Introduction: The Believer's Cry to the God of Retribution
Chapter 94 is a cry against the reign of wickedness in the world: the wicked oppress the Jewish people, boasting and claiming that there is neither justice nor a Judge. Out of this outcry, the psalm constructs a complete response concerning Hashem's Divine Providence in the world: proof that the Creator sees and hears, an explanation of why He delays punishing the wicked, and the comforting assurance that Hashem will not abandon His people. We will follow the order of the pesukim, citing the commentaries of Rashi, Radak, Ibn Ezra, the Malbim, and the Chafetz Chaim.
How Long Shall the Wicked Exult?
עַד־מָתַי רְשָׁעִים יְהֹוָה עַד־מָתַי רְשָׁעִים יַעֲלֹזוּ׃ - How long shall the wicked, Hashem, how long shall the wicked exult?
How long will the wicked continue to exult? The Chafetz Chaim explains: their entire joy stems from their conviction that the world is an ownerless free-for-all, where one may do whatever enters his mind. This is also the meaning of the next verse: "They gush forth, they speak insolently; all evildoers boast" - the arrogance of one who has no fear of judgment.
וַיֹּאמְרוּ לֹא יִרְאֶה־יָּהּ וְלֹא־יָבִין אֱלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב׃ - And they say, "Yah does not see, nor does the God of Yaakov understand."
בִּינוּ בֹּעֲרִים בָּעָם וּכְסִילִים מָתַי תַּשְׂכִּילוּ׃ - Understand, you boors among the people; and fools, when will you become wise?
Here the psalmist turns and says: Come, let me show you that you are fools, for there is indeed Divine Providence in the world.
He Who Plants the Ear, Shall He Not Hear? - The Chafetz Chaim's Proof from Technology
הֲנֹטַע אֹזֶן הֲלֹא יִשְׁמָע אִם־יֹצֵר עַיִן הֲלֹא יַבִּיט׃ - He who plants the ear, shall He not hear? He who forms the eye, shall He not look?
The straightforward meaning: the ear hears from afar, even across miles - thunder can be heard over great distances. From this, understand that the Holy One, Blessed be He, even while dwelling in the heavens, hears from afar. So too with the eye: Hashem created the power of sight, and we see stars whose light traveled toward us over hundreds of light-years, yet you are able to see them. From this, understand that Hashem, though far removed from us, sees all.
Yet the Chafetz Chaim looks even deeper. "He who forms the eye, shall He not look?" - consider that the Holy One, Blessed be He, created a reality in which man himself is capable of creating tools that see from afar. A person sits at home here in Eretz Yisrael and sees on his cell phone that burglars are breaking into his home in Sydney, Australia; he watches them enter and sees which drawers they open, and he can call the local police to raid the place. Today, it is astounding to consider how much a human being can know about what is happening anywhere. There is wiretapping, everything is documented, everything is known, everything is monitored. Someone once joked that recently he started listening to a lot of Daf Yomi on his phone; when asked why, he answered: "I realized that by doing so, I'm bringing merit to several police officers - through Pegasus spyware, this is an act of zikui harabbim (meriting the public), and the Israel Police are learning Daf Yomi!"
And why did Hashem create all of this? The Chofetz Chaim explains: so that you will know that everything you do down here is seen Above, and everything you do is recorded. Do not imagine that there is anything a person does here that Heaven does not see and understand. If you possess such a physical, material ability to document things, preserve them for generations, and transmit them - you send a spacecraft to Mars, and the rover roams around at an immense distance and transmits what it films via satellites - what does this teach you? That there is an ability to see, gaze, and perceive even across vast distances. If so, how can a person be so obtuse as to imagine that Heaven does not see, hear, or understand?
The Chofetz Chaim said these words when the phonograph and radio technology were emerging. Later, when film developed - and in the Chofetz Chaim's lifetime motion pictures already existed; anyone who has seen the footage discovered a few years ago of the Chofetz Chaim arriving at the Knessia Gedolah of Agudas Yisrael, a unique film that made waves across the world, knows it was still silent film before sound was introduced - the Chofetz Chaim said: We have become so coarse that the idea that the Holy One, blessed be He, hears no longer convinces us. People say, "Who says there is any record?" So we are shown that visual recording exists as well. "Who says the visual is synchronized with the sound?" Talkies and cinema are developed, so you can see that both visual and audio exist together. "Who says it can travel great distances?" Here are satellites. The coarser and more materialistic the world becomes, the more proof we require that it is possible to hear up Above.
Why Technology Was Not Given to Earlier Generations
הֲיֹסֵר גּוֹיִם הֲלֹא יוֹכִיחַ הַמְלַמֵּד אָדָם דָּעַת׃ - Does He Who chastises nations not rebuke, He Who teaches man knowledge?
