Chapter 103 is a psalm of thanksgiving for Hashem's loving-kindness, and in the section before us, King David details the attributes of mercy through which the Holy One, Blessed be He, conducts Himself with the Jewish people - specifically in exile, specifically in a state where we seemingly have no standing or merit. We will examine the verses one by one, with the commentaries of Radak, Ibn Ezra, and Malbim, and see how each verse opens a window for us to understand the ways Hashem guides and deals with us.
רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן יְהֹוָה אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב־חָסֶד׃ - Hashem is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness.
Radak explains: David did not mention all Thirteen Attributes of Mercy here, but only those pathways of mercy through which the Holy One, Blessed be He, interacts with us in exile. "Compassionate" (Rachum) - that He has mercy on us in exile, meaning He creates a situation where even though we are exiled, and even though we suffer, and even though we are driven and rejected - we are not consumed.
On this point, the Ya'avetz writes: By my life, this is greater in my eyes than all the signs and wonders in the entire Torah - greater than the Exodus from Egypt and the splitting of the Red Sea. The survival of the Jewish people is the greatest miracle of all. We have been in exile for two thousand years, with every king, every nation, and every scoundrel ruling over us, afflicting us, destroying us, and persecuting us - yet the Jewish people live on, and after two thousand years return to their land and establish a sovereignty here, and we still yearn for complete repentance, walking in the way of Hashem with yeshivos and Torah. Who can offer a natural explanation for this?
Where are all those nations from history two thousand years ago? They held the torch proudly aloft - in the words of Mark Twain - and were consumed in the fire of their own torch. Who would believe that Greece was once an empire? Today it is a burden on the Eurozone. Where is the Babylonian Empire? In ruins. Every few days a car bomb explodes in some market there, claiming another fifty lives - that is Baghdad, that is modern-day Babylon. Where is ancient Egypt that was once an empire? What global influence does it possess today? Yet the Jewish people saw them all, outlived them all, and live on forever.
Thus we see that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is "compassionate" and guides us in exile, causing our captors to treat us with mercy so that they do not wipe us out. "And gracious" (vechanun) - that He shows us grace by granting us livelihood and sustenance. "Slow to anger" (erech apayim) - He holds back His wrath, meaning He does not become angry and punish us immediately when we sin. It is not that He simply overlooks sin, for whoever says the Holy One, Blessed be He, overlooks sin, his life shall be forfeited; rather, the meaning is that He is patient and delays punishment, giving us the opportunity and the chance to repent. "And abounding in loving-kindness" (verav chesed) - that He multiplies His loving-kindness toward us each and every day, far beyond what we deserve.
לֹא־לָנֶצַח יָרִיב וְלֹא לְעוֹלָם יִטּוֹר׃ - He will not contend forever, nor will He keep His anger for all eternity.
"He will not contend forever" with sinners, "nor will He keep His anger for all eternity" - Ibn Ezra explains: this refers to people who repent. Meaning, even if they committed sins, Hashem does not harbor their transgressions forever; rather, He forgives and pardons their iniquity. And toward whom does Hashem harbor anger? Toward the enemies. But toward the Jewish people who return in repentance, He bears no grudge.
Radak explains: Even if the Holy One, Blessed be He, had a grievance against us, bore a grudge for our iniquities, and sent us into exile to pay a price - do not worry, this is not forever. The verse comes to refute the claims of the nations, who blamed us for the death of that man and claimed that on account of this, the Jewish people would remain in exile forever. Yet in the end, we see the Jewish people returning to their land, dealing a blow to the impure throne. That is why the pope refused to visit here for decades - an ostrich approach: if I do not see them, they do not exist. Later, when he did visit, they claimed: it may be that they returned to their land, but they have not reached Jerusalem, which is what was spoken of. And ultimately, when we returned to Jerusalem as well, they had to swallow their words. This is just one of the contradictions within that false religion. Returning to our subject: do not say, "We are cut off, we are finished, we are lost" - that is not so. Hashem contended with us and sent us into exile, but know that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is destined to have mercy on us and redeem us from exile.
The Malbim notes a distinction between netzach (eternity) and le'olam (forever / worldly): Le'olam describes the reality here, of this lower world (olam), and refers to the body; netzach always denotes the higher spiritual reality, eternity, and refers to the soul. Likewise, there is a difference between yariv (to contend) and yitor (to harbor anger): Yariv means to contend with someone and punish him; linto'ar means to retain anger in the heart without punishing immediately.
