The continuation of the psalm reviews the plagues of Egypt, the Exodus, the miracles in the wilderness, and the conquest of the Land - all leading to the conclusion at the end of the chapter: all these tremendous kindnesses were intended for one single purpose, that they should observe the statutes of Hashem. We continue from here, from the plague of hail until the conclusion of the psalm.
נָתַן גִּשְׁמֵיהֶם בָּרָד אֵשׁ לֶהָבוֹת בְּאַרְצָם׃ - He gave them hail for their rain, flaming fire in their land.
Radak explains: "Flaming fire" (eish lehavot) corresponds to what is written in the Torah, "and fire streamed down to the earth." As for the word order - we sometimes find "flaming fire" (eish lehavot) and sometimes "flames of fire" (lahavot eish) - both expressions are correct, just as we find "crimson worm" (tola'at shani) and "worm of crimson" (shani hatola'at). Either phrasing may be used.
Rabbeinu Bachya cites a Midrash that there was a border dispute between Egypt and Cush regarding where the boundary ran between them. The plague of frogs arrived and settled the dispute, for the frogs did not enter the land of Cush, only the land of Egypt. They saw how far the frogs advanced and knew: here Egypt ends. This is what is meant by the verse, "Behold, I will smite your entire border with frogs" - marking the borders precisely by means of the frogs.
The Tchebiner Rav asks: During the plague of locusts, it likewise says, "and it rested in all the borders of Egypt." This seemingly seems superfluous - after all, the border had already been demarcated by the frogs, so why did it need to be marked again? He offers a wonderful explanation: After the frogs swarmed, they needed to physically demarcate the boundary. How did they mark borders in those days? By planting trees and shrubs, just as we find regarding Yehoshua, who demarcated the borders of the Land with squill plants (chatzav). They would plant shrubs along the border line, and from then on, everyone knew that another territory began beyond it. It is very likely that they did the same in Egypt: after observing where the frogs stopped, they demarcated the boundary there with trees.
However, the plague immediately preceding the locusts was the plague of hail, and all the trees were destroyed - so all the boundary markers set after the frogs were lost. There was no choice but to demarcate the borders once again. Therefore, the locusts came and settled "in all the borders of Egypt," marking their borders for them anew. The Tchebiner Rav finds marvelous proof for this from our verse: "He gave them hail for their rain... He struck their vines and fig trees, and shattered the trees of their border" - the hail destroyed specifically "the trees of their border," the trees erected to mark the boundaries. Since that was so, there was no choice but to send locusts throughout their entire border once again to re-demarcate the boundary line, so they would not rely on trees that no longer existed.
וַיַּךְ גַּפְנָם וּתְאֵנָתָם וַיְשַׁבֵּר עֵץ גְּבוּלָם׃ - He struck their vines and their fig trees, and shattered the trees of their border.
Ibn Ezra asks: Since all the trees were broken, why does the verse single out specifically the vine and the fig tree? He answers: It mentions the most distinguished of all tree fruit, through which a person can sustain himself even without bread. One who wishes to survive without bread can eat grapes and figs and be sustained. Therefore, it highlighted the most important among them.
Radak, on the other hand, explains that it mentioned the vine and fig tree specifically because they constituted the majority of trees they had in Egypt. This requires some understanding, as Egypt is a hot country and less suitable for viticulture - yet we find this confirmed in other verses, such as "You uprooted a vine from Egypt," showing that the vine indeed came from Egypt. It is possible that in their era, the climate there was somewhat different. Today, in any case, it is known that vines are generally cultivated in more temperate climates, such as Spain and France, rather than in hot countries.
אָמַר וַיָּבֹא אַרְבֶּה וְיֶלֶק וְאֵין מִסְפָּר׃ - He spoke, and locusts came, and the yelek without number.
"He spoke, and locusts came" - meaning that Hashem decreed it and the locusts came. And why does the pasuk mention the yelek, given that the yelek is simply one of the species of locust? Ibn Ezra suggests tentatively that the yelek is the most destructive species of locust, and therefore the verse mentions it specifically - to emphasize the more severe part of the plague.
The Malbim explains: the locust (arbeh) devoured all the herbage, while the yelek devoured the produce of the ground. Locusts do not eat produce that grows in the ground, but the yelek does eat it. Thus, the verse mentions here two distinct plagues that occurred within the plague of locusts - striking both the herbage and the produce of the ground. To clarify: "greens of the ground" refers to leafy vegetables like cabbage, lettuce, and cilantro; "fruit of the ground" refers to potatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, strawberries, and the like - actual fruit that grows close to or within the ground.
