Introduction: Continuing the Chapter - Between Hashem's Providence over the Righteous and over the Wicked
In this part of the chapter, King David moves on to describe the two facets of Divine providence: providence for good over the righteous, and providence directed against evildoers. The verses contrast the fate of the tzaddik with the fate of the rasha, thereby teaching us profound foundations in faith, prayer, suffering, and repentance.
"The Eyes of Hashem Are Toward the Righteous" - Divine Providence and Hearing the Cry
עֵינֵי יְהֹוָה אֶל צַדִּיקִים וְאָזְנָיו אֶל שַׁוְעָתָם׃ - "The eyes of Hashem are toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry."
The Malbim consistently explains that "the eyes of Hashem" signifies individual Divine providence, as in the verse, "a land which the eyes of Hashem your God are always upon it." The Holy One, blessed be He, watches over the righteous with individual providence and sees what they lack. Even so, the verse adds: "and His ears are open to their cry." Why is a cry also necessary, when providence is already directed for his benefit? Rather, sometimes the tzaddik cries out over something he experiences as harmful, even though in truth it is for his good. Nevertheless - His ears are open to their cry: the Holy One, blessed be He, hears his outcry and saves him even from this uncomfortable situation. Even when the tzaddik cries out over something that according to the Divine will is actually for his benefit, if he cries out - Hashem listens to his voice.
"The Face of Hashem Is Against Evildoers" - Against Those Who Seek to Cut Off the Memory of the Righteous
פְּנֵי יְהֹוָה בְּעֹשֵׂי רָע לְהַכְרִית מֵאֶרֶץ זִכְרָם׃ - "The face of Hashem is against those who do evil, to cut off their remembrance from the earth."
"The face of Hashem" is an expression of providence, yet here it is not providence for good, but providence for retribution. As Rashi explains, "face" refers to a countenance of wrath, as in "and I will set My face against that person," and the Metzudat Tzion writes that anger is recognizable in the face. The straightforward meaning is that Hashem sets His face against the wicked to cut off the memory of the wicked from the earth. The Malbim, however, offers a novel explanation: the "evildoers" are those who seek to cut off the memory of the righteous from the earth, and it is against them that Hashem's face is set in wrath. We will immediately understand why the Malbim was led to this interpretation.
"They Cried Out and Hashem Heard" - Who Is Being Spoken Of?
צָעֲקוּ וַיהֹוָה שָׁמֵעַ וּמִכָּל צָרוֹתָם הִצִּילָם׃ - "They cried out, and Hashem heard, and delivered them from all their troubles."
Here the beauty of the Malbim's explanation becomes apparent. Rashi, Radak, and the Malbim explain that the verse here returns to the righteous: the tzaddikim cried out, Hashem heard, and He delivered them from all their troubles. At first glance, this is difficult: the preceding verse dealt with the wicked, so how did we suddenly leap to the righteous? But according to the Malbim, the matter is straightforward: "The face of Hashem is against evildoers" - those evildoers seek to cut off the memory of the righteous, and immediately "they cried out" - the righteous, whom the verse was addressing, cried out, Hashem heard, and He delivered them from all their troubles. Truly wonderful.
The Ibn Ezra, on the other hand, explains differently: Hashem's face is against the wicked, who are evildoers, and Hashem cuts off their remembrance from the earth. "They cried out" - the wicked themselves cried out when they repented of their wickedness, and Hashem heard and delivered them from all their troubles. That is to say, even though troubles came upon them on account of their evil, if they cry out and return in repentance - Hashem turns His face toward them, hears, and saves them from the distress into which He brought them.
Nevertheless, one can explain following the approach of Rashi, Radak, and Malbim, that the verse does not refer back to the verse immediately preceding it, but rather to the one before that: "The eyes of Hashem are toward the righteous, and His ears toward their cry." Thus, "They cried out" - the righteous of whom I spoke, they cried out and Hashem heard and delivered them from all their troubles, precisely as I told you that His ears are attuned to their cry. And why did the verse insert the wicked in the middle? To present a contrast: divine providence over the tzaddik to bestow good upon him, alongside divine providence over the wicked, turning His face against him to bring evil upon him - and then the verse returns to the tzaddik. In summary, there is a dispute regarding whom this verse describes, and Malbim explains that the righteous cried out from within their distress, and not only does Hashem deliver them from that specific trouble, but "and from all their troubles He saved them" - from every trouble altogether, in the merit of that very cry.
Hashem Is Near to the Brokenhearted - The Virtue of Baalei Teshuvah
קָרוֹב יְהֹוָה לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי לֵב וְאֶת דַּכְּאֵי רוּחַ יוֹשִׁיעַ׃ - Hashem is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those of crushed spirit.
