Psalm 77 is the song of one submerged in the distress of exile, to whom it seems that the order of things has fundamentally changed: there are no longer wonders, no longer open divine guidance. In this section of the psalm, we reach the turning point - from despair to comfort. The path to consolation is memory: recalling Hashem's deeds from of old, grasping the distinction between constant natural providence and miraculous providence, and understanding why there is room at all for a miracle in the world of a perfect Creator. We will follow the order of the verses, primarily according to the Malbim, along with the insights of the Radak and Rashi.
(יב) אֶזְכּוֹר מַעַלְלֵי־יָהּ כִּי־אֶזְכְּרָה מִקֶּדֶם פִּלְאֶךָ׃ - I will recall the deeds of Yah, for I will remember Your wonders from of old.
The written text (kethiv) here is azkir ("I will recount") with a yud, while the read tradition (qere) is ezkor ("I will recall"). The Radak, in his characteristic manner, expounds both: azkir means that I will recount to others, while ezkor means that when I recall the deeds of Yah, I find consolation. For the reality we currently observe is like that of someone already counted among the fallen; we do not perceive Hashem's lovingkindness or "the years of the right hand of the Most High," and it seems to us as though His right hand has changed - which leads to despair. But when I recall the deeds of Hashem, encouragement awakens within me: "For I will remember Your wonders from of old." By recalling the wonders You performed of old, I have what to anticipate. There is hope, as it is written: "As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt, I will show him marvelous things" - the Holy One, blessed be He, will perform wonders for us as in days of old. Therefore, even though the exile is prolonged, we must not lose hope, but rather: "I will remember Your wonders from of old."
The Malbim explains the precise meaning of ma'alalim ("deeds" or "workings"): any action that emerges from a person by virtue of his soul's traits and character attributes - whether cruelty, compassion, or benevolence - is termed ma'alalim. The same applies above: an action stemming from the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He - the attribute of Chesed, the attribute of Rachamim, or the attribute of Gevurah, which corresponds to punishment - is called ma'alalim. And the deeds of Hashem divide into two categories: the constant workings, which are the laws of nature and the fixed operations established by Hashem from the six days of Creation; and the workings in which the Holy One, blessed be He, overturns the natural order and performs actions that transcend nature. Here, in "I will recall the deeds of Yah, for I will remember Your wonders from of old," the reference is to those deeds rooted in the miraculous, wondrous providence. This is the first thing he mentions: that which transcends nature, the realm of the wonder.
(יג) וְהָגִיתִי בְכָל־פָּעֳלֶךָ וּבַעֲלִילוֹתֶיךָ אָשִׂיחָה׃ - And I will meditate on all Your work, and speak of Your deeds.
The Malbim explains: "And I will meditate on all Your work" refers to the actions Hashem performs through nature, according to the orders and laws He instituted at the time of Creation: that every day has sunrise and sunset, that rain falls in winter and heat comes in summer, and so forth. All these are operations that Hashem established and organized according to the order of Creation. "And speak of Your deeds" - here, "speak" (asichah) means: I will delve into and investigate Your attributes as reflected in this system of providence.
Here lies a profound point: one would expect the providence of the Holy One, blessed be He, to be entirely constant. For "I, Hashem, do not change," and consequently His guidance should be unchanging as well. When do human beings make changes? When circumstances alter. A person works at a job, and his conditions deteriorate - he moves elsewhere. He thought a certain route would lead him to his destination, drove on, saw he was veering off course - so he recalculates his route and takes another path. With the Holy One, blessed be He, such changes are inconceivable, for there are no navigational errors with Him, and all destinations are clearly known to Him in advance. If so, how can one speak of change in His ways?
Miraculous providence, says the Malbim, is essentially a providence of change - in it, the Holy One, blessed be He, departs from the natural framework. On the contrary, it is fitting for a master craftsman to create a work that requires no alterations. When someone lacks sufficient expertise and builds software, thousands of modifications and upgrades follow: a bug crops up here, an issue arises there, software update after software update - because from the outset he did not anticipate everything necessary. But a master programmer, who accounts for every possibility in advance, requires very few updates. Regarding the Holy One, blessed be He, it stands to reason that there should be no changes or upgrades at all: He is the Craftsman Who fashioned a vessel that was flawless from the start. What, then, occurred that necessitates changes? The miracle. What is a miracle if not a change, an intervention in nature to adjust matters according to current need? And ostensibly, this might seem like a flaw in the Creator's perfection, as though the scenario had not been anticipated - "Now there's a problem? Let us split the sea for them."
