לַמְנַצֵּחַ עַל־הַשְּׁמִינִית מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד׃ - For the conductor, on the eight-stringed instrument, a psalm of David.
Rashi explains that "the sheminis" refers to an eight-stringed lyre. We have already elaborated on the meanings of "Lamnatze'ach" in previous psalms and need not repeat them for every psalm. Regarding the subject matter of the psalm, the commentators differ: Radak says that the psalm was spoken with ruach hakodesh concerning a generation in which the wicked overpowered the poor - those wicked individuals who drained the very life out of the poor, abused them, and ruled over them with an iron fist by virtue of their wealth and power; and David recites this psalm against them.
The Malbim, on the other hand, explains that the psalm was composed against the slanderers and masters of evil speech of his day: those who spoke insolence against Hashem, those who falsely forged interpretations of His Torah, and those who spoke lashon hara between man and his fellow. That is, the masters of the tongue from two perspectives: bein adam lachavero - lashon hara; and bein adam laMakom - those who speak dismissively of the holy Torah and Hashem's commandments, raising all manner of philosophical contradictions against belief in the Creator's existence. These are the people from whose mouths insolence comes forth, both toward their fellow man and toward the Omnipresent.
הוֹשִׁיעָה יְהֹוָה כִּי־גָמַר חָסִיד כִּי־פַסּוּ אֱמוּנִים מִבְּנֵי אָדָם׃ - Save, Hashem, for the pious one ceases, for the faithful have vanished from among mankind.
Who is a chassid? The Malbim explains: a chassid is one who does kindness for his fellow in an area he never promised. If someone promised and fulfilled his word, he is a person of truth, a faithful person - he said and he delivered. But if he promised nothing and nevertheless does it, that is called a chassid. And the exact same applies between man and God: one who fulfills what is written in the Shulchan Aruch is a tzaddik; if he goes beyond what is written, acting with meticulous devotion, in this he is called a chassid. A chassid is one who goes beyond what he is obligated to do, and this is what is meant by "acting piously toward one's Maker."
"Emunim" refers to a person of truth, for emunah stems from emes (truth). When we say "Amen", our meaning is: it is true, what you said is correct. "Blessed are You, Hashem... Borei peri ha'eitz" - Amen, it is true. Likewise, "And now, may Your words be verified (ye'amnu)" - that is, proven true. To verify (le'amen) something means to validate its truth. Anshei emunim are people of truth, who keep what they promised. And King David cries out: Master of the Universe, "the pious one ceases" - there are no more chassidim; "the faithful have vanished" - truthful people are gone from among mankind.
And why does the verse say "ceases" (gamar) regarding the chassid, but "vanished" (passu) regarding the faithful? The Malbim explains: the chassid does more than he is required to do in all his affairs. In interpersonal matters, he practices chesed, which is greater than emes - for emes is fulfilling what you committed to do, while chesed is beyond any obligation; and so too with one who acts with pious devotion between himself and the Omnipresent. When there are faithful people - that is, people who fulfill what they promised - one will also find people who go beyond their promises. This is self-evident: if the lower level exists, the level above it will also be found. But when there are no faithful people, when people do not even fulfill what they committed to do, could one imagine that there would be those who do more than that? You cannot even find basic compliance with obligation, and you expect to find a chassid?
On the contrary, the Malbim notes: even if someone were to want to be a chassid, everyone would mock him. "What are you talking about? Nobody even does what they are required to do, and this one goes beyond?" They will say he is naive, a nebich. And so it is in familiar reality. A soldier in a military unit wakes up in the morning and sees his clothes have disappeared. In military slang, that is not considered a theft - it is called "gear replenishment." And what is the unspoken rule? When someone took your gear to replenish theirs, you take from someone else: "Because you drowned others, they drowned you, and in the end those who drowned you will be drowned." But if he says, "No, I am not willing to do that," they immediately laugh at him: "Naive fool, nebich, it is because of people like you that everyone steals." When people are not people of truth, then if someone acts with basic decency, he is treated as naive and foolish; and if he were to act with chassidus, piety beyond the letter of the law - that is completely out of the question.
