Introduction: The Final Section of the Psalm
In this section of Psalm 39, we arrive at the conclusion of the psalm. Dovid HaMelech, who opened with a question and inquiry into the essence of man - the soul and the body, which one prevails over the other, and what man's purpose is in his world - reaches here the answer and the prayer that stems from it. We will go through the verses in order, citing the explanations of Rashi, the Radak, and the Malbim.
"And Now, What Do I Hope For?" - What Is There to Hope For in This World?
וְעַתָּה מַה קִּוִּיתִי אֲדֹנָי תּוֹחַלְתִּי לְךָ הִיא׃ - And now, what do I hope for, my Lord? My expectation is for You.
Rashi explains: "What do I hope for" - what is the request I ask and yearn for from You? The answer is in the next verse: "Save me from all my transgressions." This, as it were, is all I have to hope and look forward to from Hashem.
The Radak explains according to his approach, that Dovid is describing a situation of illness: I am now in my illness, and I have no hope from anyone else. I do not place my hope in doctors nor in any person to help me, but rather "my expectation is for You" - You alone are the One Who will heal me.
The Malbim continues along the same line with which the psalm opened, addressing the question of man's role in his world. If "man walks in an image," in the image of God, and man is required to make the spiritual image rule over physical reality, over his nature and character traits - to make the soul rule over the body - then what do I have to hope for in this world? Here is not the place of happiness, and here is not the place of hope. "My expectation is for You" - the expectation is for the place where I come close to You, which is the World to Come.
Thus says the Ramchal: The Holy One, blessed is He, is the perfection of goodness, and the nature of good is to bestow good; therefore, He wished to give man the greatest possible good. And what is the greatest good? Life in the World to Come. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed is He, says to man: Come and work here in this world, and the place of delight and reward is there. Dovid arrives at that very same conclusion: What further hope do I have here from this world? All my expectation is only for You, for the realm of the World to Come.
This is truly the expectation of the tzaddikim, the good hidden away for them. They have no hopes for possessions and worldly success; their aspiration is closeness to God, that their soul should return to be bound in the bundle of life beneath the Throne of Glory, in the aspect of "tzaddikim sit with their crowns on their heads and bask in the radiance of the Shechinah," pointing and saying, "Behold, this is our God; we hoped for Him."
If So - Why Does the Tzaddik Ask to Remain in This World?
If the entire aspiration of the tzaddik is closeness to God, and in this world he is only distanced, why does he want so badly to remain here? After all, with Moshe Rabbeinu, when his time came, the soul waged struggles with the Angel of Death and did not want to die. The answer: because here, and only here, can one acquire life in the World to Come. The soul does not want to stay for the pleasures of this world - not for another steak and another physical craving - but because it knows that here is the place of acquisition.
To what may this be compared? A person was sitting on an airplane in economy class, cramped and crowded, with babies crying and unpleasant conditions. He turned to the flight attendant and asked to move to first class. She told him: "My friend, that is a different price." He said to her: "No problem, I will pay the difference." She said: "It is another hundred dollars." He said: "No problem, I will pay." She told him: "Yes, but there is one problem - tickets are bought on the ground." In the same way, a person must understand: tickets are bought down below. Up above, there is nothing more that can be done; "If a man were to give all the wealth of his house" - it would be utterly scorned. Therefore, the tzaddik insists on remaining here, because only here can one attain greater closeness to God as a "walker" who progresses; up above, it is already the eternal freezing of one's state.
Thus: "What do I hope for?" - what is there for me to hope from this lower world, which is nothing more than an antechamber to the World Above? But man does have something to look forward to: eternal life, and this is the hope of the righteous.
Precision of Language: "Kiviti" versus "Tochalati"
The Malbim analyzes the precise wording of the verse. Kiviti ("I hoped") is used for something uncertain - whether it will happen or not. When a person says "I hope," it often implies that it likely will not occur; at any rate, it refers to something unknown. In contrast, tochelet (an earnest longing or yearning) refers to something that is certain to arrive, and the person yearns for it to finally come. There is abundant proof for this from Yeshayahu, Michah, and other places where the Malbim follows this same line of reasoning. Therefore: "And now, what do I hope for?" - the matters of this world are a hope that who knows if it will be fulfilled; but eternity - "my longing is for You," and it will certainly come.
