מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד בִּהְיוֹתוֹ בְּמִדְבַּר יְהוּדָה׃ - A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
Radak explains that David composed this psalm while in the wilderness of Judah fleeing from Saul - this is the wilderness of Ziph mentioned elsewhere. In his opening remarks, the Malbim defines the theme of the psalm: "To express the greatness of his yearning for divine attachment, to the point that he ceased to be mindful of any material concerns, and his soul clung only to God." In this psalm, we see how profound King David's passion and genuine devotion to Hashem were, how completely he cast aside all material matters, with his entire attraction, desire, and aspiration focused solely on serving Hashem and clinging to Him.
אֱלֹהִים אֵלִי אַתָּה אֲשַׁחֲרֶךָּ צָמְאָה לְךָ נַפְשִׁי כָּמַהּ לְךָ בְשָׂרִי בְּאֶרֶץ־צִיָּה וְעָיֵף בְּלִי־מָיִם׃ - O God, You are my God; I seek You early; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.
Rashi explains: "Ashacharecha" - I seek and beseech You, from the root of seeking, as in "You will seek me and I will not be" (Job 7:21), and "If you seek God early" (Job 8:5). "My soul thirsts for You" - I thirst and crave to pray in Your house of prayer. "My flesh yearns for You" - an expression of craving; Rashi notes that this word is unique, meaning no similar expression appears in Tanach. In this way, David expresses his aspiration and yearning, that even his flesh yearns for Hashem, while he is in a parched and weary land without water - for he was in the desert, a place of drought and exhaustion without water.
Radak explains the opening words, "O God, You are my God": You are my rock and my strength as I flee. I have no other support; You alone are my support, the power upon which I lean. "I seek You" - I yearn for You, and in the morning prayer, at the break of dawn, as I am tossed from place to place, it is You I seek. David expresses here his desire to reach the holy sanctuary. Although the Beit HaMikdash had not yet been built, the Ark was in Kiryat Ye'arim and the Tent of Meeting was in Giv'on - that is where David longed to be, and that was his aspiration. And why specifically there? Because all those who sought Hashem gathered in those places; the sages of Israel would come there, and he yearned to join them. He compares himself to a person who is thirsty in a parched and weary land, longing desperately to reach a place of water.
This is only a metaphor: the parchedness and exhaustion spoken of here mean that my tongue has dried up from a lack of Torah. And if you ask, were there not men with him? But consider who had gathered to him - "everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter of spirit" (I Samuel 22:2). In plain terms, men on the fringes of society. David fled with armed bands; it was not great Torah scholars who joined him. Therefore, David felt an immense thirst to be where the sages were. "My soul thirsts for You" - and the ultimate desire, says Radak, is to delve into Torah, to be in the company of the sages, and to merit closeness to Hashem. The intellectual soul craves wisdom and divine proximity with the ultimate yearning. The ultimate desire - that is, the most intense yearning possible - is closeness to Hashem.
Radak also notes that "kamah lecha vesari" (my flesh yearns for You) has no parallel in Tanach, explaining it as an expression of craving - whether related to longing or desire, it conveys the same concept. My flesh craves to be with the Holy One, Blessed be He, to dwell in a secure place, so that my soul can then unite with the Divine. "In a dry and weary land without water" - "weary" is an expression of thirst, and the meaning is not that David is weary from lack of water, but that the land itself is parched and thirsty for water: a weary land without water.
The holy Alshich offers a fascinating explanation of this introduction. We find that David said, "They have driven me out today from joining the inheritance of Hashem" (I Samuel 26:19) - when he was pursued and forced to go to Achish, king of Gat, leaving the Land, he lamented dwelling outside the Land of Israel, for one who lives outside the Land is like one who has no God, as Chazal teach. Now David says: Baruch Hashem, I have returned to the wilderness of Judah, I am back in the Holy Land - "O God, You are my God," now I am once again like one who has a God. According to this, we can also understand why it says "A psalm of David": what is he singing about when he is being pursued? Rather, he sings with praise for having merited to return to the Holy Land, where once again, "O God, You are my God."