The Malbim resolves this: from the perspective of the Creator and Builder Himself, may He be blessed, there would never be an occasion to alter the orders of the craft that He set during the days of Creation, for His handiwork is arranged and preserved with ultimate wisdom, sufficient to sustain and direct the world for all eternity. What the Holy One, blessed be He, created possesses the enduring capacity to govern the world forever, never requiring updates. The need for a miracle arises solely on account of man, who possesses free will, and who at times disrupts the order through his choices, having been granted the autonomy to do so - and then the Maker must adjust His work as needed, corresponding to the deeds of beings endowed with free choice. It turns out that this was not an unforeseen contingency; rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, deliberately created the capacity for change and for overturning nature in accordance with human conduct. The variable here is our deeds, not Hashem's doing. Therefore, when we perform a good deed, it corresponds to "Ascribe strength to God" - imparting power, as it were, to the Heavenly Court; and when one does the opposite - "You neglected the Rock Who begot you," weakening My strength, as it were, creating weakness in the Heavenly Court. The guidance of the Heavenly Court is tethered to the conduct of the Jewish people. This is true within the framework of the Providence of Judgment (Hanhagat HaMishpat), where everything depends on our deeds; however, in the Providence of Unity (Hanhagat HaYichud), it is entirely different - there, it is in the category of "a king breaks through a fence and none can protest," as the Ramchal explained at length in Da'at Tevunot regarding the distinction between the Providence of Judgment and the Providence of Unity.
(יד) אֱלֹהִים בַּקֹּדֶשׁ דַּרְכֶּךָ מִי־אֵל גָּדוֹל כֵּאלֹהִים׃ - O God, Your way is in holiness; who is a god as great as God?
The Malbim continues: "O God, Your way is in holiness" - Your intrinsic way is in holiness. The meaning of "kadosh" (holy) in the Holy Tongue is distinct and set apart. A holy person is set apart from material matters and this world; and the Holy One, blessed be He, is "holy, holy, holy," exalted and transcendent above all physical reality. And להבדיל (to distinguish between the sacred and the profane), at the opposite end of the spectrum is a "kedeishah" (a harlot) - she too is set apart from conventional society, but toward impurity and the klipah. If so, "Your way is in holiness": Your way has always been in holiness; You are transcendent above all, operating according to fixed, established, universal laws. The Holy One, blessed be He, created His world, and within that very framework in which He created it, He conducts it on a constant basis.
"For who is a god as great as God?" - The definition of greatness is that all effects originate from Hashem, down to the final cause. There is no external power that intervenes, nor anyone who adds something of his own. Consequently, if everything is written in advance in the plans of the Holy One, blessed be He, there is no need for upgrades or modifications. Returning to the programmer analogy: theoretically, a master programmer should never need to make changes to his software. However, he might tell you: "It does not depend on me alone. What can I do when Mr. Bill Gates decides to release 'Windows 11'? I have no choice but to adapt my software to it." That is to say, even if I created something perfect, an external factor introduced a change that forces me to adapt. With the Holy One, blessed be He, no such reality exists, for He is the sole God in His universe, and all effects emanate from Him down to the final link in the chain of causality; He never needs to adapt Himself to anyone else. Therefore, from the outset He could govern His world in a way that would never require miracles and wonders to bring about change.
(טו) אַתָּה הָאֵל עֹשֵׂה פֶלֶא הוֹדַעְתָּ בָעַמִּים עֻזֶּךָ׃ - You are the God Who works wonders; You made known Your strength among the nations.
"You are the God Who works wonders" - The reason You perform wonders and alter the fixed laws of nature is that there are human beings endowed with free choice, and agents of free choice effect a change in divine action. Through this, "You made known Your strength among the nations." The nations attribute everything to nature, but when miracles occur - an alteration of nature - it reveals that there is a supreme sovereign God Who overturns the natural order whenever He wills.
We have already explained this idea several times: for the ancient philosophers who believed in the eternity of the universe, one of the direct corollaries was that miracles cannot exist. The logic is simple: a miracle means intervention and a change in nature, and if the universe is eternal - meaning Hashem did not create it - He does not hold the keys to it at all, so how could He alter it? Therefore, the evidence from miracles is the primary proof refuting the belief in the eternity of the universe. Today, that belief no longer exists. The world is steadily advancing: all those truths that are axioms in Judaism, whereas global thought was fraught with distortions and recognized multiple powers in creation, are gradually being recognized by the entire world - namely, that there is one God. It began with Christianity, which mixed in an impure trinity, and continued with Islam, which recognizes that there is only one God; and the Rambam explains that these are stages toward the ultimate rectification, when all will acknowledge that there is none besides Him.
And so it is in the world of science. Once, they believed the universe was eternal; today, not a single scientist would say that. The debate is no longer over whether there was a beginning, but over its timeframe: one says five billion years, another says differently - each with his own distortion and folly. But there is already progress, for science now agrees on the fundamental point: the existence of the universe began at a specific point in time. Previously, scientists held that the beginning was gradual, and ever since Stephen Hawking enlightened the world, they realized that everything began with one big bang at a single moment in time. Slowly but surely, they are drawing closer. We have the sources; we received the Book according to which the world was created, so we know how it was done and how long it took. They, on the other hand, must observe the world, read it, decipher it, draw conclusions, and deduce what occurred. For them, understanding comes gradually. If so, this is one reason for miracles: to demonstrate the mastery of the Holy One, blessed be He, over His world - Hashem created His world in six days, and the proof is that whenever He desires, He alters it through a miracle.
