לַמְנַצֵּחַ עַל־יְדוּתוּן מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד׃ - For the conductor, on Yedutun, a psalm of David.
Who is "Yedutun"? The commentators differ on this point. Rashi explains that it is the name of a musical instrument, whereas Ibn Ezra writes of this interpretation that "it is far-fetched," meaning far from reasonable. Rashi himself also cites a Midrashic exposition: "Concerning the edicts (datot) and the judgments decreed upon Israel by their enemies" - that is, regarding the harsh decrees that enemies would impose upon Israel, from the root datot, and hence "Yedutun." Ibn Ezra explains that Yedutun is the name of a person: either Yedutun the singer composed this psalm, or someone else composed it concerning him.
Radak explains differently: King David composed the psalm and handed it to Yedutun to be its singer. For all these psalms were recited in song, such as in the Beit HaMikdash, and when the song was to be sung, they gave it to Yedutun to play and sing it. According to this, "al Yedutun" means "to Yedutun." Radak brings examples where the preposition "al" serves in place of "el" (to): "And she prayed al Hashem" - meaning el Hashem (to Hashem); "And Elkanah went al his house" - meaning to his house. So too here: to Yedutun, a psalm of David.
The holy Alshich explains that Yedutun is the singer who composed the psalm, and Ruach HaKodesh (the holy spirit) rested upon him. But this immediately raises a difficulty: If so, why does the verse say "a psalm of David"? Make up your mind - did Yedutun compose it or did David? The Alshich resolves this: Ruach HaKodesh manifested to both of them in the identical style. "For the conductor, upon Yedutun" - Yedutun composed this song, and David too, through his Ruach HaKodesh, had that exact same song revealed to him, and that is why it is called "a psalm of David."
The Malbim divides the psalm into three parts. The first part deals with the enemies plotting evil against David. The second part - David speaks, as it were, to his soul, strengthening himself not to fear or dread the enemies, but rather to fortify himself with trust in Hashem. And the third part is an ethical admonition: that there is justice and there is a Judge, and there is a God Who judges in the earth; a person must not think he can do whatever enters his mind, but must know that he is obligated to fulfill God's will.
אַךְ אֶל־אֱלֹהִים דּוּמִיָּה נַפְשִׁי מִמֶּנּוּ יְשׁוּעָתִי׃ - Only toward God does my soul wait silently; from Him comes my salvation.
What is the meaning of "dumiyyah" (silence)? Rashi explains: my soul longs and yearns. It is an expression of hopeful waiting - waiting in silence, quiet and still, until salvation arrives, as in the phrase, "I was dumb with silence" (ne'elamti dumiyyah).
The holy Alshich explains that the psalm comes to teach a person how to trust in Hashem, how to draw close to Him, and how to rely on Him. The Holy One, blessed be He, is the sole possessor of power in creation. If there is anyone to place hope in - it is only Him, blessed be He; and if there is anyone to turn to - it is only to Him. One must not turn to flesh and blood, nor rely upon flesh and blood; rather, one's trust must be placed in Him alone. Whoever calls out to Hashem - Hashem will save and redeem him; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. But one who makes flesh his arm, relying on flesh and blood to save him, turning to some influential person of high standing and expecting salvation from him - no matter how much he pleads, and no matter how much he imagines salvation will emerge from there, he will not succeed. Not only will he not achieve success, but he also corrupts his soul, for he falls under the category of "Cursed is the man who trusts in man." One who places his trust in a human being corrupts his own soul and brings a curse upon himself.
This is what the psalm means: "Only toward God" - you must turn solely to God, not to an official or to any person from whom you anticipate salvation will sprout. "Does my soul wait silently" - toward human beings I remain silent; I do not turn to people. "From Him comes my salvation" - my salvation will come only from Hashem, blessed be He. And even if salvation is actualized through the agency of a human being, it was Hashem Who orchestrated it through his hands. It was not the person who saved me; rather, Hashem sent His salvation through the hands of a certain doctor, a certain official, or a certain supporter - but everything is entirely from Hashem, blessed be He.