Notice also: "What do I hope for, Adonai?" - it is written with the name of mastership (Adonut) rather than the Tetragrammaton (Havayah), and this too supports the Malbim's explanation. The expression of Adonut always relates to the aspect of the Shechinah, the lower realm, the sefirah of Malchut; the letters of Adonai spell Dina (judgment), as Malchut is associated with strict justice. Thus: "What do I hope for?" - what is there for me to hope from this lower world? "My longing is for You" - to Hashem, blessed be He, to cling to Him. This is the true yearning worth striving for, and it will surely be fulfilled.
"Deliver Me from All My Transgressions"
מִכׇּל פְּשָׁעַי הַצִּילֵנִי חֶרְפַּת נָבָל אַל תְּשִׂימֵנִי׃ - Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the vile.
The Radak explains: the cause of sickness and pain is sin. Therefore, I ask of the Master of the Universe to save me from transgressions - meaning, to atone for them - and then I will not need to suffer and will not be sick. "Make me not the reproach of the vile" - as we saw above, the scoundrel would come as if to visit David, "while the wicked is before me," pretending to share in his distress and care for him; but upon leaving, he would speak ill: let David go, let him die already, when will he finally leave us? And when the Holy One, blessed be He, brings illness upon him, it becomes a justification for the scoundrel's claims: look here, David is wicked and therefore he suffers. David therefore pleads: do not prolong my illness, for by doing so You allow the scoundrel to taunt me, and I become the reproach of the vile - he remains healthy and whole while I am a man of pains.
The Malbim explains in his characteristic way: man's purpose is to make the spirit rule over the body, and so David asks that materiality not rule over the spirit, that its desires and cravings not overpower the soul that pulls toward spirituality. "Make me not the reproach of the vile" - so that I will not become like the villain who suffers eternal disgrace and reproach. For if the physical force takes control, man is drawn after his lusts and loses eternity. Therefore: "Deliver me from all my transgressions" - do not let the body dominate the soul; help me overcome physical pull, so that I will not be reproached like the vile forever. And through conquering the body, my soul will serve Hashem and I will merit to be illuminated with the light of life.
"I Was Mute, I Did Not Open My Mouth"
נֶאֱלַמְתִּי לֹא אֶפְתַּח פִּי כִּי אַתָּה עָשִׂיתָ׃ - I was mute, I did not open my mouth, for You have done it.
The Radak explains: I have no one against whom to cry foul over my sorrow and pain. This does not come from human hands, such that I could blame this person or that person, and therefore I was mute. And perhaps I might complain against the Holy One, blessed be He? To this he says: even toward Heaven, "I was mute, I did not open my mouth, for You have done it." Hashem's judgment is a judgment of righteousness, and if He has done this to me, it is a sign that I deserve it because of my transgressions. Whom, then, do I have to blame? Only myself.
The implication is that had his illness come at the hands of a person, he would have had grounds to protest. This fits the Radak's consistent approach, following the view of those Rishonim who maintain that an agent of free will has the power to harm someone even if it was not decreed upon him; part of human free will - whether to perform mitzvot or commit transgressions - is also whether to harm one's fellow or not. On the other hand, we have accepted the approach of the Vilna Gaon and many others, including the author of Chovot HaLevavot, that no creature has the power to harm a person unless it has been decreed upon him, as our Sages said: "A person does not touch what is prepared for his fellow by even a hairsbreadth," and "A person does not stub his finger below unless it is proclaimed above." Everything is under complete Divine providence. Yet according to the Radak's approach: had they harmed me, I would have had a complaint against them - why did you choose evil to harm me? But now that the illness comes from Hashem, I am mute and do not open my mouth, for it comes because of my sins, and I am the one to blame.
The Malbim explains that "I was mute" refers back to the question with which the psalm opened. David began by noting that he had an inquiry regarding the soul and the body: which one prevails, what is man required to do in his life, and why did Hashem create such a complex reality of soul and body? At first, he was afraid to speak, lest he say things that are improper toward Heaven when probing the Divine, and therefore "I was mute with silence." And now he says: I have become mute from questioning, I will not open my mouth anymore - for it has already become clear to me that "You have done it."
