Chapter 22 of Shmuel Bet is well known to us from Sefer Tehillim: it is exactly Psalm 18 there, with slight differences between the version here and the version there. This is a chapter of song and thanksgiving, and therefore we will move through it mainly by explaining the words and the general picture, and we will not dwell on every single word.
וַיְדַבֵּר דָּוִד לַיהֹוָה אֶת דִּבְרֵי הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת בְּיוֹם הִצִּיל יְהֹוָה אֹתוֹ מִכַּף כָּל אֹיְבָיו וּמִכַּף שָׁאוּל׃ - And David spoke to Hashem the words of this song on the day that Hashem delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Shaul.
When did David say this song? On this there are different views. According to Rashi, "on the day that Hashem delivered him" refers to his old age: after all his troubles had passed and he had been saved from all of them, then he said this song. And why is Shaul counted separately after "all his enemies"? We have a principle: when a group is counted, and within the group a particular individual is counted by name, this comes to teach that he is equivalent to all of them. Like "the nation of Israel and Moshe" - is Moshe not part of the nation of Israel? Rather, Moshe is equivalent to all of Israel. So too here: Shaul was equivalent to all the enemies, for he pursued David more than all of them.
The Malbim brings the words of the Abarbanel, that David composed this song not in his old age but in his youth, when he was still in the midst of a sea of troubles. And each and every time that Hashem saved him, and David was pursued many times by Shaul, he would sing this song. And this is the meaning of "on the day that Hashem delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Shaul": every time he was saved, he sang the song. He had a special song, a kind of "Nishmat Kol Chai" of his own, which he would always say whenever he was saved from a trouble.
The Malbim adds: in all of Sefer Shmuel we do not find chapters of Tehillim of David HaMelech except for this chapter, which is like a psalm of Tehillim in every respect. And why specifically this one? Because this song accompanied David always, day by day. In Sefer Tehillim David gathered together the praises with which he would laud and extol the Creator constantly, and composed them with ruach hakodesh, and they contain special virtues, and he included this psalm there as well. But here, in the body of the book, it was brought because of its uniqueness: that this was what he would pray every day over the deliverances and over the troubles that he had. And this comes to teach us that a person should carry it day by day, to give thanks and praise and glory to the Creator of the world for the deliverance and for the siyata dishmaya that is with him every day.
וַיֹּאמַר: יְהֹוָה סַלְעִי וּמְצֻדָתִי וּמְפַלְטִי לִי׃ - And he said: Hashem is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.
A rock (sela) is something strong. A fortress (metzuda) is like a palace, in which a person is elevated and saved from those pursuing him. "And my deliverer" (u'mefalti) is from the term for escape (miflat). Hashem is all of these for him.
אֱלֹהֵי צוּרִי אֶחֱסֶה בּוֹ, מָגִנִּי וְקֶרֶן יִשְׁעִי, מִשְׂגַּבִּי וּמְנוּסִי, מֹשִׁעִי מֵחָמָס תֹּשִׁעֵנִי׃ - The God of my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; You save me from violence.
The Holy One, blessed be He, is the rock, the cliff in whose shadow I take refuge. "My shield and the horn of my salvation" - a horn (keren) is the power to gore the enemies, and as we say "the sprout of David Your servant speedily cause to flourish, and raise up his horn": Hashem is the horn with which I gore my enemies, and it saves me. "My stronghold" - a place of escape in which we take refuge, "and my refuge" - to there I flee. "My savior; You save me from violence" - Hashem saves me from men of violence.
מְהֻלָּל אֶקְרָא יְהֹוָה וּמֵאֹיְבַי אִוָּשֵׁעַ׃ - Praised do I call upon Hashem, and from my enemies I am saved.
Before I even call to Him, I praise Him. This is the way of all prayer. The first three blessings of the Shemoneh Esrei are called the blessings of praise, for before a person makes his request, he first praises and extols. It would not be fitting for a person to burst into the king's palace and say: My lord the king, give me this, do this for me, arrange this for me. That is not proper conduct and it is not the way of honor, and the kingship of Heaven is patterned after the kingship on earth.
