Introduction: A Challenging Psalm
We continue in Psalm 141. As noted at the outset, this psalm is not simple. The verses before us are a prime example: anyone is invited to read the verse again to himself and see if he can make sense of it. And there is a well-known rule: with verses that are difficult to understand, interpretations abound, for each commentator can take the very same words and explain them with a different meaning. We will follow, then, in the footsteps of Rashi, Radak, the Metzudos, and the Malbim.
Verse 5: "Let the righteous strike me in kindness"
יֶהֶלְמֵנִי צַדִּיק חֶסֶד וְיוֹכִיחֵנִי שֶׁמֶן רֹאשׁ אַל יָנִי רֹאשִׁי כִּי עוֹד וּתְפִלָּתִי בְּרָעוֹתֵיהֶם׃ - Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness, and let him rebuke me; it is oil for the head, let my head not refuse it; for still my prayer is against their evils.
Rashi explains: It is good for me if the tzaddik, one who is a true prophet, rebukes and chastises me. "Yeholmeni" comes from the word for blows (mahalumot). The blows the tzaddik strikes upon my head - that is, his rebukes - are pure kindness.
Here we may recall the story of a certain pious man who was approached by someone who rebuked him with harsh, biting words, with blatant, open rebuke. That pious man said: In the end, I kissed him. They asked him: To that extent? He replied: Yes, I had just finished studying a mussar book, and when I finished, I kissed it and returned it to the shelf. He accepted mussar, and kissed the one who rebuked him. There is a type of person who studies a mussar book and feels that none of it applies to him: "Too bad my neighbor isn't reading this," "Too bad my wife isn't here right now." He sees everyone in the mussar - except himself. But that pious man at least saw himself: they gave me mussar, they were speaking to me! Therefore, I prefer that a tzaddik strike me; these blows are a rebuke of kindness, and whatever blows he strikes me with are for my own good.
"It is oil for the head, let my head not refuse it" - this refers to the anointing oil of royalty poured upon my head, as in "You anointed my head with oil." "Yani" - all commentators explain that this is from the expression "if her father disallows her" (heini), an expression of removal and turning away. That is: let the anointing oil not turn my head away from the tzaddik's rebuke, lest I go and feast with the evildoers. Naturally, a person of high stature tends to think: Who is he to rebuke me? Who is he to give me mussar? Regarding this David says: that very head-oil with which I was anointed - let it not turn my head away from the rebuke of the tzaddik.
"For still my prayer is against their evils" - so long as my prayer is on my lips, concerning the wickedness of evildoers so that I do not stumble because of them, it is certainly unfitting that I should go and attach myself to them. Could it be that while a plea is on my lips asking Hashem to distance me from them, I would contemplate in the midst of the prayer itself how to draw close to them? Such a thing is inconceivable.
Radak's Explanation: The Strike of the Tzaddik Is Like Good Oil
Radak links this verse to what was stated earlier, "and let me not eat of their delicacies": their delicacies will not be sweet to me. What is pleasant to them is not pleasant to me, as Chazal said: the kindness of the wicked is evil for the righteous. When a tzaddik receives a favor from a wicked person, it feels bitter and distasteful to him, and he has no interest in it. But if a tzaddik strikes me and rebukes me - that I will consider a kindness and choice oil for the head.
According to Radak, "head-oil" here does not denote kingship, but is rather a continuation of the description of how rebuke is received: I receive it as kindness, like good oil flowing down upon the head. And his request is "let my head not refuse it" - that this blow should not break my head, but rather be considered like head-oil, like oil used to soothe a wound. "Head-oil" (shemen rosh) is like "choice spices" (besamim rosh), meaning the finest and most choice of spices. May the blow the tzaddik strikes upon my head be for me like the fine oil poured upon my head, a healing oil. And "my prayer is against their evils" - while my prayer concerns the evils of the wicked, asking Hashem to save me from their evil deeds, how could the delicacies of the wicked taste sweet to me at the very same time? On this point, Radak aligns with Rashi.
Radak adds an explanation in the name of his father, which divides the verse into two parts: "head-oil" refers to the actions of the wicked. The strike of the righteous - "let the righteous strike me" - his mussar is good for me and is an act of kindness toward me. But as for the wicked person, even if he were to anoint my head with the finest oil, "let it not break my head." That is to say: what you, the wicked one, come to do for me as a favor is evil in my eyes; and when you come to anoint my head with fine oil, I pray that it does not break my head, for your "head-oil" is harmful to me. Conversely, when the tzaddik strikes me - on the contrary, that is the rectification and that is true kindness.
