In this section of Psalm 71, we reach the conclusion of the psalm. King David, having set before us his trust in Hashem from his youth until his old age, now turns to speak of the greatness of the Holy One's righteousness - a righteousness not bound by the confines of nature, but extending from the highest heavens down to the earth. Through this, we will learn a major principle from the Malbim regarding the difference between natural governance and miraculous governance, examine the distinction between "great" and "exalted," and conclude with the prayer for redemption and the song of thanksgiving at the end of the psalm.
וְצִדְקָתְךָ אֱלֹהִים עַד מָרוֹם אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתָ גְדֹלוֹת אֱלֹהִים מִי כָמוֹךָ׃ - And Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heights, You Who have done great things; O God, who is like You?
According to Rashi, this verse connects to the preceding two verses: "O God, You have taught me from my youth, and until now I declare Your wonders," and "Even until old age and gray hair, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to the generation" - and Your righteousness that reaches the heights, this too I will declare. That is, the word "I will declare" mentioned earlier continues forward and carries with it this verse as well.
The Radak explains: This righteousness reaches up to the heights, just as it is written, "For Your loving-kindness is great unto the heavens." "You Who have done great things" - You have performed great wonders with me and with others, to the point that "O God, who is like You?" - that all will proclaim, who is like You? As Moshe Rabbeinu said, "Who is like You among the mighty, Hashem?" - what other power have you seen in creation like Hashem, blessed be He? And likewise, "For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can perform according to Your deeds and according to Your mighty acts?" The word "Elohim" here is an address to Hashem, blessed be He: You, Master of the Universe, have no other force like You operating in nature and reality. And in the words of the Radak: "All who have ability will find their ability exhausted, except for Your ability, which is never exhausted" - anyone with power and ability in creation has transient ability; only the power of the Holy One is eternal, Your ability will never be exhausted. That is the meaning of "who is like You."
The Malbim explains a fundamental principle: When salvation comes through natural means, through cause and effect, the Holy One, as it were, arranges only the primary cause, and all the subsequent effects unfold on their own according to the laws of nature. This is like a line of dominoes set in a row: we topple only the first one, and all the rest collapse after it by natural force. So too, when the Holy One acts through the framework of nature, He performs the initial act, and all subsequent events derive from it and roll forward naturally.
In contrast, in a miraculous event, every subsequent effect is also miraculous. Not only is the initial cause from Him, blessed be He, but each and every step is enacted through supernatural power - as though each individual domino falls through the Holy One's own direct decree and determination. And the unique quality of a miraculous effect is that it can even run contrary to nature.
For example: A person falls ill, and the Holy One sends him a physician. Divine Providence was present in having him meet precisely the specialist needed for that condition - and from that point onward, everything proceeds by momentum: the physician understands the issue, administers treatment, prescribes medicine, and the person recovers. The supernatural element here is only the beginning, the orchestrating of the physician's arrival. But when an act is entirely miraculous, the Holy One might not send a physician at all, but rather a shoemaker, and that shoemaker might even administer something that is supposed to cause harm - yet the person recovers regardless. This is because the effects themselves are supernatural. When that is the case, one can heal the bitter with the sweet and the sweet with the bitter, one can heal precisely through a wound, elevate precisely through degradation, and vinegar can burn like oil. For when something occurs above nature, the details do not operate under their own power; rather, each one is an individual act of miraculous Divine Providence.
Based on this, the Malbim explains "And Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heights": When righteousness is enacted miraculously, it is not merely the initial cause but every single stage - and therefore it extends from the earth all the way to the heights, from the final effect below up to the prime cause above, for the entire chain of events unfolds miraculously. By contrast, righteousness that operates through the ways of nature is only in the heights: the initial impetus was given by Hashem, and from then on everything rolls forward naturally. David says "reaches to the heights," from the earth to the heights, because this refers to the kindness You perform with me above nature.
What is Gedulah (greatness) according to the Sefirot? Every day we say, "And David blessed... Yours, Hashem, is the greatness and the might." Gedulah is Chessed (lovingkindness) - boundless influence, in vast measure, in immense abundance. Gevurah (might) is the opposite: contraction, strict judgment. Therefore, "Who has done great things" refers to outpourings of endless lovingkindness, not according to my merit and not according to nature, but far beyond it.