And here the Malbim offers a wonderful explanation: all the works of Creation relate to physical reality. For example, regarding plant life - "Let the earth bring forth grass"; certainly Hashem acts throughout all of reality, but in practice it was accomplished through the earth, through the physical realm. Yet there is one thing that Hashem made Himself - "and souls I have made." Therefore, David says: "I was mute, I do not open my mouth, for You have done it." I no longer open my mouth in question, because it has become clear to me that man's creation is not like the creation of domestic animals, beasts, and all material things that were created through the power of the earth; the spiritual reality within me You have made, and for the purpose that my soul, which is a portion of God from Above, should establish its spirit's dominion over the body - "in an image man walks." This is the ultimate purpose, and through this I have already received an answer to the inquiry that troubled me.
"Remove Your plague from me"
הָסֵר מֵעָלַי נִגְעֶךָ מִתִּגְרַת יָדְךָ אֲנִי כָלִיתִי׃ - Remove Your plague from me; from the blow of Your hand, I perish.
Therefore, I ask that You remove from me the things that hinder me from achieving this purpose, which is closeness to God, the service of Hashem, and the spiritual reality of reward in the World to Come. Remove the plagues that attack the body and disable me from attaining perfection, for as long as the soul is in the body, it feels everything that the body undergoes: illness, cold, heat, and the like.
"From the blow of Your hand, I perish" - from the strike of afflictions and illness I waste away, in the sense of destruction. And David says: it is not merely that they harm the body - that I could still bear, for the body is perishable, destined to remain in the grave, and is not the ultimate purpose; rather, it consumes the soul as well. For when a person is physically broken, he also breaks emotionally. We see this with people - may Hashem protect us, and may no one know any trouble - who have experienced a car accident and lie in the hospital with a broken body: the great tragedy is when the spirit breaks, when the person sinks into depression, sorrow, and despair. Indeed, today healing is often aided through medical clowns and the like, whose role is to uplift the spirit and give a person hope and the will to live.
And we have already mentioned several times the words of Shlomo: "The spirit of a man will sustain his illness, but a broken spirit, who can bear?" A sick person whose spirit is strong - his spirit will sustain his illness and bring him to recovery; the spirit has the power to heal the body. But a crushed spirit - a healthy body does not have the power to strengthen it. A person can be completely sound in body yet be depressed and living on pills. The body cannot carry the spirit, but the spirit certainly can carry the body. Today, this is also proven medically. If so, David says: my complaint is not about the breaking of my body in and of itself, but rather that the breaking of the body leads to depression and brings a person to a state where he is prevented from performing mitzvos, and the brokenness of the body drags down his spiritual stature.
Two Types of Plagues: Natural and Providential
The Malbim explains that plagues are of two types. The first type consists of natural plagues, arising from man's condition of vulnerability to illness: winter illnesses and other sorts of diseases. This is the nature of the physical world, stemming from the multiplicity of elements within man. The ancients spoke extensively about how illness stems from the predominance of one of the humors - four or five bodily humors: when a person has a fever, the red humor surges within him; and when he is depressed, the black humor. The surging of one humor creates disease and a physiological change in the human body.
Thus, illness is caused, if we may define it so, by "internal conflicts." When everything is in order, the heart works in harmony with all the organs of the body and pumps blood to all of them without issue, the lungs supply oxygen everywhere, and so forth. The Malbim defines this elsewhere as peace among all the foundations of the body, and this is the meaning of "and you are in peace." When there is peace among the foundations of the body, everything flows smoothly. An organ that you do not feel is functioning properly; when you begin to feel your shoulder, it is a sign that there is a problem there. And what is the problem? For example, lack of oxygen to the brain, a blood clot, and all kinds of problems stemming from a lack of peace among the foundations of the body - that there is strife among the internal organs and one does not supply the other with what is needed. This is natural illness, and this is "from the blow of Your hand" - tigrah being related to strife: since I am composed of many parts that at times experience strife among themselves, this causes a person to fall into illness and natural harm.