The Malbim: Cutting the Corner of the Cloak as a Test
The Malbim connects this verse to the incident we saw: Dovid HaMelech was a step away from killing Shaul, and his men urged him to do so. And it is written: "And Dovid arose and cut off the corner of the cloak that belonged to Shaul... And Dovid's heart smote him because he had cut off the corner that belonged to Shaul. And he said to his men: Hashem forbid that I should do this thing to my master, to Hashem's anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, for he is Hashem's anointed."
And ostensibly, there is a major difficulty here: they ask him to kill Shaul. What does he do? He cuts off the corner of his cloak, and only afterward says, "Hashem forbid that I should kill him." Why did he not tell them this beforehand? If they say "kill him," tell them immediately, "Hashem forbid," and only then go and cut off the corner of his cloak! Yet first he cuts it off, and only then does he answer them.
There in the Malbim, we learned a wonderful and illuminating explanation. His men said to him: Hashem has delivered your enemy into your hand; do you not see the hand of Hashem in this? How could you have arrived at a situation where Shaul is alone in the cave and you are with him, if not that Hashem arranged for the enemy to be delivered to you so that you could punish him? He has the status of a pursuer (rodef); take vengeance on him! Dovid was very uncertain about the matter, and said: What will be the test? The test will be to check whether Shaul's kingdom is still intact or not.
And how would he know? A tzaddik's seismograph is very sensitive. When he commits a sin, his heart immediately smites him; when he does something improper, he immediately feels deep distress within himself; and when he does a good deed, he feels good. With many people, it does not work that way; their seismograph died long ago. They commit sins and feel great. A story is told of someone who committed sins and came to a rav to seek a path of teshuvah. He recounted all the sins he had done, and the rav saw that he seemed rather pleased with himself. The rav said to him: "Squeeze a kilo of lemons and drink it." He asked: "Will that bring me forgiveness?" The rav replied: "No, but at least it will wipe the smile off your face." There are people who commit sins and feel satisfied; but a tzaddik, if he commits a sin, his heart immediately smites him.
Dovid said: How shall I test whether I truly ought to kill Shaul? Let us cut off the corner of his cloak. If Shaul is still king, it is a grave sin to cut the corner of the king's cloak, and if my heart smites me, I will know that I acted improperly. And indeed, "Dovid's heart smote him," and only then did he say to them: Hashem forbid that we stretch forth a hand against Hashem's anointed! Why only now? Because only now was the matter proven: after I cut off the corner of his cloak and slightly disgraced the king, and I feel heartache over it and my heart smites me - from this I know that Shaul is still in his kingship, still at his stature, and the time has not yet come for me to harm Hashem's anointed, heaven forbid. And Chazal taught that for that cutting, which deprived Shaul of the mitzvah of tzitzis for a time, Dovid was punished, as it says: "Now King Dovid was old... and they covered him with clothes, but he could not keep warm."
"Chesed" in the Sense of Disgrace
And this is what is written here: "Let the righteous smite me in chesed." The Malbim explains in an original way that "chesed" is not in the conventional sense, but from the term "chisuda," an expression of shame and disgrace. That is to say: that act of disgrace I did to Shaul, shaming his garments, is what will strike and smite me, the righteous one. Since I am righteous, the moment I did even a slight thing that was improper - it smote me, "and my heart smote me." "And let him rebuke me" - from this I will have the proof that I indeed did something wrong.
"For the oil of the head, let not my head refuse" - note the explanation: the oil on Shaul's head is still present, and let the oil of my head not remove it. That is, there is an elliptic repetition here, much like "that He did not make our portion like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitude," where the word is understood as repeated. So too here: and let the oil of my head not deny or remove the oil on Shaul's head, for his reign has not yet ceased. Through this, I know that he is still Hashem's anointed, and the oil has not been removed from his head.