וַיֹּאכַל כׇּל־עֵשֶׂב בְּאַרְצָם וַיֹּאכַל פְּרִי אַדְמָתָם׃ - And it devoured all the herbage in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground.
"And it devoured all the herbage in their land" - this was the locust; "and devoured the fruit of their ground" - this was the yelek. In Ibn Ezra's view, this refers to the fruit of the tree that remained after the hail, whereas according to the Malbim, it refers to the produce of the ground.
וַיַּךְ כׇּל־בְּכוֹר בְּאַרְצָם רֵאשִׁית לְכׇל־אוֹנָם׃ - And He struck down every firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their strength.
Ibn Ezra notes: "And He struck down every firstborn in their land" - among the Egyptians alone, for the firstborn of Israel were spared by the sign they placed on their homes. And "the firstfruits of all their strength" - the first of all the children born of their vigor. According to the Metzudas David, this is poetic repetition using different words, as the firstborn is inherently the firstfruits of one's strength.
The Malbim, however, as is his consistent approach, rejects mere repetition of synonyms and explains instead: "And He struck down every firstborn in their land" - the maternal firstborn were struck only in their land. A "firstborn" (bechor) strictly refers to the first to open the womb, born first to the mother, and these were struck only inside Egypt. In contrast, "the firstfruits of their strength" (reishis onam) refers to the firstborn of the father. If several men had relations with one woman and each fathered a child with her, and each child was his father's firstborn - then one woman might bear five or ten firstborns, each one the firstborn to his father. These are "the firstfruits of their strength," and they were struck down everywhere, even those who did not reside in Egypt; but the firstborn to a mother were struck down only in the land of Egypt.
The Alshich HaKadosh adds to this explanation: "And He struck down every firstborn in their land" - including those from other nations. Any firstborn who happened to be in Egypt at that time, even if not an Egyptian, was slain by the Holy One, Blessed be He. Moreover, those who were not the mother's firstborn but only the firstfruits of their father's strength - they too were slain, as in the example mentioned. Furthermore, Divine Providence was at work in another detail: even in a household where there was no firstborn, the head of the house died, so that there would be no house without someone dead.
Now, who would have believed that in such circumstances, the Holy One, Blessed be He, would grant the Children of Israel favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, to the point that they would lend them silver and gold? An Egyptian knows his sons have died, he is returning from the cemetery on account of the God of the Jews - and yet he calls out to the Jew: "Come, take silver, take gold!" They lend them silver, gold, and garments. This is what the verse means when it says, "And He brought them out with silver and gold" - as a direct continuation of "And He struck down every firstborn in their land." A wonder of wonders: Hashem struck them, and immediately afterward, the Egyptian begs the Jew to take! See how completely the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned their hearts - those very people of whom it was earlier said, "He turned their heart to hate His people," now found favor in their eyes, and they willingly gave them silver and gold.
וַיּוֹצִיאֵם בְּכֶסֶף וְזָהָב וְאֵין בִּשְׁבָטָיו כּוֹשֵׁל׃ - He brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none stumbling among His tribes.
The Radak explains: There were twelve tribes comprising a vast multitude, yet there was not a single stumbling, impoverished person among them - all of them left with an abundance of silver and gold. Not one went out penniless; rather, all were wealthy, and this is the meaning of "stumbling" - poverty.
The Metzudat David explains "and there was none stumbling among His tribes" to mean that there was no one who stumbled in sin, in the sense of "for you have stumbled in your iniquity" (Hoshea 14:2) - meaning they were all upright and not stumbling in their sins. Seemingly, this is difficult to reconcile with the fact that Datan and Aviram went out with them, and Michah with his idol went out with them; rather, we must say that Scripture speaks in general terms. There were certainly exceptional individuals, but Scripture does not speak of them.
