לַמְנַצֵּחַ מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד׃ - For the conductor, a psalm of David.
This psalm was recited regarding persecutors who plot evil in secret, and the commentators differ as to whom it was directed against. The Malbim explains that King David uttered it concerning Doeg the Edomite and his companions, who plotted evil against him, and ultimately, by the very same plan they devised to bring him down, they themselves fell. The Radak says that this psalm was composed by David when he was fleeing, and therefore it is directed not against Doeg and his faction, but against Shaul. Rashi cites a Midrash that interprets the psalm as referring to Daniel when he was cast into the lions' den, adding: "And the entire wording of the psalm aligns beautifully with the Aggadah" - meaning that the language of the psalm fits the Midrashic exposition exceptionally well. We will proceed along all three tracks together, explaining each verse according to each of these approaches.
If one asks: since the episode of Daniel occurred many years later, how could David pray for him? To this Rashi explains: David foresaw the entire event through Ruach HaKodesh and prayed for him, because Daniel was of his lineage. Daniel and his companions were of royal blood, as was prophesied to Chizkiyahu: "And of your sons who will issue from you... they shall take, and they shall be officers." This was Chizkiyahu's punishment for showing everything to Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, who had come in awe of the one for whom the Holy One, blessed be He, performed such a miracle that the sun reversed ten degrees. The Holy One, blessed be He, told him that his punishment would be that his descendants would be ministers in the palace of the king of Babylon - and these were Daniel, Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah.
שְׁמַע־אֱלֹהִים קוֹלִי בְשִׂיחִי מִפַּחַד אוֹיֵב תִּצֹּר חַיָּי׃ - Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer; protect my life from dread of the enemy.
"Be'sichi" (in my prayer) means the narrative - what I relate and recount of my hardships, as in the phrase "I am distraught in my complaint" (arid be'sichi), from the abundance of my speech. According to the Radak, "dread of the enemy" refers to Shaul, who sought his life. According to Rashi, who explains the psalm as referring to Daniel, "the enemy" refers to the satraps who conspired against him: "Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a pretext against Daniel" - the ministers and governors sought an excuse and a fault in Daniel, because they resented that the king held him in such high regard, changing his name to Belteshazzar and offering him oblations. The king had great veneration for him, and it has always been a thorn in the side of the nations whenever a Jew becomes a confidant of the king.
The holy Alshich notes a precision in the verse: "Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer" - even if the promise "Before they call, I will answer" is not fulfilled for me, meaning before I utter my prayer, at least hear me at the time I speak. Yet later in the verse he alters the request: "Protect my life from dread of the enemy" - here, do not wait until I pray; rather, preserve my life beforehand, even before I open my mouth. Why? As we shall see further on, sometimes the enemy remains hidden, and when the enemy is hidden, his strike is instantaneous; I will not have time to prepare, nor will I have time to pray. Therefore, "protect my life from dread of the enemy" - even prior to my prayer.
תַּסְתִּירֵנִי מִסּוֹד מְרֵעִים מֵרִגְשַׁת פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן׃ - Hide me from the secret council of evildoers, from the tumult of workers of iniquity.
The Radak explains that "sod" means an assembly or gathering, as in "I did not sit in the assembly of merrymakers" (be'sod mesahekim) - in a gathering of people who laugh, and as in "upon the gathering of youths together" (al sod bachurim yachdav). And why is a gathering called "sod" (secret/counsel)? Because counselors would assemble together so that each could express his opinion and advice, thereby reaching a unified agreement. From this, the term "sod" came to denote a gathering.
Radak brings another example in the name of his father regarding the word tzom (fast): What is a tzom? It is an expression of gathering and assembling, from the root of tzamah (braid) - the gathering of strands of hair into a single braid, or from tzomet (intersection) - the coming together of several paths. And why did tzom become the term for fasting? Because it was their custom to gather together when holding a fast, and the gathering for the fast was called a tzom, until it became synonymous with the fast itself. So too here: while the primary meaning of sod is to speak secretly, since those who wish to speak in secret gather together, b’sod means in an assembly. "Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers" - from the evildoers who seek to harm me, who gather and assemble together.