The Malbim explains: Since You are my God, "I seek You" (ashachrecha) - You alone do I seek, demand, and plead for. And just as my soul thirsts for You, so does my flesh yearn and long for You. That is to say, even my material substance, even my physical body longs for Hashem. And where? "In a dry and weary land without water" - even in a place where naturally the body yearns for other things, longs for a drink, and the soul thirsts for water, David says: Even though I am in a dry and weary land without water, my flesh yearns for You. All my yearning is not for a drink, but for You, Master of the Universe; what I seek right now is closeness to Hashem.
We find something similar elsewhere, in David's words: "Who will give me water to drink from the well of Beit Lechem?" (II Shmuel 23:15), where Chazal explain that there too, he was referring to words of Torah: His longing was, "Who will bring me a halachah from the well of Beit Lechem?" - for that was where the Sages sat, as he was in doubt regarding the concealed stack of barley, as related in the Gemara in Bava Kamma (60b). We learn from this that for David, longing - like a person craving water - was directed toward Godliness, toward words of Torah, toward spirituality.
In his first approach, the Malbim explains like the other commentators that the word signifies desire, akin to craving and longing, but he attempts to find an explanation for the word itself. As we have explained several times, when a word has no equivalent counterpart in Scripture, the way to understand it is in one of two ways: from the context, or by comparing it to a similar word. Based on the context, it is readily understood: "My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You" - if "thirsts" expresses yearning, then "yearns" (kamah) expresses longing, seeking, and desire.
Nevertheless, the Malbim offers explanations based on the word's literal root: It is possible that kamah is related to quantity (kamut) - "how much" was there, "how much" money do you have. That is, how immense is his aspiration toward Hashem: to what great extent does my flesh seek You! Another explanation: kamah is related to "like" (kmo) - my soul thirsts for You, and likewise my flesh seeks You. The soul naturally thirsts for Hashem, which is only expected, since the soul is spiritual; one does not delight the soul with steaks. The physical body, however, is drawn to coarse, material things. To this David says: For me it is not so; just as my soul seeks and thirsts for You, so does my flesh seek You.
"In a dry and weary land without water" - the Malbim says: "Dry" (tziyah) refers to the scorching heat of the sun; "weary" (ayef) refers to noxious, suffocating air. Noxious air means a place where the air is unhealthy; in the desert, for example, the air is very dry, unpleasant to breathe, and parches the lungs. Thus, this place is a parched land beaten by a blazing sun, with foul air that is difficult to breathe, and it is also without water - with no springs or water sources to drink from.
Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin explains homiletically in the Chassidic tradition: "O God, You are my God, I seek You early" (ashachrecha) - my very first thought, at dawn (shacharit), in the morning, is dedicated to You. And then, "my soul thirsts for You" even in a parched land and the shadow of death; even if I later walk through a place of physical and earthly distractions - "so have I beheld You in the sanctuary," all my attraction remains toward You alone. In simple terms: everything follows the beginning. When the day begins in a proper spiritual manner, and at dawn "my soul thirsts for You," then even if later in the day there are struggles and trials, and I find myself in a dry and weary land without water, my entire longing and desire will still be focused on You.
כֵּן בַּקֹּדֶשׁ חֲזִיתִךָ לִרְאוֹת עֻזְּךָ וּכְבוֹדֶךָ׃ - Just as I have envisioned You in the sanctuary, so I long to see Your strength and Your glory.
The Malbim notes a precise distinction: The verb chazah refers to a vision of the heart - what a person envisions in his mind's eye, as is stated regarding Avraham, that Hashem appeared to him in a vision (machazeh), and as in "her prophets found no vision (chazon) from Hashem" (Eichah 2:9). Prophecy is a vision of the heart, not something the prophet sees with his physical eyes. By contrast, ra'ah refers to physical sight with the eyes.
