Introduction
Psalm 89 is a psalm of the "kindnesses of Hashem" and of "Your faithfulness" - two modes through which the Holy One, blessed be He, guides His world. In this section of the psalm, we examine three verses: the first deals with the essential might of the Creator; the second with the foundations of His royal throne - righteousness and justice, lovingkindness and truth; and the third with the unique virtue of Israel, "Fortunate is the people who know the joyful sound."
"Yours is an arm with might" - The Primal Power Preceded by No Other
לְךָ זְרוֹעַ עִם גְּבוּרָה, תָּעֹז יָדְךָ תָּרוּם יְמִינֶךָ׃ - Yours is an arm with might; Your hand is strong, high is Your right hand.
The Radak explains in its plain sense: by Your power everything endures, as it says, "and underneath are the everlasting arms," and the Gemara teaches that, as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, holds up the world with His arm. "Your hand is strong, high is Your right hand" - when Scripture mentions "Your hand" alongside "Your right hand," "the hand" refers to the left, for the right has already been mentioned specifically. This comes to teach us that both are equal in strength, might, and loftiness, and therefore Scripture refers to both as "everlasting arms." Unlike man, where one arm is weaker than the other, with the Holy One, blessed be He, both are everlasting arms.
The Malbim explains: wherever "arm" is mentioned regarding Hashem, it refers to the primary power that sets the acting hand in motion. Just as in man, the arm is the limb preceding the hand and sets it in motion, so too, as it were, regarding the Creator, it refers to the primal power that drives all His actions. However, in flesh and blood, the arm is not truly his own at all: the primary force that drives man to act is an external power to him - what Hashem ingrained within him, the spiritual power of the soul that operates the person. Thus, our actions are not intrinsic to us, but stem from another force within us.
This is a rule throughout all of creation: no motion in the world is self-generated. A scientist always searches for the antecedent cause that brought about the effect before him; thus in nature, every force is caused by another force that preceded it, an external factor that produced the result. So it is with man. But with You, Master of the Universe, "Yours is an arm" - with You there is no other force. The arm depicts the primal power, and that primal power itself originates from You; You are the Prime Mover of everything in the universe.
"Yours is an arm with might." A person's might is external to him, not defining his essence - it is not part of man's intrinsic definition, but an addition to him. The proof is simple: there are strong men and there are weak men; thus, might is not part of the human essence, but an adjective applied to him from outside his definition and essence. The Malbim defines this as a "relational attribute" - an attribute attached to a person by means of another definition. But with Hashem, may He be blessed, might is essential, neither an adjective nor an addition, for He is the very essence of might.
Furthermore, in man, might is recognizable only relatively. When one says "strong" or "mighty," it always means mighty relative to someone else who lacks that ability. One might say someone is strong, but place him next to a true strongman - someone tied with a rope who pulls several trucks - and immediately people will say: what kind of strongman are you compared to him? Might in man is always relative. But with You, Master of the Universe, there is no relative might, but rather the essence of might, for there is no one else against whom Hashem's might could be compared. The Holy One, blessed be He, is a singular, absolute existence; there is none besides Him, and everything is from Him. Therefore, "Yours is an arm with might" - might is intrinsic to Your arm, which is the foundation and the Cause of all causes, and this might is not relative, but essential.
"Your hand is strong, high is Your right hand" - The Right of Miracles over the Left of Nature
The might of Hashem is revealed in miracles and wonders, through which He overcomes nature - such as the splitting of the Red Sea and "Sun, stand still at Gibeon." The Malbim explains: this is comparable to a person who turns a millstone with great force using his left hand, while with his right hand he stops the wheel from turning. With one hand he spins it, and with the other hand he holds it so it will not turn. So it is, as it were, with the Holy One, blessed be He: His right hand overcomes the strength of His left hand, for nothing can stand against Hashem.
And the lesson of the parable is as follows: nature is the aspect of the left - the fixed, regular order; miracles are the aspect of the right - an action that Hashem performs forcefully to depart from the bounds of nature. When Hashem split the sea, the right hand overcame the left hand: the sea remaining permanently in its place is the left hand, and the right hand came and overcame it, splitting it. With the Holy One, blessed be He, there is no overcoming an external party, for there is none besides Him; when we speak of "overcoming" with Him, the meaning is that one of His powers - the right power, the power of miracles and the supernatural - overcomes His other power, the left power expressing the systems of nature. This is "Your hand is strong" - there is strength and power in the fixed natural order, and nonetheless, "high is Your right hand," the miraculous conduct rises above the left hand. Thus, Your might is not a strength known only in comparison to something else - which is a weak form of might that requires a comparison - but essential might, measured only relative to the Creator Himself, and not in relation to anything else.
