Tamid, Chapter 7, Mishnah 4, the closing mishnah of Masechet Tamid. The chapter has been walking us through the final stages of the daily service, and now it reaches the song. While the nisuch hayayin was performed, the pouring of the wine upon the mizbeach, the Levi'im would sing. Each day of the week had its own perek of Tehillim, and each one was tied to what Hashem created on the corresponding day of the seven days of creation. Every day of creation carried its own theme, and the song of that weekday gives voice to it.
The opening words: "Hashir shehayu haLevi'im omrim baMikdash." What follows is the roster of chapters chanted by the Levi'im in the Mikdash, one assigned to each day of the week.
Sunday: the first day
The first entry: "Bayom harishon hayu omrim." Sunday's chapter is perek kaf daled of Tehillim, recited in full. "La'Hashem ha'aretz umlo'ah," the earth and everything contained in it belong to Hashem, "tevel veyoshvei vah," the inhabited world together with all who live upon it. What did Hashem bring into being on day one? The earth itself. And the mizmor of that day proclaims exactly that: the earth and all it holds are His.
Monday: the second day
"Bashani hayu omrim." Monday's chapter is perek mem chet. "Gadol Adonai umehulal me'od," Hashem is great and abundantly praised, and where is that praise sounded? "Be'ir Eloheinu har kodsho," in the city of our God, upon His mountain of holiness. Day two of creation was the day of division: Hashem split the upper realms, where kivyachol He dwells, from the lower physical world. Division is precisely the note this mizmor sounds. Ir Eloheinu is Yerushalayim, har kodsho is the Temple Mount, two places lifted off the ordinary map by the kedusha invested in them, much as the higher worlds were lifted above the lower ones.
Tuesday: the third day
"Bashlishi hayu omrim." Tuesday's chapter is perek peh bet. "Elohim nitzav ba'adat El," Hashem takes His place among the gathering of judges, "bekerev Elohim yishpot," and in their midst He issues judgment. Day three revealed the dry land and gave human beings ground on which to settle. Yet a settled society cannot hold together without courts, statutes and officers to enforce them. So the mizmor of that day announces that wherever judges sit in judgment, Hashem Himself is present.
Wednesday: the fourth day
"Barevi'i hayu omrim." Wednesday's chapter is perek tzadi daled. "El nekamot Adonai," Hashem is a God of retribution, "El nekamot hofia," God of retribution, reveal Yourself. Day four brought the luminaries into existence: sun, moon and stars. Those very lights can mislead a person into bowing down to them. Hence the God of retribution, who will settle accounts with whoever serves the heavenly bodies or any form of avoda zara, since there is but One who is to be acknowledged, Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
Thursday: the fifth day
"Bachamishi hayu omrim." Thursday's chapter is perek peh alef. "Harninu l'Elohim uzenu," sing out joyfully to God who is our strength, "hari'u l'Elohei Yaakov," raise a shout before the God of Yaakov. Day five filled the skies with birds and the waters with fish. Standing before the endless diversity of living things and the marvel of the natural world, a person is stirred to lift his voice in song before Hashem. His creatures draw us close to Him.
Friday: the sixth day
"Bashishi hayu omrim." Friday's chapter is perek tzadi gimmel. "Adonai malach ge'ut lavesh," Hashem has assumed His kingship, robed in majesty. With day six the world stood complete, and Hashem reigns over a creation brought to its fullness. Facing a finished world, we acknowledge Him as Melech, sovereign over all that exists.
Shabbat: the song with no Shabbat in it
The final entry: "Bashabbat hayu omrim." Shabbat's chapter is perek tzadi bet, whose opening line, "Mizmor shir leyom haShabbat," presents the perek as a mizmor designated for the Shabbat day. Yet read the perek from beginning to end and Shabbat never appears in it again. This is the difficulty the mishnah itself raises: on what grounds was this the perek assigned to Shabbat in the Beit Hamikdash?
The mishnah's resolution: "Mizmor shir le'atid lavo." Its subject is not the Shabbat that returns to us each week, but the Shabbat still ahead, le'atid lavo, the era of Mashiach, when the world as we experience it will no longer exist. "Leyom shekulo Shabbat," a day, or more precisely an era, given over entirely to Shabbat, "menucha lechayei ha'olamim," rest, for Hashem is the One who grants life to all, in body and in soul. Our road toward that era runs through the Mikdash and through the avodah we perform for Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
May the zechut of the mishnayot we have learned ascend to the Kisei HaKavod above, and may Hashem lift from us the galut that still surrounds us, so that all of us come home to Yerushalayim, ir hakodesh, speedily in our days, see the Beit Hamikdash standing once again, and bring the korbanot upon the mizbeach. Amen.
Hadran alach Masechet Tamid.