According to Ibn Ezra, the verse continues with the theme of the wicked who repented: Why is their heart broken? Because they acted wickedly, and now their heart is broken and they are returning in teshuvah. Those who turned back from their evil path - Hashem removes His angry countenance from them, and on the contrary, He is close to them. This aligns beautifully with the words of Chazal that in the place where baalei teshuvah stand, even the completely righteous cannot stand. Why? Because the heart of a baal teshuvah is broken, remorseful over the evil he committed. A tzaddik, on the other hand, might harbor somewhere a feeling that he has always been in good standing with Hashem, that he never caused trouble - and he feels good about himself, which itself can be a pitfall. But the baal teshuvah, who genuinely went astray, at least has a broken heart, and therefore Hashem is near to the brokenhearted.
Malbim explains the verse as a continuation of the troubles mentioned: The Holy One, blessed be He, stands near to the brokenhearted - those whose hearts were broken by the troubles they endured. And what is the distinction between "brokenhearted" (nishberei lev) and "those of crushed spirit" (dakei ruach)? The brokenhearted refers to someone broken by an external trouble, whereas a crushed spirit refers to one suffering from an internal anguish, what is known today as depression: internal distress or brokenness stemming from his sins. Such a person, too, the Holy One, blessed be He, will save.
Why Women Are More Prone to Weakness - The Power of Prayer
This verse recalls what is cited in sacred works, apparently in the name of the Rambam, that the Holy One, blessed be He, is especially close to the prayer of a woman, and therefore most of a woman's days are accompanied by ailments and pains. A man, Baruch Hashem, is healthy most of the time, for his role is to delve into Torah, and if he were broken and sickly, how could he immerse himself in Torah properly? Not every person is like the Chazon Ish, who, despite being critically ill throughout his life, studied Torah with boundless toil. For most people this is exceedingly difficult, and therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, granted man physical strength.
With a woman, however - the very matter of her ritual impurity and purity, niddah, relates to madveh, an expression of illness: every month there is a period when a woman feels unwell. Beyond that, it is well known that women naturally feel physical distress more often than men: a headache here, not feeling well there, a bout of weakness, a lack of energy. A woman is naturally more frail. Why? Because a man attains his spiritual achievements through Torah study, which requires strength and vigor; but for a woman, closeness to God is attained primarily through prayer. And how can one pray properly? "Hashem is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those of crushed spirit." Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, yearns, as it were, for the prayer of women, and for this reason a woman is more physically vulnerable by nature - so that this brokenness of heart will lead her to closeness with God, to prayer, and through the power of that prayer, Hashem will be close to her.
Many Are the Afflictions of the Righteous - External Afflictions versus Internal Affliction
רַבּוֹת רָעוֹת צַדִּיק וּמִכֻּלָּם יַצִּילֶנּוּ יְהֹוָה׃ שֹׁמֵר כָּל עַצְמוֹתָיו אַחַת מֵהֵנָּה לֹא נִשְׁבָּרָה׃ - Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Hashem delivers him from them all. He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken.
One might recall an old acronym once offered for ra'ot (evils): Radio, Iton (newspaper), Video, Television. What an innocent era that was, that those were considered the great evils. One can only pity this generation, growing up amidst so many perils - the internet, social media, smartphones, and so forth. The yetzer hara has upgraded itself significantly since those times, and today one would have to find an entirely different acronym.
On a deeper level, however, Malbim explains: Illnesses have two distinct roots - internal illness and external illness. An internal illness is a single underlying malady that creates complications throughout the entire body. For example, a person whose pancreas malfunctions: he suffers from a problem with insulin and blood sugar, which triggers numerous complications - the eyes are damaged, God forbid, the legs are harmed, sometimes requiring amputation, alongside many other physical ailments. Similarly, one who suffers from a heart condition: it appears to be a single issue, yet it has widespread repercussions across the entire body. A breakdown in one of the fundamental systems of the body affects the whole body, even though its root is just one.
By contrast, afflictions that strike the exterior of the body can be numerous, yet they are not truly dangerous. For example, a person who has a rash or sores - on his hand, on his leg, and on his back: afflictions from many directions, yet despite all this, they do not bring down the body. There, it is a single affliction, but a dangerous one that can topple him completely; here, there are many afflictions, but they are not life-threatening.
And this is what King David says: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous" - the righteous person experiences many afflictions, but the Lord rescues him from them all. And why? "He protects all his bones, not one of them is broken" - because his afflictions are external. Even if they are many, on his hand, leg, and head, they do not collapse the body completely.