(טז) גָּאַלְתָּ בִּזְרוֹעַ עַמֶּךָ בְּנֵי־יַעֲקֹב וְיוֹסֵף סֶלָה׃ - You redeemed Your people with Your arm, the children of Jacob and Joseph, Selah.
And this is the second reason: the purpose of wonders is for our sake, not for Hashem, Blessed be He, since from His perspective His perfection dictates that no changes occur. Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, performs wonders in order to fulfill: "You redeemed Your people with Your arm, the children of Jacob and Joseph, Selah." And as we saw earlier regarding "my infirmity" (chaloti) - my hand has grown weak and diseased, the left hand; I am not worthy of receiving wonders, and therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, does not perform wonders today. The wonders He performed were to show the nations that the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world and therefore has the power to overturn the laws of nature - but we must be worthy of it. And if I am unworthy because "I have grown weak," the Holy One, blessed be He, does not perform these wonders.
In other words: since I have become spiritually weakened and diseased, here Hashem is, as it were, dependent on creation. Unlike the software developer who depends on no one, the Holy One, blessed be He, is, as it were - in a minor sense of dependency - dependent on our actions. Since this is so, there are times when our actions make us worthy of a miracle and a wonder, and the Holy One, blessed be He, overturns the natural order for us. But we must be worthy of it; for if "I have grown weak," then there is a "change of the right hand of the Most High" - Hashem alters the mode of action that He used to perform with His right hand, meaning the suspension of the laws of nature, and once we are no longer worthy, He ceases to do so. And the verse concludes with "Selah," which, according to the Malbim's consistent explanation, signifies the completion of the subject.
Let us return to verse 13: "I will meditate on all Your work, and converse of Your deeds." The Radak explains: I remember all the deeds You have performed and meditate upon them, that is, give voice to them. And since he had despaired in exile like one who is already counted among the slain, by meditating on all Your work and giving mention to it - "and converse of Your deeds" - I strengthen both myself and others. I do not live with the sense of doom in exile, as though all is lost and we are perished, but rather strengthen myself with the knowledge that the Holy One, blessed be He, will return and redeem us.
Rashi explains "Your way is in holiness" - it is Your divine measure to sanctify Your Name in the world. And how? By Hashem executing judgment upon the wicked. Accordingly, this is a prayer: exact retribution for us from the nations, exact retribution for us from the Egyptians.
The Radak cites an interpretation that "in holiness" means in the heavens: from the heavenly ways we observe, we declare, "What power is as great as God?" Just as it is stated, "Who is like You among the heavenly powers, Hashem, who is like You, majestic in holiness?" And what is meant by "power" (el) and "gods" mentioned here? The reference is not to Hashem Himself, but to the angels and the celestial spheres.
We have already explained what the ancients meant by "spheres" (galgalim). The ancients held that celestial bodies revolve within spheres: the revolution of the moon and the planets was not understood as motion through empty space, but as being embedded within a solid revolving sphere that is invisible to us because it is transparent. Perhaps they reasoned that otherwise inertia would cast them outward - much like spinning a marble inside a cup, where it constantly tends to fly outward - and therefore deduced that this operates by means of a celestial sphere. Today we know that gravity is the governing force. In any case, when discussing "spheres," the reference is to the planets, the sun, and the moon - even though we know today that the sun is stationary - and primarily to the other revolving celestial bodies.
Thus, "What power is as great as God?" refers to the angels and the celestial spheres: whoever observes them recognizes that their power derives entirely from Hashem, and "O God, Your way is in holiness." None of them possesses any intrinsic power, and one cannot rely upon them, says the Radak, for they all stem from You - You are the Giver, and they are the recipients. The Radak also brings another explanation: "in holiness" refers to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, as in the verse, "The Lord is among them, as at Sinai, in holiness." That is, "O God, Your way is in holiness" - Hashem descended in His glory upon Mount Sinai, and it was then that they declared, "What power is as great as God?"
The psalm teaches the pathway out of despair: memory. "I will recall the deeds of the Lord" - remembering the wonders of antiquity is the fountainhead of hope for redemption. The Malbim distinguishes between Hashem's permanent deeds, which are the laws of nature established at Creation, and His miraculous providence. He explains that from the standpoint of the Creator's perfection, there would be no reason for any alteration at all, for His handiwork was designed with consummate wisdom and suffices to govern the universe forever, and no external force exists to compel Him to adjust it. The entire need for miracles arises on account of man, who possesses free will, for the Holy One, blessed be He, embedded into the fabric of Creation that He would act in accordance with human deeds. Therefore, miracles serve two purposes: "You have made known Your strength among the nations" - to demonstrate to the nations that the Creator rules His world and overturns its natural systems whenever He wills; and "You have redeemed Your people with Your arm" - to redeem Israel. From this also comes the answer as to why there are no open wonders today: "This is my affliction" (cholosi) - we are not worthy. Even so, meditating on His work and His deeds strengthens both me and others, so that we do not live as if dead in exile, but rather in anticipation of the redemption: "As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show him marvelous things."