"For yet my prayer is against their evil deeds" - even though he pursues me to kill me, I have seen through Hashem's providence that Hashem removes his evil from me. Countless times Dovid was a mere step away from death, and in a single moment the Holy One, blessed be He, saved him. And the time spoken of here is the Rock of Divisions: there it says that Shaul and his men went on one side of the mountain and Dovid and his men on the other, with the rock separating them, and then an angel came to Shaul and told him that the Pelishtim had raided the land. Some say it was a messenger and some say it was an actual angel, and it was certainly through divine providence. This is what Dovid is saying: I saw that when I prayed to Hashem to save me from their evil, before I even finished my prayer Hashem had already sent His help. "For yet my prayer is against their evil deeds" - while my prayer against their evils was still on my tongue, Hashem was already sending me rescue. If so, why should I worry and be troubled that Shaul continues to live and remains king, thinking perhaps I must kill him? You have seen that you ask of Hashem and Hashem rescues you even in the direst situations, even when there is but a step between you and death. Everything comes to show me that I need not rush to terminate Shaul's reign; in due time it will end, but not by my hand. Hashem forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against Hashem's anointed.
Verse 6: "Their Judges Slipped Away by the Sides of the Rock"
נִשְׁמְטוּ בִידֵי סֶלַע שֹׁפְטֵיהֶם וְשָׁמְעוּ אֲמָרַי כִּי נָעֵמוּ׃ - Their judges slipped away by the sides of the rock, and they heard my words, for they were pleasant.
Rashi explains: "Their judges" - their dayanim and leaders, have slipped away from the good path through the hands of the evil inclination and through the heart of stone that is as hard as a rock. "And they hear my words, for they are pleasant" - they hear my pleasant words, as I speak of the mitzvos of the Holy One, Blessed be He, in order to draw them close to Hashem, yet they still do not repent and do not accept the words. Why? Because their judges slipped through the rock; their heart has become as hard as a rock. They hear, but they do not return.
The Radak explains that here David curses the enemies: "They were cast down through the rock [bidei sela]" - meaning "from the rock [midei sela]." The Radak notes in several places that the word order in the verse is inverted, as it were, and when properly arranged, the verse becomes clear. That is: their judges will be cast down from the rock, in simple terms - they will fall from the rock. And why specifically against the judges? Because they further strengthen the people beneath them to follow the path of wickedness; not only do they fail to rebuke them, chasten them, and guide them onto the straight path, but they even reinforce their hands. Therefore, they will ascend the rock, be cast down from there, and die an unnatural death. "And they hear my words, for they are pleasant" - when the leaders perish, the common people are not so wicked on their own; they will listen to my words, accept the mussar and rebuke, and recognize that my sayings are pleasant to their ears.
The Malbim explains this based on Sela HaMachlekos, which the verses here refer to: on that occasion when Shaul and his men encircled David and his men on both sides of the mountain, their judges slipped away from before me - the leaders of my pursuers, Shaul and his men, were unable to harm me, as it is written, "And Shaul returned from pursuing David." And why? Because the rock separated and divided between them, and they could not approach me. "And they hear my words, for they are pleasant" - at that moment when Shaul and his men surrounded David, they heard the words David uttered, which are the words in the following verse: "As when one plows and breaks open the earth."
The Metzudas David explains "and they hear my words, for they are pleasant" as referring to the two occasions when Hashem delivered Shaul into David's hands and David did not harm him: when he cut off the corner of Shaul's garment in the cave, and when he took the spear from his bedside. On both occasions, he spoke pleasant words to them, words that made it clear to all that he sought no harm against them. There they saw and heard that his words were pleasant, and that he did not truly wish to kill them, as he had two opportunities to kill Shaul and did not harm him.
Verse 7: "Our bones are scattered at the mouth of the grave"
כְּמוֹ פֹלֵחַ וּבֹקֵעַ בָּאָרֶץ נִפְזְרוּ עֲצָמֵינוּ לְפִי שְׁאוֹל׃ - As when one plows and cleaves the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of the grave.
"Poleh" is an expression of cleaving, as in "He slashes [yefalach] my kidneys." Rashi explains: just as one cleaves the earth, so our bones are scattered - we reached the very portal of death because of the evils of the transgressors. The Radak also explains that "poleh" and "boke'a" mean the same thing, an expression of cutting into slices or pieces, as in "and sliced [vayefalach] into the pot of stew" and "He slashes my kidneys." Just as when someone chops wood and the splinters scatter this way and that, so "our bones are scattered at the mouth of the grave" - we were truly on the brink of death.