A story is told of Reb Zusha of Kimpoli, who returned from the mikveh without his hat. His wife asked him, "Where is your hat?" He replied, "Someone at the mikveh swapped with me and took my hat." She asked him, "Well, where is his hat? At least you could have come home with his hat!" He said, "Ah, his hat he forgot to leave behind." When a person is a chassid, he always judges favorably, rather than saying, "Someone took from me, so I will take from someone else."
Thus we can understand the precise language: of the faithful it is said "passu" (vanished) - related to the word efes (zero, nothing). But of the pious it is said "gamar" (ceased) - entirely finished, completely nonexistent. For faithful people might still conceivably be found, but a chassid - who will practice extra piety in a place where people do not even fulfill their basic obligations? We find a similar idea in Micah: "The pious one has perished from the earth, and an upright one among mankind is no more" - of the upright it says "is no more," whereas the pious one has "perished," meaning utterly extinguished. And the concept of emunim (faithfulness), the Malbim explains, applies both to matters of faith between man and the Omnipresent and to interpersonal conduct between man and his fellow. The Malbim will follow this approach throughout the entire chapter - interpreting the verses along both tracks simultaneously. Indeed, very often the two are interdependent, just as Avraham said, "Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me." When there is no fear of Heaven, it is not only "they will kill me" - all scruples regarding monetary integrity collapse as well.
שָׁוְא יְדַבְּרוּ אִישׁ אֶת־רֵעֵהוּ שְׂפַת חֲלָקוֹת בְּלֵב וָלֵב יְדַבֵּרוּ׃ - Falsehood they speak, each man to his fellow; with flattering lips and a double heart do they speak.
"Falsehood" (shav) means a lie. In their hearts they speak deceit, and how do they cover up the lie? With flattering lips - with smooth talk, "smoother than oil are his words," making everything sound wonderful and pleasant; yet deep inside, "in his heart he lays his ambush." Therefore, do not trust him - "with a double heart do they speak."
Here the Malbim offers an intriguing explanation: the heart speaks in two ways. The first is when the heart speaks through the tongue, as the tongue is the agent of the heart - "the quill of the heart," in the words of the author of Chovos HaLevavos. The second is when the heart speaks within itself, as in "and I spoke in my heart." The difference is that there is not necessarily harmony between what the heart says to itself and what it expresses through the tongue. When does this occur? When a person is deceitful, when his speech is smooth and flattering. Deep inside he schemes to deceive, lie, and steal, while on the outside he proclaims: "You should know how much I only want to help you, it would be a shame for you to lose out; just give this and pay that, and I will assist you" - all flattery, deception, and falsehood. Thus you have two hearts: a heart that emerges through the mouth, and a heart that stays hidden within.
The Malbim adds that "with a double heart do they speak" means they even say to one another the very words of the next verse: "May Hashem cut off all flattering lips." They ostensibly rise up against the wicked, calling for their destruction and actively opposing them, cursing flattering lips - and this itself is part of their craft of deception. This is how they mislead the public: they appear to fight against falsehood, against swindlers, and against crime, but it is all merely a smokescreen to cover up what they themselves are doing. In this way, such a person acquires a reputation as an upright, honest man - a champion of governmental integrity who demands justice and righteousness.
This is akin to Mr. Lapid, who spoke loftily against the Prime Minister's meetings with editors and journalists, only for it to be revealed later that he himself had been doing so regularly. When the public requested to see his appointment logs, the Ministry of Finance claimed they had vanished, and their whereabouts were unknown - even though this was a computerized system! If a person champions clean governance, let him start with himself and set an example. Yet he speaks of good governance precisely so that no one will scrutinize him; after all, since he constantly lectures about integrity and justice, who would dare investigate him? Such people, David HaMelech notes, existed in his time as well.
יַכְרֵת יְהֹוָה כׇּל־שִׂפְתֵי חֲלָקוֹת לָשׁוֹן מְדַבֶּרֶת גְּדֹלוֹת׃ - May Hashem cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that speaks proud things.
