According to the Malbim's approach, this chapter was uttered concerning King Chizkiyahu during the siege of Jerusalem, as well as regarding his illness, when he was told: "You shall die and not live." From the verses before us onward, we reach the climax of the chapter: thanksgiving. From the recognition that the Holy One, blessed be He, preserved one's life, to going out to the gates of the Beis HaMikdash to recount the works of Hashem and give thanks to Him. Let us follow the sequence of the verses.
לֹא־אָמוּת כִּי־אֶחְיֶה וַאֲסַפֵּר מַעֲשֵׂי יָהּ׃ - I shall not die, but live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.
Rashi comes to resolve a simple difficulty here: What is the meaning of "I shall not die"? After all, there is no man who does not die, and the end of all people is death. Rather, Rashi explains, the speaker here is the Community of Israel: My death will not be like the death of the nations, whose death is an eternal death; rather, "I shall live" - we are promised the resurrection of the dead, and I will arise and recount the deeds of the Lord.
Ibn Ezra explains this in connection with the preceding verses: Since we have seen that "the right hand of Hashem is exalted, the right hand of Hashem does valiantly," and I take refuge under the shadow of His right hand and trust in Him - through this, I will not die by the hand of the enemy in battle. The right hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, works valiantly for me in my battle against my enemies. Similarly, the Radak explains: I will not die as they wished to kill me and eradicate me from the world. King David, who had many pursuers, says: I will not die at the hands of all those pursuers who seek my life; rather, I will live and recount the deeds and wonders that Hashem has performed for me.
From here there is an allusion to the principle that one for whom a miracle was performed should recount his miracle and publicize it. If I have reached the state of "I shall not die, but live," where Hashem saved me and redeemed my soul from death to life, the purpose now is to go and recount the deeds of Hashem and speak in praise of the Creator of the world.
The Malbim explains: From now on, I know with certainty that I will not die. King Chizkiyahu, who was already told, "You shall die and not live," says: I see that the Holy One, blessed be He, has revived me from my illness - and why? So that I may recount the deeds of the Lord and publicize His Name in the world. If so, if I remained alive in order to recount His deeds, and "the dead cannot praise the Lord," what would it serve and what would it add if Hashem puts me to death? As one who is dead, I cannot recount the deeds of Hashem. Inevitably, the Holy One, blessed be He, wants me to continue living in order to praise Him and recount the miracles He performed for me.
יַסֹּר יִסְּרַנִּי יָּהּ וְלַמָּוֶת לֹא נְתָנָנִי׃ - The Lord has severely chastised me, but He has not given me over to death.
The second point the Malbim makes is that in place of death, Hashem afflicted me with suffering. For the Master of souls does not strike at a soul first, but initially brings afflictions upon a person. And here Chizkiyahu says: Since I was saved from death, I know that I will live - and why? Because my death was atoned for through the suffering I endured. "The Lord has severely chastised me," and through that, "He has not given me over to death" - because Hashem afflicted me, He accepted my suffering in place of my death, and through these afflictions He saved me from dying.
We previously mentioned the story of a certain Jew who approached a Rebbe and told him that his situation was very dire, but that he had a wealthy brother who could help him, asking whether he should turn to him. The Rebbe told him: "My advice is that you should not turn to him." He said to him: "But Rebbe, he is wealthy, he has money!" He replied: "Do not turn to him." After some time, his situation worsened even further, and his wife pressured him to return to the Rebbe and explain how easily the brother could assist without any difficulty. He went back, and again the Rebbe said: "My advice is - do not turn to him." The third time, when things had reached a breaking point, the Rebbe said: "I have told you what I told you. If you wish, act as you see fit, but I gave you good advice." The man could no longer withstand the pressure at home and turned to his brother. Indeed, as expected, his brother helped him and gave him money. Sometime later, the man fell ill and reached the very brink of death. He sent word to the Rebbe, suspecting that this was due to the Rebbe's displeasure because he had acted contrary to his counsel. The Rebbe said: "There is no displeasure here at all. Death was simply decreed upon this man, and an impoverished person is considered as dead - 'The Lord has severely chastised me, but He has not given me over to death.' The Holy One, blessed be He, afflicted him with poverty, and I told him: 'It is not worth it for you; it is worthwhile for you to endure the poverty, it is worthwhile to endure the suffering' - but he did not listen to me. And now," he said, "there is nothing I can do." Apparently, Heaven did not permit him to say this explicitly. Often, one is permitted to drop a hint, but not permitted to reveal, for otherwise he would begin revealing to everyone all their hidden destinies and whatever was decreed upon them. And if Heaven does not permit revealing it - even in a matter of danger to life, it is not permitted.