From here his explanation follows: It is Hashem's kindness that when He contends with a person and punishes him - this is not for eternity (netzach), but only here in this world. The eternity of the soul is not impaired; "the Eternity of Israel will not lie," and the Jewish people live and endure forever. And in order that the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not punish us for eternity, He exacts retribution from us here in this world; through the exile and all that it entails, we achieve rectification, and thereby merit all the future promises for eternity.
Therefore - quite the opposite of how people usually understand it - "nor will He keep His anger forever (ve-lo le'olam yitor)": Hashem does not harbor grievance in the heart here in this world; rather, He exacts retribution immediately and contends with the body already here. Why? So that afterward, "He will not contend forever (lo lanetzach yariv)." For if I contend with you here in this world, I will not need to contend with you for eternity; whereas if I do not contend with you in this world, I will have to exact retribution from you eternally. Therefore, since the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not wish to punish man eternally but rather to grant him eternity, He does not hold back anger in this world, but exacts payment here and immediately.
And know: even a person who has repented may face retribution in this world - and specifically because he repented. The Gemara in Masechet Ta'anit says that when a person repents, this is sometimes the very reason that suffering begins to come upon him. And why? Because as long as he had not repented, the Holy One, Blessed be He, says to him: What do you want, to enjoy this world? Take it, enjoy. You invest here - you will receive here; and ultimately, you will arrive Above, where there is Gehinom, and pay the full price. But when a person repents, Hashem says to him: You understand that this is a lowly and trivial world, and you have decided to invest Above - therefore, I will give you a complete World to Come, and whatever retribution must be exacted from you, I will collect here.
It turns out that on the contrary, by repenting, he brings it about that retribution is collected from him here, so that he may be granted his complete reward up Above. This is the opposite of what people think - that if you repent, all troubles will disappear. Is that what truly matters? What good is it to have seventy years of bliss followed by seven thousand years of suffering? And this is the meaning of "and repays His enemies to their face, to destroy them": to those who hate Him, Hashem gives full and complete reward in this world in order to destroy them from the World to Come. Whereas from those who love Him, the Holy One, Blessed be He, exacts here whatever retribution must be paid, so that their World to Come will be complete.
לֹא כַחֲטָאֵינוּ עָשָׂה לָנוּ וְלֹא כַעֲוֺנֹתֵינוּ גָּמַל עָלֵינוּ׃ - He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us according to our iniquities.
Radak explains: When Hashem exiled us, He did not deal with us according to our sins - for according to our sins we were deserving of total destruction, and exile would not have sufficed. Rather, the Holy One, Blessed be He, judged us with mercy. Likewise, each and every day Hashem does not repay us according to our iniquities, but has pity and mercy upon us to give us the opportunity to repent.
The Malbim addresses the apparent redundancy in the verse: "our sins" (chata'einu) and "our iniquities" (avonoteinu), "dealt with us" (asah lanu) and "repaid us" (gamal aleinu). He explains: Chet is always done inadvertently (be-shogeg), or driven by physical desire - which is also a form of inadvertence, since his desire overwhelmed him. Avon, on the other hand, is a distortion of the intellect (ivut ha-sechel), where a person denies the mitzvah and claims: "There is no such mitzvah, Hashem never said this."
As explained previously, the process begins with chet and ends with avon. Initially, a person follows his desire, and afterward he feels bad about himself: "Look how low you are, look at what you are doing." So what does he do at the next stage? He looks for an ideology to justify what he does, formulating explanations and rationalizations, explaining why this is the right way. At first it was a chet, but in the next stage it becomes an avon, because the intellect has become distorted. You created an ideology behind your sin, and naturally the corruption is far greater - you have already come out of the closet, and on the contrary, one should take pride in it, and they even hold a parade for it. Earlier you said, "I am sorry, what could I do, it was the yetzer hara," but now you say: "There are multiple ways to live; there is family, and there are alternative families; it does not have to be a father and a mother, but Parent 1 and Parent 2." This is already the stage of distortion, where you live with falsehood and crave it so deeply that you build an ideology asserting that this is the proper path. This is the definition of avon - a distortion of the intellect.