"From the tumult of the workers of iniquity" - from the multitude of those who commit wickedness. As it says, "And I will put an end to the multitude of Egypt," which the Targum renders as "and I will annul the tumult (itragushat) of Egypt," showing that rigshat means a multitude or crowd. We have already seen that the Malbim explains that a crowd is called this because when many people gather, there is a tumult: everything hums with constant noise, and just try to silence a large crowd. Rashi explains "from the tumult of the workers of iniquity": they become agitated - that is, they gather and become worked up to seek deadly plots against me, as in the phrase "they gathered tumultuously before the king" (hargishu al malka), and according to his approach, they are assembling to find a way to put Daniel to death.
The holy Alshich teaches a major principle here: there are two types of evildoers. There are the conspirators - they plan everything in secret, keeping everything hidden so no one knows, and when the moment of truth arrives, they strike an irreparable blow all at once. In contrast, there are people who cannot keep a secret: they disclose their plans in advance: "Listen, I will catch him, I will finish him off." These people are incapable of containing their secrets, and they immediately sharpen their tongues and speak slander against the person they want to target - and they are less dangerous than the first group.
The reason for this is simple. First, when a person talks, eighty percent of the pressure and steam is already released; the mere act of letting out what is inside calms him down. The one who shouts, "I will kill him!" - through that very commotion, he already cools off. In contrast, the one who keeps it bottled up inside is the most dangerous, for in an instant he explodes. Second, when someone talks openly, people immediately come and tell me: "Be careful, so-and-so said he is waiting for you to fall into his hands" - and I can be on guard. But with someone who operates in secret, I have no idea what is happening: he will say "good morning" with a smile, and afterward you get a knife in the back. It catches you by surprise, and you are unprepared. Therefore, the Alshich explains: "Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers, from the tumult of the workers of iniquity" - hide me from those who keep their plans secret, those workers of iniquity who assemble and conduct their deeds in concealment, who trouble me far more.
The Malbim explains that the verse encompasses both groups: "Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers" - those who plot evil against me in secret; "from the tumult of the workers of iniquity" - those who assemble against me with commotion, in rebellion and conspiracy, out in the open. Rigshat is related to "Why do the nations rage (ragshu)?" - an expression of stirring up, and an uprising is something noticeable. Secret plotting is done quietly, while rebellion is accompanied by loud shouting and commotion. According to the Alshich, the verse thus far spoke only of the secretive conspirators, while the outspoken ones appear in the next verse; according to the Malbim, however, both factions are already mentioned here.
אֲשֶׁר שָׁנְנוּ כַחֶרֶב לְשׁוֹנָם דָּרְכוּ חִצָּם דָּבָר מָר׃ - Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword, and aimed their arrow, a bitter word.
The Alshich continues along his line of interpretation: the second type, those who speak of doing evil right away - "who have sharpened their tongue like a sword." They sharpen the sword, making it keen, but they do so openly, with their tongue. Therefore, I do not fear them as much; the harm they cause is not great, and their plans have little chance of coming to fruition. And everything you see when they "aimed their arrow" amounts to nothing more than "a bitter word" - the bitter speech they uttered. Their aiming of the arrow is merely wicked talk against me, and it is likely that the matter ends right there: the person has already vented his anger and will not take further action. This is far less alarming than that "secret counsel of evildoers" and the "tumult of the workers of iniquity," who do not merely talk, but are actual workers of iniquity.
The Malbim explains: "Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword" - he compared the tongue to a sword, because a sword kills up close. Furthermore: "aimed their arrow, a bitter word" - they would smear the arrow with venom. The goal was to leave the victim with no chance of survival; for if he were merely struck in the shoulder, he could still continue functioning in battle, but if the arrow was coated with venom, within three or four minutes it reaches the heart. "A bitter word" refers to the venom with which they anointed the arrows. And the arrow kills from a distance - how? By speaking lashon hara about me and informing against me in secret. According to the Malbim, this refers to Doeg and his associates, the slanderers: they themselves do not come to harm me or strike me directly; they only uttered lashon hara, and Shaul immediately sends his men to kill me. Their arrows are fired from afar.