The Malbim further explains regarding "I shall not die, but live": I do not die the death of the soul - and why? Because I recount the deeds of the Lord. Afterward, his sins were atoned for through the afflictions he suffered, and through this he also merited physical life. The days in which I experienced distress were chastisement that the Lord disciplined me with in order to cleanse me of my transgressions; He did not desire to put me to death, but to purify me, and therefore "the Lord has severely disciplined me, but He did not hand me over to death."
Notice that we read yisrani (יִסְּרַנִּי) with a dagesh in the nun. As we have mentioned several times, when two letters nun should appear - one from the root and one from the pronominal suffix - a single nun is written with a dagesh, and the dagesh takes the place of both letters nun. Here too, it grammatically ought to have been yisranani, but it is written yisrani with a single doubled nun.
The author of Tehillot Maharitza adds: Even though "the Lord has severely disciplined me," nevertheless Hashem did not bring me to a state where I would choose death over life. Through this, the apparent redundancy is resolved: you already stated, "I shall not die, but live," so why do you repeat, "and He did not hand me over to death"? Rather, sometimes a person endures suffering and does not actually die, but he yearns for death. With whom do we see this? With Iyov: "Why did I not die from the womb?" "Why was the afterbirth not turned over onto my face?" That is to say, the speaker declares: Even though I reached severe suffering, it was not the kind of suffering where I prayed to die. "And He did not hand me over to death" - Hashem did not bring me to that degree of agony where a person longs for death.
The author of the Ben Ish Chai makes a precise observation on the sequence of the verses: "The Lord has severely disciplined me," followed immediately by "Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter them and thank the Lord." The verse comes to teach you that through afflictions, "Open for me the gates [plural] of righteousness." And what are they? There are two things acquired through suffering: the Land of Israel and the World to Come. Because "the Lord has severely disciplined me," both gates were opened for me: the gates of Eretz Yisrael and the gates of the World to Come. In the World to Come one receives the principal reward, while in the Land of Israel, here in this world, one enjoys the fruits.
פִּתְחוּ־לִי שַׁעֲרֵי־צֶדֶק אָבֹא־בָם אוֹדֶה יָהּ׃ - Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter them and thank the Lord.
Rashi explains that these "gates of righteousness" refer to what the next verse states: "This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it." Ibn Ezra explains: Hashem saved me and I am obligated to thank Him, and this is righteousness - the gates of thanksgiving, for according to true justice and righteousness, one must show gratitude to whoever bestowed goodness upon him and thank Him for the salvation.
The Malbim explains that this refers to the king and the righteous who were with him arriving at the Beit HaMikdash - King Chizkiyahu and his entourage - to offer thanksgiving offerings for the salvation that the Holy One, blessed be He, granted them. He commands the gatekeepers of the Beit HaMikdash to open the gates of righteousness for him, which are the gates of the Beit HaMikdash. And why does he call them "gates of righteousness"? Because after salvation came to him through afflictions, Hashem dealt with him with the attribute of justice (tzedek), in accordance with his deeds, rather than with the attribute of pure kindness (chesed). The conduct of chesed means treating you beyond the letter of the law, performing lovingkindness for you even though you deserve strict judgment; the conduct of tzedek means acting strictly in accordance with what is deserved under the law. Here too: while "I shall not die," for He did not bring me to death, neither did He waive accountability - "the Lord has severely disciplined me," for I did endure suffering. It turns out that I was dealt with not through pure chesed but through tzedek, since the attribute of justice requires that I atone for what I did and endure suffering. Therefore, "Open for me the gates of righteousness" - the gates of the Beit HaMikdash, where I will come to thank Hashem for having dealt with me righteously according to my deeds, yet ultimately not bringing me to death.