If the Holy One, blessed be He, "teaches man knowledge" and endowed man with the intellect to create such tools so that through them he might recognize and know Him, why did He not create these tools in earlier generations? King Solomon was wiser than all men; could he not have invented a machine? Does inventing the steam engine require extraordinary genius? Anyone who has ever cooked soup and watched the pot lid rattle realizes that there is energy here capable of pushing objects, which can then be harnessed to turn a wheel. Why, then, did the sages of the generations that followed not do this, leaving it only for recent centuries?
The simple answer, in the words of the Ben Ish Chai, is that earlier generations did not occupy themselves with improving material comfort. Look at the Rambam debating Aristotle and the ancient philosophers - they had no disputes about how to develop a touchscreen. Improving comfort and creating convenience were simply not the topic. The debate centered on how the celestial spheres revolve, how nature, animals, and trees function. Their sole interest was in gaining wisdom and understanding the creation, not in devising techniques for an easier life. This was true even of the non-Jewish thinkers; convenience was simply not at the forefront of their minds. Today, by contrast, research is pursued only if practical gain emerges: "I will research diseases, invent a drug, and become a billionaire." Everything revolves around the question of how to improve one's life and make it more convenient - culminating in the "smart home," where you do not even need to touch a switch; you speak to a device and it turns the air conditioner on and off. From this one can see that we live in a coarse, material reality, and therefore all of our "progress" is centered on creating a more comfortable life for ourselves.
יְהֹוָה יֹדֵעַ מַחְשְׁבוֹת אָדָם כִּי־הֵמָּה הָבֶל׃ - Hashem knows the thoughts of man, that they are futility.
To address the question of why Hashem did not grant earlier generations all this technology - through which we can perceive that Hashem sees, hears, and understands - the verse comes and declares: Hashem knows that man's thoughts are futility, that he foolishly imagines that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not know and does not hear. But earlier generations harbored no such thoughts. The Jewish people were people of faith, and they did not require audio and visual gadgets to prove that Hashem hears and sees.
Fortunate Is the Man Whom You Chastise, Yah
אַשְׁרֵי הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר־תְּיַסְּרֶנּוּ יָּהּ וּמִתּוֹרָתְךָ תְלַמְּדֶנּוּ׃ - Fortunate is the man whom You discipline, Yah, and teach him from Your Torah.
The word teyaserenu here is related to mussar (instruction) and learning. Fortunate is the man who learns - and from where? "And teach him from Your Torah" - from the Torah itself he knows that Hashem watches and sees, and that the Holy One, blessed be He, rewards a person according to his deeds and actions. Fortunate is the person who absorbs these truths directly from these sacred sources. But one who is not on that level requires other aids; he needs crutches to believe in Hashem. For such an impaired person, the Holy One, blessed be He, brought forth the reality of technology, video, and photography. We are spiritually handicapped, and therefore we need aids. In earlier generations, however - "Fortunate is the man whom You discipline, Yah, and teach him from Your Torah" - from the Torah alone he understood everything, and had no need for this physical, material crutch.
To Grant Him Tranquility from Days of Evil
לְהַשְׁקִיט לוֹ מִימֵי רָע עַד יִכָּרֶה לָרָשָׁע שָׁחַת׃ - To grant him tranquility from days of adversity, until a pit is dug for the wicked.
Rashi explains: Suffering serves to quiet the judgment of Gehinnom for him. When the righteous person undergoes suffering in this world, the days of evil are silenced for him, and in the World to Come he will have peace and tranquility. In contrast, for the wicked person - "a pit is dug for the wicked" (from the root keriyah, digging) - a pit will be dug for him, deepening Gehinnom beneath him.
The Radak explains: Hashem protects the righteous person from the wicked one until the time of the wicked person's death, when a pit will be dug for him. That is, "to grant him tranquility" - the righteous person suffers from the malice of the wicked person who persecutes him, and when will he find tranquility? When a pit is dug for the wicked person; once the wicked person is in the grave, the righteous person will find peace and will no longer have to suffer from his wickedness. The Radak adds that the word ad ("until") here means be'od ("while"), as in the phrase "while this one was still speaking, another arrived": while the pit is being dug for the wicked person, the righteous person already begins to find tranquility and cease suffering from him.
The Malbim offers an additional interpretation, connecting this verse to the preceding one: "and teach him from Your Torah" - what does the Torah teach him? "To grant him tranquility from days of adversity." This is a wonderful, somewhat chassidic insight: What do we learn from the Torah? That when days of adversity come upon a person, he should remain quiet. He should hold his peace, refrain from complaining, and not open his mouth to speak like one of the scoundrels. Even when things do not find favor in your eyes, do not speak out; rather, accept the suffering with love, make peace with it, and place your hope in Hashem - until a pit is dug for the wicked, at which point Hashem will rescue you and redeem you from all suffering.