Radak, who interprets the chapter in relation to Shaul, says that "who have sharpened their tongue like a sword" refers to those who aided Shaul: the Ziphites, the men of Keilah, and the like, who would come to Shaul and say, "Is not David hiding among us?" These people sharpened their sword and informed on me to Shaul. "They aimed their arrow" - they drew the bow to shoot, and the arrow is the "bitter word." The bow is like the mouth, and the arrow is speech, which shoots forth and inflicts damage from afar.
לִירֹת בַּמִּסְתָּרִים תָּם פִּתְאֹם יֹרֻהוּ וְלֹא יִירָאוּ׃ - To shoot from hiding places at the blameless; suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear.
The Radak explains: "The blameless" - David says this about himself, that they shoot at me in secret. And why "blameless"? Because he conducted himself with them with integrity; he did not harm anyone among them nor did he cause them damage. "Suddenly they shoot at him" - I did not prepare for this, nor did I guard myself against those people; I was with the Ziphites and the like, and suddenly they slandered me to Shaul and shot their arrow, which is their speech. "And they fear not" - those who spoke their words in secret did not fear that the Holy One, blessed be He, hears. You went to slander to Shaul, perhaps accumulating dividends with him and thinking you would receive something from him - but there is One Who sees, and that is the Holy One, blessed be He. This is "and they fear not": they have no fear of Hashem.
The Alshich returns here to those whom David truly fears: those who shoot from hiding places, who conceal their secret and shoot at the blameless from concealment. And the great fear is "suddenly they shoot at him" - one who conceals himself strikes suddenly; you are unprepared for it and cannot guard against it, because he hid his hatred and his desire to harm you, so you do not know how to guard yourself and there is no remedy for it. One could also read "and they fear not" (*ve-lo yira'u*) not according to the literal meaning, but in the sense that they are not seen (*ve-lo yeira'u*): suddenly they shoot at him, and he did not see them beforehand, because they were in concealment and hid themselves. This is not the literal meaning - for according to the simple meaning, *yira'u* is an expression of fear - but there is depth to this idea.
The Malbim explains: "They aimed their arrow to shoot" - like aiming a weapon and drawing arrows to shoot; "to shoot from hiding places at the blameless" - so that he will not see them and will not guard against them; "suddenly they shoot at him" - so that he will have no time to escape. The word "suddenly" serves both aspects: they shoot at the blameless from hiding places suddenly, and then they shoot him suddenly without fear.
And what do they not fear? According to the Malbim, they do not fear me; they are not afraid that I will stand against them. Ordinarily, they should have been afraid: Shaul was already in decline, and there was reason to fear that David would reign and settle scores with anyone who did not align with him, as was customary in their day and everywhere, where a king brings his own loyalists into positions of trust. This reality usually makes people afraid to do things that will ultimately harm them. However, they acted in secret: David does not know we are against him; we secretly went and whispered to Shaul. And if David does not know, I will later be able to wash my hands in innocence and say: I did nothing to you, I was with you and waited for you to reign, and who can know what is inside my heart? Therefore, they shot from hiding places and did not fear lest I reign and take retribution against them.
יְחַזְּקוּ־לָמוֹ דָּבָר רָע יְסַפְּרוּ לִטְמוֹן מוֹקְשִׁים אָמְרוּ מִי יִרְאֶה־לָּמוֹ׃ - They encourage themselves in an evil matter; they converse about hiding snares; they say, "Who will see them?"
The Malbim says: There are several matters here. The first is that they spoke lashon hara about him, as explained, and the second is that they were laying actual traps for him. "They encourage themselves in an evil matter" - they reinforce an evil snare in which David will be trapped. A trap (*mokesh*) in the simple sense is a pit or obstacle that a person walks into and falls into, but in a conceptual sense it does not have to be a stone one trips over: it could be that you set up a pitfall through which he will die - that you drew him out with your words until he said something, and was trapped by the words of his mouth, and the king decided to execute him. Likewise, "Do not place a stumbling block before the blind" does not necessarily refer to a concrete block in the road, but rather, as Chazal say, do not give him advice that is not suited for him.