Even so, this does not exempt us from thanking that person. The Gemara says: "The wine belongs to its master, but thanks are given to the server" - the waiter pours you the wine, and you thank him. Is he the host? The host bought the wine and paid eighty shekels for each bottle, yet you say thank you to the waiter? Rather, the waiter poured it for you, and one shows gratitude to the pourer. The wine belongs to the master, but the thanks are expressed to the server. So too here: when a person does a favor for me - if a doctor performed surgery and, thank God, everything succeeded and the patient emerged healthy - it is a mistake to say, "Why should I thank him? Gratitude belongs only to Hashem." Certainly one must thank Hashem, may He be blessed, but one must also thank the agent involved in the matter. And by the way, do not tell him that he is merely an agent; doctors do not like to hear that, and there is no reason to say it to him. But within yourself, know that he is a good messenger of the Master of the World. To thank him - yes; to rely on him and put your trust in him and say "my salvation is from him" - absolutely not. There is no salvation from man, but only from Him, blessed be He. And this is the meaning of "from Him is my salvation": even if it comes through flesh and blood, it originates from Him.
The Malbim explains: the reason my soul is silent and I fear no one is solely because "from Him is my salvation" - that my deliverance comes from Hashem. When a person lacks bitachon in Hashem, he is constantly under stress: what will happen, what will be, what will we do, now they say prices are going up... David says: with me it is not so; "my soul waits silently," my soul is tranquil and free from stress. Why? "From Him is my salvation" - for wherever I am, I am with the Master of the World, and I am not in any state of danger at all.
And the Chazon Ish says: What is bitachon? That a person knows he is in the hand of Hashem - whether he is lying on the couch in the living room or destined to be on a high cliff, suspended between heaven and earth. It is in Hashem's hand to sustain me or the reverse, both here and there. This is the meaning of "like a weaned child with its mother": when a mother carries her child and someone asks him, "Where are you?" he answers, "In mother's arms." If the mother arrives in Be'er Sheva - "Where are you?" "In mother's arms." If she travels to Nahariya - "Where are you?" "In mother's arms." But when an adult walks on his own, he says: "Now I am in Be'er Sheva, now in Nahariya." David says: I am always with Hashem, wherever I may be, because in every place the Holy One, blessed be He, carries me like a child with its mother. Therefore, "my soul waits silently" - my soul is calm, silent and still, for I hope only for Hashem, from Whom salvation will spring forth.
The book Tehillot Maharitz offers another explanation of this verse. Chazal teach that before salvation, strict judgments intensify. There are many parables for this: the darkness that deepens just before dawn - right before the light begins to emerge, the strict judgment intensifies. Similarly, the more frequent and intense the labor pains become, the more one knows that the birth is near; and so it is with the birth pangs of the redemption: as troubles become more frequent and severe, it is a sign that redemption is already close at hand. Therefore, when Moshe Rabbeinu cried out, "Why have You done evil to this people? Why did You send me?" the Holy One, blessed be He, answered him, "Now you shall see" - on the contrary: since you see that harsher troubles have begun - "straw is not given to your servants, yet they say to us, 'Make bricks'" - it is a sign that the redemption is right at the threshold. Precisely at the time of intensifying judgment, it is a sign that salvation is about to arrive.
And this is what King David says: The Four-Letter Name represents mercy, and the Name Elokim represents strict judgment. "Only toward God (Elokim)" - when the attribute of judgment reaches me, when I see Elokim, seeing judgments - "my soul waits silently"; precisely then my soul is silent, tranquil, and awaiting salvation. For if there is judgment now, it is a sign that salvation is already very near. And this is "from Him is my salvation" - from the very fact that I see judgments, from that I know salvation is coming. Seeing the judgment is the sign that salvation is close at hand, as the Gemara says, "relief comes out of distress" - specifically out of distress does the Holy One, blessed be He, bring salvation.
