Chapter 48 is the song of the Beis HaMikdash and Jerusalem: a depiction of a miraculous salvation in which the kings of the nations rose up against Jerusalem and were shattered before they could reach it. In this part of the psalm, we arrive at its great transition: from the Divine conduct seen within the Sanctuary - the conduct of chesed (lovingkindness) - to the conduct revealed outward, to the ends of the earth - the conduct of din (strict justice) and tzedek (righteous judgment). From here, we will proceed to the joy and jubilation of Zion and the daughters of Judah, to the call to encircle Zion and count its towers, until the grand conclusion: "For this is God, our God, forever and ever."
דִּמִּינוּ אֱלֹהִים חַסְדֶּךָ בְּקֶרֶב הֵיכָלֶךָ׃ (י) - We envisioned, O God, Your lovingkindness in the midst of Your Sanctuary.
Radak, as well as Rashi, explain diminu in the sense of thought - like imagining or pondering in one's mind. We thought in our hearts, as the nations came to wage war against us, that Your lovingkindness which is in the midst of Your Sanctuary is what would save us. Hashem's kindness in His Sanctuary would protect us and rescue us.
This is akin to what we find when the prophet warned that the enemies were destined to come, and the people answered him: "The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are they" - do not worry, the Holy One, blessed be He, is in His Sanctuary; He will not allow His House to be destroyed, nor will He permit the enemies to enter. Similarly, it is written: "who believed not that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem" - so Jerusalem said. They were certain no adversary or enemy would enter here, and therefore thought they could continue sinning, with no need to be alarmed by rabbis who "always love to frighten people." In their days too, there were false prophets - do not think this is a modern media invention. There were always those who made sure to reassure the people, telling them that everything would be fine, that nothing bad would happen, and that there was no need to heed the prophets. This is what they said: "We thought, O God, of Your lovingkindness in the midst of Your Sanctuary" - we assumed we possessed lovingkindness in the Sanctuary of Hashem, and that Hashem would surely save us.
Radak brings an additional explanation: diminu is an expression of waiting and hoping, as in "Wait (dommu) until we come to you" (I Samuel 14:9), which means wait until we reach you. According to this: we waited and hoped that God, whose lovingkindness resides in the midst of His Sanctuary, would save us.
The Malbim explains diminu from the root of demut (form) and mental imagery. We had no mental image or concept of judgment and retribution, only lovingkindness. That is to say: when we were with the Holy One, blessed be He, in the Beis HaMikdash, we saw from Him only acts of chesed - "Your lovingkindness in the midst of Your Sanctuary." We never saw a manifestation of judgment there, but rather a constant flow of benevolence within the Sanctuary. According to this, diminu means conceiving and picturing, for we thought there existed here only the attribute of chesed.
כְּשִׁמְךָ אֱלֹהִים כֵּן תְּהִלָּתְךָ עַל קַצְוֵי אֶרֶץ צֶדֶק מָלְאָה יְמִינֶךָ׃ (יא) - As is Your Name, O God, so is Your praise unto the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness.
Yet now we see that the praise going out to the ends of the earth, outside the Sanctuary, is attributed to the Name Elohim, and the Name Elohim denotes the attribute of din (strict justice). This reveals that You, Hashem, are a righteous Judge who punishes those deserving of punishment, and there they praise You that "Your right hand is full of righteousness." In the Beis HaMikdash You were revealed through the attribute of chesed and benevolent influence, but when You go forth, as it were, from the Sanctuary - You judge the nations and appear through the attribute of tzedek, which describes a judge who shows no favoritism and does not act with forgiving leniency toward the guilty, but judges strictly in righteousness.
This explains what we saw earlier: "With an east wind You break the ships of Tarshish." The very same God who is within the Beis HaMikdash as the source of chesed and goodness upon us, when He goes out from the Sanctuary to the ends of the earth - "Your right hand is full of righteousness," to execute justice and take retribution against the enemies, not through the attribute of chesed, but on the contrary, by judging them with the attribute of din.