The Malbim adds: There is also a difference between asah (dealt / did) and gamal (repaid / recompensed). A recompense (gemul) always stems from an emotional stirring of love or enmity - "I have love for you, so I bestow goodness upon you; I have hatred toward you, so I deal harshly with you, striking and cursing." There is an inner emotional drive at work, from which I recompense. Assiyah (action), on the other hand, is an act that does not necessarily stem from an internal emotion: a person gives something to someone, not out of compassion, love, or hatred, and he may not even know to whom he gave it - that is assiyah. But one who gives to his fellow out of love - that is gemul.
According to this, regarding a chet (a sin of weakness), one cannot speak of an emotional arousal of hatred and animosity, for the chet stems from a physical craving that overcame the person, not from a desire to provoke Hashem or hate His mitzvos, Heaven forbid. Therefore, regarding chata'im, the verse uses the term "did" (asah). But regarding an avon (an intentional iniquity), which involves a distortion of intellect and deliberate intent - there, retribution is fitting. The verse says: "He has not dealt with us according to our sins" - Hashem does not act toward us in equal measure; "nor repaid us according to our iniquities" - even though an avon stems from one rejecting Hashem's mitzvos, where it would be fitting for the Holy One, blessed be He, to retaliate against him accordingly, Hashem does not repay us according to our iniquities.
This essentially explains the attribute of being "slow to anger" (erech apayim) that we saw earlier: it would be fitting for Hashem to repay man according to his iniquity, yet He does not repay him according to his iniquity - because Hashem is patient, perhaps in the end you will repent and rectify your ways, and He will not need to exact punishment from you.
The Tehillos Maharith explains: "He has not dealt with us according to our sins" - the Holy One, blessed be He, does not act toward us, as it were, in the way we act toward Him. He does not pay us back in the same coin, for if He did, woe to us. For when we commit sins and iniquities, we forget the Holy One, blessed be He, entirely, as Chazal said: "At the moment the evil inclination flares up, no one remembers the good inclination." This does not mean the good inclination argues otherwise and the person decides in favor of the evil inclination; rather, as far as he is concerned, there is no good inclination at all - he does not even remember that such a reality exists. The evil inclination engulfs him, and that is it; he sees nothing else. This is the meaning of: "You neglected the Rock Who begot you, and forgot the God Who brought you forth" - we forget that we are children of the Omnipresent, we forget that the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded us not to commit the sin.
Yet when the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to take us to account and repay us according to our deeds, He always remembers us: "You are children to Hashem your God." Therefore, He treats us with compassion and does not destroy us. If He were to "forget" for a single moment that we are His children, woe to us how severely He would punish us! A person sins against the Holy One, blessed be He, and forgets Him entirely, yet when Hashem repays you, He does not forget you; He remembers that you are still a child. Consequently, when He chastises you, it is as a father chastises a son - with mercy and compassion. This is "He has not dealt with us according to our sins" - He does not repay us in the same manner that we sinned against Him, but even when He exacts retribution from us, it stems from lovingkindness and mercy.
כִּי כִגְבֹהַּ שָׁמַיִם עַל־הָאָרֶץ גָּבַר חַסְדּוֹ עַל־יְרֵאָיו׃ - For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
The book Shiras Yonah cites the Binah L'Ittim: Consider that the heavens are spherical and uniform from whichever direction you look, whereas on earth there are high places and low places. The height of the heavens is uniform from every vantage point, and there is no heaven that is higher or lower. It is only in relation to the earth that one can say this place is such-and-such distance from the sky - for example, from the atmosphere - while that place is closer.
And what does this allude to? "So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him" - the heavenly spiritual influence is like the heavens: it flows to everyone equally. However, there is a difference among the recipients. If you stand atop Mount Everest, you see the sky as closer, whereas if you stand in the Dead Sea valley, you see it as farther away. In simple terms: Hashem constantly emanates infinite bounty, and the question is how many vessels you have prepared. If the ground is elevated, it receives much of Hashem's bounty; if it is low, it sees Hashem from afar and receives the bounty in a very meager way. Therefore, when a person comes and complains, "Why am I not being given to? Why is bounty not flowing to me?" - the emanation is identical and equal to all, and what you must do is prepare vessels to merit that bounty.