The scattering of bones, the Radak notes, is spoken by way of hyperbole: meaning we were completely broken apart, having reached Sheol, as it were. And why is "our bones" in the plural? The Radak explains that this refers to David and the men with him, for he is describing the reality while fleeing from Shaul. One could also say by way of wordplay: "our bones are scattered lefi Shaul" - that Shaul wished our bones were already scattered. Although the literal meaning of the verse is "at the mouth of the grave [lefi she'ol]," it can homiletically be read in this way.
The Malbim explains that here, too, the pursuit at Sela HaMachlekos is described. David and his men were atop the mountain, and their intention was that if Shaul and his men reached them, they would leap down from the mountain and flee from there into the wilderness. Even though leaping from the mountain posed mortal danger, with the risk that their bones would shatter and scatter, they nonetheless trusted in Hashem to rescue them even from this danger. And that is the meaning: even if our bones are scattered at the mouth of the pit, as when one plows and cleaves the earth - we fall from the rock into the depths of Sheol, and our bones are as if scattered, as though the earth beneath us were cleaved and split by the fall - nonetheless, since I take refuge in You, "do not pour out my soul."
Verse 8: "For to You, Hashem, my Lord, are my eyes"
כִּי אֵלֶיךָ יֱהֹוִה אֲדֹנָי עֵינָי בְּכָה חָסִיתִי אַל תְּעַר נַפְשִׁי׃ - For to You, Hashem, my Lord, are my eyes; in You I take refuge, do not pour out my soul.
"Do not pour out my soul" - do not allow my soul to be poured out from my body, departing and emptying from the corpse, just as one pours out a drink from a vessel and empties it. That is: do not let my soul be torn away and exit my body through this fall. And why? Because I have taken refuge in You, and I am certain that even if our bones are scattered, our soul will remain alive. All this they said when they slipped by way of the rock - that is, at Sela HaMachlekos - when they sought to slip away, leap, and be saved from Shaul and his men.
Rashi explains that the verse connects back to the earlier pesukim: "Set a guard, Hashem, over my mouth," "Do not incline my heart" - for my eyes are upon You. And he further requests: "Do not pour out my soul," do not cast away my soul from before You, as in the phrase "and she emptied (vat'ar) her pitcher into the trough"; do not extract my soul from me.
Verse 9: Trap and Snare
שָׁמְרֵנִי מִידֵי פַח יָקְשׁוּ לִי וּמֹקְשׁוֹת פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן׃ - Guard me from the clutches of the trap they set for me, and from the snares of evildoers.
"Guard me from the clutches of the trap they set for me" - the trap they laid as a snare for me. "And from the snares of evildoers" - that You also guard me from the snares of other evildoers, those who are not from my own people. Thus, he prays here concerning both groups: both Shaul and the others.
The Malbim notes that he asks Hashem to guard him both from the trap they prepared for him, and from the snares of the evildoers, meaning the snare inside the trap. There is the trap (pach) - the place where the animal is caught, and there is the snare (mokesh) - the mechanism by which it is killed once it has fallen inside. This is the meaning: guard me from that trap they laid for me, so that I do not fall into the snare there that would cause my death below.
Verse 10: "May the wicked fall into its nets"
יִפְּלוּ בְמַכְמֹרָיו רְשָׁעִים יַחַד אָנֹכִי עַד אֶעֱבוֹר׃ - Let the wicked fall into its nets; together may I be until I pass through.
A "mikhmoret" is a net. Into that very net they spread for me - let the wicked themselves fall. And what is "yachad anochi ad e'evor"? The Radak explains that the words are inverted, as it were: "ad e'evor anochi," meaning until I pass by and am not caught in their net. He adds an explanation that reads the verse in its literal order, where "ad" does not mean "until," but rather denotes eternity, as in "and remember iniquity against me forever." The meaning then is: they will fall into their net, and I will forever pass by - I will always be able to pass through without stumbling, neither over them nor over other wicked people.
One cannot simply explain that the word "yachad" (together) refers to the wicked, meaning "may the wicked fall into its nets together" - that all the wicked should fall together into the nets - because any interpretation that does not align with the cantillation marks is less preferred. True, there are verses where the cantillation leans one way, yet it is still possible to explain differently, since the cantillation was written according to one specific reading; but when we have only the cantillation without Chazal stating that this is among the verses that lack decisive division and the like, we prefer to follow the cantillation. Therefore: "Let the wicked fall into its nets; together may I be until I pass through" - until I pass through together with my men; "yachad" refers to David and his men, not to the wicked.
