Chapter 68 is a psalm of song and triumph, and there is a fundamental dispute among the commentators regarding the historical event it addresses. According to the Radak, the psalm describes the war between Chizkiyahu and Sancheriv and the downfall of the Assyrian camp surrounding Jerusalem. According to the Malbim, it refers to a war during the days of David in the region of the Bashan, where for every deliverance the psalmist describes in the present, he sets alongside it a parallel "picture" from the past - from the Giving of the Torah, the Exodus from Egypt, and the wars against Sichon and Og. In this section, we will follow the order of the verses, bringing Rashi, Radak, and the Malbim, as well as the homilies of Chazal and the ethical insights derived from them.
לָמָּה תְּרַצְּדוּן הָרִים גַּבְנֻנִּים, הָהָר חָמַד אֱלֹהִים לְשִׁבְתּוֹ, אַף ה' יִשְׁכֹּן לָנֶצַח׃ - Why do you leap, you rugged mountains, toward the mountain God desired for His dwelling? Indeed, Hashem will dwell there forever.
The Radak brings two explanations for the word "teratzdun." Some explain it from the language of dancing - why are you prancing about, boasting and prideful? You are considered as nothing compared to the mountain that God desired for His dwelling, which is the Temple Mount and the site of the Beit HaMikdash. Rabbeinu Hai Gaon explains that "teratzdun" denotes gazing and yearning, similar to a word in Arabic, meaning: why do you long for honor? Why do you yearn for praise for your prominence, thinking that you are lofty and majestic peaks? All the glory belongs solely to the mountain that God desired for His dwelling, the mountain upon which Hashem established the Beit HaMikdash, the glory of Jerusalem, the most significant and exalted place from which an abundance of light radiates to the entire world.
Consider the proof: throughout all of Eretz Yisrael the enemies held sway and conquered, yet concerning Jerusalem it is said in Isaiah 37, "He will not shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast up a siege mound against it" - a siege mound being dirt piled diagonally against the wall to scale it - and it says there, "I will defend this city to save it." If so, why do you leap, you rugged mountains? The mountain that God desired for Himself is far more exalted than all the prestige of those other mountains, grand, lofty, and fertile though they may be.
Furthermore, the Temple Mount is exalted even over Mount Sinai itself, for on the Temple Mount Hashem dwells forever, whereas on Mount Sinai Hashem did not dwell forever - its holiness was temporary and came to an end. The proof of this is the verse, "When the ram's horn sounds a long blast, they may ascend the mountain," and today, if someone ascends Mount Sinai there is no prohibition whatsoever, and even if someone were to relieve himself there - begging your pardon - we would not say to him, "Woe to you, you have desecrated a holy place." While hardly recommended, seeing as Hashem revealed Himself there, it nonetheless retains no actual sanctity. By contrast, a person who ascends the Temple Mount today in a state of ritual impurity incurs the penalty of karet (spiritual excision) - a clear sign that this place is sanctified forever. This is what the verse emphasizes: the mountain that God desired for His dwelling, indeed, Hashem will dwell in it forever. It is unlike Mount Sinai, where, despite its greatness when Hashem was revealed upon it in a cloud, the revelation was only temporary. Here it is eternal, and therefore the hand of the enemy prevailed across the entire Land of Israel, but not in Jerusalem during the days of Chizkiyahu. Certainly, Jerusalem was conquered later on, but the verse addresses that specific era and the miracle that occurred in the time of Chizkiyahu.
Rashi explains that this is all a continuation of what we saw earlier: "The Lord gives the command; the women who bring the news are a great host," meaning that this is the utterance of the Holy One, Blessed be He. Hashem, as it were, says to them: Why do you leap, you rugged mountains? Why do you lie in wait to destroy the mountain that God desired for His dwelling, namely the Temple Mount? The nations are compared to rugged mountains, and the Jewish people to the Temple Mount. You mountains dance and look for ways to destroy the Temple Mount, yet "indeed, Hashem will dwell there forever" - His Shechinah will reside there forever, and its sanctity is an eternal sanctity. Rashi also brings two interpretations for this word: in the name of Rabbi Moshe HaDarshan, that "ratzad" denotes an ambush - as if to say, you lie in wait for the Temple Mount; while in the name of Menachem ben Saruk, he notes that "teratzdun" means you dance. Rashi's exposition fits this meaning as well: you prance and rejoice along your way, while the mountain God desired is the Temple Mount; why, then, do you cavort to subjugate the Jewish people dwelling in Jerusalem?