It is told of the author of the Ohev Yisrael of Apta that he promised that after his passing he would storm the heavens to hasten the redemption of Israel. After he departed to his eternal rest, a delegation of Chasidim came to his son, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir of Zinkov, and asked: What about Father's promise? He promised to storm the heavens and give no rest until Mashiach comes. It is related that he dozed off for a moment, as though connecting to the spiritual realm, and then awakened and said to them: Father just appeared to me, and he quoted a verse in Tehillim: "We thought, O God, of Your kindness within Your Sanctuary."
And the explanation he gave him - an explanation also cited in the name of the Arizal - was this: When we were in this world, "we thought [diminu] - Elohim." We thought that everything happening to us was in accordance with the attribute of strict justice; everything seemed to be Elohim, strict judgments, punishments, and terrible afflictions. But when I come to Your Sanctuary - departing this world and entering Hashem's heavenly palace - I see up there that it is all "Your chesed within Your Sanctuary" - everything is pure loving-kindness. If so, do not wonder why I do not storm the heavens to remove the judgments from you: it was only while we were down here that "we thought it was Elohim," but within Your Sanctuary I see that it is all chesed. In such a state, I certainly will not pray to remove these kindnesses from the people of Israel.
And this is what Chazal mean when they say that a person must make a blessing over bad news just as he makes a blessing over good news, and the Gemara adds - with joy. For in truth, even what seems bad to us will ultimately be revealed to have been entirely for the good. And this is the meaning of what is written, that in the Future to Come one will bless over bad as one blesses over good: today, over bad news one recites Baruch Dayan HaEmet ("Blessed is the True Judge") and over good news Baruch HaTov VeHaMeitiv ("Blessed is He Who is good and does good"), whereas in the Future to Come we will recite HaTov VeHaMeitiv even over the evils. People wonder: in the Future to Come there will be no evils at all, so over what will we make the blessing? Rather, in the Future to Come we will say HaTov VeHaMeitiv over the troubles of today, because then it will become clear to us how everything we perceived as bad was ultimately for the good, and for that we will bless HaTov VeHaMeitiv.
Radak explains "As is Your Name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth": just as Your Name was spoken by the prophets who prophesied about the future, so it is today unto the ends of the earth. Radak applies this entire theme to the days of Gog and Magog and the future redemption, and therefore: just as the prophets back then recognized Your Name, so today all the ends of the earth recognize Your Name - "And Hashem will be known among the nations," "And I will manifest My greatness and My holiness before the eyes of many nations," "And they will know Me, from the greatest among them to the least." Those who did not believe in the prophecies, now that they see those prophecies fulfilled, will praise and laud Your Name, saying, "Your right hand is full of righteousness" - behold, now we see that Hashem is truth and His prophecies are truth, and all will merit to see eye to eye when Hashem returns to Zion.
יִשְׂמַח הַר צִיּוֹן תָּגֵלְנָה בְּנוֹת יְהוּדָה לְמַעַן מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ׃ (יב) - "Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Your judgments." (12)
On the day of salvation, says Radak - again following his interpretation, in the days of Gog and Magog - Mount Zion will rejoice. But does the mountain itself rejoice? Radak explains that this is a metaphorical expression, just like "The wilderness and the parched land shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice": does the wilderness truly rejoice, and does the desert celebrate? Rather, there will be such great joy that even Mount Zion will rejoice, as if the mountains themselves dance from sheer joy. He also brings another explanation: "Let Mount Zion rejoice" refers to the inhabitants of Mount Zion, and similarly, "The wilderness and parched land shall be glad" refers to the inhabitants of the wilderness and the parched land, and the inhabitants of the desert.
"Let the daughters of Judah be glad" - will only the daughters rejoice, and what of the sons? This is one of the things that confuse anyone who reads without commentary. The "daughters of Judah" are the villages adjacent to Judah, just as Scripture says, "and he took Kenath and its daughters [suburbs]" - and Kenath is not a woman but a city, and its "daughters" are what we call satellite towns, the surrounding villages, or in the words of the Targum, kaphraneha, the villages surrounding it. Here too: Mount Zion will rejoice, and the daughters of Judah - meaning the surrounding towns of Judah - will also be glad because of Your judgments.
Malbim explains the distinction between "rejoice" [yismach] and "be glad" [tagelnah], and between Mount Zion and the daughters of Judah. "Let Mount Zion rejoice" - when they witness the judgments You execute upon the nations, they will experience great joy. According to Malbim's approach, this refers to the miracle that occurred in their own time: these judgments came to save them from the enemies, and they will see the very winds that shatter the ships of Tarshish.