"May Hashem cut off all flattering lips" refers to the person who uses smooth talk in matters between man and his fellow. "The tongue that speaks proud things" refers to matters of faith. The Malbim has explained numerous times, especially in the study of Mishlei, that there is a distinction between lips and tongue: speech expressed through the lips is external, whereas speech expressed through the tongue is internal. The tongue is internal, while the lips are external.
Therefore, in interpersonal relations, he speaks with "flattering lips" - external speech: "I only care about you; only you matter to me; honesty is what counts," loudly declaring that everything must be done with fairness and integrity. Meanwhile, "the tongue that speaks proud things" - internal speech - deals with internal matters, with matters of faith and the knowledge of Hashem. Those very individuals who deceive the public are also the ones who fight against Hashem and His anointed. They bring purported proofs from various philosophical investigations, sciences, and intellectual reflections, from which they allegedly disprove the Torah, faith, and the service of Hashem. With their tongue - which represents supposedly profound, internal speech - they seek to undermine the foundations of faith.
אֲשֶׁר אָמְרוּ לִלְשֹׁנֵנוּ נַגְבִּיר שְׂפָתֵינוּ אִתָּנוּ מִי אָדוֹן לָנוּ׃ - Who have said, "With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?"
"With our tongue we will prevail" - the expression of speech here refers to speaking about matters of faith, a more internal speech: they are not afraid to give free rein to their speech regarding matters of faith and attempt to undermine belief in Hashem. "Our lips are with us" - regarding matters between man and his fellow: we will do whatever we want; we will speak lashon hara (evil speech), falsehood, deceit, flattery, and fraud. And why? "Who is lord over us?" Since he has denied faith and cast off restraint regarding matters of faith, he consequently has no fear either of speaking against faith or of deceiving his fellow. Who can do anything to him? He has no master on earth, and therefore he has no qualms about tearing down the foundations of faith and also harming his fellow man.
And as Avraham Avinu said: "Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me." When there is no fear of Hashem, one can descend to the greatest abominations, because "Who is lord over us?" - who is the master who will ultimately call me to account for my deeds and demand to know why I did evil? Therefore, they embolden their tongues and their lips, both between man and his fellow and between man and the Omnipresent, because they do not fear punishment.
מִשֹּׁד עֲנִיִּים מֵאֶנְקַת אֶבְיוֹנִים עַתָּה אָקוּם יֹאמַר יְהֹוָה אָשִׁית בְּיֵשַׁע יָפִיחַ־לוֹ׃ - For the plunder of the poor, for the groaning of the destitute, now I will arise, says Hashem; I will grant salvation to him.
Against those who harm their fellow men in interpersonal matters, David prays that Hashem will arise and punish those wicked people. The Malbim explains that here, too, the clauses of the verse are parallel: four phrases, where the first is completed by the third, and the second is completed by the fourth. That is: "For the plunder of the poor - now I will arise, says Hashem," and "for the groaning of the destitute - I will grant salvation, speaking softly to him."
And why this distinction? The Malbim explains: there is nothing to plunder from an evyon (destitute person). An evyon is worse off than an ani (poor person), for an evyon yearns and craves for everything - related to the word evyonah (desire) and lo avah (he did not consent); in contrast, the ani lacks means, but is not in such a lowly state. Therefore, "for the plunder of the poor (aniyyim)" - the poor still have a little, and they are plundered. The destitute (evyonim), however, have nothing to be plundered of, and their groan is because there is no one to save them, no one who will perform charity and lovingkindness with them. And regarding those destitute, Hashem says: "I will place in salvation, speaking softly to him" - I will give them salvation. "Ashit" (I will place) is an expression of placing or setting, as in "and You put (shatah) all things under his feet," and as in "to place (lehashit) guilt upon them."
