Psalm 113 opens the psalms of the Hallel. The Radak explains that David is about to speak here of the Exodus from Egypt, and therefore opens with a description of the Creator's might in the miracles He performed in His world: when Hashem wills it, He raises the lowly - these are the people of Israel who were in Egypt - and humbles the lofty - these are the Egyptians. And concerning this it is said, "Hallelujah."
הַלְלוּ־יָהּ הַלְלוּ עַבְדֵי יְהֹוָה הַלְלוּ אֶת־שֵׁם יְהֹוָה׃ - Praise Hashem! Praise, you servants of Hashem, praise the Name of Hashem.
Praise is mentioned three times here: "Hallelujah," "Praise, servants of Hashem," and "Praise the Name of Hashem." This repetition teaches the abundance of praise - how exceedingly much we must praise and thank Hashem for our salvation.
"Praise, servants of Hashem" - the Radak explains that the words "servants of Hashem" are a direct form of address. This is an interpretation the Radak repeats in many places, such as with "O congregation, there is one statute for you" - where the word "congregation" is a call, as if calling out: Congregation! There is one statute for you. So too here, it is as though calling out: Servants of Hashem! Praise Hashem. He calls to them and commands them to praise Him, blessed be He.
And who are the "servants of Hashem"? These are the wise, those who fear Hashem, for whom praise is fitting. They specifically are worthy of thanking Hashem, blessed be He, because they comprehend and praise Him according to the wisdom and knowledge they possess of Him. A person who does not know the king and is unaware of his greatness and wisdom, yet begins to praise him, may say things that actually detract from his greatness. It is like someone calling a vastly wealthy person a "millionaire": on your level, by your standards, a millionaire is immense - but he is a trillionaire, so what sums are you even talking about? So too here: who is worthy to offer praise? Servants of Hashem, who have begun to attain some grasp of the Creator's greatness, and can praise Hashem properly and fittingly.
The Metzudat David adds another reason for the emphasis on "servants of Hashem": for to the wicked, God said, "What right do you have to recount My statutes and take My covenant upon your lips?" To the wicked, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: you commit sins - first mend your ways. Therefore, Scripture emphasizes who is fitting to offer praise: the servants of Hashem.
The Malbim cites the opinion of Ibn Ezra based on the Gemara in Tractate Pesachim, that these psalms were instituted by Chizkiyahu and his faction. That is to say, this is not a psalm composed by David, but by Chizkiyahu and his company. This aligns well with what is stated in the psalm: it contains a prayer for the sick - and Chizkiyahu was ill, being told, "Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live" because he had not married; it contains thanksgiving for healing; and it also contains thanksgiving for the downfall of enemies, when Sancheriv besieged Jerusalem and ultimately suffered a great defeat.
On the other hand, some say the psalm was written earlier, in the days of David and Solomon. In truth, there is no contradiction here, for what happened to the children had happened to the forefathers: what we saw with Chizkiyahu also occurred with the Patriarchs and in the days of David and Solomon. Consequently, the psalm can be explained as referring both to David and Solomon and to Chizkiyahu. The Malbim leans toward interpreting these matters according to what befell Chizkiyahu, as the verses correspond closely to what we see in the psalm.
The Malbim divides the details of the subject here into five parts. The first part is a description extending until "When Israel went out of Egypt" (B'tzeit Yisrael MiMitzrayim), dealing with the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, supervises here in this lowly world. This stands in contrast to the view held by idolaters, who claimed that the Holy One, blessed be He, surrendered governance to the celestial order: that the system of constellations rules and directs what takes place in the world, while the Almighty, as it were, is exalted and does not intervene. According to their conception, in order to attain one's desires one must worship the stars - and this gave rise to pagan idolatry (avodat kochavim u'mazalot): worship the stars, and they will bestow their influence upon you.
We, too, believe that abundance descends through the celestial system, but our faith is that the Holy One, blessed be He, is the primary Source of influence, and the celestial system is merely a conduit - a channel through which Hashem channels His abundance. Everything stems from Him, blessed be He, and one turns neither to an intermediary force, nor to an angel, nor to a conduit, but rather asks for everything directly from Hashem. The system of constellations is merely a transmitter of power, devoid of any independent power of its own; He is "higher than the high," from Whom all abundance descends, cascades downward, and reaches down here.