Therefore, just as one who enters before the king first bows and says: My lord the king, you are exalted and elevated above all kings, you are my lord and you are my king, and I accept your sovereignty, and only afterward: I would ask that you do such and such for me. And after he finishes his request, he says: I thank you greatly, my lord the king, for being willing to hear my request and to grant it. This is the thanksgiving at the end of the prayer: praise, request, and finally thanksgiving before taking leave. And just as one who takes leave of the king does not turn his back and walk away, but rather bows and steps backward with his face toward the king, so too we say "He who makes peace" and step backward. It is all in the manner of approaching a king.
But we have a serious problem: we do not know at all what a king looks like, and we are not familiar with the reality of kingship. At most we know a prime minister, and that is a "lamech" and not a melech. What is fear? What is the dread of judgment? These things are entirely foreign to us. But people who lived two hundred, three hundred, and five hundred years ago knew. There were people who entered before the king and their tongues were struck dumb for the rest of their lives, becoming mute from the terrible fear of standing before a king. And when they knew the essence of a king, they also knew how one approaches the Creator of the world, who is the King of kings of kings. Therefore, "Praised do I call upon Hashem," and in that merit "and from my enemies I am saved," for my prayer is heard and Hashem saves me.
כִּי אֲפָפֻנִי מִשְׁבְּרֵי מָוֶת, נַחֲלֵי בְלִיַּעַל יְבַעֲתֻנִי׃ - For the breakers of death encompassed me, the torrents of Belial terrified me.
"Afafuni" comes from the root meaning to surround, to hover about and encircle me. "The breakers of death" - some explain these as pains, as in the expression "all Your breakers and Your waves have passed over me," and some say they are the waves, which are called breakers because they break. "The torrents of Belial" - torrents that are fierce, harsh, and sweeping. "Yeva'atuni" - they terrify and frighten me. David describes here the persecutions with which his enemies pursued him, how all those breakers and torrents encompassed him.
חֶבְלֵי שְׁאוֹל סַבֻּנִי, קִדְּמֻנִי מֹקְשֵׁי מָוֶת׃ - The pangs of Sheol surrounded me, the snares of death confronted me.
"Chevlei" - pains, like the pangs of childbirth which are the pains of labor. The pains of Sheol, of Gehinnom, surrounded me. "The snares of death" - a moked is a trap, from the expression "a snaring trap," an obstacle or a pit. That is: a place where I would walk and there be brought to my death.
בַּצַּר לִי אֶקְרָא יְהֹוָה וְאֶל אֱלֹהַי אֶקְרָא, וַיִּשְׁמַע מֵהֵיכָלוֹ קוֹלִי וְשַׁוְעָתִי בְּאָזְנָיו׃ - In my distress I called upon Hashem, and to my God I called, and He heard my voice from His sanctuary, and my cry came into His ears.
When I was in a time of distress, when the snares of death and the pangs of Sheol confronted me, I called upon Hashem. And what is the meaning of the repetition, "I called upon Hashem and to my God I called"? The Ralbag explains that there are two matters here, corresponding to the two parts of prayer that we mentioned: first, "In my distress I called upon Hashem" - this is the praise, and afterward, "and to my God I called" - this is the request.
"He heard my voice from His sanctuary" reveals the greatness of Hashem. For the higher a person is elevated, the less he hears the cry of the poor and the lowly. He is in his ivory tower, atop Olympus, and what does he have to do with people in hardship? But with the Holy One, blessed be He, it is not so: even though He is in His sanctuary, He hears my voice and my cry reaches His ears.