And what is the meaning of the expression "yafi'ach"? Notice that there is "yomar" (He will say) and there is "yafi'ach" (He will breathe/whisper). "Yafi'ach" is an expression of speech, as in "he breathes out (yafi'ach) lies," because when a person speaks, he breathes through his lips. The Malbim explains, citing proofs from several places: saying (amirah) is generally public and overt, whereas yafi'ach is concealed, a more covert form of speech. Therefore: regarding the groaning of the destitute person whom no one saves - I will save him, and this will be in secret. But regarding "the plunder of the poor," who were robbed and plundered openly - where people not only failed to show them kindness but actively wronged them - concerning this, "now I will arise, says Hashem": I will arise to take retribution against the wicked openly. And for the destitute with whom others did not practice kindness and charity, the salvation comes in secret, which is why it says, "I will grant salvation, speaking softly (yafi'ach) to him."
The Radak interprets differently: "I will place the poor in salvation from that which ensnares them." In his view, "yafi'ach" is not an expression of speech, but from the word pach - setting a snare to catch them. That is to say: I will place salvation, I will provide deliverance, to rescue him from those who laid snares for him.
אִמְרוֹת יְהֹוָה אֲמָרוֹת טְהֹרוֹת כֶּסֶף צָרוּף בַּעֲלִיל לָאָרֶץ מְזֻקָּק שִׁבְעָתָיִם׃ - The words of Hashem are pure words, silver refined in an earthen crucible, purified seven times.
The Malbim explains: against those who speak words of falsehood regarding faith, who attempt to falsify the Torah of Hashem and expound it with flawed interpretations - such as the Karaites and their like - or who try to deny the Torah ostensibly from within the Torah itself, it is said: "The words of Hashem are pure words." "Imrot" - the spoken words - refers to the outer dimension: the narratives and allegorical phrasing written in the Torah, which we all understand are not the inner essence of the Torah. The inner essence of the Torah consists of its secrets and profundity, existing 974 generations before the world was created; and what we perceive as a story - Yosef being sold, the brothers coming to him, speaking, and persuading - is clearly understood by us to be external garments.
And the holy Zohar states: woe to one who looks at the Torah merely in its externality! For if you think the Torah is a storybook - there are better storybooks, and there are more captivating novels. The Torah is internality, the Torah is profundity, and Hashem clothed it in the external garment of narratives: Avraham went here and returned from there, and these are the tribes, and so on.
Yet do not mistakenly think that because it is an outer garment, the garment itself lacks significance. Here, even the outer garment is of the highest quality; it too possesses depth and inner meaning. The garments and the bodies - the external clothing of Divine wisdom - are also "pure." That is: all the narratives and metaphors in the Torah are unlike those of the philosophers, who clothe their philosophies in fictitious inventions, fabricated stories, and falsehoods. Rather, in the Torah, even the revealed surface - anyone reading about Avraham, Yosef, the tribes, or the dispute of Korach - sees immense moral instruction and profound lessons even in this outer dimension. Even the sayings that are external are pure words.
And what of what lies inside, the inner dimension of the Torah? That is high above high: "refined silver in a crucible in the earth, purified sevenfold" - an exceedingly precious thing, silver that has been smelted and refined. And what does "ba'alil la'aretz" mean? The Malbim explains that precious metals used to be refined in the ground, and there is a designated spot for refining where the soil is of superior quality, as in the verse, "in the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in the thick clay of the ground." The place where they smelted was called an "alil," and this is the meaning of "refined in an alil in the ground" - smelted in the underground crucible. And this smelting is the process of purification, refinement, and cleansing.
There are other interpretations of the word "ba'alil." Rashi explains that "ba'alil" means openly and clearly, as in the Mishnah where witnesses saw the new moon "ba'alil" (clearly visible), which is also how the word is commonly used in modern Hebrew - "one sees ba'alil (clearly) that he is a thief," denoting something manifest and undeniable. According to this: refined silver that is conspicuously evident to all as pure, clean, and refined. Others explain that "ba'alil" is related to ma'alah (excellence) - in a place of superiority, in the choicest part of the earth, the finest soil, where silver was smelted. Another explanation brought by Rashi is that "ba'alil" is related to "eli" (a pestle), as in the verse, "Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle (ba'eli)" - where the eli is the crushing tool, parallel to the furnace in which gold and silver were melted. However, Rashi notes that this interpretation is very difficult, because an "eli" refers not to the mortar but to the pestle that moves up and down, whereas here we are looking for a description of the lower receptacle, the ground-level crucible, which is like the mortar. Yet another explanation: "ba'alil" derives from ba'alut (ownership or mastery); just as we have "seger" (closing) and "sagrir" (rainy weather), so too we have "ba'al" and "ba'alil" - the Master of the earth, denoting sovereignty. As if to say: His words are refined silver from the Master of the earth, for Hashem has refined and purified them, silver refined by its Owner, by the Holy One, blessed be He.