The Malbim explains to whom the verse is addressed: to the kings of the armies. As noted, according to the Malbim, this entire section concerns a war fought in the region of the Bashan. You kings of armies, why do you leap upon rugged mountains to descend from the heights and wage war against Israel? As is known, one positioned on a mountain holds a strategic advantage, and it is always harder to conquer a mountain than a valley. But as for the mountain that God desired for His dwelling - the place that Hashem sanctified with the sanctity of the Land to rest His Shechinah upon - Hashem will dwell in it forever; therefore, you will never be able to drive them away from there.
And as is typical of the Malbim, when he speaks of the present, he provides depictions from the past: here he portrays the reality that existed in ancient times during the war against Sichon and Og, where Israel prevailed over the enemies and defeated them, and so it will be in David's war against his foes. Thus, according to the Radak, the psalm refers to the war of Chizkiyahu and Sancheriv, while according to the Malbim, it refers to a war during the days of David; and the psalmist recalls the war against Sichon and Og, where our hand was triumphant, and says to them: See, the people of Israel will overcome you now as well.
רֶכֶב אֱלֹהִים רִבֹּתַיִם אַלְפֵי שִׁנְאָן, אֲדֹנָי בָם סִינַי בַּקֹּדֶשׁ׃ - The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands of angels; the Lord is among them, Sinai in holiness.
Rashi explains that this too refers back to "The Lord gives the word," meaning it is part of the Divine utterance in which the Holy One, blessed be He, reminds us how deeply He loves the Jewish people: when the chariot of God was revealed with myriads of thousands of shin'anim - "shin'anim" meaning angels, with a connotation of being sharp and keen (shenunim) - thousands of angels, and Hashem was among them at Sinai in holiness, where He revealed Himself to the Jewish people.
The Radak explains: the chariot of God, two myriads, descended to the aid of Israel. As it is written in Yoel, "Thither cause Your mighty ones to come down, Hashem," and like the "chariot of fire around Elisha" - we see that the Holy One, blessed be He, is depicted with chariots and horses, which are, so to speak, His steeds of war. "Thousands of shin'an" refers to thousands of the angels known as shin'anim; others explain shin'an as meaning "two," that is, two thousand. "Hashem is among them" - Hashem was with them just as He was at Sinai in holiness. And according to the Radak, who interprets this as referring to the war of Chizkiyahu, Hashem descended with His chariot to strike down the entire army of Sancheiriv that besieged Jerusalem; just as He descended upon Mount Sinai, so He descended here to rescue the people of Israel.
The Malbim explains that here the psalmist turns his attention and addresses the chariot itself. Having described Hashem as riding through the heavens coming to fight for us there in Bashan, he now portrays Hashem ascending to the heights of Mount Bashan to drive out the enemies, as though He ascends in chariot and horse - the hallmark of a warrior. You, chariot of God, "ascended on high" - to the peaks of Mount Bashan; and he depicts the chariot as "twice ten thousand, thousands of shin'an," advancing with an army of many tens of thousands of formidable and mighty warriors. According to the Malbim, "shin'an" denotes princes, leaders, and champions; although the term can also refer to angels, his intent here is that there was an exceedingly powerful force that advanced and fought against David's enemies upon the heights of Mount Bashan.
And what is this chariot? A chariot upon which Hashem ascended at "Sinai in holiness" - the motif of Sinai returns, for He already ascended in a similar chariot at Sinai; except that there, the ascent was not for battle, but "in holiness," an ascent to give us the Torah, whereas here, Hashem ascends the mountains to wage war against the enemies of Israel.
עָלִיתָ לַמָּרוֹם שָׁבִיתָ שֶּׁבִי, לָקַחְתָּ מַתָּנוֹת בָּאָדָם, וְאַף סוֹרְרִים לִשְׁכֹּן יָהּ אֱלֹהִים׃ - You ascended on high, You took captives, You received gifts among men, and even the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell there.
Rashi interprets this as referring to Moshe Rabbeinu: You ascended on high and took captives - the holy Torah; "You received gifts among men" - as Chazal expound, he received gifts from the angels, and the Angel of Death gave him the secret of the incense as a gift; "and even the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell" - you caused the Holy One, blessed be He, to rest His presence in the Mishkan among a people who are rebellious. For when did Hashem dwell in the Mishkan? Only after the Sin of the Golden Calf: Moshe ascended to plead for mercy, descended, commanded the construction of the Mishkan, and in the following Nisan it was erected - all after the Sin of the Calf. Thus, the Holy One, blessed be He, came and dwelt among the rebellious.