We must also understand the juxtaposition: Naturally, after borrowing silver and gold from them, and ostensibly departing for only three days with an obligation to return, we should have been intensely afraid that the Egyptians would pursue us. Incidentally, some explain that this was the very reason the wealth was taken as a loan: so that the Jews would not wish to return to Egypt, for if they were to return, all the creditors would demand, "Where is the silver and gold?" Not that it eliminated the temptation entirely, as they ultimately said, "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt" (Bamidbar 14:4), but it was designed to curb any desire to go back. In any case, a fleeing person expects the Egyptian to pursue him at any moment - three days have passed, we have not returned, and what of all that borrowed wealth? To this the verse states, "there was none stumbling among His tribes": despite this, they walked without stumbling - they did not march in fear or dread, nor did their strength fail from anxiety over Egyptian pursuit, but rather they marched with trust in Hashem.
The Alshich adds an explanation: "There was none stumbling among His tribes" - there was not a single tribe in Israel that was poor and faltering, such that one might claim it was only the Egyptian wealth that sustained them. Rather, they already possessed great wealth of their own. From where? It is taught, for example, that an Egyptian who wished to drink water during the plague had to go and buy it from the Jews: whoever paid received water, and whoever did not drank blood. Thus, "there was none stumbling among His tribes" was true even without the silver and gold given by the Egyptians; that silver and gold was merely an addition, to fulfill what was promised to Avraham: "And afterward they shall go out with great wealth" (Bereishit 15:14).
שָׂמַח מִצְרַיִם בְּצֵאתָם כִּי־נָפַל פַּחְדָּם עֲלֵיהֶם׃ - Egypt was glad when they departed, for the dread of them had fallen upon them.
"Egypt was glad when they departed" - for they had already exclaimed, "We are all dead men" (Shemot 12:33), wanting nothing more than to be rid of this trouble, and they rejoiced when they left. The Malbim explains: as for the verse stating, "He brought them out with silver and gold" - although the Egyptians should have harbored fierce hatred toward Israel due to the Plague of the Firstborn - the reason is that "Egypt was glad when they departed." That is, would you understand how the Egyptians suddenly changed their hearts so that Israel found favor in their eyes? It was because the Egyptians reasoned: Let us give them wealth so that they will leave us and go. It thus became the Egyptian's own interest for Israel to take from him. "Egypt was glad when they departed" because such great terror had fallen upon them, and "against any of the Children of Israel not a dog whetted its tongue" (Shemot 11:7).
Yet all of this is only the natural dimension of events. The Torah explicitly states that Hashem gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and this must not be forgotten; here we are simply offering the natural perspective - that the Egyptian felt: Take the money, as long as you leave.
פָּרַשׂ עָנָן לְמָסָךְ וְאֵשׁ לְהָאִיר לָיְלָה׃ - He spread a cloud for a screen, and fire to give light by night.
The People of Israel depart from Egypt, and Hashem journeys before them in a pillar of cloud, spreading the cloud as a screen (masach). Radak is precise: a masach is not sechach. Sechach shades from above, whereas a masach is a separating screen from the side, like a curtain before them, as in "and the screen of the entrance" - meaning that the cloud went before them while they were traveling, and while they rested, the cloud was over them. Another possibility is that "as a screen" includes both: over them when they encamped, and at their side when they marched.
The holy Alshich offers an innovative explanation, connecting this verse to the preceding one. "For fear of them had fallen upon them" - in the simple understanding, the fear of Israel fell upon the Egyptians; but it can also be interpreted as referring back to Israel. How so? Because Hashem brought them out with silver and gold, a situation arose where the Egyptians sought to pursue them and reclaim their lent silver and gold. As the Egyptians chased after them, the dread of Egypt fell upon Israel: behold, the Egyptian is coming to take back the silver and gold! What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? "He spread a cloud as a screen."
And this is what Chazal say: that the pillar of cloud used to travel before the camp of Israel, but the Holy One, blessed be He, moved it behind them, between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, in order to absorb the stones, catapult missiles, and arrows that the Egyptians were hurling. The Egyptians were behind them, throwing spears, stones, and darts, and it was the cloud that intercepted them - the aerial defense umbrella of the camp of Israel, long before Iron Dome. Then the pillar of fire went before the camp to give them light, while the pillar of cloud stood behind to create a barrier between them and Egypt, leaving the Egyptians in darkness. For a pillar of fire in front would naturally illuminate behind as well - unless there was a cloud dividing them; and because the cloud intervened, the pillar of fire shone only for Israel, while the Egyptians were plunged into utter darkness.
