In this section of the psalm, King David continues to describe the Creator's knowledge of man - a knowledge that does not begin on the day a person enters the world, but precedes it. From the initial drop, from the unformed embryo, to every detail of his deeds, everything is revealed and recorded before Him. From here, the psalm ascends to a deeper question: how a unified, unchanging knowledge encompasses a reality that changes at every moment. Finally, it turns to the one disturbance that prevents a person from remaining fully absorbed in contemplating the Creator's wonders throughout his days: the prosperity of the wicked.
גׇּלְמִי רָאוּ עֵינֶיךָ וְעַל־סִפְרְךָ כֻּלָּם יִכָּתֵבוּ יָמִים יֻצָּרוּ וְלוֹ אֶחָד בָּהֶם׃ - Your eyes saw my unformed limbs, and in Your book they were all written; the days were fashioned, when not one of them yet existed.
"In Your book" - all the creatures of the world, myself included, were all written down before they ever arrived in the world. Everything was recorded in advance. And why is it important to emphasize this? The difference between something planned in advance and something devised on the spot is transience. Something pulled out on the spur of the moment is temporary, the product of an impulse. But when it is shown that blueprints for this very creation existed thousands of years ago, it proves its importance and demonstrates that everything currently in existence was originally designed to take this precise form.
This is the emphasis of "Your eyes saw my unformed limbs, and in Your book they were all written." It is not that the Holy One, blessed be He, simply allowed the world to evolve on its own, so to speak - animals producing other animals, reality gradually shifting, the elephant growing larger or smaller, subtly changing its hue to suit its habitat and topography. Not at all. Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, created man with a preconceived plan, wherein each unformed embryo, each and every human being, was foreseen by the Holy One, blessed be He, accompanied by an orderly master plan.
This aligns closely with what is explained in Michtav Me-Eliyahu and other sources: every person has a specific mission in this world, no two missions are identical, and no one can fulfill another's role. Each and every one of us came into the world to accomplish a distinct purpose, and one is obligated to complete it. If not, one will return in a gilgul (reincarnation) until he accomplishes what was assigned to him. This is because we are all part of the complete mosaic of Adam HaRishon's soul; we were all souls contained within his body, and when we all complete and rectify ourselves, Adam HaRishon will shine in his full radiance and the redemption will arrive. If we do not manage to finish in time, Chazal teach that there are various avenues: the Holy One, blessed be He, raises a ruler as harsh as Haman over them so that they repent, along with other tribulations Chazal describe for the period preceding the Messianic era, when ultimate rectification will be demanded. This is "and in Your book they were all written" - all the creatures of the world were written and revealed before You, everything planned in advance.
"The days were fashioned, when not one of them yet existed" - all of man's actions and his entire purpose were as though already fashioned in advance, as if they had already completed the process of creation, even when not a single one had yet appeared in the world. This is among the wonders of God's works and the decree of His might, that future events are revealed before Him before they transpire, as Scripture states: "Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you." Not one of them yet existed in the physical world, yet with the Holy One, blessed be He, they were already fully formed, as though already brought into being.
Rashi explains "and in Your book they were all written" as referring to the book of the generations of Adam shown to Adam HaRishon, in which everyone was already recorded, as it were; You showed him each generation and its expositors, each generation and its sages. "The days were fashioned, and not one among them existed" - they were destined to be created across many future days, yet not one of them was in the world as yet. This is the explanation according to the textual form "velo" spelled with an alef (ולא - meaning "and not").
However, we read the verse (the keri) as "velo" spelled with a vav (ולו - meaning "and to Him"). Where else do we encounter such a variation? In Mizmor LeTodah (Psalm 100): "He made us, and not [ולא] we ourselves, His people and the sheep of His pasture" - there the text is written with an alef (ולא), which on the surface carries an unfavorable meaning: "we are not His people and the sheep of His pasture"; yet we read it with a vav (ולו) - we are His, belonging to Him, His people and the sheep of His pasture. Even so, the written form with an alef also conveys a profound meaning: "He made us, and not we ourselves" - we did not make ourselves, but He made us, and we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Here too, Rashi clarifies how both textual traditions harmonize within the plain meaning of the verse.