The Radak explains the entire verse negatively, depicting the state of affairs prior to the salvation, before the soldiers of Sancheiriv's army perished: until that point, the Land of Israel was in terror, there was a prolonged siege, and the people were exiled. As it were, "You ascended on high" - when You withdrew above, You abandoned us and left us in the hands of the enemies, and the enemy came, took captives, and conquered the entire Land of Israel. We must remember: during the reign of Chizkiyahu, the Ten Tribes had already been exiled, leaving only the two tribes, Yehudah and Binyamin. "You took gifts among men" - the gifts You had bestowed upon man, upon the Children of Israel, which were Your Shechinah upon us and Your providence and protection over us, You took away and withheld from the Jewish people. This reached the point where "even the rebellious, to dwell [in the place of] the Lord God" - even the rebellious, the king of Assyria and his forces, dared to come and besiege Jerusalem, the dwelling place of Hashem, and fight against the House of the Holy One, blessed be He, seeing that Hashem had ascended on high and seemingly abandoned and forgotten us.
The Malbim, on the other hand, understands the verse as continuing the theme of the chariot of God spoken of earlier, viewing the entire verse as expressing our benefit: "You ascended on high" - to the heights of Mount Bashan; you, chariot of God, went forth with our legions to fight our battles, and "You took captives" from the enemy. "You received gifts among men" - whereas in ancient times, when You ascended on high, namely Mount Sinai, You received the people of Israel as a gift, since through "we will do and we will hear" they gave themselves voluntarily to Hashem and accepted the Torah, now You have acquired them by way of captivity: by saving them from their enemies, they have become Your captives. That is, what was once accepted as a gift has now been acquired through captivity, and from now on we are bound by duty. This resembles what the Gemara says regarding Purim: until Purim, there remained a "modaa rabba le'Oraita" (a formal protest against the coercive nature of the Torah's acceptance), as if we were coerced and had no choice, but when Purim arrived, on account of the magnitude of the miracle, we became bound willingly. So too here: the Holy One, blessed be He, delivered us and, as it were, captured us, and henceforth we are obligated to serve Him not merely as a voluntary gift, but as captives bound to their redeemer.
And not only Israel did You capture to be a nation unto You, but "even the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell" - You also captured the rebellious, the nations who came to fight against the people of Israel, so that Hashem might dwell upon the mountain. They wished to drive You away so that You would not dwell there, and therefore came to battle against us upon the mountains; but You took them captive so that You would remain dwelling there and the people of Israel would dwell in that place. And why is this called "that the Lord God might dwell"? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, is with us and dwells in our midst, and when Israel is driven from their land, it is as though the Shechinah is driven from its land. When the Holy One, blessed be He, captures the enemies upon the mountains, the people of Israel dwell there, for when Hashem is on the mountain, He does not permit the nations to banish us from there; as it were, He does not permit them to banish the Shechinah - for the Holy One, blessed be He, and Israel are one.
בָּרוּךְ אֲדֹנָי יוֹם יוֹם יַעֲמָס־לָנוּ, הָאֵל יְשׁוּעָתֵנוּ סֶלָה׃ - Blessed be the Lord day by day, He burdens us [with goodness]; God is our salvation, Selah.
Rashi explains that this is part of the song mentioned above, "Sing to God." And what is the song? That you should sing to Hashem and acknowledge that blessed be the Lord day by day, He loads us - meaning, He grants us abundant salvation from every burden, as much as we are able to bear. "Ya'amas lanu" is similar to everyday speech, "He loads upon us" - He loads upon us great salvation to the utmost of our capacity.
The Radak explains: He carries His blessings to us; Hashem, Who is our salvation, Who saved us from the immense and mighty army of Sancheiriv that besieged Jerusalem, He carries His blessings to us and loads us with His goodness. And if you ask, it does not state what He loads upon us - the Radak replies that one should not wonder at this, for Scripture often leaves words implied. The Holy One, blessed be He, day by day loads us with His goodness and His blessings, and the verse cuts short, as it were, without completing the statement; similar to what Eli said to Shmuel, "do not conceal from me" - and if you do conceal, what will happen? He did not say. So too here: day by day He loads us with goodness, blessing, and abundance, and Scripture did not finish the thought. Or another possibility: He loads upon us "our salvation" mentioned at the end of the verse - day by day Hashem loads us with His salvation.
