Chapter 36 of Tehillim is, in the words of the Malbim, a psalm in which David HaMelech sets forth the arguments and temptations of the Yetzer, teaching us the way to confront it. This is not merely an abstract description of the wicked, but a battle map: what the Yetzer argues, where it comes from, and how to answer it.
לַמְנַצֵּחַ לְעֶבֶד־ה' לְדָוִד׃ - For the conductor, of the servant of Hashem, of David.
What is the meaning of "Lamnatzei'ach"? The Malbim explains: this is the way by which the servant of Hashem will defeat (yenatzei'ach) his adversary and turn the battle back to the gate, through wondrous and awesome words. In other words, the entire psalm comes to teach the way - how to confront that adversary.
נְאֻם־פֶּשַׁע לָרָשָׁע בְּקֶרֶב לִבִּי אֵין־פַּחַד אֱלֹהִים לְנֶגֶד עֵינָיו׃ - The declaration of transgression to the wicked is within my heart: there is no dread of God before his eyes.
The Malbim explains: "Within my heart" - deep within my own thoughts lies that "declaration of transgression to the wicked," meaning the arguments posited by transgression itself. The verse personifies sin as a speaking figure, and in today's terms we would call it the Yetzer Hara: an internal voice dwelling within us with an entire sermon and methods of persuasion - why to commit sins, why to abandon the Torah and mitzvos. And what is the speech it delivers? "There is no dread of God before his eyes."
To understand this speech, the Malbim introduces that regarding the mitzvos and warnings in general, there are two perspectives. Some say that the mitzvos are like a king issuing decrees to his servant: do this and refrain from that, and the servant is obligated to obey out of fear and awe of the king, without questioning why or how. This is what Hashem desired, and as a loyal servant, I fulfill His will. On the other hand, some say that all the mitzvos are like a doctor warning a patient what to do and what to avoid - meaning all the mitzvos are for our own benefit, and it is in your own best interest to heed the doctor's instructions; if you do not listen, you only punish yourself. If you do not take the medication, you will bear the consequences.
The Zohar Hakadosh defines the 613 mitzvos as "Taryag Itin" - 613 pieces of advice. A doctor comes and tells you: take this medication and it will be good for you, you will heal, and you will live properly. Today, this is abundantly clear. One only needs to look outside and see how people live without Torah - if one can even call that living - to understand that these are the best pieces of advice and remedies available, even without mentioning the World to Come. Even if we were never told about the World to Come: how should one live properly here in this world? How can a person have peace with his wife? With his children? How should he raise his children? In what way can he live a life where he does not run wild and grab whatever he can get his hands on, but rather enjoys the world in balanced measures that do not lead to self-destruction? The entire Torah consists of 613 pieces of advice on how to build a good, wholesome life, and how to build a healthy society.
Whoever wishes can compare the observant community to general society - in terms of interpersonal relationships, basic attitude, and a thousand other aspects. Who could leave piles of orange bags on the street in Tel Aviv alongside a tzedakah box, with a sign saying that each bag costs such-and-such and to put the money in the box? You could leave it there, but afterwards you wouldn't even find the box. In Bnei Brak, it has worked this way for years. Go to the large shtieblach and you will see crates of fruit with a tzedakah box chained to a pillar (chained, because there are still wrongdoers), and people come, take, pay, and go on their way. This is just one example of elevated morality - and where does it come from, if not from the holy Torah? Know that there are companies in the economy whose only clientele they accept checks from is the Chareidi community; they will not accept them from anyone else. This shows that the Torah is 613 pieces of advice.