Rashi states: according to the reading with a vav (ולו) - "the days were fashioned," the Holy One, blessed be He, displayed all the days destined to be created, and "for Himself" (velo), as His portion, He selected one day. What is that one day? The Sabbath day. Alternatively: "the days were fashioned, and He has one among them" - He has one day in the year, which is Yom Kippur. This refers to Hashem, blessed be He, Who claims one of those days as His own.
"Your eyes saw my unformed mass" - Radak explains that this refers to the congealed drop before the limbs and organs take form within it. It is called a golem (unformed substance), just as a block of wood is called a golem before a vessel is carved from it; so too, the drop is called a golem before the limbs and the human form are carved out of it. This is what Your eyes saw, and You infused it with the power for the limbs to be formed. No human can look at the drop and see the limbs, but Your eyes foresaw all that was destined to be formed from it.
"And in Your book all of them were written" - everything is revealed and known before You as if written in a book. And what is "all of them"? All the limbs that will be formed from that drop, meaning the complete human being - everything is known before You. "The days were fashioned" - the formation of these limbs spans many days; they were not formed in a single day, for it takes forty days just for the initial formation of the embryo, followed by all of its subsequent development. "And there was not one among them" (ve-lo echad bahem) - although it was formed over many days, before the Holy One, blessed be He, it is as if it took place in a single day, in a single instant, for He knows all of them at once, and everything is considered as one before Him. For us, "the days were fashioned," taking many days until the embryo takes shape, but for the Holy One, blessed be He, it is like a single moment, in the spirit of "For a thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday when it passes" - He is beyond the reality of time and knows all of them in a single instant.
And if we read lo with an alef (meaning "not"), Radak explains, its meaning is: not one person knew this matter before it existed, but only the Holy One, blessed be He. No human being knew any of this before it was formed, and He alone knows them all.
Ibn Ezra explains that at the beginning of formation, the limbs were not discernible or distinct; there was no distinction between one limb and another - everything was still a single drop. There was no eye, no ear, and no other organs, even though all of them were part of that same unformed mass (golem). This is the meaning of "and not one among them": there were no individual, separate limbs at the time they were first formed. In the initial stage, everything was akin to a single mass of dough, one unformed substance, and from this, man is shaped and formed.
The Malbim adds a profound principle here: man, who is composed of body and soul, is called a "microcosm" (olam katan, a miniature world). This is the teaching of Chazal, and the Malbim cites it in several places: everything that exists in the macrocosm exists within man as well. Even from a physical perspective - man has hair, corresponding to the world's forests and grasslands; man has bodily springs - the nose, the mouth, the secretions - corresponding to the springs of the world; man's composition of fluids corresponds to the world's abundance of water and oceans. Man is a reflection, a duplicate of the greater world.
With this, the Malbim says, the Psalmist elevates this magnificent imagery. An artist who wishes to paint something needs a model; if he paints a flowerpot, he places a pot before him, looks at it, and paints. This model is the andarta, the form that he copies. And man is the model and depiction of the entire world. Like a person building a palace - everything is engraved in blueprints, drafted on a sheet, and he looks at them and builds. So too, as it were, when the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to create the macrocosm - what did He look at? At man, who is the microcosm, and according to him He created the macrocosm.
Based on this, the Malbim depicts: before the Master Builder, the Holy One, blessed be He, lay a book containing everything He created during the six days of Creation, and the book was open; and the unformed mass of man lay before Him. Hashem looked at both of them - at the unformed mass of man, in which the blueprint of the world was etched down to its finest details, and at the book, which recorded all that He wrought during the six days of Creation. He saw how identical they were to one another: the form of man and the creation of the six days of Creation complement each other, each being a duplicate of the other. Everything written in the book of Creation is inscribed in the unformed mass of man.