The Malbim explains: Through this, Hashem will be blessed for what He does each day, both for what He did in ancient times and what He did in recent days during David's war against the enemies who invaded the Land of Israel. "Ya'amas lanu" - He loads and bears the salvations for us. And as explained, for every salvation described here he provides an example from earlier generations; this is his intent: those very salvations that Hashem performed in ancient times are, as it were, loaded up with Him, still preserved in His repertoire to be bestowed upon us anew. He carries them with Him; day by day He loads these burdens of salvations for us, continually bringing those same salvations upon us again and again. And "Selah" marks the conclusion of the subject, as is the Malbim's consistent approach.
The Gemara expounds the verse "Blessed be the Lord day by day, He loads us" with regard to the abundance and blessing seen with Shammai: Every day he would purchase an animal for Shabbos, and if he later found a better one, he would take the better one and prepare it for Shabbos while eating the first one. The following day, if he found an even better one, he would set it aside for Shabbos and eat the second. Thus, "Blessed be the Lord day by day, He loads us" - each and every day He loads and bestows goodness upon us.
הָאֵל לָנוּ אֵל לְמוֹשָׁעוֹת, וְלֵיהוִה אֲדֹנָי לַמָּוֶת תֹּצָאוֹת׃ - God is to us a God of salvations, and to God the Lord belong the issues of death.
אַךְ־אֱלֹהִים יִמְחַץ רֹאשׁ אֹיְבָיו, קָדְקֹד שֵׂעָר מִתְהַלֵּךְ בַּאֲשָׁמָיו׃ - Indeed, God will shatter the head of His enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks about in his guilt.
Rashi explains: Hashem saves us, and before Him are many "totza'os" - pathways - kinds of death. He has many ways to bring death, but He does not bring them upon us; rather, He grants us salvations. And upon whom does He bring death? "Indeed, God will shatter the head of His enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks about in his guilt" - those many forms of death He brings down upon the heads of His enemies. And who are they? "The hairy crown" - an allusion to Eisav, who is a hairy man; "who walks about in his guilt" - who walks continually in his sins, neither repenting nor mending his ways. Upon him Hashem will bring the avenues of death, while to us He brings only salvations.
The Malbim explains that here begins the third section of the psalm, recounting that Hashem is for us the God and the salvations. "El" is an expression of might and power, as in "it is in the power (el) of my hand"; the meaning is that the might, strength, and intensity of salvations reside with Hashem, may He be blessed - but this is exclusively for us; His salvations are for us. Whereas for our adversaries, "to God the Lord belong the totza'os of death." In defining "totza'os," he differs with Rashi and interprets it as an expression of end and boundary, as in "and its terminations (totze'otav) were at the sea" - meaning that this marked its border. That is to say, the borders of death are in the lands of the nations, and the Holy One, blessed be He, does not permit it to enter the Land of Israel; He demarcated and confined it, assigning it the lands that are mundane, but in the Land of Israel it has no dominion, for the borders here belong to Hashem, "a land upon which the eyes of Hashem your God constantly rest" - here the Angel of Death does not reach.
And if you should ask: Who then will slay the enemies who reached Mount Bashan, if the Angel of Death has no dominion there? To this the verse responds: "Indeed, God will shatter the head of His enemies" - there, death will not crush them; rather, God Himself will crush them. And since death has no entry here, it is not the one to slay the chief of the enemies; rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory and Himself, will shatter the crown of the hairy man, the crown of the descendants of Edom who walk about in their guilt. The meaning of this is that they did not die there by natural means, but in a miraculous manner.
There is a wonderful explanation by Rabbi Hayun, cited in the Me'am Lo'ez: "God is to us a God of salvations" - the Holy One, Blessed be He, Who possesses all power, directs His salvations toward us and not toward others. Therefore, "and to God, the Lord, belong escapes from death" - even if we are very close to death, exits will come to us from Hashem, and He will bring us out of death. In other words, do not be alarmed: even if a sharp sword rests upon a person's neck, he should not hold himself back from praying for mercy. The One Who saves you and has the power to deliver you is Hashem, may He be blessed, and even if you see that you have already reached death's door - "escapes" (totza'ot) - He can bring you out and save you even from there. Do not despair of mercy; the Omnipresent has many openings. And our Sages said, "For this shall every pious person pray to You at a time of finding" - this refers to death.