This is precisely what is explicitly stated: "And there was the cloud and the darkness" - to Egypt, "and it illuminated the night" - to Israel. The cloud separated between Israel and Egypt; thus the pillar of fire marching ahead did not shine for them, leaving them in darkness, while for Israel, the pillar of fire illuminated the night.
The Malbim explains that after they departed, the Holy One, blessed be He, accompanied them with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. Beyond the fact that the cloud went before them as explicitly written in the Torah, it also served as a screen over their heads and all around them. As Chazal teach, there were seven Clouds of Glory, meaning there was constantly a canopy above them as well. Thus, "as a screen" can be interpreted as encompassing both what was above them and what was at their sides, following Radak's second explanation.
שָׁאַל וַיָּבֵא שְׂלָו וְלֶחֶם שָׁמַיִם יַשְׂבִּיעֵם׃ - They asked, and He brought quail, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
The People of Israel ask for meat and the Holy One, blessed be He, provides them with quail, and afterward they ask for bread - "and satisfied them with the bread of heaven." The Malbim explains: the quail was temporary, whereas the bread of heaven satisfied them continually throughout their entire stay in the wilderness, as it is written, "meat to eat... and bread to be satisfied."
In the sefer Tenufah L'Chaim, a beautiful insight is offered: Chazal state that a blind person is never fully satisfied by what he eats; he eats and eats yet remains unsatisfied. Indeed, many blind individuals tend to carry excess weight, and aside from the difficulty in moving around, another reason is that they do not feel satiated. When a person sees an abundance of food, "the eye sees, and the soul is satisfied"; but when there appears to be little, one feels constantly hungry.
This brings to mind an incident from some twenty years ago at a hotel, where the food was catered from an adjacent kitchen. Evidently, the portions had been miscalculated. When a tray of French fries was brought out, it was snatched up immediately. They brought more, and it was snatched up again. In the end, they likely served four times what had originally been planned. Had a generous spread been laid out from the very beginning, everyone would have taken a modest portion and all would have been well. But because people saw there was not enough, whenever a cart arrived, everyone pounced on it. The mere awareness of scarcity causes a person to consume far more, and not seeing an abundance before one's eyes only intensifies the appetite.
By the same token, Chazal teach: Do not eat in the dark. There are two reasons for this: First, one cannot inspect the food - perhaps there are worms or insects, or perhaps a fly fell into a cup of tea while drinking in the dark. Second, a person who eats in the dark eats excessively, for he is like a blind person who cannot see his food. With this, our verse is illuminated: "They asked, and He brought quail, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven." Why did the bread of heaven satisfy them? Because of what was stated immediately prior: "and fire to illuminate the night." Since they had fire to light up the night for them, they ate in light, and therefore "the bread of heaven satisfied them." Without that light, they would have eaten and eaten without ever feeling full.
פָּתַח צוּר וַיָּזוּבוּ מָיִם הָלְכוּ בַּצִּיּוֹת נָהָר׃ - He opened a rock, and water gushed forth; it flowed in arid lands like a river.
The Radak explains: "He opened a rock, and water gushed forth" - this occurred at Rephidim. "It flowed in arid lands like a river" - in a parched place, an arid wasteland, the water flowed and streamed like a river. The Radak also cites a Midrash that the word betziyot is related to the phrase tzi adir ("a mighty ship"): the water was so abundant that they would travel from place to place by boat. As it were, they had kayaks in the camp of Israel to cross from one location to another, for the water from Miriam's Well flowed like a vast river. Rashi similarly cites: "'It flowed in arid lands like a river' - rivers flowed from the well in a parched land," actual rivers flowing forth from Miriam's Well.
The Malbim explains that there were two stages here: "He opened a rock" at Rephidim - initially the water trickled out drop by drop, and only afterward "it flowed in arid lands like a river," with the water streaming forth in immense volume.
כִּי־זָכַר אֶת־דְּבַר קׇדְשׁוֹ אֶת־אַבְרָהָם עַבְדּוֹ׃ - For He remembered His holy word, with Avraham His servant.
Rashi explains: The Holy One, blessed be He, remembered His holy word, what He had promised to Avraham His servant - "and afterward they shall go out with great wealth," "and in the fourth generation they shall return here" - and therefore He now fulfilled these words, giving them the wealth and redeeming Israel from Egypt.