This explains the verse: on the one hand, "Your eyes saw my unformed mass" - You saw in my unformed mass the model according to which You painted the portrait of the world; and on the other hand, "and in Your book all of them were written, the days were fashioned" - everything is written in Your book concerning those six days in which the world was formed. And in the book where all the details wrought during "the days were fashioned" were recorded, You saw that "to it, there is one among them" (reading lo with a vav, meaning "to it"): this unformed mass shares a unity with them, with what was written of the six days of Creation. Since man is the blueprint of the world, and the six days of Creation are the design and construction of the world, the Holy One, blessed be He, looks at man and looks at the blueprint - and sees that they are one and the same form. Encompassed within man is everything created during the days of Creation and all the forces of Genesis.
In his potential and in his soul, man also encompasses all creatures above and below, since he is meant to act throughout all the worlds. Man contains everything. Do not be surprised: man even contains gold and silver - it is not recommended to kill people to extract silver and gold, for the amounts are minuscule, but he contains everything. Man is composed of all the minerals. And this applies to character traits as well: his soul possesses the skittishness of the rabbit, and he has within him "bold as a leopard, brave as a lion, swift as an eagle" - all those inner traits are present within him, for he encompasses every aspect of Creation. Man also encompasses all the sefiros within himself, and can reach the very highest realm, the level of Arich and Atik, the level of Adam Kadmon, the world of Atzilus - places angels cannot reach, as they were not hewn from there; the source of their hewing is from the world of Beriah, the world of the Throne, and that is as far as they can go. But man, who operates in all worlds, had his soul hewn from and influenced by all the worlds. This is man - a replica of Creation, containing everything present in the six days of Creation, and they unite as one.
וְלִי מַה־יָּקְרוּ רֵעֶיךָ אֵל מֶה עָצְמוּ רָאשֵׁיהֶם׃ אֶסְפְּרֵם מֵחוֹל יִרְבּוּן הֱקִיצֹתִי וְעוֹדִי עִמָּךְ׃ - And to me, how precious are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is their sum! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand; I awake, and I am still with You.
As noted several times: the more complex a verse is and the less straightforward its wording, the more interpretations it invites. What is "How precious are re'echa, O God"? In the simple understanding, re'echa is related to "This is my beloved and this is my friend [ve-zeh re'i]," and this is the path Rashi follows, citing a Midrash of Chazal: The Community of Israel says, how honored in my eyes are the righteous in every generation. "How vast are their heads [mehe atzmu rasheihem]" - the tally of their counting, as in the phrase, "When you take the head [census] of the children of Israel," which denotes a census. And who are "Your friends" [re'echa]? The righteous, who are called beloved friends of the Omnipresent, and how honored they are in my eyes.
On the other hand, almost all the commentators explain re'echa in the sense of Your ideas and Your thoughts. Radak explains: yakru is an expression of something weighty, something unattainable, as in "and the word of Hashem was rare [yakar, precious/heavy] in those days." How precious, weighty, and beyond me are Your ideas, Your thoughts, and Your intentions in Creation; how incapable I am of grasping them, how distant they are from my understanding.
"How vast is their sum [mehe atzmu rasheihem]" - Radak explains that atzmu can be understood in the sense of numerical abundance, as the continuation of the verse states, "Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand" - I try to count them, and they are more numerous than sand. The root atzam appears both in the sense of strength and in the sense of multiplicity: "Its widows grew more numerous to Me than the sand of the seas" - its widows multiplied beyond the sand of the seas, and also grew strong against Me, like an intense bone pain that grew fierce against Me. "Their heads [rasheihem]" refers to their general principles, meaning the general rules of the Holy One, blessed be He, in Creation, which are so numerous that I cannot grasp them. And if this is true of the general rules, how much more so regarding the specific details! To what extent Your thoughts have overpowered me, outnumbered me, and grown too strong for me, such that I cannot even contain the overarching principles, let alone the details.
