Introduction: The Letter Peh in Chapter 119
Chapter 119 is structured according to the Hebrew alphabet, with each set of eight verses beginning with a successive letter. The Malbim teaches us that in every single verse there is a "focal point" - one of the ten terms by which the Torah is called: mitzvos (commandments), mishpatim (judgments), amaros (sayings), pikudim (precepts), chukim (statutes), Torah (teaching), eidos (testimonies), derech (way), and others - and the commentary revolves around that specific term. In the section before us, the verses of the letter Peh, we will examine verse after verse and see how each petition of King David is tailored precisely to the name of the Torah with which it deals.
"I opened my mouth and panted" - The Mitzvos as the Breath of Life
פִּי פָעַרְתִּי וָאֶשְׁאָפָה כִּי לְמִצְוֺתֶיךָ יָאָבְתִּי׃ - I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for Your commandments.
Ibn Ezra explains: When I opened my mouth to speak, I panted - meaning that my entire desire and request is to receive Your words, and for Your mitzvos "I longed" (ya'avti, related to ta'avti, desire), these are what I sought. Radak explains that "and I panted" (va'esh'afah) is spoken metaphorically, similar to the verse in Yechezkel, "and he opened his mouth and fed me the scroll," where it does not mean that he literally ate the parchment. So too here: out of overwhelming longing for the mitzvos, it is as though I open my mouth and inhale them inward. "Aspiration" (she'ifah) denotes drawing air into the mouth, like a famished person craving food who, out of sheer longing, opens his mouth wide and catches the morsel while it is still in mid-air, before it even reaches him - such is my aspiration and intense yearning for the mitzvos of Hashem.
The Malbim notes that the focal point here is mitzvos (commandments). The Torah is compared to bread and water, without which there is no life; they are the foundation and sustenance, the food of the body, and likewise the mitzvos are the nourishment of the soul. Yet King David says: For me, the mitzvos are even more than food - they are like air. For without food a person can survive several days; there were tzaddikim who observed a six-day continuous fast without eating or drinking. But without air, one cannot endure even six minutes. Air is needed constantly, and without it, a person dies. This is "I opened my mouth and panted": I am constantly opening my mouth to inhale Hashem's mitzvos just as a person breathes air, for I cannot exist even for a single moment without them.
Midrash Shocher Tov states: Just as people open their mouths for the late rains - as Moshe Rabbeinu said, "My teaching shall drop like the rain" - so do I open my mouth for Your mitzvos. In a lighthearted vein, people say: If a young man cuts his hair with a step-fade in the back, what do they call him? A "man of high rank" (ba'al madreigah, literally a man of steps), no ordinary fellow. And if he also smokes, they say he is a "man of aspirations" (ba'al she'ifos, a pun on inhalations). Each person has their own aspirations; but the one who can say "I opened my mouth and panted" is the true man of aspirations.
"Turn to me and be gracious to me" - An Unearned Gift by the Standard of Justice
פְּנֵה אֵלַי וְחׇנֵּנִי כְּמִשְׁפָּט לְאֹהֲבֵי שְׁמֶךָ׃ - Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is the due of those who love Your Name.
Radak explains that kemishpat here does not mean strict law and judgment, but is used as in "he shall deal with her according to the manner of daughters" - meaning the customary way daughters are treated. That is to say: Turn to me and be gracious to me according to the way and custom by which You treat those who love Your Name; treat me in that same manner, for I love Your Name and love Your commandments.
The Malbim notes that the focal point here is mishpatim (judgments), and there is an apparent paradox in the verse: "Be gracious to me" (choneni) is a plea for an unearned gift of grace, whereas "according to judgment" (kemishpat) refers to what is due by right of law. If so, what is David asking for - an unearned gift or strict justice? The Malbim explains: The Holy One, blessed be He, bestows bounty upon those who love Him kemishpat, meaning as their rightful due according to the law - "He guards the feet of His pious ones," "No harm shall befall the righteous," "Hashem loves those who love Him": Hashem loves a person because he loves Hashem. David says: Even if I am not at that level, even if I have not yet reached such a spiritual standing that it is due to me by right of judgment - turn to me and be gracious to me; grant me as an unearned gift the very same measure You give to those who love Your Name by right of judgment.