According to this, the verse is interpreted: "Just as I have envisioned You in the sanctuary" - my soul envisions You in holiness, through the soul's vision, through intellectual contemplation, through Ruach HaKodesh; I perceive Your greatness and Your Shechinah, and it is always before my eyes. This is not an actual physical perception, but a vision in my mind's eye. Yet David says: I am not satisfied with this alone. Just as I have envisioned You in the sanctuary in a vision, so do I yearn "to see Your strength and Your glory" - with the sight of physical eyes. And where? In the Beit HaMikdash, where Hashem's strength is revealed and where one sees, as it were, eye to eye. That reality is what I yearn to see: Kohanim in their service, Levi'im on their platform singing and playing instruments, the miracles and wonders that Hashem performed daily on a constant basis in the Beit HaMikdash, and the resting of the Shechinah. This is what I want to behold with tangible sight, rather than being satisfied only with spiritual vision.
The Sfas Emes explains the juxtaposition of these concepts: "My soul thirsts for You" - followed immediately by "So have I gazed upon You in the sanctuary." Know that in spirituality, attainment corresponds directly to thirst. The thirstier a person is, the more he attains; the more he yearns, the further he reaches. He applies this idea to Shabbos as well: from Sunday through Friday, one sings, "Toward Shabbos my soul yearns." What does Shabbos depend upon? On how much you yearned and longed for it. The more you yearn for it throughout the six workdays, the more you will merit cleaving to the sanctity of Shabbos when it arrives. Thus, "My soul thirsts for You" - and precisely according to this, "So have I gazed upon You in the sanctuary": I will merit actual holiness in direct proportion to the measure of my thirst.
כִּי־טוֹב חַסְדְּךָ מֵחַיִּים שְׂפָתַי יְשַׁבְּחוּנְךָ׃ - Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.
What does it mean that lovingkindness is better than life? Several explanations are offered here. Ibn Ezra says: It is better in my eyes to see Your kindness in dwelling among Israel than to have life itself; witnessing this is dearer to me than my very life, and therefore my lips shall praise You.
The Radak explains: Better is the lovingkindness You bestowed upon man by granting him intellect, understanding, and wisdom, than merely granting him a body. Why? Because animals also have bodies; a beast has a body as well. The lovingkindness of giving us a soul, a spirit, comprehension, intellect, and knowledge - that is better than mere biological life, and therefore my lips will thank You for this lovingkindness. He cites his father similarly regarding the verse, "You granted me life and lovingkindness": "life" refers to animalistic life, granting me a physical body and simple existence; and "lovingkindness" refers to the exalted soul. Here too: "Your lovingkindness is better" - meaning the transcendent soul and spirituality - than the mere body, which animals possess as well.
The Radak offers another interpretation: "Your lovingkindness is better than life" - meaning better than the kindness done by the living, that is, human beings. The kindness one receives from Hashem is far better than the kindness received from mortals. Do not be surprised at this phrasing, for scripture states, "Your throne, O God," where the meaning is "Your throne is like God's throne"; here too, "Your lovingkindness is better" means better than the kindness of the living, even though the word "lovingkindness" is written only once. The meaning is: there are wealthy individuals who perform acts of kindness, and David says that Your lovingkindness is superior to theirs. Consider Saul: he showed me kindness, great kindness indeed - he brought me into his court, made me an officer in his army, gave me his daughter in marriage, and treated me well - yet now he pursues me and seeks my life to kill me, and there was but a step between me and death on multiple occasions. It turns out that the kindness of mortal beings is flawed; flesh-and-blood kindness has an expiration date, whereas Hashem's lovingkindness is boundless - "How precious is Your lovingkindness." For this my lips shall praise You: that I do not need the kindness of human beings, but only Your lovingkindness.
The Malbim explains: The lovingkindness You granted me in the gift of life is different from any kindness done by another human being. Any favor you receive from another person is not good in its own right, but only for the benefit derived from it. To use a parable: a mortal king showed clemency to a man condemned to death and spared his life - the kindness done for him was merely that he kept him alive. But with Hashem, Blessed is He, the lovingkindness itself is better than life. This means: the mere fact that Hashem gave you life is not the ultimate good in and of itself. Consider an analogy of an airline ticket: the ticket itself is not the purpose; only when you use it to board the plane have you realized its value. Life is the same: it is potential. What do you do with it? One can commit transgressions with it, or one can perform mitzvos. Thus, life itself is not the ultimate purpose. And what is the purpose? To serve Hashem, to draw close to Him in this life, and through life to praise and give thanks to Hashem.