And the Holy One, blessed be He, wants even the great ones to always be part of society and connected with the lowly. A judge, for example, may never be exposed at all to the problems of ordinary people, for he never sees them: he has a villa worth millions, he goes down to his private parking, the electric gate opens, the windows are tinted, he drives into the courthouse parking, an elevator takes him up to the bench, and perhaps only there does he encounter the bitter of soul and those in hardship. But with us, even the greatest halachic authority, like Maran Rav Ovadia Yosef or Rav Elyashiv, must pray with a minyan. And who makes up the minyan? Mr. Buzaglo, who is the tenth. If he does not come, nine of the greatest sages of the generation can stand there and there is still no minyan. Nine of the greatest sages of the generation together with Mr. Buzaglo are preferable to nine without a tenth. The Torah obligates you to be connected with others.
A person cannot live alone and cannot accomplish anything alone: a wedding requires witnesses, a chuppah requires a minyan, and at every step he needs the community. The Torah demands that even the most distinguished person come down to the people and stay connected. There is no such thing as separating oneself, distancing oneself, and going off to live somewhere in the desert. The greatest tzaddik needs the simplest person in order to make ten, in order to take out a Torah scroll. And this is the level of Hashem: He is in His sanctuary, and yet attentive to my voice, to the lowly people here below.
And let this not seem simple in our eyes. Here is a parable: whoever has once seen the earth photographed from outside saw it like a tennis ball. Imagine someone tells you that there are people there. You cannot even picture it. If you come closer by a few kilometers, you will manage to see continents; come closer still, and you will distinguish between more and less inhabited places by the buildings; come closer still, and you will no longer see the whole globe but you will see pinheads, and they will tell you: these are not pinheads, these are human beings. And the Creator of the world, as it were outside the world, hears such a pinhead praying to Him, and answers him. This is a wonder of wonders. It is as if a person would hear an ant at the other end of the world and heed it and take action to help it. The Holy One, blessed be He, is exalted and lofty above all reality, and with all this He responds and hears my prayer and saves me from troubles.
וַיִּתְגָּעַשׁ וַתִּרְעַשׁ הָאָרֶץ, מוֹסְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם יִרְגָּזוּ, וַיִּתְגָּעֲשׁוּ כִּי חָרָה לוֹ׃ - Then the earth shook and quaked, the foundations of the heavens trembled, they were shaken because He was angry.
Here he describes the miracles that were done for Israel at the exodus from Egypt: the earth shook and quaked, and even the foundations of the heavens, their very underpinnings as it were, trembled. "Because He was angry" - from the expression "burning wrath," that Hashem as it were was angered over what was done to Israel. And the meaning of "charon" is heat: "charah lo" - He became heated, "charon apo" - His anger became heated.
עָלָה עָשָׁן בְּאַפּוֹ וְאֵשׁ מִפִּיו תֹּאכֵל, גֶּחָלִים בָּעֲרוּ מִמֶּנּוּ׃ - Smoke rose from His nostrils, and consuming fire from His mouth, coals blazed forth from Him.
Smoke in His nostrils expresses anger, and fire from His mouth is like the matter of burning wrath. All this is by way of parable: as it were, fire came forth from Him to avenge the vengeance of Israel and to fight their battle.
וַיֵּט שָׁמַיִם וַיֵּרַד וַעֲרָפֶל תַּחַת רַגְלָיו׃ - He bent the heavens and came down, with thick darkness beneath His feet.
Hashem came down to punish Egypt and Pharaoh, whose chariot wheels came off and made them heavy, and the Egyptians said: "For Hashem fights for them against Egypt." They saw that the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, He and His hosts, came down to fight for the honor of Israel. "With thick darkness beneath His feet" - Hashem reveals Himself in a cloud, and this is among the ways of His glory, like the cloud that would reveal itself in the Mishkan, "and the cloud descended."
וַיִּרְכַּב עַל כְּרוּב וַיָּעֹף, וַיֵּרָא עַל כַּנְפֵי רוּחַ׃ - He rode upon a keruv and flew, He was seen upon the wings of the wind.