"Righteousness and Justice Are the Foundation of Your Throne" - The Eternal Existence of the World
צֶדֶק וּמִשְׁפָּט מְכוֹן כִּסְאֶךָ, חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת יְקַדְּמוּ פָנֶיךָ׃ - Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; lovingkindness and truth precede Your face.
The Radak explains: After mentioning that the world stands by the power of the Creator, he comes to teach that the eternal existence of the world - that it will never be destroyed - stems from God's righteousness and His justice, from His lovingkindness and His truth. "Machon" (foundation) is an expression denoting a base: upon righteousness and justice Your throne is established, and lovingkindness and truth are the factors that cause the world to endure forever.
And regarding this there are explicit statements in the Torah: "So long as all the days of the earth endure, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease" - a promise from Hashem that this reality will not cease, an eternal existence. "I will never again curse the ground" - that the world will not be destroyed again; "and I will never again strike down every living thing" - that living creatures will no longer be wiped out. "This is the sign of the covenant that I establish between Me and you and every living creature for eternal generations." Thus, it is out of Hashem's lovingkindness that He maintains the world continually and eternally. "The foundation of Your throne" - like a king who sits upon his throne and governs his people, seeing to their needs, so too Hashem, as it were, from the foundation of His throne governs the world through righteousness and justice, and within the bounds of lovingkindness and truth. And "precede Your face" means that they are always ready before You, ever present before Your eyes.
The Malbim's Explanation: Justice Versus Righteousness
The Malbim explains this based on the two modes of divine providence mentioned in the psalm: the first is chesed (lovingkindness), the providence that transcends nature; and the second is emet (truth) and emunah (faithfulness), the fixed, natural providence, which possesses the quality of truth - something that endures and stands forever. A "throne" is always an expression for the governance of the lower world, as it is said, "The heavens are My throne, and the earth is My footstool." And Scripture states that Hashem established His throne - the basis for governing the lower world - upon righteousness and justice.
What is mishpat (justice)? It is the fixed law, the permanent standard of justice. And what is tzedek (righteousness)? The Malbim consistently explains that tzedek relates to tzedakah (charity), acting beyond the strict requirement of the law. In charity, one does not ask what a person deserves, how much he worked, or how much effort he exerted - one gives to him as an act of charity. Justice is what is deserved; righteousness is what is granted out of benevolence, not according to deeds and not according to what is strictly earned.
Therefore: at times Hashem governs the world with justice - this is the orderly, natural providence, where everything is measured and weighed on the scales, with fixed laws that do not change, and in which there is no distinction between one who is worthy and one who is not worthy; the world follows its natural course, and all continually receive their allotted portion. The sun shines equally upon all - both upon one who put on tefillin today and one who did not, both upon one who performed mitzvot and one who did not. And at times Hashem governs His world with righteousness, with charity: according to the time, according to the circumstance, and according to the deeds of the creations - this is the miraculous, providential governance, which does not operate according to fixed natural laws. When the Jewish people need salvation and a miracle, the Holy One, blessed be He, saves them supernaturally. Here the matter depends on their deeds: if they are worthy - they receive a miracle; if they are not worthy - no miracle is performed for them.
He further adds: The root of justice is the truth found in the judge's soul - the judge renders a true ruling according to his inner truth; and the root of righteousness is the lovingkindness embedded in the soul - from deep within the soul, out of mercy and compassion, a person performs charity. When the love of truth is rooted in the judge's heart, he does not deviate from the fixed law; and when the love of kindness is rooted in his heart, he deviates from the fixed law to go beyond the strict letter of the law, to show kindness to one who is deserving as the need arises. When the Jewish people need salvation, Hashem splits the sea for them. The providence of justice dictates that the sea always flows in its course and its waves crash continually; but when Israel is presently deserving of salvation, Hashem acts toward them with righteousness, going beyond what is strictly earned. Even the Red Sea prosecuted: "These are idolaters and those are idolaters; how are these any different from those?" And Hashem said: "To these I wish to act with charity and lovingkindness, for they are destined to receive the Torah." For the providence of righteousness always depends on human deeds and changing circumstances, whereas the providence of justice does not depend on changing variables at all.