And so the Baraita states: 903 types of death were created in the world. And from where is this derived? As it is stated, "To death belong escapes [totza'ot]" - and the numerical value of totza'ot is 903. The harshest of all is croup (askara), and the gentlest of all is the Divine kiss (neshikah). Death by askara, may the Merciful One save us, is when a person slowly suffocates to death as the throat swells and he cannot breathe. People related that during the Covid pandemic, those who reached severe respiratory distress said it resembled askara - giving us a glimpse of what it entails; at a certain point, patients are sedated, but one reaches a state where breathing becomes nearly impossible. The Gemara compares it to pulling wool out of thorns, so excruciating is the ordeal. In contrast, the gentlest of them all is the kiss of death, where, so to speak, the Holy One, Blessed be He, places His lips upon the person's lips and draws out his soul in this manner.
Radak explains "God will surely crush the head of His enemies" - God alone will accomplish this, for in a single night, 185,000 army commanders died. "God will surely [ach Elokim]" - only God can do such a thing: crush the head of His enemies in an instant, without sword and without spear.
And what is "the hairy crown [kodkod se'ar]"? Radak explains that the crown is the highest point of the head, from where the hair parts to the right and to the left. He defines it as "the apex of the head" - and in Chazal's language, miktzoa means a corner or angle, as in Rashi's phrasing, "in the southern corner." A person's head is like an angle from which slopes descend to the right and to the left, which serves as a parable for good and harsh decrees: to the right are favorable decrees, and to the left are harsh decrees, and the decrees that descend upon a person are as though descending from the crown to the right and to the left. This echoes the phrases "upon the crown of the head of the one set apart from his brothers" and "and upon his own crown his violence shall descend." And "who walks in his guilt" - He will crush the crown of one who walks in his wickedness, who persists in his guilt and does not mend his ways.
אָמַר אֲדֹנָי מִבָּשָׁן אָשִׁיב, אָשִׁיב מִמְּצֻלוֹת יָם׃ - The Lord said: I will bring back from Bashan; I will bring back from the depths of the sea.
Rashi explains that Hashem promised to return us from among the mighty beasts of Bashan and the beasts of the sea, that Hashem will redeem us. This fits the overarching theme of the chapter, which speaks of the Giving of the Torah, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, also declares what He will do in the future - that the Jewish people are destined to return even from the farthest places. Similarly, Chazal interpreted "I will bring back from the depths of the sea" as referring to those who gave their lives and cast themselves into the sea when they realized they had been captured for disgrace - the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: I will bring all of them back from the depths of the sea.
Radak explains that the verse refers back to the enemies, and presents an intriguing interpretation - these words are spoken, so to speak, with irony: the Holy One, Blessed be He, says, "I will bring back the enemies from Bashan just as I 'brought back' Egypt from the depths of the sea." But did anyone ever return from the depths of the sea? Just as no one returned from there, so too no one will return from here. Just as the Egyptians "returned," so will the camp of Assyria return - in plain terms: they will all die. And why is Bashan mentioned? Because Bashan is in the land of Gilad, where the Assyrian war began; Pul, king of Assyria, seized that entire region, and the end of the war was when Sennacherib reached Jerusalem, where they all died and were turned into dead corpses. Yet the beginning of the war was from Bashan, and therefore "I will bring back from Bashan" - those who came to fight in Bashan will return just as those who were in the depths of the sea returned.
The holy Alshich writes: Do not imagine that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is forgiving toward one who afflicted His children, toward one who tormented Israel throughout the generations, or that He pardons him and passes over his sin. Though you may sometimes see such an enemy die peacefully in his bed, without suffering, never having endured the evil he inflicted upon the Jewish people, Hashem says: I will bring him back from Bashan, I will bring him back from the depths of the sea, and exact retribution from him. For example, Titus wished to ensure that no one could ever hold him accountable, and requested that his body be burned and his ashes scattered over seven seas and rivers so that nothing could be done to him. The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: I will bring back from the depths of the sea; I will gather him, reconstruct him, and only then will he receive his punishment. Even if your ashes are scattered in the depths of the sea, it will avail you nothing - "I will bring you back from Bashan and exact retribution from you as you deserve; I will bring you back from the depths of the sea and exact retribution as you deserve."