Keruvim are angels, and they have nothing to do with the vegetable called cabbage (keruv). Even in the Mikdash the keruvim had the form of angels, in the likeness of a boy and a girl. On the other hand we find keruvim that are angels of destruction: in Gan Eden, "the keruvim and the flame of the ever turning sword." So we have keruvim that are angels of destruction, and the keruvim upon the Aron in the Mishkan, which are holy angels.
The Rebbe of Ger asked about this: by virtue of what are these angels of destruction and those holy angels? And he offered a wonderful idea. Keruv is from the word "kirvia," like a lad, a child. The child depends on where you place him. If you place him outside Gan Eden, you get angels of destruction. And if you place him upon the Aron of Hashem's covenant, where the Luchot are, you get holy angels. Send him to a school far from Torah and from fear of Heaven, and do not be surprised that this calf comes out; you will get angels of destruction, you will get the flame of the ever turning sword, knifings, Hashem have mercy, where people are afraid to go to school. But if you bring him into the Mishkan, into the Kodesh HaKodashim, if you place him above the Aron of Hashem's covenant, above the Torah and the Luchot, you will get angels.
And the claim will be against the parents. Rav Tzadka says: after a hundred and twenty they will come and ask the parents, "The child is gone, and I, where shall I go?" Where is your child? Why did you come without him? One will say: no, my child is at the club, my child is at the discotheque... This is what Reuven said, "Do not sin against the child." You received the most precious deposit in the world, and there is no deposit more precious than our children. They will say to us: you guarded your money well, did you guard your child well? That he should not join with corrupt friends, to send him to the best Torah educational place, to give him the best tools so that he grows up a God fearing person, a ben Torah, and a servant of Hashem. Did you take care of him?
וַיָּשֶׁת חֹשֶׁךְ סְבִיבֹתָיו סֻכּוֹת, חַשְׁרַת מַיִם עָבֵי שְׁחָקִים׃ - He made darkness His surroundings as booths, a gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
Sukkah is from the word covering and darkening, for anything that covers over a thing creates darkness. And it is written in Chazal that when the Holy One came down to wage war against Egypt, He made a pillar of fire for Israel, while on the other side the Egyptians walked in darkness: He brought down a cloud upon them and darkened it over them. This is "He made darkness His surroundings as booths," that He covered over them in the manner of a sukkah. "Thick clouds of the skies" refers to the heavy clouds, which are full of rain, and are therefore called thick (avim). And "chashrat mayim": some explain it from the word hashra'ah, to cause the water to fall down; some explain it from the word sifting, "they sift it through a sieve," that the clouds are like a strainer that brings down the water; and some explain it from the word connection, as in "the clouds joined together," that when the clouds unite an abundance of water forms and the rain falls.
מִנֹּגַהּ נֶגְדּוֹ בָּעֲרוּ גַּחֲלֵי אֵשׁ׃ - From the brightness before Him burned coals of fire.
Toward Israel there was brightness and light, in the manner of coals of fire. And Rashi explains that you should not say: if Hashem made darkness, He Himself is, as it were, dwelling in darkness. Therefore it says "from the brightness before Him": from Hashem's partition and inward there is light. And this is in the matter of the light that the Holy One created on the first day and hid away for the righteous, so that the wicked should not benefit from it, and it is called "the hidden light."
And they tell about Rabbi Meir Abuchatzeira the famous story: an officer came to him whose son had been kidnapped in England, and they did not know where he was. The Rav said to him: I am ready to give a blessing, no more than that. But the man pleaded and pleaded and said: I will not leave until the Rav tells me where he is. The Rav took a pen and sketched out for him precisely the place: in which building, on which floor, street names, everything, and told him that the son would return safely. And the Rav had never been to England. They passed the information to Interpol, and they surrounded the house, and exactly as the Rav had said they found the son and rescued him safely. And by the way, the Baba Sali said of his son Rabbi Meir that he was greater than himself, and from this we can understand what an enormous loss we have suffered.