And this is the meaning of: "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne" - and from where do they originate? From "lovingkindness and truth precede Your face." Because lovingkindness precedes Your face - that is, within the Holy One, blessed be He, exists the reality of lovingkindness - righteousness, which is beyond the strict letter of the law, is drawn forth from it; and because truth precedes Your face, justice is drawn forth from it, for truth represents nature and the fixed law. And from these two roots established in His attributes, may He be blessed - lovingkindness and truth, which are among the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy: "A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth" - righteousness and justice are revealed in the lower world. Thus, both the natural order and the miraculous providence alike are all from Hashem, according to the lovingkindness and truth that precede His face.
"Fortunate Is the People Who Know the Teruah"
אַשְׁרֵי הָעָם יֹדְעֵי תְרוּעָה, יְהֹוָה בְּאוֹר פָּנֶיךָ יְהַלֵּכוּן׃ - Fortunate is the people who know the teruah blast; Hashem, in the light of Your face they walk.
A familiar verse that we repeat on Rosh Hashanah. Rashi explains according to its plain meaning: they know how to appease their Creator on Rosh Hashanah through the teruah, arranging over it the Malchuyot, Zichronot, and Shofrot - they know how to conciliate and appease their Maker by sounding the teruah on Rosh Hashanah.
The Radak explains according to the flow of the psalm: Initially, the psalmist describes the lovingkindness (chesed) and truth (emet) that the Holy One, blessed be He, showed to David, and afterwards the lovingkindness and truth He demonstrates with the world as a whole, for Hashem upholds truth with the world. From this arises his question: Master of the Universe, if this is how You act with the world, act likewise with David and the people of Israel through the attribute of truth; it is fitting, then, to restore the kingdom of the House of David. This was the opening of the psalm.
And regarding this he says: Fortunate is Israel, for they are "those who know the teruah" - when You desired them and reigned over them, they knew the teruah of Hashem, as it is written, "Hashem his God is with him, and the shout [teruat] of a King is among him." What is a teruah? When they went out to battle, they would sound the shofar with a teruah, and through this, "He will shout, He will even roar; He will prevail over His enemies." It is also known that in battle they would raise their voices and shout, as battle cries were part of psychological warfare to terrify the enemy. Thus, an army overcoming its enemies would blow trumpets and shout to strike fear into the opposing nation, as we see in the battles recorded in Tanach, and as it says, "And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets." Regarding Hashem's teruah - this is "He will shout, He will even roar; He will prevail over His enemies," and this is the meaning of "and the shout of a King is among him": when we sound the teruah in battle, Hashem, as it were, shouts alongside us to save us from the enemies who assail us. And then, "Hashem, in the light of Your countenance they shall walk" - they walk in the light of Your countenance and do not stumble.
But now, Master of the Universe, the people seemingly no longer know the teruah. Now we see how we stumble, for Your guidance does not accompany us. Where is the kingdom of the House of David? Where is the leadership that ought to be, just as we witnessed the guidance of lovingkindness and truth with the entire world? Why does this not exist for the kingdom of the House of David as well? After all, this nation was until now "those who know the teruah"; they would sound the alarm, and You would "shout, even roar"; You accompanied us in all our wars and in all our deeds - so why did this cease?
Teruah from the Language of Companionship - The Individual Providence over Israel
The Malbim offers a fascinating explanation, which is also found in the Metzudat David: "teruah" is related to connection and companionship (rei'ut) - "those who know the teruah" means those who know how to connect and be companionable, as in the phrase "a man of many companions may come to ruin" (associating with one another). After the verse addressed the details of general governance in its two aspects - chesed (lovingkindness), which is righteousness, and mishpat (justice), which is the attribute of truth and fixed nature - it now turns to address individual divine providence (hashgachah pratit): how the Holy One, blessed be He, guides individuals within creation. And this is a guidance unique to us. The Holy One, blessed be He, has many nations, six or seven billion people in the world, but His individual providence is over the Jewish people, whereas the nations are watched over through general providence (hashgachah klalit) - Hashem oversees the nation as a whole, rather than each individual specifically.
And as we have previously explained when studying Rabbi Friedlander's Emunah U'Vechirah, this does not mean that regarding the nations Hashem does not know what is happening with each and every individual - God forbid to say such a thing; is the Holy One, blessed be He, limited in any way? Certainly He knows at every given moment what is occurring with each person. Rather, individual providence means granting a person, at any given moment, tools and trials tailored to his condition and to what is required of him, in order to bring him to his spiritual perfection. With a non-Jew it is not so: Hashem certainly knows about him at every single moment, true, but He does not manage his life in such a way that He constantly guides him, directs him, and assigns him trials and circumstances suited to his condition to draw him near and bring him to perfection. Therefore, the people of Israel, Hashem's nation, possess individual providence: they are not subject to the general governance of reality or to general kindness and truth, righteousness and justice; rather, they have individualized lovingkindness and truth, righteousness and justice - a unique relationship extended by Hashem to us.