The book Yagel Yaakov explains: The distance between heaven and earth is calculated with utmost precision. When speaking of heaven and earth, this refers to the celestial bodies - the distance of the sun from the earth. Were it slightly farther away, we would freeze; were it slightly closer, we would face immediate conflagrations and could hardly survive; were it closer still, the entire earth would go up in flames and could not exist for even a moment. The Holy One, blessed be He, created His world such that the height of the heavens above the earth is exceedingly exact, so that it can channel the appropriate and fitting bounty to the earth without causing harm. In the same way, "so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him" - the lovingkindness of the Holy One, blessed be He, toward us is calibrated with the utmost precision, for were it any different, we would be unable to receive it.
As we have explained several times, and as we also learned in Chovot HaLevavot, when we observe human reality, we see that man was created with the utmost precision. If one were to try to add anything, he would only detract. Look at the human form: a person's legs are narrow below and thicker above. Logically, one would expect the opposite, for anything designed for stability is built with a broad base below that tapers toward the top. Why, then, is man built the other way around? Consider this: had a person been given thick, heavy feet like an elephant's, how difficult it would be to walk, let alone run!
Instead, the Holy One, blessed be He, fashioned feet so that he would not fall. But how is it that a person does not topple over? By all natural rules, such a structure should fall - try building a robot on two feet and see how hard it is to make it stand! Therefore, Hashem created ears for us, containing the vestibular mechanism that balances the body, through which a person walks while constantly maintaining equilibrium. This occurs naturally without our exerting any conscious effort. Yet there are people whose inner ear balance is impaired, and they constantly lose their footing, Heaven forbid. Look at how much wisdom is invested here: if the legs were thin, he would fall; if they were thick and heavy, he could neither walk nor run, and every step would be burdensome. Try strapping two kilograms - two bags of sugar - to each leg and walking around; see how quickly you tire out and find yourself unable to move. It is Hashem's kindness that He created man with such precise calibration: able to walk effortlessly on the one hand, and maintaining balance on the other.
This is only one small example. We once dedicated an entire lesson to this topic, observing Hashem's kindness in every detail of the human body: the fingers, the fingernails, the skin texture of the fingertips, and so forth. Look at the eyes and the sockets in which they sit - a person can take a blow to the face and the eyes remain intact, because they are recessed within the facial structure. At most, a tooth might be knocked out, but the eyes are protected unless something sharp penetrates directly. The eyes also have eyelids and eyelashes, as well as eyebrows that prevent sweat from dripping into them.
Someone was once asked: "If you were given the option to add an extra eye, where would you place it?" He answered: "In the back, on the nape of my neck." Another person told him: "No, it would be much better to place it on a fingertip! If I want to see what is under the table, I just insert my finger; if I want to see my back, I move my finger there - you would have a periscope! Whereas in the back of the neck, a yarmulke would cover it." But in truth, both ideas are foolish. First, an eye in the back of the neck would be awful: there are things one does not wish to see, so one turns his back and avoids seeing them - but with an eye behind him, would he be forced to see everything? Second, an eye on a finger - how could one use his hand? The hand would be completely incapacitated. The eye is the most sensitive organ in the body; could you grasp or lift anything with an eye on your finger? That, too, is entirely unfeasible. Consider, then, how much kindness Hashem bestowed upon us by creating just two eyes, which are exactly enough. Anything added would only cause harm. This is the meaning of: "For as the heavens are high above the earth" - just as the distance there is calibrated with utter precision, so too "His lovingkindness is mighty over those who fear Him," for the Holy One, blessed be He, created everything with exquisite precision, and anything added would only detract.
כִּרְחֹק מִזְרָח מִמַּעֲרָב הִרְחִיק מִמֶּנּוּ אֶת־פְּשָׁעֵינוּ׃ - As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Radak explains: The distance from east to west is twice the height of heaven above the earth. (While this calculation reflects the cosmological understanding of their era, its conceptual message is timeless.) This connects directly to the preceding verse, "His lovingkindness is mighty over those who fear Him": in what way does His kindness prevail over us? In that Hashem removes our transgressions far from us. Even if they have multiplied, when we return to Him, He distances them to the greatest extent conceivable. When we repent, Hashem casts our sins as far away as possible.
Why does the verse specify "east from west" rather than "north from south"? Because from east to west is continuously inhabited land, whereas from north to south the terrain is largely uninhabitable. The extreme north and south are desolate, and travel from far north to far south was impossible due to extreme cold and heat. From east to west, however, people can indeed travel; therefore, Scripture chose this accessible dimension as its example.