The Malbim distinguishes between gadol (great) and ram (exalted, lofty), as we saw in the verse, "Declare the greatness of Hashem with me, and let us exalt His name together," which we learned in Chapter 34, and as we explained on "Hashem is exalted above all nations." To the gentile, the Holy One, blessed be He, is "exalted"; to us, He is "great." When the gentiles wanted to cast off the yoke of Heaven, they "kicked" the Holy One upward. This is like a problematic teacher who has no rapport with students and does more harm than good - usually such a person is fired, but when he is a relative of the principal or a major donor, they appoint him vice principal: take an office, shuffle papers, and do not cause damage. That is being "kicked upstairs." In the same way, the gentile exalts Hashem in order to rid himself of Him: Could it be that the Holy One concerns Himself with an itch on my back, or with a tiny worm under a leaf beaten down by the sun? You diminish the Master of the Universe - Hashem is exalted, Hashem is lofty!
What is the difference? Ram means high up, detached from below: a hot-air balloon is ram, a dove flying high is in a ram place - they are not connected to the earth. But the Eiffel Tower is gadol (great, large) - it does not hover in the air, but extends continuously from the ground all the way to the top. For us, Hashem is great: He watches over from the very bottom, seeing what happens with the lowliest earthly creature, all the way to the highest celestial being. For the gentiles, Hashem is merely exalted - He is up above and does not look at what happens down here, which naturally leads to "do whatever you please."
We have already refuted this notion on several occasions (elaborating on this in the Kuzari, Da'at Tevunot, and Derech Hashem by the Ramchal), noting that in truth, it is we who exalt Hashem, while they diminish Him. What is the distance from here to infinity? Infinity. And if one moves a thousand kilometers closer, how much remains? It is absurd: infinity remains infinity. Even if you advance a trillion kilometers, you are still just as infinitely far away.
And here lies the crux: anyone who treats the Holy One as a reality relative to which one thing is "big" and another is "small" has, so to speak, attributed a finite measure to Him. Such a person claims: Hashem is so great that certain things are small beside Him while others are significant. But if Hashem is Infinite, then even the most colossal thing you can imagine is equally diminutive before Him. Does it make any difference whether Hashem oversees an itch on your back or the existence of galaxies and the entirety of creation? Both are equally insignificant before Him. If you say, "this is small and that is big," you have placed the Holy One into a finite frame and scale against which things can be measured - and on the contrary, it is you who are belittling Him. We affirm that before the Holy One, nothing possesses intrinsic power, and everything is as naught before Him.
Thus, "Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens" - from the earth up to the heavens, because "You have done great things (gedolot)" and not detached, exalted things (ramot). Ram means up above, but gadol extends from the bottom all the way to the top: everything cascades down through all the stages to the very bottom - through miracles and divine providence (hashgachah pratit) from Him, blessed be He. And then, Hashem can bring healing through the affliction itself, and sweeten the bitter with the bitter.
This relates to the natural philosophers' maxim: "Not just any arbitrary cause can produce any arbitrary effect." In matters governed by cause and effect, the cause must be sufficient to produce the effect: evaporation creates clouds, but not every degree of solar heat causes evaporation, nor is every amount of evaporation sufficient to form clouds. Yet with Hashem, blessed be He, when an event occurs miraculously, anything can manifest His will - even healing an illness through the illness itself, or making vinegar burn like oil. A sufficient cause is required only in the realm of natural causes and effects; in what transcends nature, Hashem can bring forth something from its very opposite.
אָבוֹא בִּגְבֻרוֹת אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה אַזְכִּיר צִדְקָתְךָ לְבַדֶּךָ׃ - I will enter with the mighty acts of the Lord, God; I will mention Your righteousness alone.
There are those whose eyes are shut to the truth, placing their trust in flesh and blood: "This person will help me; I reached out to so-and-so, and he will assist me." But when one looks with a clear mind, one understands: can a mortal formed of clay truly help you? If anyone can save, it is only the Holy One, blessed be He. Regarding this, David says: "I will enter with the mighty acts of the Lord, God" - if I delve into the magnitude of His greatness and might, into the abundance brought about through Hashem's strength, I will reach the realization, "I will mention Your righteousness alone" - everything is from You; there is none beside Him. For even that person to whom I turned has no independent power, but acts solely through the power of Hashem.