Evil Shall Slay the Wicked - The Single Affliction that Topples
תְּמוֹתֵת רָשָׁע רָעָה וְשֹׂנְאֵי צַדִּיק יֶאְשָׁמוּ׃ - Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
With the wicked person, a single evil slays him. "Temotet" is from the root meaning to kill: a single evil will finish him off. And why? Because with him, the evil is internal, in the very foundations of the body - like an illness in the heart, like lungs that do not function, like an inactive pancreas. It is just one affliction, but it brings down the entire body. Thus, the righteous person has many afflictions, but they are external, and that is his salvation - "and the Lord rescues him from them all"; whereas for the wicked, a single evil is enough, because it strikes at the root and foundations of the body, and what strikes at the foundations has no cure and will ultimately bring down the entire body.
A Chassidic Insight: "Ra'ot" (Evils) and "Re'ut" (Companionship)
The Rebbe of Lublin used to say homiletically that ra'ot has a double meaning: both from the word ra (evil, affliction) and from the word re'ut (friendship or companionship). It is very intriguing that in the Holy Tongue, the very same root letters are used for both something positive and something negative: ra (evil) and rea (friend). It has been explained that fundamentally, ra comes from the concept of being ra'ua (shaky, dismantled): in order to acquire a true friend (rea), you must dismantle (lero'ea) your superficial bonds with others, and only then can you acquire someone as a genuine companion. If you are a friend to everyone, you are truly a friend to no one. One needs a single true friend, and with the rest maintain friendly relations. And when we bless a bride and groom, "Gladden the beloved friends," the prerequisite is that he dismantle his casual ties with the guys and she with her friends, investing wholeheartedly in one another - then they will truly be "beloved companions." "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife"; but if everyone stays in the mix, one is not properly attached to anyone.
From here stems the wonderful explanation of the Rebbe of Lublin: "Many are the ra'ot of the righteous" - the righteous person, namely the Rebbe, has both ra'ot (afflictions) and re'ut (companionship). Either people quarrel with him, someone opposes him and protests against him - another tzaddik or another group seeking to dismiss his words, shame him, and humiliate him, as happened more than once or twice in history - or people flock to attach themselves to him, which is the aspect of re'ut (companionship). "And the Lord rescues him from them all" - and the Rebbe concluded: may the Lord rescue us from both of them! For both are difficult for a tzaddik. Being persecuted is certainly terrible; but when everyone seeks his companionship, the tzaddik wants to focus on his divine service, his time, and his solitude, yet now everyone comes to socialize with him. This disturbs his inner work, preventing him from utilizing his time for the service of Hashem, for Torah study, and for drawing close to God. From them all may the Lord rescue us - both from the ra'ot (afflictions) and from the re'ut (excessive companionship).
"Your Own Wickedness Shall Chastise You" - The Evil a Person Does Is What Slays Him
Rashi explains: "Evil shall slay the wicked" - the very evil that the wicked person commits is what slays him. This reflects the principle of "Your own wickedness shall chastise you": a person's suffering stems from his own wrongdoing. You created evil, you generated a destructive angel, and that destructive angel seeks to harm and draw its sustenance - from whom? From you, by afflicting you. The Holy One, blessed be He, in His abundant mercy sustains and nourishes that destructive angel, for if Hashem were to unleash upon us even one of the destructive forces we created, a person could not survive for a moment.
Whoever wishes can hear this explained at length in the shiurim on Tomer Devorah. This is what we recite every day: "Hashem, Hashem, God, merciful and gracious... forgiver of iniquity, transgression, and sin." What does "nosei" (forgiver) literally mean? It means "bearer" - as Ramak explains in Tomer Devorah: the Holy One, blessed be He, bears, nourishes, and sustains the destructive angel that you created, carrying it and waiting for you to repent. For if He did not carry and sustain it, that destructive force would come to draw life from you, demanding: "You created me, now feed and sustain me!" And how would it sustain itself? By harming you.
If so, what kills a person and what harms him? "Evil shall slay the wicked" - the very evil the wicked person committed is what slays him. "Your own wickedness shall chastise you." And as it is written: "A man's foolishness perverts his way, and his heart rages against the Lord." What causes you harm? Your own foolishness. The evil you did is what perverts your way, and then you come with complaints: "Master of the Universe, why did You do this to me?" Why what? Did I do it to you? You brought evil upon yourself; you acted contrary to what the Torah instructed you, and then you complain that things are not working out, complaining against the Holy One, blessed be He. It is against yourself that you ought to complain.
The Ibn Ezra explains: for the wicked person, the evil kills him instantly, and this stands in contrast to "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Hashem delivers him out of them all" - many evils befall the righteous, and even though they are many, Hashem saves him from them all; but for the wicked, a single evil finishes the story. From this you can see how much a person must cling to the service of Hashem.