David says: The lovingkindness You bestowed upon me is better than the physical substance of life You gave me, for physical life is not the goal. The goal is - "my lips shall praise You." The lovingkindness by which You granted me a spiritual existence is a tremendous and magnificent kindness, through which I am able to thank and praise Hashem. Life is not an end in itself; rather, because You gave me life, I have what to thank and praise for, and I have the means to do so: I have a body. "Let every soul praise the Lord" - only when it resides within the body. As David says: "In the grave, who will recount Your praise?" Who can utter Your praise? Only when I have life can I offer praise. It follows that life is not the purpose, but rather the vessel through which a person serves Hashem and praises the Creator; and this lovingkindness is greater than life itself, as it constitutes the true goal.
כֵּן אֲבָרֶכְךָ בְחַיָּי בְּשִׁמְךָ אֶשָּׂא כַפָּי׃ - So will I bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift up my hands.
What is the meaning of "So" (kein)? Rashi explains that kein means "then," just as the Targum translates the word az ("then") as u-vechein: "Then Moses sang" (Az yashir Moshe) is translated as u-vechein shabach Moshe. That is to say: then, when I come before You, I will bless You all the days of my life; when I merit reaching that state where I can stand before You and pray. "In Your name I will lift up my hands" - in Your name I will lift my hands in prayer; the lifting of hands here refers to lifting hands in prayer.
The Radak explains: "So will I bless You in my life" (ken avarechecha vechayay) - just as I praise You today, so will I bless and praise You all the days of my life. According to this, ken does not mean "then," but rather "so" or "in this manner," as in the phrase ki me'az ken ata (just as it was then, so it is now). This is what David was expressing: Just as I said, "For Your kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You," so too will I bless You throughout my life, constantly, all the days of my life. As for "In Your Name I will lift up my hands," the Radak explains that this does not refer to prayer, but to battle: With Your help, I will raise my hands against those who wage war against me, as we say, "Through Your Name we will tread down our adversaries" (b'shimcha navus kemeinu) - with Your help we will trample those who rise up against us. When I call upon Your Name, through that I will overcome them, as it says, "Who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war" - everything comes from Your strength.
The Malbim explains: "So will I bless You in my life" - this is the blessing with which I will bless You in my life: I will not bless You merely for life itself, but for the kindness of being able to praise You. This is essentially what we say every day in Modim: "We give thanks to You... that we give thanks to You." Notice what we are thanking Him for - for the opportunity and the privilege to thank Him! For the very fact that You gave me the ability to give thanks to You, for that I give thanks. This is what David is saying: What do I praise You for? For the kindness that You granted me the opportunity to praise You and serve You. "In Your Name I will lift up my hands" - when I raise my hands in prayer, I do not ask for physical life and earthly needs, but only "in Your Name," so that I may praise Your Name; that is my entire aspiration and aim.
Rav Mazuz cites a gematria here: Ken (כן) equals seventy, and King David lived for seventy years - ken, for seventy years, I will bless You in my life; for all my life, which is seventy years, may I merit to bless You. Furthermore, he notes: David instituted the daily recitation of one hundred blessings, prior to which young men of Israel had been dying mysteriously. This too is hinted at here: Ken bechayay (כן בחיי) has the numerical value of one hundred - kaf-nun is seventy, beit-chet is ten, yud-yud is twenty, totaling one hundred. Ken bechayay hints that he instituted one hundred blessings. And what is the significance of bechayay ("in my life")? That through this, their lives were spared, for one hundred choice young men of Israel were dying each day, and through these blessings, life was restored to them.
כְּמוֹ חֵלֶב וָדֶשֶׁן תִּשְׂבַּע נַפְשִׁי וְשִׂפְתֵי רְנָנוֹת יְהַלֶּל־פִּי׃ - As with choice fat and richness my soul shall be satisfied, and with joyous lips my mouth will offer praise.