And when one realizes that You are the Source, his efforts look entirely different as well. Not all of his energy is poured into convincing so-and-so, sending a cousin to speak with him, and hunting for someone to exert pressure on him. One must make his effort (hishtadlut) - if I know that salvation could come through someone, I will approach him; but to place all one's reliance upon him and cast one's burden on him is already akin to denial of faith. Everyone is merely an actor, like a marionette on a string moving by the power of Hashem. And if so, is it not better to turn directly to the Source? Is it not better to turn to the One Who sets every move in motion?
אֲשֶׁר הִרְאִיתַנִי צָרוֹת רַבּוֹת וְרָעוֹת תָּשׁוּב תְּחַיֵּנִי וּמִתְּהֹמוֹת הָאָרֶץ תָּשׁוּב תַּעֲלֵנִי׃ - You who have shown me many and bitter troubles will return and revive me, and from the depths of the earth You will return and raise me up.
It is the way of the Radak to examine the differences between the ketiv (the written text) and the keri (the traditional reading). Here, the written form is horeisanu ("You have shown us") while the reading is horeisani ("You have shown me"); the written form is techayeinu ("You will revive us") while the reading is techayeini ("You will revive me"). The Radak explains: David is praying on behalf of all the exiles, while the keri speaks of the individual - You have shown bitter troubles to each and every individual, and You have shown bitter troubles to the community as a whole, yet ultimately You delivered them from it all.
The Radak further explains that David speaks of both himself and the collective by way of allegory. "You who have shown me many troubles" - he recounts his personal troubles, which serve as an allegory for all of Israel in exile. Just as I was pursued by Shaul, and just as I was pursued by my own son and exiled from Jerusalem, and ultimately Avshalom died and I returned to Jerusalem - so it is in the deeper meaning: You have shown us many troubles at the hands of the nations; "You will return and revive us," bringing the Jewish people exiled among the nations from distress to relief and restoring us to Jerusalem, just as You restored me individually. And from this verse until the end of the psalm, the Radak notes, the words are uttered in the voice of the exiles: Just as I experienced salvation as an individual, so too, Master of the Universe, bring about the salvation of the collective.
What purpose is served by cataloging one's troubles? There is a fitting saying: instead of telling the Master of the Universe about your troubles, tell your troubles about the Master of the Universe - that can be far more effective. It is most proper for a person to abound in praise and thanksgiving for each and every salvation, but dwelling on troubles has no value. On the contrary, when a person endlessly recounts his troubles, he slips into despondency: this hardship, and that issue at the bank he had almost forgotten, and that neighbor... The more he talks, the deeper he sinks. It is far better to occupy oneself with salvations rather than troubles.
The Radak adds: What is that righteousness reaching "unto the heights" that You have shown us? It is that we were mired in many and bitter troubles, yet through it all, "You will return and revive me, and from the depths of the earth You will return and raise me up." All the nations saw us in our suffering and concluded: It is over; all hope is lost for this people. As is well known, one of the central claims of Christianity was that the Jewish people had been abandoned and replaced, and that they would never return to their land, remaining forever afflicted, beaten, and downtrodden. When we returned to the Land, it was a blow they could hardly digest, and for decades a pope would not visit here for that very reason. When You show me many troubles and then "return and revive me" - we were as dead, drowning in the depths of the earth, and from there You lifted us up - that is "Your righteousness, O God, reaches unto the heights," the boundless benevolence He has bestowed upon us.
The Malbim continues with his own approach: Because in a miraculous event the secondary causes are also entirely directed by Hashem, the Holy One, blessed be He, can bring about good through bad, and healing through the very thing that was meant to cause disease. And the proof lies here: "You have shown me many and bitter troubles" - and that itself is the reason that "You will return and revive me." Out of the troubles themselves, the Holy One, blessed be He, brings us to life.
A story from the Yom Kippur War illustrates this: A tank crew suffered a direct hit, and the tank caught fire. They tried to open the hatch to escape, but the impact had warped the turret and it could not be opened. They realized that within minutes - Heaven forbid. And then, by the grace of Hashem, they took a hit from another missile, and that missile blew the turret completely off - allowing them to climb out and survive. A wondrous miracle, and a vivid demonstration of how the Holy One, blessed be He, brings many and bitter troubles, yet those very troubles become the instrument of salvation.