The Radak explains: "Evil shall slay the wicked" - the very evil that the wicked person schemes to do to the righteous is what will kill him, as it is written: "He dug a pit, scooped it out, and fell into the trap he made" - he himself falls into the very pit he dug. And similarly with Haman: "And the gallows that he prepared for him," upon which Chazal expounded - he prepared it for himself. Haman is a classic example of many things: look whom he took care to send to the gallows in Achashverosh's palace - Vashti, with the intention that his own daughter would take her place and he would gain influence with the king. But the king did not take his daughter; he took Esther. Thus it turned out that he himself initiated his own downfall: he was the one who brought Esther into the royal palace, and as a result came his ruin. In this way, we see all along the way that the evil the wicked wished to inflict on the righteous is what ultimately destroys him.
The Afflictions of the Righteous Come Little by Little - The Words of Rabbeinu Yonah
In Sha'arei Teshuvah, Rabbeinu Yonah writes concerning "Evil shall slay the wicked": retribution falls upon the wicked all at once; they perish for a single sin, while the rest of their sins remain upon their soul. That is to say, do not think that with his death all his iniquities are wiped away; not at all, for it is written, "and their iniquities shall be upon their bones" - it remains engraved, and the principal awaits him in the World to Come, where he will still pay the full price for everything. But for the righteous, when chastisement comes upon them, it comes little by little until their sins are fully expiated: Hashem does not bring suffering upon them all at once, but gradually.
We once illustrated this with a parable of a king who became angry at his son. The son provoked him again and again, until the king said to him: "If you come here one more time, this boulder - a large decorative rock standing beside the palace - I will throw at your head!" And he swore to it. The son was terrified and no longer came to his father. One day, the king met the Jewish sage and said to him: "What shall I do? On one hand, I swore an oath, and on the other hand, my heart aches for my son and I want to see him, but I must fulfill my oath." And among them there is no parashah of vows or the laws of annulment - they never learned that topic, and the oath cannot be annulled.
Incidentally, the Ben Ish Chai relates a similar story about a Muslim man who told his wife to make him a cup of coffee, and if she did not finish preparing it before he finished eating his cake, he would divorce her. The woman rushed to make the coffee, but by the time she arrived, he had already finished the cake. Now he was bound to divorce her, yet on the other hand he did not have the heart to do so; nevertheless, he had sworn an oath. What was he to do? He went to ask the sage. The sage listened and said to him: "Check carefully below, perhaps crumbs fell while you were eating." He went and checked, and found several crumbs. The sage told him: "In that case, you have not finished the cake, and she is not divorced."
To return to our subject: the king said to the sage, "What shall I do? I swore concerning my son." The Jewish sage said to him, "What did you swear? To throw the rock at him. Must you take it whole and hurl it at him? Grind it into pieces, into gravel, and each time take a small pebble of gravel and toss it at him - and thereby you will have fulfilled your obligation." And this is what we ask: even if suffering is decreed upon us, let it not come in the form of severe illnesses; let them not throw heavy blocks at us, but rather gravel, a little suffering at a time. After all, the Gemara asks, what is the extent of afflictions? Even someone who reaches into his pocket to pull out one coin and pulls out another, so that he must reach in again - that too is considered affliction. Far better to have many small tribulations like these than harsh afflictions of illness, suffering in which a person is degraded and reaches dire conditions.
And this is what Rabbeinu Yonah says: when chastisement comes upon the righteous, it comes little by little until their sins are fully expiated; but upon the wicked, the Holy One, blessed be He, brings suffering in a single blow, and in this sense, "Evil shall slay the wicked," while the iniquity still remains upon him. The righteous person, on the other hand, is continually refined little by little, and through those small, gradual afflictions, he achieves purification.
Conclusion of the Psalm
פֹּדֶה יְהֹוָה נֶפֶשׁ עֲבָדָיו וְלֹא יֶאְשְׁמוּ כָּל הַחֹסִים בּוֹ׃ - Hashem redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him shall be condemned.
In summary: In these verses, King David contrasts the two forms of Providence: "The eyes of Hashem are toward the righteous" - personal Providence for good, wherein Hashem sees what they lack and hears their cry even when they cry out over what is truly for their ultimate good; and in contrast, "The face of Hashem is against those who do evil," against those who seek to cut off the remembrance of the righteous. The righteous cry out and Hashem saves them from all their troubles, and He is close to the brokenhearted due to external troubles and to the crushed in spirit whose distress is internal - and hence also the power of prayer that emanates from a broken heart. The afflictions of the righteous are many yet external, and therefore "He guards all his bones"; whereas for the wicked, a single evil, internal at its root and incurable, is enough, and the evil he committed or intended to inflict on the righteous is the very thing that slays him. The afflictions of the righteous come little by little to refine him, whereas the wicked perishes in a single blow while his iniquities still remain upon him. And over all this, David concludes: Hashem redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him shall be condemned.