"Establish my steps in Your word" - And a Prayer That Iniquity Not Dominate Him
פְּעָמַי הָכֵן בְּאִמְרָתֶךָ וְאַל תַּשְׁלֶט בִּי כׇל אָוֶן׃ - Establish my footsteps in Your word, and let no iniquity rule over me.
The Malbim explains that the focal point here is utterances: the sayings of Hashem, His commandments, are what preserve one's steps so that they are firm and true. "Establish my footsteps" expresses the plea that my steps should not stumble - a person who walks and falls, who walks and stumbles, does not have firmly established footsteps. Through that divine preservation, reflecting his earlier plea, "as is the judgment for those who love Your Name", it naturally follows: "and let no iniquity rule over me" - evil will not dominate me, my feet will be guarded, and I will not stumble.
The Radak explains: Accustom me and guide me in the positive commandments, and do not grant the evil inclination the power to rule over me - for if the yetzer hara rules over me, I will also violate the prohibitions, the negative commandments. "Iniquity" (aven) refers to evil, violating Hashem's commandments and committing wrong, as David says elsewhere, "Also from willful sins hold back Your servant" - prevent me from intentional transgressions, that I not do evil to provoke. And when he says "any iniquity", it means even the slightest amount; I do not want any evil whatsoever to be my lot.
The Chida: "Calculation Spoils Even Words of Torah"
The Chida, in his work Tehilot Yosef, cites a novel perspective on a well-known Midrash as an allusion to this verse. Our Sages say that King David would say: Tomorrow I am going to such-and-such a house, to a pleasant dwelling - but the next day, his feet would carry him to the Beit Midrash. On the surface, this is puzzling: if David knew that in the end his feet would lead him to the Beit Midrash, why did he declare every day that he was going somewhere else? Did he not know where his feet took him?
The Chida explains: Our Sages say that "thought can disrupt even words of Torah" - meaning that calculation and premeditation can spoil an endeavor, even when it concerns Torah study. When a person announces, "I will do such-and-such, I will learn such-and-such, I will finish such-and-such," the yetzer hara overhears these plans and mobilizes against him with all its might, opposing him, making his task vastly more difficult. Therefore, a person should not make grand declarations about what he is about to do. In light of this, King David would leave his home saying: Today I am going to a pleasant dwelling, today we will take a stroll, today we will rest - whereupon the yetzer hara relaxes and moves on to other targets, and David slips away to the Beit Midrash without it noticing.
This is the meaning of the verse, "I said: I will acquire wisdom, but it was far from me": when I declare "I will acquire wisdom", the yetzer hara immediately arrives and says, "No way," refusing to leave you alone - "and it was far from me." Do not talk excessively; go and act immediately. But when you talk and say, "I will do this, and I will do that," the yetzer steps in to sabotage and disrupt. In the words of the Chida: it may be that specifically through speech, when one declares aloud that he wants to learn or perform mitzvot, he is pursued - and this is the meaning of "I said."
Based on this, the Chida also explains the Sages' teaching, "Be heedful of the children of the poor, for from them Torah will come forth." Why specifically from the children of the poor? Because the yetzer hara makes no plans for them and pays them no mind; often the poor were simple folk and their wives humble, so the yetzer says: "What could possibly come of this child?" Yet specifically from them, one sees Talmidei Chachamim emerge. Conversely, where the yetzer invests all its energies, knowing there is great potential, it fights with all its might. Among the children of the poor, there is no "calculation that disrupts words of Torah"; there are no grand plans and declarations of how great they will become. Because of this, the yetzer hara does not set its sights on tripping them up, and precisely from them great Torah scholars arise.
"Redeem Me from the Oppression of Man" - From the Yetzer, the Serpent, and Free Choice
פְּדֵנִי מֵעֹשֶׁק אָדָם וְאֶשְׁמְרָה פִּקּוּדֶיךָ׃ - Redeem me from the oppression of man, and I will keep Your precepts.
Rashi brings one explanation: "From the oppression of man" - from the evil inclination, which oppresses mankind. Who is it that oppresses human beings? It is the yetzer hara. Rashi also brings another interpretation, noting, "In other commentaries I found": from the oppressor of Adam HaRishon. It seems this can be explained as referring to the oppressor of Adam HaRishon, namely the primordial serpent: redeem me from the one who oppressed the first man.