For Hashem Will Not Abandon His People
כִּי לֹא־יִטֹּשׁ יְהֹוָה עַמּוֹ וְנַחֲלָתוֹ לֹא יַעֲזֹב׃ - For Hashem will not abandon His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance.
The Radak comments: If the Holy One, blessed be He, afflicts Israel in exile, let them not think that Hashem has abandoned them and that this is why suffering has come upon them. Know with certainty that Hashem never abandons His people. On the contrary, that very suffering proves it: when we see the Jewish people undergoing affliction, consider this - had the Holy One, blessed be He, no interest in us, He would not deal with us at all. It is precisely because Hashem desires us that we continue to undergo suffering. The time will come when He will remember us and redeem us.
The Malbim connects this to the complaint at the beginning of the psalm: "They crush Your people, Hashem, and afflict Your heritage" - that was the outcry: where is justice? To this comes the reply: Hashem will not abandon His people; ultimately He will champion their cause and settle accounts with them all.
And why this repetition - "will not abandon" (yittosh) and "will not forsake" (ya'azov), "His people" and "His inheritance"? The Malbim explains: Abandonment (netishah) is more severe than forsaking (azivah); netishah implies a forceful separation, an extreme distancing. Thus Scripture says, "Do not cast me off and do not forsake me," and likewise in the Book of Melachim: "May Hashem our God be with us... may He not forsake us nor abandon us, to incline our hearts toward Him." We ask Hashem to be with us as He was with our ancestors and not forsake us, and also not abandon us - that He should not compel our hearts toward Him through force and suffering, through a profound distancing that leaves us with no choice but to seek Him, but rather incline our hearts toward Him through goodness and abundance.
Similarly, there is a distinction between "people" (am) and "inheritance" (nachalah): The term "Your inheritance" denotes a continuous, unique bond between the Holy One, blessed be He, and us, recognizing that Israel is His heritage by virtue of their inherent holiness and elevated status. Regarding this, the verse says: Israel is Your people, and therefore even if they commit wrong deeds, do not forcefully cast them off. Furthermore, Israel is Your inheritance, and since they stand at such a high level in terms of their sanctity, it is fitting that not even a milder form of forsaking should be done to them.
For Justice Will Return to Righteousness
כִּי־עַד־צֶדֶק יָשׁוּב מִשְׁפָּט וְאַחֲרָיו כָּל־יִשְׁרֵי־לֵב׃ - For justice will return to righteousness, and following it will be all the upright in heart.
Rashi explains: their afflictions last until they become righteous. That is, after the Jewish people endure their suffering and their full measure is filled, they will already stand in the status of the righteous. And after the judgment - "and after it all the upright in heart" - all the upright in heart will gather to receive their reward. It turns out that all the suffering, and the seeming appearance that Hashem is forsaking us, has one sole purpose: that through suffering we become righteous, and afterward the Holy One, blessed be He, will gather all the upright in heart to grant them their reward.
Radak explains: "Ki ad" is like "od" (yet) - the time will yet come when judgment and righteousness will reunite. For judgment was once joined with righteousness, but the wicked came and separated them. Ultimately, judgment will return to its rightful place and reunite with righteousness, "and after it all the upright in heart" - all the upright in heart will run after righteousness, for then justice will not be crooked and perverted, but righteous judgment, which is truly the aspiration of the upright in heart.
And this is precisely the description of the legal system in our day. Someone once remarked that in "Bagatz" (the High Court of Justice), the word "Tzedek" (justice) is merely the name of a planet - there is no connection between the legal system and true justice. If there were any connection, the Prime Minister's trial would never have been conducted. Not that he is a role model for us or purely righteous, but he serves as an example that when one does not seek justice, one persecutes someone to the absolute limit. Later, when things become clear, we see "the place of judgment, wickedness was there." And the purer a place is supposed to be, the dirtier and filthier it actually is. We all know how motivated legal advisors are specifically against Torah and mitzvos, against the service of Hashem, and against anyone who does not align with their mindset and agenda.
Ibn Ezra adds a point: in general terms, righteousness and Hashem's judgments return and are revealed, but in the individual details, one might reflect and feel that there appears to be no justice. How so? The Holy One, blessed be He, brings down rain - a beneficial bounty for the public at large, yet for certain individuals the rain is actually harmful. Conversely, at times Hashem does not bring down rain, which is of great benefit to many, yet to a few - who wished for their wells to fill - it is detrimental. In other words, the Holy One, blessed be He's conduct in bestowing bounty upon the world is an overarching providence of righteousness and goodness, yet sometimes, on an individual level, it may seem unfair to them.