According to this, the Malbim explains: They would discuss with one another how to lay traps for David, and the traps would be hidden in his path, and they say, "Who will see them?" - they are hidden and no one can see them, and David will surely stumble upon them. And so it was: Shaul asked his men to track David, to show him a friendly face, and then come and tell him where he was. David is always fleeing and I cannot catch him, but if we have a mole there - someone who will ostensibly be with David, show him a smiling face and assure him that he is on his side, while secretly revealing to us where he is - this way we will capture him. These are the traps they sought to lay.
The Radak explains "They encourage themselves in an evil matter" - the evil thing they were doing: they would speak to Shaul and reinforce him with accusations against me, repeating the matter time and again. "To hide snares" - they spread a net to trap me. And those who spoke ill of me in secret said, "Who will see them?" And the Radak, in his usual manner, explains that this refers to the Holy One, blessed be He, as was stated earlier, "and they fear not" - they did not fear Hashem. The Radak adds: although there were those who spoke their evil words openly, such as the Ziphites and Doeg the Edomite, there were nonetheless others among them who did so in secret, because they were afraid: who knows, if David finds out and later reigns with power in his hands, he might repay them according to their wickedness. Therefore, they did these things in secret and laid traps, saying, "No one will see," nor did they fear the Holy One, blessed be He.
Rashi, in his usual approach, explains the verse as referring to Daniel: "They converse about hiding snares" - they spoke to the king deceitfully with concealed intentions, such that even the king did not understand why they were doing it. They came to Daryavesh with advice whose sole purpose was to set a trap for Daniel: "All the governors of the kingdom took counsel together to establish a royal statute" - that for thirty days no man should pray to any deity throughout the kingdom except to the king alone. And they knew well that Daniel would not comply with this draconian decree, and then the trap would be sprung, and we will have succeeded in bringing Daniel down. "They say, 'Who will see them?'" - no one will understand the plot. When people come to honor the king, proposing that everyone bow only to him and pray only to him, the king says: Excellent, why not? He does not realize that the one who will pay the price is Daniel, and that the entire scheme is directed at him.
We find an example of this in our own times as well: there are laws and regulations passed in very specific ways, tailored to suit certain groups while deliberately excluding others. If someone wants yeshivah graduates weeded out of a job tender from the outset, they require a specific number of high school years. For in their eyes, Torah study is not considered study - someone who studied ancient Chinese at university holds an academic degree, while someone who studied Gemara and Hashem's Torah is considered to have nothing, even if he is far sharper and understands much better. Or, they might demand flexible work hours and seven-day-a-week availability, thereby disqualifying a Shomer Shabbat from meeting the tender's requirements in advance. They tailor the criteria from the start to fit only their own circle. This is precisely what those men did: they devised a scheme knowing in advance that the only one who would fall into it was Daniel, who was the only one incapable of refraining from praying to Hashem for thirty days.
The psalm describes the terror of the hidden enemy: according to the Malbim, it is directed against Doeg and his associates; according to the Radak, against Shaul and his informers; and according to Rashi, it was composed through Ruach HaKodesh regarding Daniel and his adversaries. "Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer" - and even beyond this, "protect my life from the dread of the enemy," even before I open my mouth, for the strike of a concealed foe is sudden and leaves no time to prepare. "Secret counsel" (sod) and "tumult" (rigshat) represent two factions: those who plot in secret and those who gather openly. The more dangerous of them are the conspirators of the secret council, whose tongue is a sword at close range, and whose venom-coated arrow kills from afar. They shoot at the innocent in secret, fearing neither the vengeance of David nor the watchful eye of the Holy One, blessed be He, and they lay snares that no one notices - like that cunning decree laid as a trap for Daniel. Hence the plea "hide me": from the hidden danger against which a person cannot protect himself, David asks that the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself conceal him and guard his life.