According to the second approach, then, it is not merely the status of a servant fulfilling the decree of a king; rather, the mitzvos are for our benefit, and one must observe them if he desires life - not only there, in the next world, but here. Do you want a good life? Keep and fulfill the Torah and mitzvos. It has often been noted: for someone who feels that one can live, run wild, and do whatever he pleases, that ends at a certain age. Until age thirty or thirty-five, he is still partying. Afterwards, he begins to grow older and see what he is left with. What does he have from all those he partied with? He has no children, he has nothing. Then he starts looking - and what he finds is no longer quite what he wanted, due to age, and he also wants children. Until forty or forty-five he is still searching, and afterwards he realizes it is already too late. Then a person grows old without a wife, without children, without a family, and dies alone. Ask him: is it worthwhile to listen to the Torah? You thought you had a blast between fifteen and thirty - but while you were partying, the other fellow went ahead, married, and built a home, and you said of him: he took on the burden of a mortgage and a wife tying him down. In other words, you thought you were wiser than the Torah. Let us see what happens a bit later. Reality changes completely as people age: that other person invites you every year to a wedding, a bar mitzvah, a bris of a son, a grandson, a great-grandson - while this one sits solitary and lonely in his home. Well, isn't it worthwhile to listen to the Torah? "At eighteen to the chupah" is good advice. It is neither prison nor servitude - it is good advice. The Torah gives 613 pieces of advice.
Now the yetzer hara comes along and argues against both conceptions at once. Against the first view - that everything is a matter of the King's command, and whoever deviates from His word receives punishment - transgression argues: "There is no dread of God before his eyes." What are you afraid of - Gehinnom? Has anyone ever been there? Has anyone returned from there? Have you ever seen such a thing? "Before his eyes" - do you actually see a fearsome God with your own eyes? Do you see punishment? There is neither judgment nor reckoning, so what are you afraid of?
And why indeed does this claim gain traction? The Malbim explains based on the words of King Solomon: "Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily." The wicked person celebrates for a long time before Heaven exacts retribution from him; Hashem does not bring retribution upon him immediately, nor is it carried out openly and swiftly before human eyes. From this, he denies retribution, reward, and punishment: A servant? Is there punishment? And if you do good, will the Master reward you? Who was there? Who ever saw reward? Who ever saw punishment? With this, he undermines everything. This is the utterance of transgression against those who maintain that we are like servants before the Holy One, blessed be He.
כִּי־הֶחֱלִיק אֵלָיו בְּעֵינָיו לִמְצֹא עֲוֺנוֹ לִשְׂנֹא׃ - "For it smoothed the path before him in his eyes, concerning finding his iniquity to hate it."
This is the claim of the evil inclination against the second conception: that the mitzvos of the Torah and its warnings are for man's benefit and well-being, and reason agrees with them because only through them can a person have a good life in this world. Against this, "it smoothed [the path] before him in his eyes" - the Malbim explains that it levels the mountains and makes them smooth. There is a mountain here, and the yetzer comes, flattens it, and paves your path: there is no mountain here at all, only a flat plain. And what does it seek to demonstrate by this? That supposedly logic and practical reason do not compel one at all to perform mitzvos or refrain from sins. "To find his iniquity to hate it" - why do you even need to hate sin? What is so bad about it? Why must it necessarily corrupt you?
And this is precisely what one hears today from psychologists and supposedly enlightened people: What is so bad? Some people live this way and others live that way; there are all sorts of lifestyles. A person might actually need to live openly; restrictions are neither good nor healthy for the psyche; these are inhibitions, a person needs to liberate himself - and other such expressions, as though reason proves that this is how one ought to behave. Yet we all know and see to what lowest level these people sink, and just how much this mindset has truly advanced them.
The Malbim defines: The first claim, which argued that there is no World to Come and nothing to fear, stems from theoretical reason. Matters of faith and Divine Providence are matters of the intellect, requiring human contemplation and reflection; against them, the yetzer comes with counterfeit theoretical proofs: Look, a wicked person does evil, and nothing happens to him.