The Radak explains that the letter vav in ve-siftei renanot means "when": "As with choice fat and richness my soul shall be satisfied when my mouth offers praise with joyous lips." That is, when my mouth praises with joyous lips, it is as delightful and sweet to me as a rich and savory feast to someone who craves it. The metaphor illustrates that when I praise and laud Hashem, that is my greatest delight, the sweetest sensation on my palate. He cites another example where the prefix vav functions in the sense of "when": "If they are not satisfied, then they will murmur" (im lo yisbe'u vayalinu) - if they are not satisfied, when they spend the night.
The Malbim explains: Just as rich food and fat satisfy the body and serve as sustenance for man, so too will my soul be satisfied when I give it spiritual sustenance three times a day in the three daily prayers, just as one feeds the physical body three times a day - breakfast, lunch, and dinner (though in the times of Chazal there were generally two meals, this remains the applicable analogy). As the Kuzari writes: Just as the physical body requires food and cannot live without it, so too is prayer the sustenance of the soul, allowing it to cleave to its spiritual source; and just as the body is fed throughout the day, so too, "Evening, morning, and noon I will speak and moan."
This is always the definitive answer: Why do we need to pray three times a day? Why do we need to eat three meals a day? No one questions the body's needs - everyone understands that it requires maintenance. Yet when it comes to prayer, people suddenly have questions! One must realize: the soul also requires maintenance.
אִם־זְכַרְתִּיךָ עַל־יְצוּעָי בְּאַשְׁמֻרוֹת אֶהְגֶּה־בָּךְ׃ - When I remember You upon my bed, during the night watches I meditate on You.
Rashi explains: When I lie upon my bed, I remember Your love, and during the watches of the night I think of You. Consider how refined David's soul was: lying on his couch he meditated on Hashem, and in the watches of the night his thoughts were focused on Hashem, blessed is He - not on his business affairs, and not on the numerous anxieties troubling him, but with all of his thoughts devoted to Hashem.
The Radak explains: When I remember You in my heart upon my couch, and when I meditate upon You in the night watches - then I feel nourished, invigorated, and sated. Thus, this verse is a continuation of the previous one: "As with choice fat and richness my soul shall be satisfied" - when? When my mouth praises with joyous lips, when I remember You upon my couch, and when I meditate on You in the night watches; all of this is as sweet to me as rich marrow and fat. And why does the verse use the plural yetsu'ai ("my beds" or "couches")? Because David did not have a single fixed bed, but rather many resting places, as he was a fugitive fleeing for his life and slept in a different place each night; on every single bed where I lay, there I remembered You. And ashmurot are the watches into which the night is divided, as Chazal teach: the night consists of three watches, or four watches, the morning watch and the middle watch. During those watches, at the shift of the night guards, I will meditate on You.
כִּי־הָיִיתָ עֶזְרָתָה לִּי וּבְצֵל כְּנָפֶיךָ אֲרַנֵּן׃ - For You have been a help to me, and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy.
The Malbim explains: Even when I remember You upon my bed, as I meditate upon You in the night watches and recall that You were a help to me and saved me from my enemies - I will sing with joy over having taken refuge in the shadow of Your wings. The singing is not over mere physical joy, not "How wonderful, my body was saved, I am alive!" For David, physical life is not the ultimate purpose, but merely a means to attain spirituality. The main point is that You were a help to me so that I might merit being in the shadow of Your wings.
דָּבְקָה נַפְשִׁי אַחֲרֶיךָ בִּי תָּמְכָה יְמִינֶךָ׃ - My soul clings after You; Your right hand supports me.
My primary joy is not physical and material rescue, but cleaving to You. The Malbim explains that there are two sides here: on my part - "My soul clings after You"; and on Your part - that You, too, cling to me: "Your right hand supports me", You assist me and uphold me. The essence of the joy was seeing that when I cling to Hashem, the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over me and stays close to me - "as water reflects a face to a face", "Hashem is your shade at your right hand." That the Holy One, blessed be He, bestows goodness upon me when I am attached to Him - this is dearer to me than life itself, dearer to me than everything.