And this is what we recite: He arranges the stars in their watches in the sky according to His will. Any novice astrologer will tell you that an astrological chart must be drawn up - which star is on the horizon of another star, and consequently, there will be such and such influences. But who arranged for that star to be on that horizon? The Holy One, blessed be He, arranges the stars in the sky according to His will, so it emerges that everything originates from the Primal Cause. "Water drips from his buckets" - everything that descends here and affects us is in the category of a flow, a trickle, and this is the true essence of *mazal* (related to *nozel*, flowing): the abundance that descends and flows from on high from Him, blessed be He, through the celestial systems down to us below.
יְהִי שֵׁם יְהֹוָה מְבֹרָךְ מֵעַתָּה וְעַד־עוֹלָם׃ - Blessed be the name of Hashem from this time forth and forevermore.
The Malbim notes a precision: praise alone is not sufficient; rather, "Blessed be the name of Hashem." What is the difference between praise (hallel/tehillah) and blessing (berachah)? Praise stems from the greatness and loftiness of the Holy One, blessed be He, and even the nations acknowledge this - they have no difficulty praising Hashem, for He is exalted, He is "the God of gods" in the words of Nebuchadnezzar, exalted above all blessing and praise. This sublime exaltedness indeed warrants praise - but not blessing.
Blessing (*berachah*) signifies the pouring out of abundance, related to the word *bereichah* (a pool or reservoir), as the Kabbalists and the holy Zohar say, "from the Supernal Pool" - there is, as it were, a supernal reservoir that channels and pours blessing down below. Blessing denotes multiplication and increase of abundance. For the very first increase that occurs - in the single digits, tens, and hundreds - is duplication: *Alef* is one, *Bet* is already two; *Yod* is one ten, *Khaf* is already twenty; *Kuf* is one hundred, *Reish* is already two hundred. Thus, the letters of increase are *Bet*, *Khaf*, *Reish* - spelling the root *berech* (to bless). Meanwhile, the first letter represents the firstborn, and the firstborn takes a double portion, which is duplication and the greatest proportional increase. For after that, every increase diminishes proportionally: *Gimmel* adds only a third to *Bet*, *Dalet* adds only a quarter to *Gimmel*, and so forth. Only the first step doubles.
Blessing, then, signifies the constant flow of abundance emanating from the Creator, blessed be He, by virtue of individual Divine providence (Hashgachah Pratit). And the nations, after all, deny individual providence - in their view, everything is governed by the stars: burn incense to them, worship them, and they will grant their influence. Therefore they say: praise is fitting for Hashem, but not blessing, since they believe abundance does not come from Him, but from the stars. For this reason, the psalm commands the servants of Hashem that from now and forevermore the name of Hashem shall be blessed - that you recount His individual providence and not merely offer praise. Then He will be blessed, in the sense of the outpouring of abundance that originates entirely from Him, and not merely that praise is fitting for Him.
The Radak explains: He shall be blessed in the mouths of the creations, for anyone possessed of intellect is obligated to bless Him. "From this time forth" refers to the present, and "forevermore" refers to the future.
מִמִּזְרַח־שֶׁמֶשׁ עַד־מְבוֹאוֹ מְהֻלָּל שֵׁם יְהֹוָה׃ - From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of Hashem is praised.
The Radak explains: all human beings, from the east to the west, will all praise Hashem. And although among them are currently idolaters and star-worshipers, nevertheless they all acknowledge that the Holy One, blessed be He, is the First Cause, the Supreme Cause, the God of gods, as it is written: "For from the rising of the sun to its setting, My name is great among the nations." "Its setting" (*mevo'o*) refers to the place of sunset, as in "and when the sun goes down, he shall be clean" (*u'va hashemesh v'taher*) - that is to say, from the east to the west.
And why did it specify east and west rather than north and south? Because the majority of human settlement is in the center and not at the extremes. The Maharsha brings this as well in Masechet Berachot, noting that we find "kings of east and west" and not "kings of south and north," because the world is inhabited east and west, but the northern and southern extremes are uninhabited - the North Pole and South Pole are not settled areas. (And it was once noted humorously: one threatens with missiles that reach the north and the other threatens with missiles that reach the south - perhaps each should try a little harder.)