"With rebukes for iniquity You discipline man" - Providential Plagues
בְּתוֹכָחוֹת עַל עָוֺן יִסַּרְתָּ אִישׁ וַתֶּמֶס כָּעָשׁ חֲמוּדוֹ אַךְ הֶבֶל כׇּל אָדָם סֶלָה׃ - With rebukes for iniquity You discipline a man, and consume his desires like a moth; surely all mankind is vanity, Selah.
In contrast to natural illnesses, there is also suffering that comes through Divine Providence - afflictions and punishments whose purpose is to bring a person back in repentance, and this is what this verse addresses. Here we are dealing with external afflictions, not from nature, but brought upon a person from without by the Holy One, blessed be He. And these afflictions "melt away his desires like a moth" - "his desire" (chamudo) refers to a person's body, and they dissolve and consume it just as a moth consumes the garment it devours.
"Surely all mankind is vanity, Selah" - it turns out that man does not attain the purpose for which he was created. For he suffers both from natural illnesses - "Remove Your plague from me; by the blow of Your hand I am consumed," which bring me to ruin, so that I cannot engage in spiritual matters because I am preoccupied with my physical ailments - and also from "rebukes for iniquity," meaning external afflictions that are not inherent bodily illnesses, but external damage brought upon me. The Malbim distinguishes between "rebuked" and "disciplined": rebuke is mostly through words, whereas "You discipline a man" refers to chastisement with actual afflictions, causing him pain through illness and the like. All of this causes a person not to attain his purpose and not to draw close to Hashem properly, being constantly occupied with healing his body.
Rashi explains: "With rebukes for iniquity You discipline a man" - with the rebukes written in the Torah for sins, You have disciplined us; what You wrote, You brought upon us. We corrupted our ways, and thereby we receive these punishments. "You melt away his desires like a moth" - our flesh rots like a garment eaten by a moth. And Rashi explains "his desires" (chamudo) - his flesh, which is his cherished desire.
And what is a person's cherished desire? Whom does he love most? Himself. In truth, the Torah does not demand that a person should not love himself - one who does not love himself is a masochist. On the contrary, a person must love himself and desire the very best for himself, and the very best is closeness to God, doing the will of Hashem, and the reward of the World to Come. That is why Chazal said regarding "Love your fellow as yourself": the Torah demands that you love your fellow just as you love yourself. It follows that man's "cherished desire" is his flesh, his very self, and through suffering, "You melt away his desires like a moth." "Surely all mankind is vanity, Selah" - his existence here in this world becomes vanity, and he fails to achieve his purpose. And "Selah," as the Malbim always explains, signifies the conclusion of the topic.
"Hear My Prayer" - A Stranger and a Resident
שִׁמְעָה תְפִלָּתִי יְהֹוָה וְשַׁוְעָתִי הַאֲזִינָה אֶל דִּמְעָתִי אַל תֶּחֱרַשׁ כִּי גֵר אָנֹכִי עִמָּךְ תּוֹשָׁב כְּכׇל אֲבוֹתָי׃ - "Hear my prayer, Hashem, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears, for I am a stranger with You, a resident like all my fathers."
The Malbim explains that prayer is the outpouring of the soul, where a person's soul pours itself out, drawing near and yearning to connect to God. As noted earlier, the word tefillah (prayer) is related to petilah (a wick) or naftulei Elokim niftalti ("twisted struggles"), denoting connection - that in prayer a person binds himself to his Creator. On the other hand, "and give ear to my cry" reflects the aspect of crying out for salvation right now. "Do not be silent at my tears" - for Chazal said that the gates of tears are never locked, and tears arouse heavenly compassion.
And the justification: "For I am a stranger with You, a resident like all my fathers." Man is composed of two parts: body and soul. From the perspective of the soul - "I am with You"; I am part of You, a portion of God from Above. And what am I here in this world? Merely a stranger. This is not my true place, for the soul was hewn from beneath the Throne of Glory and belongs to the celestial realms; here it is merely a temporary resident. However, "a resident like all my fathers" - from the perspective of the body, I am a permanent resident and not a stranger. A stranger is temporary, while a resident is permanent, an established dweller. On the physical level, I am here by virtue of my forebears, for man exists in this world simply by being born to his ancestors.