It is told of Rav Yisrael Salanter that he once arrived at an inn and saw a Jew he had known as God-fearing, but who was now clean-shaven and had completely abandoned Judaism. He asked him, "What happened to you?" The man replied, "Honored Rabbi, a man came here and said, 'If there is a Creator of the universe, let me choke right now.' He took out pork and began eating, ate to his heart's content, and nothing happened to him." Rav Yisrael Salanter saw what a low spiritual level the man was on, that someone eating pork could shatter his faith - a faith the size of a sesame seed. He therefore decided to speak to him on his own level. At that moment, the man's daughter arrived, proudly waving a diploma showing she had completed her music studies and received a master's degree. Rav Yisrael Salanter said to her, "Very nice, but could you play a piece right now to show that you truly know how to play? There is a piano right here." The daughter was deeply offended: "What do you mean? I studied, and there are examiners - not on your level, but master musicians who evaluated me and declared me an expert. And now I should sit and play for you to prove it? Is anyone going to tell me 'play,' and I should walk around with a flute and perform tunes for everyone just so they see that I know how and that I studied?"
Rav Yisrael Salanter said to him: "Do you understand your daughter's logic? She speaks with great sense. Why then do you not understand this yourself? The Holy One, blessed be He, already gave His proofs over three thousand years ago, at Mount Sinai. There Hashem revealed Himself, and these are matters that can be proven; one cannot forge and plant such an account in history. What do you expect - that for every heretic and deviant, Hashem should now perform a miracle and choke him? Does the Holy One, blessed be He, dance to his flute? 'Master of the Universe, let us see You' - and whenever someone calls out like that, Hashem must immediately respond? Hashem has already proven His power. And as for someone who wishes to persist - the Holy One, blessed be He, has time, and He will exact retribution from him when the time comes; it does not have to be instantaneous. Thus, the claim of the yetzer, that one can prove through theoretical demonstrations that there is nothing, cannot be substantiated at all."
The second claim, the Malbim continues, comes from practical reason: You define something as good - the yetzer says to you, who says it is good? You define something as bad - it tells you, practically speaking, I argue it is not bad. Like the examples we brought from our own times, where regarding all sorts of things that we know to be outright Torah prohibitions, it tells you: What is so bad about this? A person is living freely, what is wrong with that? In this manner, in the words of the Malbim, the yetzer sets out to "overlay an earthen vessel with silver dross" - to wrap the matter in attractive cellophane and tell you: Look, this is beautiful. The evil within is concealed, and there is no wrongdoing in what one does. Through this, it encourages a person to do evil and turn away from good.
The Radak cites here a drash from Midrash Shocher Tov: The wicked look with their eyes, search with their hands, and contemplate in their hearts to find some sin that the Holy One, Blessed be He, hates - specifically so that they may commit it. Do you hear this? What can be done to provoke the Holy One, Blessed be He? And so it says: "For every abomination to Hashem, which He hates, they have done to their gods." To bring an idol into the Sanctuary - you build a Sanctuary, and inside the Sanctuary of all places, you place it, purely to provoke Him. This is the meaning of "For it flatters him in his eyes, until his iniquity is found out and hated": all their actions are directed toward doing things that Hashem hates, specifically to anger Him.
דִּבְרֵי־פִיו אָוֶן וּמִרְמָה חָדַל לְהַשְׂכִּיל לְהֵיטִיב׃ - The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit; he has ceased to be wise and to do good.
After describing the whisper of transgression and its arguments within a person's heart, David says: when examining these matters, it becomes clear that "the words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit." The proofs he brings and the evidence he presents are entirely fraudulent and false. And the arguments he raises from the perspective of practical intellect - who says this mitzvah is good, and who says doing good leads to good? - stem from the fact that his heart is filled with iniquity, and therefore every evil seems good in his eyes.
Consider an example from our own times. People of wickedness oppose any requirement, even the most minimal, for separation and modesty, or any request for women to adhere to basic standards of dress. Why? Because a person is licentious, and within that mud and mire, it is far more comfortable for him to see people walking around that way. His stance does not stem from "women's rights" or "freedom"; it comes because he is a person of lust, immersed in his desires, and so he wants the public sphere to look that way, because that is what he wants to see, and that is where he is holding. This is what King David means: the flaw they see in good things stems from the iniquity within them. His heart is full of iniquity, so every evil seems good to him, because the evil fits his agenda perfectly. One wants to act wickedly - and when wickedness spreads throughout the world, the possibilities become far more open. Therefore, they want to increase wickedness. If anyone dares to remark to someone about improper attire, all the righteous-seeming hypocrites immediately raise an outcry. What alarms them so much? That people might begin to dress modestly - and then where will they satisfy their lusts?