וְהֵמָּה לְשׁוֹאָה יְבַקְשׁוּ נַפְשִׁי יָבֹאוּ בְּתַחְתִּיּוֹת הָאָרֶץ׃ - But they seek my soul for ruin; they shall go into the lowest parts of the earth.
A grammatical note: Why is it read yevakshu and not yevakkeshu? The rule is that a sheva after a short vowel is silent (nach). Had there been a kamatz under the beit, it would be read with a vocal sheva (na); but since there is a patach under the beit, the sheva that follows is silent - unless there is a meteg, or a dagesh in the kuf. Here, there is no dagesh in the kuf and no meteg, and the beit has a patach, so it is read yevakshu.
"And they" - the enemies, "seek my soul for ruin", coming upon me in ambush, on a dark day, so that I will not sense them; this is the meaning of sho'ah, a time of darkness. Furthermore: "they shall enter into the depths of the earth." Rashi explains not according to the superficial reading that they are supposedly digging tunnels underground to search for me, but rather that David is praying concerning them: Master of the Universe, those who seek my life - may they enter the depths of the earth, into a lowly place, falling into Sheol and the pit. Place them deep, deep into the earth. Radak explains similarly: Those who pursue and seek my soul for ruin, to make it desolate and destroyed, shall enter into the depths of the earth - spoken as a prayer. David says this as a supplication: Please, cast them into the depths of the earth; let them descend to Sheol, which is the lowest depth of the earth. And why? Measure for measure: just as they seek to bring my soul down to Sheol, bring their souls down to Sheol.
The Malbim explains: "They" are the enemies, and they seek to ruin this precious soul, whose entire aspiration - as David has shown us - is spirituality, and whose entire desire is cleaving to God; this is what they seek to bring down into ruin and darkness, tearing it from the land of the living. And "they shall enter into the depths of the earth" refers to the caves and tunnels in the wilderness, where they searched for David. According to the Malbim, this is not a prayer against them as Rashi explained, but rather a description of their actions: they enter the depths of the earth in order to seek my soul.
יַגִּירֻהוּ עַל־יְדֵי־חָרֶב מְנָת שֻׁעָלִים יִהְיוּ׃ - They shall pour him out by the sword; they shall be a portion for foxes.
Rashi explains: Enemies will come upon the pursuers and pour each of them out by the sword and put him to death. There is a difficulty here, common to many verses: yaggiruhu ("they will pour him out") is in the singular, whereas earlier the verse spoke in the plural - "they will enter the depths of the earth." Rashi explains that the reference is to each and every one of the enemies: I spoke earlier of the enemies collectively, and now of each one of them individually - enemies will rise against them and put them to death by the sword. This is an elliptical phrasing (mikra katzer), for it does not specify who will pour him out; the meaning is that other enemies will pursue my enemies. And yaggiruhu is an expression of dragging or pouring, as in "poured down a slope" (muggarim be-morad), meaning dragged down a slope, and as in "a torrent breaks forth from where a stranger dwells." Radak similarly explains that yaggiruhu also carries the sense of melting and dissolving, like flowing water - water streaming down as though dragged along a wall; and likewise, "my eye pours forth" (eini niggara), tears streaming from my eyes.
"They shall become the portion of foxes" - these are the rest of the enemies allied with Shaul; they will become the foxes' portion, food for foxes. Whom do the foxes need as their portion? My enemies, Shaul's confidants, all those who come to slander me and speak evil of me - Doeg, Achitophel. And it is the nature of foxes that when people were slain in battle, they would come to scavenge among the fallen and consume the carcasses; so too will foxes and wild beasts consume all those who rise against me and join forces with Shaul.
The Malbim connects yaggiruhu ("they will pour him out") to the subsequent verse, "everyone who swears by Him shall glory." The meaning is: everyone who swears truthfully by Hashem's Name - for the king's servants would swear by Hashem not to rebel against him, and David's men likewise swore loyalty to him - they will glory that even if "they pour him out by the sword," that is, even if Shaul and his men drive David out with the sword from the caves where he hides, until the caves and the depths of the earth become "the portion of foxes," where David is no longer present and only foxes dwell - despite all this, the king will rejoice in God, and Hashem will deliver him from all his troubles.