אַתָּה־יְהֹוָה תִּשְׁמְרֵם תִּצְּרֶנּוּ מִן־הַדּוֹר זוּ לְעוֹלָם׃ - You, Hashem, will keep them; You will preserve him from this generation forever.
"You, Hashem, will keep them (tishmerem)" refers to the sayings, which are the external layer of the Torah and its narratives. "You will preserve him (titzrenu)" refers to the refined silver, which is the inner dimension of the Torah. This ensures that people do not falsify the sayings or the refined silver, nor fabricate hollow interpretations and attribute meaningless nonsense to the holy Torah. And we see with our own eyes that Hashem indeed kept it: the Torah has been preserved for us exactly as it was given at Sinai. No matter how many corrupters arose throughout the generations, and no matter how many tried to distort and ruin the Torah, ultimately the Torah remained precisely the same, without change. How? "You, Hashem, will keep them" - Hashem guards the Torah so that it will never change.
What is the difference between "tishmerem" (guarding/keeping) and "titzrenu" (preserving)? The Malbim explains that netzirah is a higher level of protection than shemirah. Therefore, "titzrenu" is in the singular and "tishmerem" in the plural. "Tishmerem" applies to the external sayings; "titzrenu" denotes close, personal, superior safeguarding: "from this generation forever" - from the generation that seeks to falsify the Torah and turn it into something elastic to be manipulated at will, that their schemes will not succeed.
Rashi explains that "tishmerem" and "titzrenu" do not refer to the Torah and the refined sayings, but to the poor and needy mentioned earlier: "Because of the plundering of the poor, because of the groaning of the needy" - You, Hashem, will keep them; You will guard the persecuted poor and needy from this generation of slanderers, and protect them.
Rashi cites a Midrash Aggadah on "purified sevenfold," which neatly accounts for the sequence of the verses. Rabbi Yehoshua of Sichnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: The schoolchildren in the days of David, before having tasted the taste of sin, were able to expound the Torah in forty-nine ways in each direction - forty-nine reasons to declare something tahor (pure) and forty-nine reasons to declare it tamei (impure). This is "sevenfold" - seven times seven, forty-nine facets. And David would pray for them: Master of the Universe, see how clear and purified sevenfold Your Torah is in their hearts! Yet despite all this, he would plead: "You, Hashem, will keep them" - preserve the Torah within their hearts; "You will preserve him from this generation" - that they not learn their ways and become slanderers (deltorin). That is: see how righteous and learned in Torah they are in their youth; guard them so that when they grow up, they do not adopt the corrupt ways and deeds of the generation, for there were slanderers in the days of Shaul.
סָבִיב רְשָׁעִים יִתְהַלָּכוּן כְּרֻם זֻלּוּת לִבְנֵי אָדָם׃ - The wicked walk on every side, when vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
David asks, "preserve him from this generation," and what characterizes this generation? "The wicked walk on every side (saviv)." This verse is frequently cited in Kabbalah as an expression of the principle that holiness is always inward, while the kelipah (the shell or husk) is on the outside. Why are the forces of impurity called kelipah? Because they are external. And with everything, the more internal it is, the holier, loftier, and more exalted it is. This is why when discussing the Sefirot, Kabbalah speaks of enclothings: Ze'eir Anpin and Nukva clothe from the outside, further inward are Abba and Imma, further inward are Arich and Atik, and further inward still are Adam Kadmon (A"K) and the Ein Sof. The more internal is always the more exalted. And when emphasizing this concept, they cite "the wicked walk on every side": the kelipah, impurity, and wickedness exist only on the perimeter, whereas the interior is holiness.