The Malbim explains: We have established that the Holy One, blessed be He, knows all the details of man's actions and all his deeds, but the philosophers raised powerful objections to this. After all, man possesses free will, and his actions are constantly changing; yet the Holy One, blessed be He, knows what will occur, meaning He also knows what is destined to change within us. Philosophically, this was difficult for them to accept, as it seemingly contradicts the principle of divine unity: the Holy One, blessed be He, and His knowledge are one, and just as "I, Hashem, have not changed," so too His knowledge does not change. If human actions change through the exercise of free choice, there must also be a change in the knowledge - until now He knew that the person wanted this, and now the person changed his mind, so Hashem knows otherwise. And if there is change in Him, this contradicts the unchanging Divine reality. How can an unchanging reality know things that are subject to change?
To us, this question does not sound so formidable, for a simple reason: when the philosopher seeks to decipher Divine knowledge, he deciphers it according to his own parameters, his own comprehension, and his own faculties. Today, we know that there are forms of knowledge, comprehension, and perception entirely different from our own, and therefore the question does not even begin for us. The simplest example is a pocket calculator - like the ones we had as children built into a watch. You punch in 7354 multiplied by something, and you instantly get the result of a complicated calculation. Neither of us knows the algorithm running the calculator, nor do we know how it does this. But what is clear? That someone or something here knows how to perform calculations at lightning speed. It would take me days, months, or years, and it did it in a millisecond - its way of "thinking" is different from mine. How does it think and in what manner does it process? I do not know; I only know that it processes differently from me.
And I am not speaking of a personal computer, nor of supercomputers, where we all understand that the mode of processing is entirely different. Garry Kasparov competes against a computer, and the computer defeats him in chess - how? Because it calculates a thousand, two thousand, five thousand future possibilities without limit: if I move the king here, he will do this, and if I do this, he will respond like that, pinpointing the exact path to checkmate. The mode of thinking is different - of this I am certain, even if I do not understand exactly how the computer thinks. If so, can you raise difficulties against the Creator of the universe? How can the unchanging Holy One, blessed be He, know changing things? By what intellect do you calculate the calculations of the Creator of the universe, with the small mind of a human being? You see that you do not even understand how a computer works, which is the most elementary creation of man. To comprehend how His knowledge does not contradict His essence - for us, this does not even begin as a difficulty. But for the philosophers, it posed a serious challenge.
The answer, the Rambam explains, is that the multiplicity of items of knowledge and their changes - what appears to us as multiplicity and change, is in Him absolute unity. The Holy One, blessed be He, knows everything from the perspective of its root and hidden source. Hashem is the root of all reality, and from the root He knows everything. We see many branches, but the root is one; and the Holy One, blessed be He, is at the root of all things, where there is no multiplicity, only oneness. What we perceive as disparate details is not details to Him, but one root, one foundation. For us, as finite details, it is difficult to grasp how this is possible, for we are like multiple branches; hence it seems to us that everything changes from moment to moment and how could anyone know it all? But from the perspective of the root, the root is unified, and from the root everything is already known. Once you possess knowledge of the root, you possess knowledge of all that continues and emerges from it.
For example: when we look at a tree, one might try to imagine how many different substances are needed for each of its parts - material for the trunk, material for the fruits, material for their flesh, another material for the peel, another material for the seeds. What immense multiplicity is here, and who divides them? But we are told: No; the root draws in a single nourishment, and from it branches out everything you see. It produces branches, leaves of different colors, sweet fruit, and the seeds containing the DNA for the next generation of fruits. Everything we see as a fragmented reality divided into many parts is, at its root, entirely one. The Holy One, blessed be He, knows all things from the perspective of the root, and this presents no contradiction whatsoever to His absolute unity, blessed be He.
Now let us see how these matters connect to the verse. The Malbim explains: "How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God" - and its continuation is "were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand"; "how vast is their sum [literally: their heads]" - and its continuation is "I awake, and I am still with You." "How precious are Your thoughts" - Your thoughts and designs are exceedingly weighty to me; according to my grasp, it is exceedingly difficult to comprehend and understand them, and it is beyond me - like the question of the philosophers: how is it possible that the Holy One, blessed be He, in Whom there is no change, continually knows changing things, when His knowledge and His Essence are one and there is no change there? How do all these knowledges intensify in Your thoughts, when "were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand" - I count them and they are more numerous than sand? And how can knowledge apply to that which has no end or limit - how is it conceivable to know something that is infinite? And how can multiplying and changing cognitions be reconciled in the One Who does not change?