By way of homiletic exposition (derash), Midrash Shocher Tov cites: Rabbi Yirmeyah said, a person should not pray, "Distance me from sin," but rather, "Distance sin from me" - corresponding to "He has removed our transgressions from us." A person should not say, "May Hashem distance me from sin," but rather, "May Hashem distance sin from me." For if Hashem removes sin from me, all sins are kept at bay; but having to steer me away individually from each and every sin is an endless challenge. This is the meaning of "He has removed our transgressions from us" - that He keep sin far away from us, and also that what we have already transgressed, He removes from us and forgives our iniquities.
The Malbim offers a complex explanation here. Without attempting to reconcile every detail with modern astronomy, let us explain his words as an elucidation of the verse.
The Malbim explains: There is the distance of west from east, and there is the distance of east from west. In its daily course, the sun moves each day from east to west - rising in the east and setting in the west. Thus, the point from which it departs is its base of origin. When measuring how far it has traveled, one measures from that point of departure, saying: "as far as west is from east" - that is, how far it has moved westward after departing from the east.
In its annual course, says the Malbim, the sun travels in the opposite direction - from west to east. This is somewhat difficult to understand, for we know that in the annual cycle, even if we view the sun as orbiting the earth (rather than the earth orbiting the sun, as is known today), it does not move from west to east, but rather tilts more toward the north or more toward the south. Nevertheless, this is how the Malbim explains it, and let us examine the concept he derives from this.
In its annual cycle of 365 days, the sun moves from west to east. It emerges that the point of departure - the west - is primary, while the east is secondary. Therefore the verse says, "As far as the east is from the west": how far we have distanced ourselves eastward from the original, western source. The meaning is that our transgressions are distanced from us by an immense distance, like the distance of the east from the west - which represents the 365-day annual cycle - rather than saying "the west from the east," which would correspond to the daily rotation.
What does this signify in the deeper lesson? The view of the ancients was that the sun's intrinsic motion is from west to east; that is, naturally it tends from west to east, but the celestial diurnal sphere compels it and turns it each day from east to west. To put it another way: an external force intervenes, causing the sun to rise in the east and set in the west, and without this force, it would rise in the west and set in the east. Thus, the movement from west to east is its own intrinsic action, which is very slow and sluggish - one revolution in 365 days. By contrast, the movement from east to west is driven by a force that propels it, and is therefore very rapid - a complete revolution in twenty-four hours.
This, explains the Malbim, is precisely the movement of the soul. The intrinsic movement of the human soul is very slow: the soul has no innate rush toward mitzvah observance; it desires rest and tranquility, and from its perspective, a single revolution takes 365 days - like "as far as the east is from the west." What, then, causes it to race? The yetzer hara, which compels it to do the reverse - like the distance of west from east, a rapid 24-hour cycle. The yetzer hara forces us toward sin, pulls us after desires, and keeps us in a constant race after pleasure and materialism. This is why we plead: "He has distanced our transgressions from us" - Master of the Universe, remove our transgressions from us, for they are not our intrinsic movement! Our intrinsic movement is calm, spanning 365 days, but the yetzer arrives and races us into a frantic pace that leads us to sin.
In these verses, Dovid HaMelech delineates the Attributes of Mercy through which Hashem guides us in exile: "Compassionate" - that we have not been consumed, and the miracle of our survival is greater than all signs and wonders; "Gracious" - providing us with sustenance; "Slow to anger" - not exacting retribution immediately, but leaving us room for teshuvah; "Abundant in kindness" - far beyond what we deserve. "He will not contend forever" - the exile is not eternal; moreover, Hashem exacts punishment in this world specifically so that He need not contend with us forever, and thus even the afflictions of a baal teshuvah are an investment in the perfect reward of the World to Come. "He has not dealt with us according to our sins" - He does not measure us by our own standard, nor does He repay us according to our iniquities, but always remembers that we are His children. "For as high as the heavens are above the earth" - His bounty descends equally, and everything depends on the vessels we prepare, measured and focused with wondrous precision like the precision of all Creation. "As far as the east is from the west" - when we return to Him, Hashem distances our transgressions by the greatest possible distance, and we must pray that He remove from us sin itself and the yetzer that drives us toward it.