The Malbim explains that praise has already spread among the nations as well, as mentioned - they too praise Hashem, but they do not bless Him. And why?
רָם עַל־כׇּל־גּוֹיִם יְהֹוָה עַל הַשָּׁמַיִם כְּבוֹדוֹ׃ - Hashem is exalted above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.
This is the answer: according to their understanding and perception, Hashem is exalted far above this lowly world - "His glory is above the heavens"; He is up there, very high, and does not supervise what occurs down here. Therefore, in their view, the Holy One, blessed be He, is praised (mehulal) but not blessed (mevorach), for "blessed" implies supervising and granting an abundance of blessing, and they believe that abundance stems from the celestial order and not from Him.
We have already explained several times, and as the Rebbe of Kobrin says: "Hashem is exalted above all nations" - even the righteous among the nations of the world believe that Hashem is exalted (ram), but only that "His glory is above the heavens." And what is the difference between "ram" (exalted) and "gadol" (great)? "Gadol" extends from the bottom to the top, whereas "ram" is only above. A hot-air balloon is ram, an airplane is ram, the clouds are ram - but a towering building is gadol, spanning from bottom to top. We say that Hashem is great, meaning He watches over everything, from the lowliest to the highest. But they say: Hashem is merely exalted above.
What did they do? So to speak, they kicked the Holy One, blessed be He, upward; they exalted and glorified Him - all in order to do whatever their hearts desire. If He is so lofty, there is a barrier, the clouds obscure the view, and He does not know exactly what is happening down here. It is like saying: Does the prime minister know if your trash was collected this morning? He does not involve himself in such petty matters. Thus the nations made Hashem "exalted" to make things convenient for themselves: His glory is above the heavens, so do not interfere with us down here. In contrast, we declare in the next verse: "Who is like Hashem our God, Who sits enthroned on high, Who lowers Himself to look upon heaven and earth" - Hashem is great, and He observes both in heaven and on earth.
The Radak explains the verse: "Hashem is exalted above all nations" - all the nations exalt Him, yet His wondrous glory remains above the heavens. That is to say, even though we glorify and exalt Him, what do we truly comprehend of Him? We have no comprehension of Him whatsoever. Who does attain a slight comprehension? The heavenly host, the angels - they know how to exalt Him properly. There are angels who sing shirah and expire, and there is the river of fire (Nehar Dinur) that flows from the perspiration of the Chayot HaKodesh as they chant praises before Him, may He be blessed - a tremendous awe. Whereas down here, man walks about in his world with no sense that there is a Creator of the universe, and certainly with no grasp of Him. Therefore, "His glory is above the heavens" - there, His true glory is recognized.
The Radak offers another explanation: Hashem is exalted above all the praises with which the nations exalt Him, and He is also exalted above His glory that is in the heavens. That is, the nations praise but do not comprehend - and Hashem is far more exalted than that; and even the angels, whose comprehension is immeasurably greater than ours, still do not truly comprehend Him. Thus it emerges that Hashem is exalted above both the praises of the nations and the praises of the angels.
מִי כַּיהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ הַמַּגְבִּיהִי לָשָׁבֶת׃ הַמַּשְׁפִּילִי לִרְאוֹת בַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ׃ - Who is like Hashem our God, Who sits enthroned on high, Who lowers Himself to look upon heaven and earth?
The Radak explains: Since the verse mentioned heaven, and indeed there are nations whose deity is the heavenly host, the text states, "Who is like Hashem our God" - what deity can show that it is like Hashem? You say that your deity is in heaven; yet the Holy One, blessed be He, "sits enthroned on high," higher than all those powers you worship. Everything you perceive as exalted - the heavenly host, the sun idols, the sun worshippers - Hashem is higher than the sun, higher than the stars. Thus it emerges that the Holy One, blessed be He, is exalted above all exalted entities, higher than all the celestial beings, and He is the One Who influences them. And He also "lowers Himself to look" both upon heaven and upon earth, for both heaven and earth are lowly in comparison to Him, and He sees all of them and all their actions.