And regarding this he comes and says: "How vast is their sum." When I contemplate, I see that these things have a head, a source, and the root of all these thoughts is immensely mighty; the head of the matter reaches the heavens, and from there lies the root of all that comes into being in reality. Just as with me, regarding all actions, thoughts, and deeds - today it is clear to all that everything is in the head: you raise your hand and lower your hand, and this is not an independent action of the hand, but an action originating from the brain. Everything stems from the root, and the root is the head of all human actions. In this there is no multiplicity and change; there is one power that activates everything, the brain issues commands to the entire body, and all the body's actions, however varied they may be, emanate from it. So too do I understand regarding the Holy One, blessed be He: "How vast is their sum" - the head is one, and the root of all that we perceive as manifold influences is a unified root. If so, there is no contradiction between His absolute oneness and changing actions or changing knowledge.
And even though right now, immersed in physical matter, I feel separate from You and experience myself as an independent reality, not feeling that everything is in a state of oneness, and it appears to me that there are many changing actions without a unified essence - to this he says: "I awake, and I am still with You." After analysis and contemplation, I awaken from the slumber of folly and return to the head, and from there I see that "I am still with You" - everything is bound to that single root. Even if it seems that I am distant and separate, nothing is truly separate; everything is with You, everything connects to the root, and with You, all is unified. We perceive multiplicity, but that is the perspective of a physical being who sees the details without seeing their root. When I awaken from that slumber of folly, I will see how everything is connected with You, and how You are the aspect of the Head, complete unity in which no division can exist.
Rashi explains: If I were to count the good deeds of the righteous - "they would outnumber the sand." And "I awake, and I am still with You" - when I arrive at the end of the generations, at what You designated from the creation of the world until today, this generation is still with You. That is to say: Master of the Universe, we still cling to You; I have still not deviated from faith in You and devotion to You. According to Rashi, hekitzoti does not mean awakening from sleep, but rather derives from keitz, an end or conclusion: I have arrived at the end of the generations, and I remain steadfast in faith and fear of You. One could also say that lehakitz (to awake) shares the same root, as awakening is the end (keitz) of sleep - though there are some who do not reach the end. And there is the keitz hayamin (the ultimate end of days) and the keitz hayamim (the end of the days).
Radak explains: "Were I to count them" - if I were to count all the wonders that the Holy One, blessed be He, performed in the creation of His world, I would not be able to, for they outnumber the sand. "I awake, and I am still with You" - because of the abundance of these thoughts, I dream of them even when asleep, and when I awaken, I find myself still with You, still contemplating those very thoughts. That is to say: how deeply I meditate on this day and night, both in my sleep and when awake, still immersed in those thoughts and awestruck by the multitude of deeds and wonders through which the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world.
Radak cites another interpretation: Some explain hekitzoti as meaning: even if I were always awake and alert, for approximately half of a person's life is spent sleeping. (Presumably this refers to heavy sleepers; few people sleep twelve hours a day, though it might also refer to being "asleep" in the sense of idleness, which the Sages equate to sleep, and in that sense it may well exceed half of a person's life.) "And I am still with You" - even if I lived forever and never died. In other words: even if I were awake my entire life without sleeping for a single moment, and even if my days extended endlessly, I would still count them and they would outnumber the sand; I would never grasp all the immense wisdom with which the Holy One, blessed be He, founded His world.
אִם־תִּקְטֹל אֱלוֹהַּ רָשָׁע וְאַנְשֵׁי דָמִים סוּרוּ מֶנִּי׃ - If You would only slay the wicked, O God; and bloodthirsty men, depart from me!