There was a story about a woman who boarded a flight from Eilat to Tel Aviv, dressed in a way that, Heaven have mercy, was completely immodest. There was no seat left in the passenger cabin; the only available seat was in the cockpit. They told her that if she wished, she could sit there, but she needed to cover up properly and put something on. Immediately, an uproar erupted in the media: "Did you see that? The Chareidi pilot refused to fly the passenger until she dressed modestly!" What a commotion. But someone who was actually on that flight recounted: I do not understand what everyone is shouting about; the pilot in question was a Druze. Because they were seating her inside the cockpit, they told her beforehand - and it was not even the Druze pilot who spoke, but the other Israeli pilot: There is a Druze pilot here; do not offend his sensitivities. If you want to sit inside, put something on. And that was the whole story. Yet instantly the cries arose: "Religious coercion!" "The Chareidim are taking over!" "They are dictating how we dress, and tomorrow they will force us onto separate sidewalks, Heaven forbid!" Understand this: when a person is corrupted by his lusts, he wants those lusts to permeate everywhere. This is David's point: "The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit" - because his heart is full of iniquity, the words of his mouth are iniquity as well.
And here King David says: "He has ceased to be wise and to do good." That person who presents intellectual arguments - claiming that rationally a person should do whatever he desires and live freely, and that everything else is merely an inhibition - is not arguing from intellect at all. He "has ceased to be wise": had he used his intellect honestly, he would have found the truth. And why did his intellect go astray? Because he "ceased to do good." Had he truly desired to improve his ways, he would see how true these words are. But because he has ceased to do good, he says: Give the children a smartphone; what is wrong with them seeing everything and being exposed to the world? Do you want them to be sheltered and limited? When a person ceases to do good, he no longer understands what is good, and so he begins to praise precisely what is harmful: "Look how wonderful! The teacher asked a question and he answered immediately." In truth, the opposite is true - you have only shown that the child has become helpless, needing Google for every question that arises. In the past, people still used their minds; today, if you ask a child to calculate three times four, he says, "Wait a second," and pulls out his smartphone. The brain has atrophied, minds have dried up, and today even psychologists acknowledge this. But this is the "whisper of transgression to the wicked" - because he is wicked, he feels comfortable with lawlessness and moral abandonment all around him. And only when you try to build a fence and stand in the breach does he bring psychological arguments that it is harmful to "cage" a child and far better to give him openness.
אָוֶן יַחְשֹׁב עַל־מִשְׁכָּבוֹ יִתְיַצֵּב עַל־דֶּרֶךְ לֹא־טוֹב רָע לֹא יִמְאָס׃ - He devises iniquity upon his bed; he sets himself upon a way that is not good; he does not abhor evil.
By nature, man was created with an innate moral sense, desiring to do good and abhorring evil. If so, why is it different here? Because "he devises iniquity upon his bed": since all his thoughts are consumed with iniquity, he ultimately chooses evil and rejects the good. Everything begins in thought, and from thought he already "sets himself upon a way that is not good." And because he never seeks the truth nor strives to do good, this sprouts in his heart a root bearing gall and wormwood, until "he does not abhor evil" - even vile things no longer disgust him or seem bad to him. He calls evil good and good evil; he has become so twisted by the iniquitous thoughts within him that good appears evil and evil appears good.
Anyone who looks can see this madness all around us: those who are far from Torah and mitzvos, who constantly warn of "religious coercion," have turned good things into evil and evil things into good. It is chilling for anyone who reflects upon it. In the past, there was still some basic morality; the founding generation still grew up in homes where they saw something of value - but today, nothing remains.