And how will this happen? This is the teaching of the Zohar in Parashat Beshalach: In the time to come, the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring back all those who afflicted the people of Israel throughout every exile, and He will show us His vengeance upon them. From where is this derived? From what is written: "And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth" (Zechariah 14:12). This prophecy was spoken concerning the war of Gog and Magog, and seemingly it describes those who will besiege Jerusalem - so why did the verse use the past tense, asher tzav'u ("that have warred"), when it should have said asher tzove'im ("that war")? From this, the Zohar deduces that all those who besieged Jerusalem throughout history will be brought back and reincarnated, and He will exact retribution from all of them as they deserve. This is the meaning of Hashem's statement, "I will bring back from the depths of the sea" - even those who are submerged in the depths of the sea, I will bring back to this world for the Day of Judgment in order to exact punishment from them.
Rav Mazuz, in his book Emet Keneh, notes that mibashan ashiv (מִבָּשָׁן אָשִׁיב) forms an acronym for: Ein shum ye'ush ba'olam - there is no despair in the world at all. The proof is from the next words: "from the depths of the sea." Consider where Yonah ended up: in the depths of the sea. Yet from there, the Holy One, blessed be He, saved him, designating a fish to swallow him and then spew him out onto dry land. From this you learn that there is no despair in the world; never give up hope, for even one who has sunk to the depths of the sea can find salvation from there.
Another explanation: "from the depths of the sea [yam]" - even if one became immersed in the fifty gates of impurity, for yam (ים) has the numerical value of fifty. Even if one sank into the depths and abysses of the fifty gates of impurity, nevertheless the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "I will bring back." And why does the verse repeat the word, "I will bring back from Bashan, I will bring back from the depths of the sea"? To teach you: both materially and spiritually. In the physical realm, like Yonah who was drowning, and in the spiritual realm, one who has sunk into the ocean depths of the fifty gates of impurity - from there too, I will bring him back.
We have already discussed how when a person reaches the fifty gates of impurity, he no longer possesses the strength to return on his own, and only the Holy One, blessed be He, can restore him. This is derived from the sages' statement: "Fortunate are you, Israel! Before whom do you purify yourselves, and who purifies you? Your Father in Heaven." As long as you have not reached mi (מי) - and mi has the gematria of fifty - you can purify yourselves. But if you have reached the fiftieth, "your Father in Heaven purifies you"; only the Holy One, blessed be He, can extract you from there, for that is a mire from which one cannot emerge except through His power, blessed be He. This is what Hashem says: "I will bring back from the depths of the sea" - even one who has reached yam, who has reached mi, the fiftieth gate, from there I can deliver and rescue him.
Therefore, one must never despair: there is no despair in the world whatsoever, neither materially nor spiritually. Whether one is broken physically or spiritually, there is no despair, and the Holy One, blessed be He, can extract him from whatever situation he finds himself in. This is just as we saw earlier, "escapes from death" [la-mavet totza'ot]: even one who has reached the brink of death and is standing right before it, as the Ibn Ezra explains, Hashem has the power - "God is to us a God of deliverances," Hashem saves us, and "escapes" [totza'ot] means He will extract you even from the grip of death.
In this section, we learned of the eternal greatness of the mountain that God desired for His dwelling, against which all the jagged peaks are of no account, and even Mount Sinai, whose sanctity was temporary, is not like the Temple Mount, where Hashem dwells forever. We saw the three approaches to the verses: Rashi, who explains them as referring to the Giving of the Torah and the utterance of the Holy One, blessed be He; Radak, who explains them as referring to the war of Chizkiyahu and Sancheiriv; and the Malbim, who explains them as referring to David's war in the mountains of Bashan, where the "chariotry of God" went up to battle just as it ascended at Sinai in holiness, and where Israel were taken as captives after having been received at Sinai as a gift. We learned that "day by day He bears our burden" - the Holy One, blessed be He, carries with Him the salvations of ancient days and bestows them anew upon us each day, and that these salvations are reserved for us, while for the enemies there are "escapes to death." And we concluded with the profound message of "I will bring back from Bashan, I will bring back from the depths of the sea": on the one hand, that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not overlook those who afflicted His children and will ultimately exact retribution from all of them; and on the other hand - there is no despair in the world, neither materially nor spiritually, and even when a sharp sword rests upon a person's neck, he should not withhold himself from mercy.