אַךְ־הוּא צוּרִי וִישׁוּעָתִי מִשְׂגַּבִּי לֹא־אֶמּוֹט רַבָּה׃ - He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
What we said earlier, "from Him is my salvation," is because "He alone is my rock and my salvation." The holy Alshich explains: just as we said that one should not look to flesh and blood but only to Him, blessed be He, so too He alone is "my rock" - a rock is an expression for the boulder upon which I lean and in whose shade I take refuge, so that trouble will not come upon me in the first place. And if trouble has already come, He is "my salvation," saving me from the distress. Furthermore, even after the rescue, He is "my fortress (misgabi)," elevating me and doing good for me far beyond the rescue itself; Hashem raises me up and secures me, an expression of exaltation and deliverance.
And what is the meaning of "I shall not collapse greatly" (lo emot rabah)? The simple meaning of the words is: I will not collapse very much. But the holy Alshich introduces a novel interpretation: this is actually a condition - all that was said above is conditional upon my not collapsing greatly, meaning that I do not collapse greatly in my deeds through sins. Hashem is my savior and my fortress on condition that I am truly attached to Him. If I possess a majority of sins, I can no longer say that Hashem is my rock and my salvation, and there is no longer a guarantee that Hashem will save me. And the Alshich adds: All of this comes from Him, blessed be He, even without prayers and supplications - "my soul waits silently," even if I am silent, since I trust in Hashem and "from Him comes my salvation," I can be at ease that He is my rock and my salvation and that He will save me.
One must know that on this point there is a major dispute among the early authorities: regarding a person who trusts in Hashem with complete perfection - who is promised that the Holy One, blessed be He, will save him - does this also depend on whether he has sins, or not? Some say that all of this applies only on condition that he has no sins, for if he has sins, who promised him salvation? Others say that even if he possesses sins, since he currently trusts in Hashem, he is guaranteed deliverance. From the words of the Alshich here, it emerges that if a person has sins, he has no guarantee. This also seems to be the opinion of the author of Chovot HaLevavot, although in practice there seem to be slight contradictions from chapter to chapter; nevertheless, it implies that if you commit sins, you cannot simply say, "I trust in Hashem and Hashem will save me."
A proof for this comes from Yaakov Avinu: he had an explicit promise, "Behold, I am with you and will guard you wherever you go, and I will return you to this land," yet nevertheless he feared - lest I have become tainted by sin, lest I have sinned and consequently am no longer worthy of that promise. From here, authorities bring proof that regarding trust (bitachon) as well, if a person is not truly pure, he cannot say, "I am certain that it will be so."
However, the Alshich reassures us somewhat here, for he maintains that the condition is merely that one must not have a majority of sins. That is, even if one has some sins - for "there is no righteous person on earth who does good and does not sin" - as long as one has not reached a majority of sins, one can rely on and trust in Hashem. Only when one reaches a majority of sins does one no longer have a guarantee. And if you ask about Yaakov, did he reach a majority of sins? It must be answered that Yaakov, due to his lofty spiritual stature, feared that he would be held accountable for even the slightest flaw, for Hashem is exacting with the righteous to a hairsbreadth. But under normal circumstances, if we do not have a majority of sins and a person trusts in Hashem, the implication of the Alshich is that Hashem will certainly fulfill His salvation.
Rashi explains according to the simple meaning, and not as a condition: Hashem saves me so that I will not collapse greatly. Rashi also cites from the Midrash that "greatly" (rabah) alludes to Gehinnom, and the verse comes to hint that Hashem saves me from falling into Gehinnom.