Pay attention to the phrasing of the verse: the meaning is, "O God, if You would slay the wicked." Merely so that the word Eloha (God) would not be juxtaposed directly with the word rasha (wicked), a cantillation stop (p'sak) separates them. It does not mean, Heaven forbid, "slay God," but rather: "O God, if You would slay the wicked" - and bloodthirsty men, depart from me.
Radak explains: This connects back to what was said, "I awake, and I am still with You" - that my thoughts are constantly engaged with Your wonders and deeds, both while asleep and awake. Yet there is something that troubles me: the matter of the wicked. If You would remove this disturbance from me, all my thoughts would be devoted exclusively to You. In simple terms: there are still distractions, things that prevent my thoughts from being dedicated entirely to You alone. And what diverts my thoughts from being exclusively focused on Hashem? The wicked, the bloodthirsty men, to whom I say, "Depart from me," yet I cannot overcome them. What troubles me is: How can it be that the wicked exist, and how can it be that they prosper? These are among the matters that raise profound questions, as we have seen throughout all generations - the righteous who suffer and the wicked who prosper (tzaddik v'ra lo, rasha v'tov lo). If these questions did not disturb me, all my thoughts would dwell solely upon Your wonders, and everything would be devoted to contemplating the marvels of Hashem. Therefore: "If You would slay the wicked, O God" - if only You would destroy the wicked, and "bloodthirsty men, depart from me," through this I would be completely attached to You.
The Malbim explains consistently with what he stated earlier: The philosophers' questions regarding the Creator's knowledge - how it is possible for the Absolute One to know changing things - to answer them is not difficult for me. But what troubles me more is what brought the philosophers to these questions in the first place. The Malbim cites the Rambam in *Moreh Nevuchim* (The Guide for the Perplexed), who explains that they arrived at this because of the apparent disorder in divine providence - the paradox of the righteous who suffer and the wicked who prosper (*tzaddik v'ra lo, rasha v'tov lo*), about which so much has been written. One sees how the wicked succeed and hold their heads high, how the wicked person walks about happy and content while the righteous person suffers and is tormented, and this raises perplexing questions. Because of this, says the Rambam, the philosophers began to probe into Providence: after all, it is impossible to attribute injustice to the Holy One, blessed be He, and impossible that Hashem would do something improper - so what then? Apparently there is no guide; or apparently He does not know what is happening; and so forth. From this they arrived at heretical conclusions to resolve the difficulty of how we could see things that do not align with fairness and justice.
These were also Iyov's arguments. However, when we studied Sefer Iyov, we learned there according to the Malbim that he raised these questions not as a heretic, Heaven forbid - for the Holy One, blessed be He, ultimately vindicated him - but rather in order to receive answers, so that the matter would be examined and resolved. He himself possessed complete and pure faith in Hashem, blessed be He, that everything from Him is for the good. But among the philosophers, these questions led where they led, and therefore they devised all their philosophical inquiries to reinforce their theories. Regarding this, David pleads: "If only You would slay the wicked, O God" - if You would eliminate this reality of the wicked prospering, "and men of blood, depart from me" - so that they no longer ambush the soul of the righteous, eliminating the reality of the righteous who suffer, then the philosophers would have no basis to argue, and they would have no reason to arrive at heresy.
In these verses, King David teaches us that nothing in the world is haphazard: "Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book they were all written" - every person, from the primordial drop until the completion of his limbs and his deeds, was planned in advance, and each person has a role that no one else can fulfill. According to the Malbim, man is the microcosm, the monument and the model according to which the macrocosm was created, and therefore "and it has one among them" (*velo echad bahem*) - he shares a unity with all of Creation. From there to the question of divine knowledge: "How precious are Your thoughts to me" - our comprehension is limited, yet "how vast is their sum" - everything emanates from a single source and a single root, and when a person awakens from the slumber of folly, he discovers that "I am still with You", that nothing is separate and all is one. Finally, David prays that the single obstacle distracting the mind from this contemplation be removed: "If only You would slay the wicked, O God, and men of blood, depart from me" - that the success of the wicked and the apparent disorder in divine providence be abolished, so that there will be no opening for questions and heresy, and all our thoughts may cling to Him, blessed be He.