And "and after it all the upright in heart" - after righteousness. This means: if the wicked afflict the Jewish people, yet the Jewish people do not deviate from righteousness, remaining righteous, serving Hashem, and pursuing justice, being upright in heart - know that afterward the Holy One, blessed be He, will exact retribution from all the wicked. This continues what we saw: "To grant him tranquility from days of evil, until a pit is dug for the wicked." In the end, to those who pursue and seek righteousness, the upright in heart, Hashem will grant only good; whereas those who acted wickedly - and all in the name of law and justice!
Indeed, they always wave the banners of "law" and "justice," but only when it suits their agenda. A government can arise that commits every injustice without a word of protest, while another government can arise that does not suit the legal advisors and everyone who proclaims the supremacy of the law. Someone says he would send Arabs by train to Switzerland - and immediately a massive media uproar erupts; yet all we ask for is Switzerland, whereas they arranged trains to Auschwitz for us. By contrast, when Mr. Lieberman spoke of dumping Netanyahu and the Charedim in wheelbarrows into the landfill, it passed quietly. If everything the previous government did had been done under a right-wing leader, who could imagine the media sensations that would lead every news broadcast: all the injustices, the double standards, the bypassing of laws, the ruthlessness, and the denying of power to the opposition on parliamentary committees. All of this passes in silence, because it suits those who sit in the media. Thus, reality is far from just.
Yet Scripture says: do not be alarmed, and do not become disheartened. Someone once observed that any government formed without Charedim has never lasted more than two years - check historically: no government without Charedim has completed its term, and most did not even last a year. This was true in the days of Barak, in the days of Netanyahu and Lapid, and in the days of Bennett and Lapid. We see that without the guardians of Torah and mitzvos, the mezuzah on the doorpost, the government cannot endure. The keepers of tradition and guardians of the seal are necessary, those who ensure that everything here in the country aligns with Judaism, and they are ultimately the guardians of the Jewish nation's existence. That is why all their plans - the draft law, the conversion law, the kashrus law, the kosher phones law - whose entire purpose was one: to destroy, which was their very banner - all collapsed.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says: "Until judgment returns to righteousness," do not be dismayed. The wicked will do what they do, until a pit is dug for the wicked. The world has a Master. As Rav Edelstein said: the Holy One, blessed be He, protects the Jewish people, and the merit of the Bnei Torah shields them. Even regarding the draft law - the moment there is no government, it receives an extension of a few more months, and the High Court has no choice, since they remanded the matter to the government and there is no government. In plain terms, we see how the Holy One, blessed be He, ensures that the Jewish people endure amidst all this terrible chaos, within a reality of harsh persecution. If so, one must not be dismayed by reality, but look forward and believe that ultimately, everything will be for the good.
Why the Punishment of the Wicked Is Delayed - Judgment and Righteousness
The Malbim asks on this verse: Why does the Holy One, blessed be He, delay the punishment of the wicked? His answer is: because judgment turns back from its path to reach toward righteousness. To understand this, one must know what judgment is and what righteousness is. Judgment is the strict letter of the law - executing what the law prescribes. Righteousness is not the strict letter of the law; rather, it looks at the circumstances and takes them into account: the time, the place, and the context. Righteousness is also beyond the letter of the law: even though according to the strict law it is fitting to punish him, considering everything he has gone through, it is just to have mercy on him.
Therefore, it may very well be that the wicked person deserves punishment according to strict judgment, yet judgment is delayed - by virtue of righteousness. And what is that leniency beyond the letter of the law? He may possess ancestral merit that shields him; he himself may have performed a mitzvah in the past whose merit is still preserved for him; his measure of sin has not yet been filled; the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to bring forth righteous children from him; and at times, even though he is wicked, relative to his generation he is still considered decent. In all these cases, judgment demands retribution, but righteousness says to wait and not execute the sentence immediately - and this is "For judgment shall return to righteousness."
In summary:
The psalm opens with an outcry over the wicked who rejoice and say, "God will not see," and answers them from Creation itself: He who implants the ear, does He not hear? He who forms the eye, does He not see? - and as the Chafetz Chaim noted, all the technology of audio, photography, and long-distance broadcasting was granted to our coarse generation as crutches to believe what earlier generations knew from the Torah alone: "Fortunate is the man whom God disciplines, and whom You teach from Your Torah." From this point onward, the psalm offers consolation: suffering calms evil days and purifies, and it is itself the Torah's counsel to remain silent and accept it with love; "Hashem will not cast off His people" - precisely because we are His people and His heritage, He does not forcefully push us away; and ultimately, "until judgment returns to righteousness" - distorted justice will once again reunite with righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow after it. And if it seems that retribution is delayed, it is the attribute of righteousness holding back the strict measure of justice. Therefore, one should not be dismayed by reality, but rather anticipate and believe that everything, in the end, will be for the good.