The Radak offers another explanation: "Who sits on high" refers to the heavens, and "Who lowers Himself to see" refers to the earth. That is to say, Hashem sits exalted in the heavens, yet nevertheless lowers Himself to see down to the earth - unlike the view of the nations, who believe that Hashem is lofty and exalted and does not look down. Scripture tells you: even though He sits enthroned on high in the heavens, He lowers Himself to look down all the way to the earth.
The Malbim explains the verse differently: "in the heavens and on earth" at the end applies to both clauses - "Who sits on high in the heavens and on earth, Who lowers Himself to see in the heavens and on earth." This is similar to other expressions we find, such as "for He has not placed our portion like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitude," where the phrase "He has not placed" is understood as applying twice.
The meaning is this: the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed is He, is so unfathomable and limitless that for Him there is no difference whatsoever between heaven and earth. Just as He sits exalted above the earth, so He sits exalted above the heavens; do not say that relative to the heavens He is near - rather, just as He is elevated above here, so He is elevated above the heavens. And just as He, as it were, must lower His gaze to see what occurs on earth, so too to see what occurs in the heavens He must lower Himself to look, for He is exalted so far above the heavens. Thus, for Him there is no difference between heaven and earth, and one should not think He is closer to the heavens than to the earth. The nations say, "His glory is above the heavens" - know that even toward the heavens the Holy One, Blessed is He, must, as it were, lower Himself to see, just as He does toward the earth.
We have already explained, and we have likewise learned in the Kuzari and on other occasions, the absurdity of this notion. All those who wish to claim that Hashem is lofty and great and does not concern Himself with what happens down here imagine that they are exalting Him - "Does the Holy One, Blessed is He, really care that your pinky finger hurts?" But the truth is the exact opposite: we are the ones who exalt Hashem, and they are the ones who diminish Him.
A parable was given for this: If one were to ask, "What is the distance from here to infinity?" the answer is infinity. And if I advance a thousand kilometers, will it be "infinity minus a thousand kilometers"? That is absurd; there is no such thing. Infinity is always infinite. Similarly, when you say that the Holy One, Blessed is He, occupies Himself with cosmic affairs but does not concern Himself with your pinky finger, you have made Him finite, for only for a finite entity is there any difference between large and small. But for One Who is infinite, the entirety of cosmic matters and your pinky finger are identical, since relative to infinity anything finite and bounded is infinitely small. If so, what is the difference between the "small" that is the entire cosmos and the "small" that is the pinky finger? Before the Holy One, Blessed is He, Who is infinite, everything is like nothingness. And since it is clear that Hashem exercises providence - for He did not create His world to leave it unguided - He necessarily oversees even the smallest of things. The entire notion that Hashem deals with the great and not the small does nothing but belittle the Creator.
In all these verses, there is an extra letter yud: "Hamagbihi", "Hamashpili", "Mekimi", "Lehoshivi", "Moshivi". The Malbim explains that the additional yud functions like a title or adjective indicating the permanence and constancy of the action, as in "Shokhni sneh" (He Who dwells in the bush) or "Chotzvi marom kivro" (he who hews his grave on high) - in an enduring manner. Thus, "Hamagbihi" means He is constantly elevated, and "Hamashpili" means He is constantly looking down.
The Maharil Diskin explains "Hamagbihi lashavet hamashpili lirot" along the lines of Hillel's dictum: "My lowering is my elevation." The words can be expounded from beginning to end and from end to beginning. From beginning to end: "Hamagbihi lashavet" (He who is elevated to sit) - why did you merit to be exalted? "Hamashpili lirot" (He who lowers to see) - because you lowered yourself, and whoever humbles himself, the Holy One, Blessed is He, elevates him. And from end to beginning: "Hamashpili lirot" - why was I lowered and degraded? Because of "Hamagbihi lashavet," because you elevated and exalted yourself, and whoever elevates himself, the Holy One, Blessed is He, lowers him. This is an instruction to man: humble yourself, and Hashem will elevate you; but if you elevate yourself - on the contrary, you will be brought low.