זֶה־הַשַּׁעַר לַיהֹוָה צַדִּיקִים יָבֹאוּ בוֹ׃ - This is the gate of Hashem; the righteous shall enter through it.
אוֹדְךָ כִּי עֲנִיתָנִי וַתְּהִי־לִי לִישׁוּעָה׃ - I thank You, for You have answered me, and You have become my salvation.
Rashi explains: This is the gate of the Beit HaMikdash, which belongs to Hashem, and the righteous shall enter through it; and there, "I thank You, for You have answered me" - You answered me and saved me from exile. The Radak explains: "This is the gate of Hashem" - praise, laudation, and glory are due to Hashem, blessed be He, alone; only to Him is it fitting to give thanks. Therefore, "the righteous shall enter through it" - they will come and thank Hashem for all that He has done for them, just as I am now coming to give thanks to Him.
From here we learn who a tzaddik is: one who thanks Hashem for everything Hashem bestows and gives him. This seems easy in our eyes, but consider how often a person genuinely thanks Hashem for what he experiences. And I do not mean those parts of the day when we recite texts, but to truly stand and say: "Thank You, Ribbono shel Olam, for giving me a wife, for giving me children, for giving me a home, a car, a livelihood, a place to learn Torah, the intellect to study Your Torah." How often does a person offer this simple gratitude - for what so many lack? Many people live in constant fear, and Baruch Hashem, we do not. Many have no clothes to wear and live in terrible poverty, and Baruch Hashem, we have. Many do not have a home, and Baruch Hashem, we do. If a person were to look at how much he has to be thankful for - there is no end to it. And this is "the righteous shall enter through it": the tzaddik is the one who genuinely thanks Hashem for all that He bestows upon him.
And we have already mentioned several times that when a person gives thanks, he becomes a vessel for abundance. After all, with any of us, when someone expresses gratitude to us, we enjoy giving and providing to them. But with a child who constantly complains, with whatever you give him: "Why did they get more? Why did I get the flawed one? Why do I always have to get hand-me-downs?" - you have no desire to give to him, because he is always grumbling, always complaining, and never satisfied. But the child who always says, "Thank you, Abba; thank you, Ima" - you feel joy in giving to him. In the same way, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives and bestows upon one who knows how to thank and recognizes the good, and this is how the world is guided.
And for someone who finds it difficult to articulate the words, here is a guide, and then he can say them from the heart: "Thank You for the myriad of times You helped me, supported me, saved me, rescued me, brought me joy, healed me, protected me, and encouraged me. Thank You for giving me the strength to perform mitzvot, the strength to do good deeds, the strength to pray. Thank You for always being with me. Thank You for all the times You helped me and I did not know how to say thank You. Thank You for the lovingkindness You show me at every moment; thank You for every single breath that I breathe. Thank You, King of kings, even for the things I do not have. Thank You that things are difficult for me at times; thank You that I feel a bit sad sometimes, for everything is for my good. And even though I do not always see it, deep in my heart I know that everything that comes from You is the absolute best thing for me, and was done especially for me with precise and perfect Divine providence, as only the King of kings can do. Thank You that it is sometimes hard for me, because only in this way do I learn to appreciate the good, and only after being in darkness can one appreciate the light. Thank You for the wonderful life You gave me; thank You for the smallest thing that I have, for You gave me everything and no one else. Thank You for always hearing my prayers. Creator of the universe, I ask Your forgiveness from the depths of my heart if there were times when I failed to appreciate what You gave me, and instead of saying thank You, I only complained. I am dust and ashes, and You are the entire world - please, never distance Yourself from me."