And what is the difference between simchah (joy) and gilah (exultation)? The Malbim explains in several places that simchah is continuous, whereas gilah is something newly aroused. When a fresh, distinct reason for joy occurs, it brings about gilah. For constant joy, one says "simchah", but one does not say "continuous gilah"; rather, when expressing something that just happened - winning the lottery, receiving exceptionally good news - one says he experiences gilah.
According to this: the "daughters of Judah", the towns surrounding Mount Zion, are unaccustomed to such victory and to the enemies being subjugated by Hashem's hand; therefore, they will experience great gilah and a special joy. Mount Zion, by contrast, which is the Temple Mount and the Beit HaMikdash, is accustomed to miracles - ten miracles occurred constantly in the Beit HaMikdash - and therefore they do not experience a novel, sudden joy, but rather "Let Mount Zion be glad (yismach)", reflecting continuous joy. But the daughters of Judah, who were not accustomed to seeing miracles constantly, suddenly experienced something out of the ordinary, and therefore their gilah bursts forth and magnifies.
סֹבּוּ צִיּוֹן וְהַקִּיפוּהָ סִפְרוּ מִגְדָּלֶיהָ׃ (יג) - "Walk around Zion and encircle her; count her towers." (13)
The Radak explains that this refers to the rebuilding of Zion and Jerusalem, mentioning Zion because it is primary - the place of the Temple. He addresses the nations, as it were: go walk around Zion and encircle her, and see how many magnificent and unique buildings she contains; "count her towers", in the literal sense of counting - see how many remarkable towers stand along the surrounding walls.
The Malbim explains that these verses refer back to that very era: after that mighty storm wind we witnessed, which toppled towers and demolished fortresses across all the nations' cities, shattering the ships of Tarshish there, so that the enemies could not attack us - you are now told: "Walk around Zion and encircle her." Go walk around Zion and see: did this wind that broke towers and destroyed walls damage Zion? Did it harm anything of ours? "Count her towers" - and according to the Malbim, the significance of counting here is understood beautifully: count the towers and see if even a single one is missing! And what will you see in this? Hashem's providence over us, for He struck all the enemies while rescuing us.
The Malbim adds that there is a distinction between sovu ("walk around") and hakifu ("encircle"), a concept he explains in several places: to "encircle" (lehakif) means a complete circuit, whereas to "walk around" (lesovev) does not necessarily imply a full circuit - one might go halfway around. Therefore, the verse says: do not be satisfied with merely walking around, but "encircle her" - make a complete circuit from every side, and see whether that attribute of strict judgment touched Jerusalem at all.
שִׁיתוּ לִבְּכֶם לְחֵילָהּ פַּסְּגוּ אַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ לְמַעַן תְּסַפְּרוּ לְדוֹר אַחֲרוֹן׃ (יד) - "Set your heart to her ramparts, elevate her palaces, so that you may recount it to the final generation." (14)
"Her ramparts" (cheilah) refers to the protective wall, as in "rampart and wall mourn" (Eichah 2:8). Look at the wall surrounding the city, and see how this wall seemed to prevent the wind from entering within. "Elevate her palaces" (pasgu armonoteha) - ascend to the heights of her palaces and see Who protects her, for the One watching over her is the Holy One, blessed be He. And all this is "so that you may recount it to the final generation" - telling of Hashem's miracles and wonders, and showing that when we walk in Hashem's ways, the Holy One, blessed be He, shields us.
The Radak explains "so that you may recount it to the final generation": this does not mean that you yourselves will speak directly to the final generation, but rather that you will pass it down from generation to generation until the final era, recounting that no one has ever seen a building as magnificent as the one destined for Zion and Jerusalem in the future. As it is written: "Behold, I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires, and I will make your battlements of rubies" (Yeshayahu 54:11-12), regarding which Chazal say that there will be precious stones and pearls measuring ten cubits by ten cubits - enormous stones with which Hashem will build Jerusalem. Recount this to the final generation: how grand, wondrous, and unique Jerusalem is - tell this to the generations to come. For according to the Radak, this is a prophecy for the future.