We once related the story of Rabbi Yaakov Galinsky, zt"l, who was exiled with a group of bachurim from Novardok to Siberia. At the time, this was considered the worst possible fate. At the entrance, they were told: Look closely at the gate, because no one has ever seen it again from the outside - whoever arrived here was buried here. We related the full story at the time: the Russians offered them citizenship, and they went to ask the Rav, and the Rav instructed them not to accept, saying that if the Russians offer you something good, only evil will come of it. Following their refusal, they were sent to Siberia, and they came to him with complaints: Look at what you brought upon us. And what turned out? World War II broke out, and for those who remained in their places, the Nazis arrived and sent everyone to extermination camps, and not a single soul remained. Rabbi Yaakov Galinsky would say: Those who survived were the ones whom the Holy One, blessed be He, placed in deep freeze in Siberia; the war ended, we emerged, and everyone was alive. What seemed like an unbearable disaster was itself the salvation.
And another story from the years of the stabbing attacks, may Hashem protect us: in Netanya, near the mall, a Jewish tourist was stabbed and rushed to the hospital. During the surgery required because of the stabbing, they opened her abdomen and discovered a malignant tumor that would have ended her life within a short time. They told her: Fortunately for you, had it not been for the stabbing, the tumor would have been discovered at a stage when there was no longer a cure. The stabbing itself saved her life.
That is to say, with the Holy One, blessed be He, we see the inverse of nature. Usually, distress is a cause of death; with the Holy One, blessed be He, distress can actually be the cause of life. "From the depths of the earth" - an abyss is a cause of death, yet precisely from there, "You will bring me up again": the degradation itself is the very cause of greatness.
תֶּרֶב גְּדֻלָּתִי וְתִסֹּב תְּנַחֲמֵנִי׃ - May You increase my greatness, and turn to comfort me.
Through that very degradation, greatness will arise, and it will become the source of comfort. The Radak explains: It is not enough that You take us out of exile, but You will also increase our greatness beyond what it was before the exile. "And turn to comfort me" - that You turn toward us: in exile, Hashem as it were turned His face away from us, an aspect of hester panim (the hiding of the Face, which is the theme of Esther, and akin to the cherubim), and here, "May Hashem shine His face upon you" - and through this, You comfort me.
גַּם אֲנִי אוֹדְךָ בִכְלִי נֶבֶל אֲמִתְּךָ אֱלֹהָי אֲזַמְּרָה לְךָ בְכִנּוֹר קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - I too will thank You with a lute for Your truth, my God; I will sing praise to You with a lyre, Holy One of Israel.
The Radak explains: Just as You will increase Your goodness to me, so will I increasingly praise and glorify You with musical instruments - with the lute and with the lyre. And when? When Hashem brings us out of exile, for these final verses are speaking of the exile. And specifically then, because in exile all joy has faded and I cannot thank You with lute and lyre. As they said in Babylon, "Upon the willows in its midst we hung our harps" - "aravim" means willow trees; there we hung our instruments, for we had no ability to praise and glorify: "How can we sing the song of Hashem on foreign soil?" But then we will be able to give thanks, for it will be a time of joy.
"For Your truth, my God" - everything Hashem will do at the time of the redemption is the fulfillment of His faithfulness to His promise; His truth refers to His promise. You will verify Your words and fulfill Your promise, and then "I will sing praise to You... Holy One of Israel," for through this Your Name will be sanctified in Israel.
The Malbim notes precisely: "I will thank You with a lute" - for the personal goodness You bestowed upon me, and therefore it says "my God." "And I will sing praise to You with a lyre, Holy One of Israel" - from the aspect of You being the Holy One of Israel. As we have seen several times, when it speaks of divine providence over the individual, the expression used is "my God" - from the aspect that You bestow bounty upon me personally; but when it speaks of providence over Klal Yisrael, the expression is not "Hashem" or "Elohim," Who rules over all of nature and all of creation, but rather "Holy One of Israel" - for He has individual providence over us as a collective, and we have a specific guarantee for our survival, that the people of Israel will never be destroyed.
תְּרַנֵּנָּה שְׂפָתַי כִּי אֲזַמְּרָה לָּךְ וְנַפְשִׁי אֲשֶׁר פָּדִיתָ׃ - My lips shall sing for joy when I sing praises to You, and my soul which You have redeemed.