The Radak explains that this verse comes to teach that on their own merits, they were not worthy. If you ask why they were redeemed - it was in the merit of Avraham. After all, they tested Hashem and quarreled with Him ten times; indeed, they were not even worthy of being taken out of Egypt, as the Attribute of Justice prosecuted: "How are these different from those?" Were it not for the covenant of the Patriarchs - "And God remembered His covenant with Avraham, with Yitzchak, and with Yaakov" - they would never have been redeemed. We see from here that only because He remembered His holy word did He redeem us from Egypt.
The Malbim notes that this verse looks back upon everything we have seen: both the Exodus from Egypt and the great wealth. The wealth came because the Holy One, blessed be He, had promised it to Avraham, as Chazal explain: So that that righteous man should not say, "'And they shall serve them and afflict them' He fulfilled through them, but 'and afterward they shall go out with great wealth' He did not fulfill through them." Likewise, the Clouds of Glory, the water, and the Manna came in the merit of Avraham, as Chazal teach: Because he said, "knead it, and make cakes," He brought them the Manna; because "Avraham ran to the herd," He brought them the quail; and because he sent Yishmael with a flask of water, He brought them Miriam's Well. It turns out that everything was in the merit of Avraham: the redemption from Egypt, the great wealth, and the well, the Manna, and the meat that accompanied them in the wilderness.
One may ask: Is it only so that that righteous man should not claim that He failed to fulfill "and afterward they shall go out with great wealth" that the Holy One, blessed be He, had to fulfill it? Surely He fulfills His promises because He promised, not merely to avoid grievances! What is the deeper meaning behind the phrase "so that that righteous man should not say"? Several explanations exist, and let us mention one that has been discussed previously. The true "great wealth" is that the Jewish people left Egypt at a spiritual stature where they were capable of receiving the Torah. They underwent two hundred and ten years of refinement, eighty-six of them in brutal servitude, which refined them to be ready to receive the Torah within fifty days, standing at the foot of Mount Sinai. This is the immense, magnificent wealth with which they emerged. They extracted every spark of holiness from Egypt until they left it "like the depths of the sea without fish, like a granary without grain" - nothing remained there, as the verse says, "and they emptied Egypt" (Vayenatzlu et Mitzrayim), which the Targum renders as "and they emptied out the Egyptians." For this reason, the Halachah forbids a person to return to live in Egypt: the entire purpose of exile is to rectify the holy sparks, and in Egypt no holy sparks remain, for everything was rectified and emptied out.
Thus, they attained lofty and immense spiritual heights, through tremendous rectification and refinement. One who wishes may consult the sefer Mishnat HaGilgulim on the esoteric dimension of the Egyptian exile and the sin of Adam HaRishon, where it is shown how the holy Arizal lays out a complete tapestry: all the tribulations that began with the sin of Adam HaRishon, followed by successive stages - the Flood, the Generation of the Dispersion, the generation of Sodom, Lavan's flock - were all rectifications and purifications leading up to the complete refinement accomplished during the exile in Egypt. According to this, both "and they shall serve them and afflict them" and "and afterward they shall go out with great wealth" were fulfilled through them, with the "great wealth" being the spiritual attainments with which they departed. However, regarding this, that righteous man would say: Master of the Universe, "and they shall serve them and afflict them" You fulfilled in its literal sense, yet "and afterward they shall go out with great wealth" You fulfill only homiletically, as spiritual attainments? If the servitude and affliction were imposed literally, fulfill the great wealth literally as well - in silver and gold! And so that that righteous man should not say this, the Holy One, blessed be He, gave them that as well.
וַיּוֹצִא עַמּוֹ בְשָׂשׂוֹן בְּרִנָּה אֶת־בְּחִירָיו׃ - And He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with singing.
When Hashem took His people out of Egypt, Israel rejoiced while the Egyptians were in mourning - "and the Egyptians were burying" - while His people left with gladness. And why did they merit this? The Radak explains: "His chosen ones" - in the merit of the Avos (the Patriarchs), who are the chosen ones of the Holy One, blessed be He. This is like what is written, "and the children of Israel went out with a high hand" - with an uplifted arm. And the Malbim explains "His chosen ones with song" - the righteous are Hashem's chosen ones, and they recited songs and praises.
וַיִּתֵּן לָהֶם אַרְצוֹת גּוֹיִם וַעֲמַל לְאֻמִּים יִירָשׁוּ׃ - And He gave them the lands of nations, and they inherited the labor of peoples.