The Midrash expounds on "Mark well her ramparts (le-cheilah)" - in the future to come, the Holy One, blessed be He, will make a circle dance (machol) for the righteous, and He will dance (chol) with them in the circle. The word machol denotes moving in a circle, just like challah - why is it called challah? Because in ancient times they made it round, related to the concept of a circle. And so too with ugah (cake), which was called this because the cake was round. In the nursery rhyme "Ugah, ugah, ugah, ba-ma'agal nachogah" - this does not refer to an edible cake, but comes from the expression "he drew a circle (ag ugah) and stood inside it." An ugah is a circle. Once, people still knew some Hebrew, whereas today when people hear the word ugah, a bakery immediately comes to mind. In any event, machol is an expression denoting something circular.
Parenthetically, there is deep significance to this circle, and why it is specifically circular - this was explained when studying Michtav Me-Eliyahu, that it refers to perceiving Hashem equally from all sides, which has profound implications for understanding Hashem's kindness, though we will not delve into that now. And in that very dance, everyone will point with a finger and say: "Behold, this is Hashem; we have hoped for Him, let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."
Rabbeinu Bachya asks: From where did Chazal deduce this idea, that "Mark well her ramparts (le-cheilah)" refers to the dance of the future? Seemingly, this is not in the verse. He answers that the deduction is drawn from the precise phrasing: it is written "shitu libchem" (with a single beit) and not "levavchem" (with a double beit). After all, it is written, "And you shall place these words of Mine upon your heart (levavchem)," whereas concerning Avraham it is written, "And sustain your heart (libchem), and afterward you may pass on." What is the difference? Chazal say that levavchem is used when one possesses an evil inclination (yetzer hara), meaning a person has two hearts - one heart for the good inclination pulling toward good, and a second heart for the evil inclination pulling toward evil, so he does not serve Hashem with complete wholeness but is pulled back and forth. By contrast, "sustain your heart (libchem)" was said to the angels, and angels possess only a single heart dedicated to the service of Hashem; therefore, it says libchem.
And this is Chazal's precision here: "Mark well your heart (libchem) to her ramparts / dance (le-cheilah)" - this cannot refer to the present era, for in this world we all possess "levavchem" and not "libchem." Since it says here "libchem," it must refer to the future, when Hashem will make a circle dance for the righteous, and a righteous person has only a single heart devoted to his Father in Heaven. Then all those righteous souls will proclaim, "Behold, this is Hashem; we have hoped for Him" - this is cheilah, the future dance (machol) in which there will be only one heart, and that is "set your heart to the dance," in that very circle.
כִּי זֶה אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֵינוּ עוֹלָם וָעֶד הוּא יְנַהֲגֵנוּ עַל מוּת׃ (טו) - For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will lead us over death.
"For this is God, our God" - meaning: who is truly her rampart and her wall? As the Malbim explained, look at the walls and look at the palaces - was it really these that protected us and guarded us from the storm wind? Do they have the power to protect? No. Rather, "for this is God, our God" - her rampart and her wall is the Holy One, blessed be He, and He is the One who guards the summit of her palaces, for the palaces of the surrounding nations all collapsed and fell in that tempest, while the palaces of Jerusalem remained in place. And as written above: "God is known in her palaces as a stronghold" - the stronghold and salvation come about because God is in her palaces. He endures forever and ever, and He will guide us beyond death.
And what is the meaning of "al mut"? Rashi cites Menachem that it denotes eternity (olam), so "He will lead us al mut" means He will guide us forever. Rashi also brings another explanation, that it derives from the root elem (youth) - elem and almah - explaining that Hashem will lead us like a father leading his young child, meaning that Hashem will accompany us just as He did when we left Egypt. Ibn Ezra cites Rabbi Moshe along these lines: in the manner that Hashem guided us when we were young - just as He led us in the wilderness in the days of our youth, with the Clouds of Glory, the well, the manna, and Moshe at our head, so too He will lead us now.
Ibn Ezra himself cites in the name of the Master of the Mesorah that these are two separate words, "al mut" (upon death), and should not be read as a single compound word; according to this, it is explained as "until our death" - He will guide us until we reach our death. He also brings another explanation, that "al mut" is related to ne'elam (concealed): that Hashem will lead us with a benevolent guidance that is hidden from creatures, a leadership concealed from us that is ultimately the absolute best for us.