Until now he spoke of musical instruments, and now of singing with the mouth: when I play to You on the harp, my lips will also sing for joy. The Radak explains: at the time I sing to You, my lips will sing for joy, along with "my soul which You have redeemed." Why did he include the soul here? Because sometimes a person's mouth and heart are not aligned - and why look far? A person need only look at how he prays: reciting by rote with his mouth while his mind is elsewhere. But with me, David says, my lips sing for joy and there is a genuine connection to the soul; my soul is attentive to what emerges from my mouth, and mouth and heart are in harmony. This is the meaning of "My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God" - flesh refers to the lips, and the heart is likewise focused on what the lips utter.
"And my soul which You have redeemed" - which You have redeemed from exile. For in exile I could not sing for joy due to anguish, nor could I sing properly because my heart was not with me. We already find in the Gemara regarding that sage who was seen lacking concentration that day; they asked him what had happened, and he said he had lost his purse, remarking: understanding depends on the heart, and the heart depends on the purse. If there are troubles with the pocket, the heart cannot focus. So too in exile, our hearts are not fully with us; but when You redeem us, my soul and heart will be able to sing for joy to You, and my mouth and heart will be aligned, for we will have peace of mind - and an uplifted soul is able to receive Ruach HaKodesh.
The Malbim adds: "Shall sing for joy" - alongside the song played on instruments, I will also sing joyfully with my lips, as the Radak explained. Yet it will not be mere lip service, but with the entire body: "My lips shall sing for joy" - my entire body will sing to You, as well as "my soul which You have redeemed," and my tongue too.
גַּם לְשׁוֹנִי כָּל הַיּוֹם תֶּהְגֶּה צִדְקָתֶךָ כִּי בֹשׁוּ כִי חָפְרוּ מְבַקְשֵׁי רָעָתִי׃ - My tongue also shall utter Your righteousness all the day, for they are shamed, for they are confounded, who seek my harm.
What is the difference between "my tongue" (leshoni) and "my lips" (sefatay)? This is a concept we have revisited many times in our study of Sefer Mishlei: the lips express outward speech, whereas the tongue is more internal, expressing contemplation and inwardness. The tongue always denotes exalted, rational speech emanating from the intellective soul - a higher form of expression. Therefore, "shall utter" (tehgeh) - my tongue will also delve into and contemplate Your righteousness, reflecting upon matters that require deep study and contemplation.
Higayon (contemplation and logical deduction), says the Malbim, means deriving one concept from another through deductive reasoning: comparing one thing to another, drawing analogies, and arriving at conclusions through deep reflection. This is the aspect of tevunah (understanding), and this is the distinction between chochmah (wisdom) and binah (understanding): chochmah is the acquisition of knowledge itself, while binah is understanding one thing from another, meditating upon a concept and drawing further insights from it. This stems from the power of the tongue, which gives voice to inner contemplation.
"For they are shamed, for they are confounded, who seek my harm" - through the many miracles You performed. Upon this my tongue will contemplate, while my lips will sing, praise, and thank Hashem for all He has done. The Malbim notes precisely: "confounded" (chafru) is more severe than "shamed" (boshu), for chafirah conveys something buried, hidden, and deeper - as in "Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun shamed," and as in the Hebrew expression for a disgraceful deed (ma'aseh machpir), which is graver than ordinary shame. Shame is, as it were, external, whereas being confounded is deeper and internal. All of this demands inner contemplation, which is expressed through the tongue - and through it we perceive how profoundly Hashem saved me and how thoroughly He exacted retribution from the nations.
At the conclusion of Chapter 71, King David teaches us that Hashem's righteousness is not merely "high" but "great": extending from the heavens down to the earth, through every stage, with Divine providence and through miraculous means - and therefore it can bring forth something from its opposite, healing from within the affliction itself, and life out of distress. From this recognition stems, "I will enter into the mighty deeds of the Lord God; I will mention Your righteousness alone": not placing one's reliance upon flesh and blood, but turning to the ultimate Source who drives all developments. Therefore, it is far better to recount salvations than to recount troubles. And at the end of the redemption, when You return to revive us, raise us up from the depths of the earth, and increase our greatness, the thanksgiving will be complete: with harp and lyre, with lips and soul, mouth and heart aligned, and with the contemplative tongue meditating upon His righteousness all the day.