They later asked him: from where comes this power, that a person is here and draws exactly what is happening there and knows all that is going on in the world? He said to them: it is written that the Holy One created light during the six days of Creation, and that light was special in that one who gazes into it sees from one end of the world to the other. And why did He hide it? Because the wicked too love such a light very much, for with it they could see what you have in your safe and where so and so hides his millions, and they would use it for evil. Therefore He hid it away for the righteous. And what is "the light hidden for the righteous"? That the righteous of every generation have an aspect of that light, with which they see from one end of the world to the other. They asked him: and how does one merit this? He said to them: through guarding the eyes. And as is known he was very careful in this, and would always go out with a covering over his face. And this is what is said, "from the brightness before Him": with Hashem there is an aspect of brightness and light.
יַרְעֵם מִן שָׁמַיִם יְהֹוָה, וְעֶלְיוֹן יִתֵּן קוֹלוֹ׃ - Hashem thundered from Heaven, and the Most High gave forth His voice.
"He thunders" is from the word thunder (ra'am): Hashem sends thunder against the enemies and terrifies them.
וַיִּשְׁלַח חִצִּים וַיְפִיצֵם, בָּרָק וַיָּהֹם׃ - And He sent forth arrows and scattered them, lightning, and threw them into confusion.
He sent arrows, that is, the burning fire, and shot it against them like an arrow; and He sent lightning against them and threw them into confusion.
וַיֵּרָאוּ אֲפִקֵי יָם, יִגָּלוּ מֹסְדוֹת תֵּבֵל, בְּגַעֲרַת יְהֹוָה מִנִּשְׁמַת רוּחַ אַפּוֹ׃ - Then the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were laid bare, at the rebuke of Hashem, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils.
Within the sea there are channels, only that we do not see them. If all the water of the sea were emptied out, we would see mountains and hills and valleys and channels, for the sea is not one smooth flat surface. And when the Holy One, blessed be He, split the Sea of Reeds, the channels of the sea were revealed. "The foundations of the world were laid bare" - the pillars and foundations of the world. And how? "At the blast of the breath of His nostrils": it is written that before the splitting of the sea there was an "east wind" all night, and as it were Hashem blew and breathed and by this the sea was split. This is compared to breathing: like a person who has a little water in his cup and blows on it, and the water divides. So too, as it were, Hashem blew on the waters of the Sea of Reeds and the sea was split.
יִשְׁלַח מִמָּרוֹם יִקָּחֵנִי, יַמְשֵׁנִי מִמַּיִם רַבִּים׃ - He sent from on high, He took me, He drew me out of mighty waters.
The Holy One, blessed be He, sent His help from on high. "He drew me out of mighty waters" may refer to the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, where Hashem brought us out of mighty waters and left the Egyptians and drowned them; and also by way of metaphor, that Hashem saved me from the enemies, for the mighty waters are a metaphor for the waves, "all Your breakers and Your waves passed over me," and for the streams that wish to sweep me away.
יַצִּילֵנִי מֵאֹיְבִי עָז, מִשֹּׂנְאַי כִּי אָמְצוּ מִמֶּנִּי׃ - He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were mightier than I.
My enemy is very strong, and those who hate me are naturally mightier than I, and nevertheless Hashem saves me.
Here we will consider the general point: when David composed his prayers, he composed them for each and every one of us, at every single stage of life, as an all encompassing prayer that is entirely an aspect of thanksgiving to Hashem, may He be blessed. And every thanksgiving to Hashem is in essence a request for the future. How so? When someone comes and thanks you profusely for the loan you gave him, it gives you the desire to give him another loan. You see that this person repays and gives thanks and conducts himself with proper conduct, and you want to give him more. So too here: when a person gives thanks to Hashem, may He be blessed, he makes himself into a vessel fit to receive more. But to an ingrate you will not give a loan a second time, and the Creator of the world too will not grant more to an ingrate. Therefore the ABCs of a person is thanksgiving to Hashem and recognition of the good.