בַּעֲבוּר יִשְׁמְרוּ חֻקָּיו וְתוֹרֹתָיו יִנְצֹרוּ הַלְלוּ־יָהּ׃ - So that they might keep His statutes and observe His teachings. Halleluyah!
The Malbim explains: with "And He gave them the lands of nations," the verse bypasses the rest of the miracles in the wilderness, since they will be explained in the next psalm. It returns instead to what was stated at the beginning of the psalm, "[the covenant] which He made with Avraham" - that the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfilled His oath and gave us the Land, and not only the Land itself, but also the property and acquisitions of its inhabitants.
And here it is fitting to mention the words of Chazal: Why did they journey for forty years in the wilderness? Many reasons are given for this, and one of them is: The Canaanites heard that we had left Egypt. And who informed them? Egypt. And what was the connection between them? They were brothers, as Canaan and Mitzrayim were both sons of Cham. Since the Egyptians wished to look out for the Canaanites, they notified them: "Prepare yourselves, the People of Israel are coming toward you; here they have already wreaked massive devastation, and they are going to wipe out everything." When the Canaanites heard this, they destroyed everything - they tore down the houses, uprooted the vineyards, and left scorched earth. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: "Shall I bring them into such a land? After all, I promised them abundance!" What did He do? He led them for forty years in the wilderness. Meanwhile, the Canaanite waited: When are they coming? A year passed, and another year, and they did not arrive. What could he do, remain without food? He began to rebuild - instead of old, dilapidated construction, he built new homes; instead of old trees, he planted fresh vineyards. Forty years in the wilderness passed, and we arrived to a land filled with every good thing. This is what is meant by "And He gave them the lands of nations, and they inherited the labor of peoples" - that very labor invested by those nations was what we inherited.
And the ultimate purpose: "So that they might keep His statutes" - the reason He gave us the Land of Israel was in order to keep the Torah. And this is an introduction to the next psalm, says the Malbim, where we see that the People of Israel failed to uphold this and ultimately did not keep Hashem's statutes, which is what brought about the exile.
And what is the difference between goyim ("nations") and le'umim ("peoples")? The Malbim explains: Le'umim refers to nations that have a distinct religion, a specific faith that they practice. And since the religion of the Canaanite nations was deeply corrupt, as Scripture warns in several places, "You shall not copy the practices of the land of Canaan," this made it worse than a nation that has no religion at all - for it is worse to have destructive laws than to have no laws whatsoever. Therefore it says, "and they inherited the labor of peoples": The Holy One, blessed be He, saw that they were not even observing the Seven Noahide Mitzvos, so He cleared them from the land, and what they had labored for, He gave to the People of Israel.
And all of this was "so that they might keep His statutes and observe His teachings" - the Radak explains that this was conditional, as it is written, "When I bring them into the land that I swore to their forefathers," that if they do not keep His statutes, "it will be consumed," and we have prophecies of rebuke warning that they were destined to go into exile. And with this, the psalm concludes with "Halleluyah": the psalmist says this to the People of Israel of his generation and to those who would follow - praise the Holy One, blessed be He, for the miracles He performed for you.
And let us conclude with the Malbim's words on the distinction between "keep His statutes" (yishmeru chukav) and "observe His teachings" (torotav yintzoru): The term notzer (guarding/preserving) denotes a higher level of care than shomer (keeping), and the toros (teachings) require greater vigilance than the chukim (statutes), because the fundamentals of faith are contained within the toros - the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. A chok, by contrast, is a fixed decree: "I have engraved a statute, I have decreed an ordinance." Therefore, regarding the teachings, a special preservation is required - "and observe His teachings, Halleluyah!"
The conclusion of the psalm leads us from the plagues of hail and locusts, through the plague of the firstborn and the Exodus with silver and gold, to the cloud and fire, the manna, quail, and the well, culminating in the granting of the lands of nations. At every stage we perceive precise divine providence: the hail breaks the boundary trees and the locusts return to mark them; the Egyptian burying his son pleads with the Jew to take his money; the cloud becomes a canopy shielding the camp of Israel; and the light of the pillar of fire sustains them with the bread of heaven. And all of it, as Rashi, the Radak, and the Malbim emphasize, was not through their own merit, but in the merit of "His holy word with Avraham His servant" - and all this immense giving is directed toward a single purpose: "So that they might keep His statutes and observe His teachings, Halleluyah!" And with this, we conclude Psalm 105 in Tehillim.