וְהַמֶּלֶךְ יִשְׂמַח בֵּאלֹהִים יִתְהַלֵּל כָּל־הַנִּשְׁבָּע בּוֹ כִּי יִסָּכֵר פִּי דוֹבְרֵי־שָׁקֶר׃ - But the king shall rejoice in God; everyone who swears by Him shall glory, for the mouth of those who speak falsehood shall be stopped.
According to the Malbim: even if they succeed in driving David away, even if they pursue him relentlessly and expel him from the places where he hides, seeking him in the depths of the earth, nevertheless the king rejoices in God, confident that the Holy One, blessed be He, will rescue him, shield him, and save him from all troubles. And he knows with certainty that "the mouth of those who speak falsehood shall be stopped": those who say that they will pour him out by the sword, that they will soon capture him and bring his story to an end - they are speakers of falsehood, their words will not come to pass, and David will surely reign just as Hashem promised him.
"The king shall rejoice" - David says this about himself, for he had already been anointed king. And when people see that Hashem has saved him, all who swear by the Name of the Master of the Universe will glory and boast, seeing how He delivered His servant David, and then the mouth of all who speak falsehood will be stopped. Yissakher ("shall be stopped"), Rashi explains, is like "and the fountains of the deep were stopped (vayyissakhru)" - meaning shut up, like a dam (sekher) that stops water.
Radak likewise explains that "and the king shall rejoice in God" is spoken by David about himself: They plot to kill me so that I will not attain the throne, but kingship will indeed be mine and they will perish, and the one worthy of being king will rejoice in God - that is David, upon whom kingship was decreed. "Everyone who swears by Him shall glory" - anyone worthy of swearing by His Name, meaning one who is God-fearing and truthful; for who is fit to swear by Hashem? Only after fulfilling all that is commanded there, "and to Him shall you cleave" and all those requirements; only one who attains such spiritual heights is told, "and by His Name shall you swear." In contrast, those who speak falsehood cannot swear by His Name, and their mouths will be stopped.
And with this we conclude the chapter. The Tehillot Maharitz explains that "and the king shall rejoice in God" refers to King Shaul, unlike the view of Rashi and Radak that David says this about himself. David is praying that Shaul should rejoice in Hashem. For the pursuit Shaul waged against him came about because of the advice of his wicked counselors; Shaul had sworn that he would not pursue David, yet in the end he continued to do so. What brought him to this? His evil advisers: Doeg, Achitophel, Avner - all of them urged him to keep pursuing David and fueled his fears.
Therefore, David prays that the king should rejoice in Hashem and cease succumbing to fear, that he live in joy and not in dread that someone seeks to take away his throne. And how can he attain joy when he is surrounded by all the "little foxes that ruin the vineyards," all those who constantly incite him? The answer: "for the mouth of those who speak falsehood shall be stopped." Once the mouths of those slandering me are stopped - those who claim that I intend to kill Shaul and his sons and strip him of his kingdom - King Shaul's heart will naturally rejoice in Hashem, he will no longer pursue David, and peace and serenity will come to dwell in our midst.
In summary: Psalm 63 is the psalm of yearning: David is in the Judean wilderness, pursued and surrounded by men in "distress, in debt, and bitter of spirit," yet his entire longing is neither for water nor for physical comfort, but for closeness to Hashem, for the Sanctuary, and for the fellowship of the wise. "My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You" - even the physical body is drawn after spirituality; "so have I gazed upon You in the sanctuary" - and in proportion to the thirst is the level of perception; "for Your lovingkindness is better than life" - life is not an end in itself, but an instrument to praise and serve; "my soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness" - the soul requires its nourishment through prayer just as the body requires sustenance. And facing enemies who seek his life to destroy it in the depths of the earth, David concludes with confidence: "And the king shall rejoice in God" - salvation will surely come, the mouth of those who speak falsehood will be stopped, and peace and tranquility will come to reign in our midst.