It comes to mind that these ideas connect, for "Adam" (אד"ם) is an acronym for Adam - David - Mashiach, and David is one of the reincarnations of Adam HaRishon, as explained in the teachings on gilgulim, showing how David rectifies the sin of Adam HaRishon. Accordingly, "redeem me from the oppression of man" means: redeem me from that same one who oppressed Adam HaRishon - the primordial serpent - so that he will not entice me and cause me to stumble once more. It was already noted that King David stumbled in the very same area where Adam HaRishon stumbled: Adam HaRishon stumbled by failing to wait - for had he waited just a little, the holy Ohr HaChaim explains, he would have merited to recite Kiddush over wine (as one opinion in Chazal holds that the tree was a grapevine), drink from the wine preserved in its grapes, and perfect the world under the Kingdom of the Almighty. Likewise, had King David waited, he would have received Bat Sheva in full permissibility, for our Sages teach, "She was destined for him from the six days of Creation, but he ate of her unripe" - that very act of eating "unripe fruit" was what tripped him up. Thus, there was a flaw here mirroring the flaw of Adam HaRishon, alongside other parallels between David and Adam HaRishon.
The Radak explains simply: Redeem me so that no person will oppress or disturb me, and through this, "I will observe Your precepts." As is well known, King David was pursued for most of his life, and this persecution disturbed him from serving Hashem. If You redeem me from human oppression so that it no longer distracts me, I will be able to be meticulous, beautify, and properly fulfill the mitzvot.
The Malbim explains that the focal point here is pikudim (precepts) - those mitzvot intended to commemorate the miracles the Holy One, blessed be He, performed for us throughout history, such as the Pesach offering, the redemption of the firstborn donkey, and the like. David asks that Hashem redeem him from the oppression brought about by human beings, who possess free will. A creature with free will has the power to harm a person even if it was not decreed upon him from Heaven, as cited by the Or HaChaim HaKadosh, the Radak, and others. However, this matter is not undisputed: the view of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, and as we have received from the Vilna Gaon, is that a human being has no power to harm unless harm was decreed upon the person, and even an agent of free choice cannot harm him. We have discussed this at length regarding the words of Rav Chaim Friedlander, who cites both approaches and reconciles them, showing that there is no contradiction.
In any case, for our purposes, there is certainly a need to struggle more when a person seeks to harm than when harm comes directly from Heaven - "Let us fall into the hand of Hashem... but let me not fall into the hand of man" - because man possesses free will, whereas in Heaven there is mercy upon man. Therefore he pleads: Master of the Universe, redeem me from oppression brought about by an agent of free choice, and through this, "I will observe Your precepts" - for the pikudim are the mitzvot that remind us how the Holy One, blessed be He, redeemed us from the hand of the oppressor, brought us out of Egypt, and saved us from Pharaoh and Amalek. This is precisely what they point to: how Hashem redeemed us throughout history from the oppression of man.
"Make Your face shine upon Your servant" - That Hashem Should Desire Me
פָּנֶיךָ הָאֵר בְּעַבְדֶּךָ וְלַמְּדֵנִי אֶת חֻקֶּיךָ׃ - Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes.
The Radak explains that this is like the expression, "May Hashem shine His face upon you": the light of Hashem's countenance is Hashem's favor and will, as it is written, "In the light of the King's countenance is life, and His favor is like a cloud of late rain." When Hashem shines His face upon someone, it is a sign that He desires him. So it is even among human beings: when we do not favor someone, we show him a sour face, but when we favor him, our face lights up toward him. Therefore, the request is: Master of the Universe, out of Your favor toward me, out of the shining of Your countenance, teach me Your statutes.
As has been explained several times regarding the words in the prayer, "And You, in Your abundant mercies, favor us and desire us." Rabbeinu Yonah says: A person might commit sins and then do teshuva, yet Hashem still has no favor or pleasure in him and will accept no offering from his hand. The meaning is: Hashem tells him, "I forgive you, but I do not wish to see you." How dreadful! And the entire labor of the righteous, says Rabbeinu Yonah, is to merit favor and goodwill from Hashem, that He should desire me and take pleasure in me. This is what is expressed here: a person could study the statutes of Hashem and yet Hashem takes no delight in him. Therefore, David asks that the learning come from the shining of Hashem's countenance, out of favor and delight, which is the sole aspiration and longing of the righteous.
