, blessed be He, would not save the Jews. Why? "There is a certain people" (Yeshno am echad), read as yashnu - they have fallen asleep regarding the mitzvot, they have become lax in fulfilling them, so you have nothing to worry about. To this, the Jewish people responded: We have not slept! "We did not sleep (Lo lanu), Hashem, we did not sleep, but give glory to Your Name" - give glory to Your Name and prove to them that we still cling to Your mitzvot. In any case, all the other commentators explain yalinu as a term for sleeping overnight, not complaining.
Malbim explains: "They wander about to eat" - their prowling now like dogs is like a dog roaming the city at night in search of food, growling and barking from hunger. "If they are not sated, they spend the night" - because their stomachs are so empty from hunger, they are unable to sleep, and therefore they wander through the city seeking food. When a person's stomach is rumbling, it is difficult to fall asleep (and at times, excessive fullness also prevents sleep, which is also bad). Here it refers to someone who does not achieve the satiety that would allow him to go to sleep, and when he tries to sleep he cannot doze off, so he goes out once again to look for something to eat.
In the sefer Tehilot Hashem, cited in Me'am Lo'ez, this is explained homiletically based on the Gemara in Pesachim 113b: "He who eats the fat tail (alita) hides in the attic (aliyata); he who eats common greens (kakulei) sleeps on the town's refuse heaps (kiklei)." This is a statement filled with practical life wisdom. One who eats the fat tail of the sheep, which is the choicest and most expensive cut, must hide in the attic. Why? Because where did he get the money for it? From overdrafts, from bank debt, and from loans taken from others. The creditors knock on the door, and he is forced to hide in the attic. If you insist on living lavishly - eating the fat tail - you end up hiding in the attic. By contrast, one who eats simple, inexpensive vegetables, for which he took no loans and cashed in no savings, can sleep peacefully on the town's refuse heaps, completely untroubled. No one will come to wake him and demand payment; he has no need to barricade himself at home and lock the door, but can sleep outside, even in the yard, and no one will disturb his rest.
This is the homiletic insight of the verse: "They wander about to eat" - when a person constantly seeks to upgrade what he eats and indulges his palate, he is in perpetual motion. There are people who move from one apartment to another every few years, fleeing creditors and pursuers, and all of this just "to eat." But "if they are not sated" - if you do not seek merely to overindulge and chase after physical cravings, "they will sleep" - you will be able to go to sleep in quiet and tranquility, without worries and disturbances, and you will not have to wander from place to place.
וַאֲנִי אָשִׁיר עֻזֶּךָ וַאֲרַנֵּן לַבֹּקֶר חַסְדֶּךָ, כִּי הָיִיתָ מִשְׂגָּב לִי וּמָנוֹס בְּיוֹם צַר לִי׃ - But I will sing of Your strength and chant praises in the morning of Your lovingkindness, for You have been a stronghold for me and a refuge in the day of my distress.
Rashi explains: When I escape them, in the morning I will sing of Your strength - I will sing and chant praise for the strength and power with which You delivered me. Radak elaborates: When You demonstrate Your strength to me - and how will it be expressed? By taking vengeance on the enemies pursuing me - then I will sing of Your strength; "and chant praises in the morning of Your lovingkindness" - every single morning I will sing of the kindness You have done for me, on an ongoing basis. This song is for You having been a stronghold and refuge for me in the day of my distress, having saved me and served as my refuge - the place to which I flee, toward the Master of the Universe, on the day of my distress.
Malbim explains: "But I will sing of Your strength" - I will arise at night and sing of Your strength throughout the night; "and chant praises in the morning of Your lovingkindness" - and in the morning I will continue to sing of Your lovingkindness, for having been a stronghold and refuge for me in the day of trouble, helping me flee and escape.
עֻזִּי אֵלֶיךָ אֲזַמֵּרָה, כִּי אֱלֹהִים מִשְׂגַּבִּי אֱלֹהֵי חַסְדִּי׃ - My Strength, to You I will sing praises, for God is my stronghold, the God of my lovingkindness.
Rashi explains: To You, Who are my strength, I will sing praises - to You I give thanks, sing, and offer praise. Radak clarifies that this verse corresponds directly to what David stated in verse 10: "His strength, to You I will look" - referring to the strength of Shaul, on account of which I watch and hope to You. Now, however, in place of "his strength" he says "my strength," and instead of "I will await [eshmorah]" he says "I will sing praises [azammerah]." During the time of distress, it was "I will await" - I anticipate and wait for salvation; but now, in the time of relief and deliverance, it is time to sing and make melody to You, for You are my God, my stronghold, the God of my lovingkindness, the righteous and omnipotent Judge Who took up my just cause against them. Thus, what was originally framed as a plea - Master of the Universe, I yearn for You to rescue me from Shaul's strength - has now, following the deliverance, become "my strength," my own might. Consequently, there is no longer any need to "await" and watch; rather, "to You I will sing praises, for God is my stronghold, the God of my lovingkindness."
The Malbim follows a similar line of thought, though according to his interpretation of verse 10, he understood "His strength, to You I will keep watch" in another way: the Holy One, blessed be He, had promised David the very strength of Shaul - the monarchy, the dominion, and the power to fight the wars of Israel - assuring him: "I will reserve it for you; it is kept for you, you will be king, and this strength you shall receive." Regarding this promise, David proclaims here: when that strength becomes "my strength," when I attain the throne - "to You I will sing praises." I will sing and play music to You, Master of the Universe, "for God is my stronghold," in that He is "the God of my lovingkindness." For the kingship was granted to him out of pure lovingkindness (chesed), as the Malbim explains in several places, and it is for this that I will sing, praise, and offer music.
In this section of the psalm, David's unique prayer comes to light: not that his pursuers be wiped out in an instant, but that Hashem act beforehand to rescue him without forcing him to take their lives, and that they instead be stripped of their prominence and their wealth - an indelible punishment through which all will remember who was pursued and who were the pursuers, and how they were trapped by their own mouths and pride. Their gradual demise "in wrath" was designed so that the hand of Hashem would be unmistakably recognized rather than appearing as a natural occurrence, and through it, the ends of the earth would know that God rules over Jacob with intimate, direct Divine providence, reflecting the principle of "You alone have I known" - and out of that very closeness, "therefore I will punish you." From here emerges an enduring lesson for all generations: whoever chases after food and bodily desires wanders endlessly and finds no peace, whereas one who is content with little slumbers in serenity. David concludes: what in the hour of anguish was "his strength, to You I will await" - a posture of longing and expectation - is transformed in the hour of salvation into "my Strength, to You I will sing praises, for God is my stronghold, the God of my lovingkindness."