And what happens in this struggle? The permanent resident overpowers the stranger, since the resident is permanent while the stranger is temporary. The body is deeply rooted here "like all my fathers," while the soul is here merely as a guest - and this causes the body to prevail and bodily desires to overpower spiritual yearning.
"Hear" vs. "Give Ear"
The Malbim explains in several places that when two matters are mentioned together, the primary subject is expressed through the term of hearing (shemiah), while the secondary subject is expressed through the term of listening or giving ear (ha'azanah). This is the opposite of the common assumption that ha'azanah is stronger than shemiah; the Malbim states the reverse: shemiah is stronger, while ha'azanah is lesser. And prayer is greater in importance than a cry of distress (shav'ah). Therefore, with regard to prayer he asks, "Hear (shim'ah) my prayer," for hearing is greater; and with regard to the lesser cry of distress he asks, "Give ear (ha'azinah)," as giving ear is relatively lesser.
"Turn Your Gaze from Me, That I May Recover"
הָשַׁע מִמֶּנִּי וְאַבְלִיגָה בְּטֶרֶם אֵלֵךְ וְאֵינֶנִּי׃ - Turn away Your gaze from me, that I may recover my strength, before I go and am no more.
Radak explains: "Turn away from me" (hashe'a mimeni) - ease off me, remove the afflictions from me, do not continue to afflict me with illnesses. "That I may recover strength" (ve'avligah) - and through this I will regain strength and recover. Lehavlig is an expression of strengthening; when we say of someone who was insulted that he "held back" (hivlig), the meaning is that he strengthened himself to withstand what was said to him and restrained himself from uttering a word. Thus: remove the afflictions from me so that I may recover from illness, and then I will return to doing Your will. I have come to realize that my sins were the cause of the illness, and therefore I ask You for forgiveness and healing before I go to the grave and am no more, so that I may fulfill Your will.
For this world, Radak notes, is the world of action, while the World to Come is the world of reward, as it is written: "For there is no action, reckoning, knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol, where you are going." And Chazal expounded on the verse, "which I command you today" - today to perform them, and tomorrow to receive their reward; there, there is no action, only the receiving of reward. Therefore, "before I go and am no more" does not mean that I will cease to exist, but rather that I will no longer be able to accomplish anything. Remove the illness from me, that I may regain strength and heal, and be able to serve You properly before I depart, for afterward I will no longer be able to do so.
The Malbim explains "Turn away from me" (hashe'a mimeni) - turn the afflictions away from me, in line with Radak's words. And according to what he explained earlier, that the body is a permanent resident while the soul is merely a temporary stranger, this itself is the premise of the plea: Master of the Universe, remove the afflictions from me, for my reality is that the body dominates because it is the permanent resident. As it were, You placed within me bodily forces stronger than the forces of the soul, and if so, it is not fitting to punish me so severely for this, when my sins stem merely from the pull of the body, which is the stronger entity, making it exceedingly difficult to overcome the surge of physical desires. Therefore, "turn away from me" the afflictions, "that I may recover strength" - and on my part, I will strive to fortify myself against worldly desires and against the evil inclination.
"Before I go and am no more" - the Malbim explains: Afflictions halt me from attaining perfection and prevent me from Your service, and consequently I will not rectify what I am meant to complete. Therefore, remove the afflictions from me, so that I may attain wholeness in the service of Hashem and merit eternity.
In summary: In this part of the psalm, King David arrives at the conclusion of his inquiry: there is nothing to hope for from this world, for "my hope is in You" - everything is directed toward eternity, toward closeness to God, which is the hope of the righteous, and it can only be acquired here in the world of action. Therefore he asks, "Deliver me from all my transgressions," that the body not overpower the soul; "I was struck dumb, I did not open my mouth, because You did it" - once it became clear to him that the soul is the handiwork of the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, he no longer had any complaints; and finally he prays that afflictions be removed from him, whether the natural ones that stem from the "strife" between the bodily elements or the providential ones that come as rebuke for sin, for the breaking of the body brings about a broken spirit and prevents man from fulfilling his purpose. "For I am a stranger with You, a resident like all my fathers" - the body is a permanent resident and the soul is a temporary stranger, and therefore David asks for assistance to prevail: "that I may recover strength before I go and am no more," in order to attain perfection in the service of Hashem and merit eternity.