The Malbim explains that the focal point here is chukim (statutes) - the mitzvot that have no apparent rational reason. The Malbim makes a precise observation: there is a difference in Lashon HaKodesh between "shine His face el (toward)" and "shine His face be- (in or within)." Here it says, "Make Your face shine be'avdecha (in Your servant)," not el avdecha. The letter beit denotes internality - what is inside - signifying that His Shechinah and its revelation should dwell within the person's inner rational soul, that the light should illuminate deep into the soul. And when the light of the intellect shines within a person, he merits understanding even hidden secrets and mysteries, even the concealed and wondrous chukim, by virtue of the light of Hashem's countenance and His holy spirit. Therefore: Please, Hashem, shine Your face within Your servant, and by virtue of this, may I merit to learn from You even the inner and hidden matters that are in the category of chukim.
The book Tehillot Maharitz explains based on the Gemara in Nedarim (49b): A certain noblewoman saw that Rabbi Yehudah's face was radiant and glowing, and asked him: "Are you a swine breeder or a moneylender at interest? Why are you so cheerful and content?" He answered her: "By the faith! Both of these are forbidden to us, and I engage in neither. Rather, 'a man's wisdom illuminates his face' - the radiance comes from the Torah." This is what David asks: "Make Your face shine upon Your servant" - grant me a radiant countenance, but not from material matters, nor from physical acquisitions and pleasures; rather, "and teach me Your statutes," so that the wisdom of the Torah is what brings me to an enduring radiance of countenance.
"Streams of water ran down my eyes" - Tears over Not Guarding the Eyes
פַּלְגֵי מַיִם יָרְדוּ עֵינָי עַל לֹא שָׁמְרוּ תוֹרָתֶךָ׃ - Streams of water ran down my eyes, because they did not keep Your Torah.
The Radak explains that he wept over the sins he had committed, regretting them deeply. He referred specifically to his eyes because the eyes are what stray after sin, and the sinner strays after his eyes, as Chazal said: "The eye and the heart are the two agents of sin," and it is said, "Do not stray after your heart and after your eyes," and "The eye sees and the heart desires."
A well-known question is asked: if the eye sees first and only then the heart covets, shouldn't the verse have said, "do not follow after your eyes and after your heart"? The answer is that the eye does not see what the heart does not want; the eye sees what the heart desires to see. Therefore, "after your heart" comes first - the heart wants to see, then the eye sees, and then the heart covets. Everything begins with the heart, which is the governing power within man, as the Malbim notes time and again. And therefore, from where is it fitting that streams of water should pour down? The eyes, because they did not keep Your Torah, for they are the brokers of sin - they mediate the transgression to man. For how would a person know that a sin exists outside of him? The eyes mediate it to him, saying: here is something alluring, here is something stimulating, here is something delicious. Therefore, it is right for tears to flow from them.
The Malbim explains that the central point here is Torah, and David says: even though the sin of Batsheva rests upon me, which began when I followed after my eyes - as our Sages say, he saw the woman bathing on the roof, and from there it all began - streams of water have already poured from my eyes because they did not keep Your Torah; I have already repented and have already been forgiven. If so, Master of the Universe, it is fitting that You shine Your countenance upon Your servant and teach me Your Torah, for I have already wept over that in which I stumbled, I have already done teshuvah, and I have already been forgiven.
In summary:
In the verses of the letter Peh, King David presents an entire ladder of the service of Hashem: to him, the mitzvos are not merely bread and water, but the very air he breathes, without which one cannot survive even for a moment ("I opened my mouth and panted"). He asks that Hashem grant him as an undeserved gift what He gives by right to those who love His Name ("Turn to me and be gracious to me"); that He establish his footsteps in His word so that no iniquity will rule over him - and from this we learned from the Chida not to broadcast our plans, since "thought disrupts even matters of Torah," which is why Torah emerges specifically from the children of the poor, upon whom the evil inclination does not cast its eye. He asks to be redeemed from the oppression of man who possesses free will, in order to keep the precepts that remind us how Hashem redeemed us from human oppression throughout history; he asks for an inner illumination of countenance, that it be within him and not merely toward him, through which he will merit to understand even the concealed statutes, and that this illumination not come from material pleasures but from the wisdom of the Torah; and finally, he testifies that streams of water have already flowed from his eyes over their failure to keep the Torah, and by virtue of this repentance he asks that Hashem shine His countenance upon him and teach him His statutes.