The Malbim: I Do Not Seek Their Harm, Only My Salvation
The Malbim explains: "Let the wicked fall into its nets" - let them fall into the very net they laid for me. Yet I do not ask that they be struck by the snare. As we explained, there are two elements here: the trap, and inside it the snare through which the fallen victim is meant to die. David says: that I do not request. I ask only that they fall into the net alone, and there be held back, all of them together.
The Malbim does not always align his commentary with the cantillation marks, and in his view, "Let the wicked fall into its nets together" means that all the wicked should fall into that net together, and I do not ask that they be caught in the lethal snare. In other words: my entire desire is merely to remove them from pursuing me; I am not looking to kill them. If they are held in the net - that is enough for me, and I do not ask that they die there. For my entire goal is "until I pass through" - only until I have safely passed, and afterward I do not mind if they leave the net and trap, because I do not seek their ruin, but only my own deliverance, so they cannot harm me. And so it was: Shaul and his men were delayed by the war with the Pelishtim until David and his men were saved, but Shaul and his men did not die or come to harm. "In the meantime, place them in the net so they cannot harm me, and afterward release them." I do not seek their harm; I seek only my salvation - and here again we see the purity of King David's soul.
"Together with 'Anochi'" - An Allusion
In the sefer Otzrot HaAggadah, this verse is explained as an allusion based on the teachings of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin in Nefesh HaChaim. There, he teaches a profound principle and a wondrous segulah to remove and nullify all harsh judgments and opposing wills from a person, so that they have no dominion over him and leave no impression upon him at all. This is the way: when a person firmly resolves in his heart to say - behold, Hashem is the true God, and there is no power at all besides Him in this world or in any of the worlds, and everything is filled only with His absolute unity, blessed be His Name; and he subjugates and cleaves the purity of his thoughts solely to the one Master, blessed is He - then He, blessed be He, will grant that all the powers and wills in the world are automatically nullified before him, unable to affect him in any way.
This is a truly wondrous segulah. The Brisker Rav testified that he made it through the war with this very segulah. There were places where they had to pass checkpoints set up by the Germans, and they walked right past as though they were completely unseen. Once, they were stopped, and someone asked the Rav what had happened. He replied that for a brief moment his focus wavered from that intention, from that thought of unifying His Name, blessed be He - that Hashem is the true God, that there is no power in the world besides Him that can do anything to me, and that He alone rules His world. When a person maintains this awareness, it removes all harsh judgments from him.
This, then, is the allusion in the verse: "Let the wicked fall into their own nets" - when will I witness the downfall and subjugation of the wicked? "Together with 'Anochi,' until I pass" - when I remain united with the "Anochi." As long as I am here in this world, until I pass through the distress or until I depart this world, I am together with "Anochi Hashem Elokecha" ("I am Hashem your God"), with the firm realization that there is none besides Him. Then the wicked will fall into their nets, no harm will befall you, and the way will be cleared for salvation and protection.
In summary: In these verses, King David portrays his inner world during the pursuit. He asks that the rebuke of the righteous serve him as an act of lovingkindness and soothing oil rather than a crushing blow, and that the dignity of his own kingship never prevent him from accepting correction. According to the Malbim, he recounts how he cut off the corner of Saul's cloak to test within his own sensitive heart whether Saul's royalty was still intact; when his heart struck him with remorse, he understood that the anointing oil had not been removed from Saul - and therefore, "Far be it from me to stretch forth my hand against the anointed of Hashem." At the Rock of Divisions, he saw with his own eyes that while prayer was still on his lips, deliverance had already arrived; and even though he was ready to fall from the cliff and be shattered like split wood, he placed his trust in Hashem: "do not pour out my soul." Finally, he does not wish for the death of his pursuers, but asks only that they be held back until he passes safely - reflecting the exceptional purity of David's soul. And by way of allusion: "Together with 'Anochi' until I pass" - as long as a person cleaves to "Anochi Hashem Elokecha" and knows that there is none besides Him, all harsh decrees and hostile forces are rendered entirely powerless against him.