And this is the meaning: Fortunate is the nation that knows the King's teruah, who connect with their Friend and supreme Beloved, knowing and bonded with the Holy One, blessed be He. One can also interpret "who know" (yod'ei) in the sense of "And the man knew Eve his wife," which denotes deep connection - they know how to bond and associate with the Holy One, blessed be He. In this reality, "Hashem his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among him": abundance flows down from Hashem without intermediaries, just as in the Land of Israel abundance descends directly from Hashem, "the eyes of Hashem your God are always upon it." Whereas with the nations, the abundance is not direct; rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, channels it through the celestial ministers of the nations. And this is "in the light of Your countenance they shall walk" - directly from the light of Hashem's countenance, not through the host of heaven and not through the "council of the holy ones" (the angels); rather, we are guided by the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, without any intermediary.
The Joy and Responsibility in Israel's Stature
If a person would reflect merely on this concept, he would wake up dancing every morning. "Who did not make us like the nations of the lands," he would say, and immense joy would wash over him: the Holy One, blessed be He, made me a unique creation within creation, there is no one else like me in the world, I was privileged to be among the children of the Omnipresent, the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over me at every given moment, scrutinizes my actions, and cares about me. I could have been born a Gentile, just another biological species without individual providence. They are extras in this film, while the main actor is me. If the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world for anyone, He created it for Israel: for the Torah, which is called reishit, and for Israel, who are called reishit.
"In the light of Your countenance they shall walk" - the nations walk in darkness, while we walk in the light of Your countenance. The nations are "like a drop from a bucket," like a droplet falling from a pail - who cares about it? "And are counted like the dust of the scales," like the fine dust remaining on the balance after weighing - who cares? But the Jewish people - upon them the entire creation depends, and everything Hashem does, He does for Israel.
From here stems the responsibility as well. If there is an impact on all the upper worlds, it comes through me. A non-Jew generates no such spiritual impact. Titus, despite everything he did in the Beit HaMikdash, did not blemish the upper realms at all - he has no access to the celestial spheres whatsoever. Yet a Jew who entertains an improper thought, says the Rambam, is considered as if he placed an idol in the Sanctuary, far worse than what Titus did. A Jew has direct access to the upper realms, and therefore this is an immense responsibility: what the eyes behold, what the mind thinks, what actions I perform. "You placed everything under his feet" - the entire world is influenced through us, the whole world exists for us, the whole world endures in our merit. This is a tremendous responsibility, but also an immense joy: "Who has chosen us from all the nations and given us His Torah" - how deeply we must give thanks and proclaim this with joy!
Not only this, but everything that occurs in the world as well: if there is currently turmoil between Russia and Ukraine, that too is for the sake of Israel, for everything depends on the people of Israel. And even though there are things whose connection we do not understand, and we do not know how or why, we must know in any event that everything is for the sake of Israel. Incidentally, it is written that toward the coming of Mashiach, Gog - with whom we will have conflict - is Russia, and that is the nation we will struggle with. The very fact that they are already beginning to be present in our vicinity shows that we are approaching the end. What are they suddenly doing in our backyard? We were at ease - Russia was in Russia, vast and immense and unrelated to me, and suddenly this white bear is right behind the house; you open the door, and there it is. And yet, by Hashem's kindness, they still allow the State of Israel to strike there in Syria. It is also worth noting: "Syria" (סוריה) and "Russia" (רוסיה) share the exact same Hebrew letters in reverse - and we are already worn out (harussim) by them.
In summary:
"Yours is an arm with might" - in man, every power derives from a preceding power and might is an additional, relative attribute, whereas with the Creator, the arm is the primal force with no prime mover preceding it, and His might is intrinsic, not relative; and "Your hand is strong, Your right hand is exalted" - the right hand of miracles is elevated above the left hand of nature, an overriding of His own powers over one another, for there is none besides Him. "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne" - from His kindness flows righteousness, the miraculous providence that depends upon human deeds, and from His truth flows justice, the constant, natural order that applies equally to all; and both together sustain the world forever. "Fortunate is the people who know the joyful shout [teru'ah]" - fortunate are those who bond and become close companions (mitro'a'im) with their Beloved on High, meriting personal divine providence and direct abundance "in the light of Your countenance," without an intermediary and without an angel. And from this lofty level two things are born: tremendous joy that He chose us from among all the nations, and tremendous responsibility - that the entire world is sustained and directed through us.