In connection with giving thanks and reciting Tehillim, Rav Biederman relates that the wife of one of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbes was not fluent in Lashon HaKodesh, and she would recite Tehillim haltingly, inadvertently substituting and altering words each time. One day, she told her son, who was already grown, that she was puzzled: she recited Tehillim so many times and was so diligent about it, yet she still could not remember it by heart. He told her: "Mother, how do you expect to remember? Each time you read something different; there is no consistency in the mistakes. Your errors are different every time, and there is no pattern." Sometime later, the Rebbetzin spoke with her husband and asked him whether there was any point in continuing to recite Tehillim, since her son had told her that she reads with errors and therefore cannot remember it. The Rebbe immediately summoned his son and said to him: "How can you speak like that? How can you say such things to your mother? You should know that all of my success in Petersburg came from the Tehillim that Mother recites - all of my success is due to her." Of course, we should not seek out mistakes, but in any case, even reciting with errors is precious before Hashem: do not read "and His banner (vediglo) over me is love," but rather "and His skipping (vedilugo) over me is love."
The Malbim adds regarding "This is the gate of Hashem": As mentioned, the king went to give thanks in the Beit HaMikdash, and there was a special gate designated for the king, a gate through which the king entered, as we learned in Yechezkel, chapter 44. And now he says, "the righteous shall enter through it" - that he permitted the righteous to enter along with him through the King's Gate, in order to give thanks to Hashem, blessed be He. And this refers to Chizkiyahu, who came to give thanks for the miracle of salvation.
The author of Tehillot Maharit makes a fine observation: at first the verse says, "I will enter them and thank Yah," and afterward, "This is the gate to Hashem," using the full Four-Letter Name. Why does it begin with Yah and only later use the Shem Havayah? Because sometimes salvation begins on a small scale, arriving with difficulty, drop by drop - and for this too, one must offer thanks and praise. "And those who know Your Name will trust in You, for You have not forsaken those who seek You, Hashem" (Tehillim 9:11) - those who know Your Name understand that at times salvation is only partial, represented by only part of the Name of Hashem.
To this we may add a helpful principle to remember: everyone knows that the Shem Havayah represents mercy (rachamim), and the Name Elokim represents strict justice (din). Yet the first half of each Name is the exact opposite. While Elokim represents judgment, El is known by all to represent lovingkindness (chesed) - "the kindness of El is all day long" (Tehillim 52:3), and "El, merciful and gracious" (Shemot 34:6) is one of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. Conversely, the Shem Havayah represents mercy, but its first half, Yah, is associated with judgment. Yah denotes strict justice, and justice implies contraction (tzimtzum), whereas mercy and kindness imply an abundant flow. Thus, even though at first one says "I will thank Yah" - which is merely the aspect of Yah, in contraction - nevertheless, I thank Hashem even for a partial salvation. And even though full salvation will ultimately arrive, I do not wait for it before giving thanks, but offer praise already now. "And those who know Your Name will trust in You, for You have not forsaken those who seek You, Hashem" - they trust in You knowing that in the end You will bestow goodness upon them through the Shem Havayah, the great acts of lovingkindness; and by trusting in Hashem from the very beginning, they increase strength in the heavenly realm so that the Holy One, blessed be He, may shower them with a bountiful measure.