According to this, regarding all the outer garments of the Torah and its narratives - the wicked try to prowl around them, to forge them, to mix chaff and waste into them, and to find flaws and defects in them. And when does this occur? When "vileness is exalted among the sons of men" - when cheap and base things are elevated in people's eyes. When a person abandons what is precious and honorable, the faith handed down to us from Hashem, while cheap and degraded matters - intellectual inquiries and all sorts of ideas reached through narrow-mindedness, various philosophical investigations - become important and prized in his eyes, and the Torah, which is the true and precious reality, becomes cheap to him. It is then that the wicked prowl around the words of Hashem to disparage them and display their alleged shortcomings.
The Malbim also alludes to examples from the era of Biblical critics, who purported to prove from within the text that the Bible was written across various eras and was not authentic, along with other nonsense. In truth, modern research increasingly demonstrates just how authentic the text is down to the finest details - details that could never have been written a generation after the Biblical era, as it would have been impossible to know them. Today, "truth springs from the earth": archaeological findings show that matters recorded in the Torah are historically accurate, even though they no longer exist in our reality, and only someone living in that era who recorded things based on the reality before him could have known them. However, because they made philosophical inquiries their primary focus, degraded things became paramount in their eyes - "when vileness is exalted among the sons of men" - and consequently, "the wicked prowl on every side," circling the Torah and speaking disparagingly of its perceived flaws, because divine matters have become cheap to them. Therefore, precisely in such a generation, David pleads: "You, Hashem, will guard them" - protect the words of the Torah; "You will preserve us from this generation forever" - guard us from a generation of falsifiers, so that they do not introduce dross and vanities into the Torah, and prove to them that the Torah is true so that no ground remains for their claims.
Rashi presents an additional explanation, consistent with his approach that David is describing being persecuted by the wicked of his generation: "The wicked prowl on every side" - they circle around me to lay traps and snares to cause me to stumble. And why? "When vileness is exalted among the sons of men" - they are envious when they witness my greatness. That is to say, when they see someone who was considered cheap and despised by men elevated to the pinnacle of heights, it eats away at them and leaves them no peace; therefore, they encircle me constantly to bring me down. This is akin to what is written, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" - since they despised me so greatly and treated me as an outcast and illegitimate, they could not bear that I had become the cornerstone.
A Midrash Aggadah, cited by Rashi, interprets this regarding the Jewish people in the future to come: the nations despised the people of Israel, humiliated them, and persecuted them, but suddenly it will become clear that they are the most exalted in the world. A final explanation cited by Rashi in the name of Menachem interprets "kerum zulut livnei adam" - like a wild ox ravenous to devour human beings. According to his interpretation, "rum" is related to "re'em," the creature known as a wild ox, and they are like a gluttonous beast seeking to gorge itself, consume, and tear King David to pieces. With this, David concludes the psalm.
Psalm 12 is an outcry against the masters of destructive speech: according to the Radak, against the wicked who overpower the poor, and according to the Malbim, against those who speak insolence against Hashem, who interpret His Torah deceitfully, and who speak lashon hara to one another. David opens with a lament that the pious have vanished and the faithful have ceased - for when there are no men of truth, there certainly are no men of piety, and indeed people would even mock them. He describes the flattering lip and the double heart, and the deceivers who pose as champions of justice; and he exposes the root cause: "Who is lord over us?" - a disregard for Heaven that breeds lawlessness toward fellow human beings. In response comes Hashem's answer: for the plundering of the poor, "Now I will arise" openly, and for the groaning of the needy, salvation in secret. Against those who would falsify the Torah, David proclaims that the words of Hashem are pure even in their outer garments, while its inner essence is refined silver, purified sevenfold. He prays, "You, Hashem, will guard them; You will preserve us from this generation forever" - that the Torah be preserved in its integrity even in a generation when the base is exalted and the precious is degraded, and indeed the Torah has been preserved just as it was given at Sinai.