The Malbim adds: Do not think that the salvation of the Holy One, blessed be He, comes only through natural means. Therefore it says, "Only He is my rock and my salvation" - He alone, even without an intermediary. Sometimes salvation comes through an agent, such as livelihood, where Hashem sends someone to give to him; but sometimes things occur with no intermediary at all, such as the splitting of the sea by Hashem, or the manna descending from heaven directly from Him, blessed be He. If so, "my fortress, I shall not collapse" - Hashem holds me so that I do not collapse, and I have nothing to worry about. And according to the Malbim, the word "great" (rabah) refers back to the greatness of Hashem: since the Holy One, blessed be He, supports me so that I do not collapse, and does so in a supernatural manner without an intermediary, indeed "great" - great is His faithfulness, great is His might, blessed be He.
Indeed, there is a difficulty in explaining "I shall not collapse greatly" according to its literal sense, for what would one be saying - that Hashem protects me from collapsing too much, but He does not protect me from collapsing at all? For this reason, the Alshich explains in his way and the Malbim in his way, because if we were to interpret "I shall not collapse greatly" literally, it would imply, as it were, that Hashem only ensures that I do not collapse a great deal, and that I cannot rely on Him, Heaven forbid, not to collapse at all.
In the sefer Zeh HaSha'ar, the author cites the words of the Gemara in Sanhedrin (111a) on the verse, "and opened its mouth without measure (livli chok)." Reish Lakish and Rabbi Yochanan disagree there, and as is his custom, Reish Lakish is more stringent in these matters of Heavenly judgment while Rabbi Yochanan is more lenient. Reish Lakish expounds: Gehinnom opens its mouth for one who lacks a single statute (chok), meaning a single mitzvah - a single transgression is sufficient to make one liable for Gehinnom. Rabbi Yochanan expounds to the contrary: "without statute" - for one who has not fulfilled even a single statute, but one who has fulfilled even a single mitzvah is already saved from the judgment of Gehinnom.
And according to the opinion of Rabbi Yochanan, that Gehinnom opens its mouth only for one who has fulfilled nothing at all, this is hinted at in our verse: "Ach hu tzuri vishuati misgabi" ("Only He is my rock and my salvation, my fortress") - the initial letters of hu tzuri vishuati misgabi form the letters of the word mitzvah. And the word "ach" ("only") always comes to restrict or exclude - if you have only a single mitzvah, through this "I shall not collapse greatly (rabah)," and Rashi explained that rabah refers to Gehinnom: through the power of that single mitzvah, you will be saved from falling into Gehinnom.
אַחַת דִּבֶּר אֱלֹהִים שְׁתַּיִם־זוּ שָׁמָעְתִּי כִּי עֹז לֵאלֹהִים׃ - Once has God spoken, twice have I heard this: that strength belongs to God.
Here too, if you take the initial letters, you get 613 (Taryag): the alef of achat and the dalet of diber equal five; the alef of Elokim makes six; the shin of shtayim and the shin of shama'ti make six hundred; and adding the zayin of zu brings it to 613. This comes to allude to what is taught in the sacred books: that all 613 mitzvos are encompassed and hinted at within the Ten Commandments, and all is hinted at on an even deeper level within the single word Anochi ("I am"). This is the meaning of "Once has God spoken" - Anochi Hashem Elokecha ("I am Hashem your God"), and from the power of that one, "twice have I heard this," I heard all 613.
He adds that the concept we learned earlier is also hinted at here: even if a person fulfilled only a single mitzvah, it is sufficient to save him from Gehinnom. "Once has God spoken" - even one mitzvah out of all the 613, whose initial letters total 613; if you possess even one out of all 613, it too rescues one from Gehinnom.
וּלְךָ־אֲדֹנָי חָסֶד כִּי־אַתָּה תְשַׁלֵּם לְאִישׁ כְּמַעֲשֵׂהוּ׃ - And to You, my Lord, is kindness, for You reward each man according to his deed.
And this is the conclusion of the psalm: "And to You, my Lord, is kindness" - it does not say kema'asav ("according to his deeds") in the plural, but rather kema'asehu ("according to his deed") in the singular, teaching that You reward a person even for his solitary deed, even for his single good action.