Rabbi Assouline ztz"l notes in his work Ma'yan Ganim, as explained in teachings on the weekly Torah portions, that this idea is exemplified by Eliezer. When Eliezer goes to find a wife for his master's son, Yitzchak, we see at every turn that "he bowed his head and prostrated himself" - at each stage he gave thanks. He merely meets the maiden, before the story has even unfolded, and already he bows and thanks Hashem. There he writes an entire discourse establishing that a person must thank Hashem even for a partial blessing. People are often accustomed to waiting until everything is complete: if it is not perfect, we wait until it is perfected. But that is mistaken. Is there a beginning? Thank the Master of the Universe even for part of the good, and ultimately the complete thanksgiving will follow for the entire blessing. The Rav adds: through the very act of thanking for part of the good - "I will thank Yah" - know that you provide strength in the Heavenly Court to bestow further bounty and bring about the full, complete blessing. This is the meaning of "Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter them and thank Yah" - even if I do not yet have a complete salvation, nevertheless I will thank Yah, a salvation reflected in only half the Name. And this very act is "This is the gate to Hashem" - this becomes the gate to usher in the complete salvation through the full Shem Havayah, so that the Name is complete. How? By having thanked for the small start in the beginning, one merits receiving the full salvation, for heavenly bounty is bestowed in accordance with the thanksgiving offered from the start.
He further explains, based on the holy Shelah, that when an individual prays alone there are many accusers in Heaven, whereas with the prayer of the community, "Behold, God is mighty and does not despise" (Iyov 36:5), and Chazal teach that the prayer of the public is always accepted. This is what the verse means: "Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter them" - "gates of righteousness" in the plural, many gates through which the prayers must pass, and this applies when I am alone, as indicated by "I will enter" in the singular. By contrast, with communal prayer: "This is the gate to Hashem" - a single gate suffices to bring the prayer before Hashem, blessed be He, when "the righteous shall enter it." When righteous people stand in prayer together, one gate is enough. But when "I will enter them" - when I am alone - even through the many gates of righteousness, it is doubtful whether I can effect an answer, and I must plead that they be opened, for even they are not guaranteed to be open to an individual's prayer. But when righteous people and a congregation pray, a single gate is sufficient for their prayer to be accepted.
From here we see how great is the stature of communal prayer. This is why our Sages write that when a person prays alone, his ledgers are opened in Heaven. Why? What merits does he think he possesses, that he has no need for the power of the community, believing that his prayer can ascend directly on high without the congregation? The greatest fear of any business owner is being audited, that the tax authorities "just want to check" - Heaven forbid, his books are opened! And so it is said: one who prays alone has his records opened. This does not mean he should refrain from praying altogether - if no minyan is available, he should certainly pray alone, but he must make every effort to pray with a minyan.
There are genuine circumstances beyond one's control, of course. But the question is how to define an anus (one prevented by circumstances), for a person can easily label any minor inconvenience as being "prevented": "I came home tired." Yet if someone were to tell him right now that there is an opportunity to earn five hundred shekels, he would say, "No problem, I can stay another fifteen minutes." For five hundred shekels he has fifteen minutes, but for Ma'ariv he does not! A person must examine what truly qualifies as an oness. Similarly, someone who travels abroad and encounters hardships - who told him to travel? His wife told him to. And if you listened to your wife, that is where everything began; after all, the entire human condition we find ourselves in began with "because you listened to the voice of your wife" (Bereishit 3:17).
In these verses we learn the proper approach to thanksgiving. "I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of Yah" - the Holy One, blessed be He, preserves a person's life so that he may recount His wonders, and one for whom a miracle is performed must publicize it. "Yah has chastised me, but He did not hand me over to death" - afflictions come in place of death, providing atonement and purification, and even then they do not reach the point where a person longs for death; through them, the gates of Eretz Yisrael and the gates of the World to Come are opened. "Open for me the gates of righteousness" - the gates of the Beit HaMikdash, where one comes to give thanks for the divine conduct of righteousness that does not overlook sin, yet does not condemn to death. "This is the gate to Hashem; the righteous shall enter it" - and who is the righteous person? One who thanks Hashem for everything bestowed upon him, even for a partial blessing, "I will thank Yah"; and this humble thanksgiving itself is the gate to complete salvation through the full Name. Furthermore, we learned the power of communal prayer, for which a single gate suffices, and the obligation to make every effort to pray with a minyan.