Notice how a person's prayer begins in the morning, the moment he rises: "Modeh ani lefanecha," I give thanks before You. And afterward come the morning blessings. What is their purpose? A person distant from mitzvot thinks everything is natural: I woke up, so I got up; I got up, so I got dressed; I got dressed, so I went out; I went out, so I drank coffee and started to work. But for us nothing is natural. I bless Hashem who "raises up those who are bent": I was lying bent in bed, and Hashem straightened me. Is this a given? It is not a given. There are people, may Hashem have mercy, who have a slipped disc and cannot get up and cannot move themselves. So the fact that I got up is Hashem's kindness to me. I placed my feet on the ground - "who spreads out the earth upon the waters." I put on my shoes - "who has provided me with all my needs." This teaches us that nothing happens by itself and nothing is a given, but everything flows from Hashem's kindness to us.
יְקַדְּמֻנִי בְּיוֹם אֵידִי, וַיְהִי יְהֹוָה מִשְׁעָן לִי׃ - They confronted me on the day of my calamity, but Hashem was a support for me.
"Eid" means breaking, a day of sorrow and a day that is not good. From this, when one wants to speak of a gentile festival, one says "yom eidam," in an ironic reversal, from the word for their breaking, as in "for the day of their calamity is near and the things to come hasten upon them." So too the expression "sameach le'eid," one who sees his fellow broken and rejoices in his downfall.
These things happened in the wars of Israel as well: when they saw that some nation was threatening us, suddenly this one joins in and those join in and these others link up. What happened? An opportunity opened to bring us down, and then it is a free for all, a celebration. So too with David: when he was pursued by Shaul, the Zifim came and told Shaul, "Is not David hiding among us in the hill of Chachilah" - they saw that he was pursued and falling, and they said: let us bring him down completely, let us inform on him to Shaul and tell him. So too Achitofel, who saw David's distress and came to advise Avshalom how to bring him down further, and so too Doeg the Edomite, and so too Shimi ben Gera who came to curse him when he was fleeing from Avshalom. They all watched and waited, saw that he was at a low point, and came early to add another downfall to his downfall. But the Holy One did not leave him in their hands: "but Hashem was a support for me."
וַיֹּצֵא לַמֶּרְחָב אֹתִי, יְחַלְּצֵנִי כִּי חָפֵץ בִּי׃ - He brought me out into a broad place, He delivers me because He desires me.
I was in my distress, and He brought me out into a broad place, a spacious place, as a kind of metaphor. "He delivers me because He desires me" - He will take me out of the narrow straits, because Hashem truly wants me. We have already spoken about what Rabbeinu Yonah says: what is the entire desire of the righteous from Hashem? That Hashem should desire them. For it may be that I sinned against someone and I ask his forgiveness, and he says to me: I forgive you, but I do not want to see you. I was burned once and I do not want any more. He forgives, but does not want. And with the Holy One, the desire of the righteous is to reach the point where Hashem desires him: "and You in Your great mercy will desire us and favor us." This is the aspiration and this is the goal. For it may be that a person sinned, and Hashem says to him: I pardon you, but you are not as welcome as before. Therefore the righteous person prays and pleads in order to awaken Hashem's desire and will for him.
יִגְמְלֵנִי יְהֹוָה כְּצִדְקָתִי, כְּבֹר יָדַי יָשִׁיב לִי׃ כִּי שָׁמַרְתִּי דַּרְכֵי יְהֹוָה וְלֹא רָשַׁעְתִּי מֵאֱלֹהָי׃ - Hashem has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanliness of my hands He has requited me. For I have kept the ways of Hashem and have not done wickedly against my God.
I strove to walk in the ways of Hashem, "and have not done wickedly against my God" - not to commit a wicked act before my God.
כִּי כָל מִשְׁפָּטָו לְנֶגְדִּי, וְחֻקֹּתָיו לֹא אָסוּר מִמֶּנָּה׃ - For all His laws are before me, and from His statutes I have not turned away.
What is the difference between a mishpat and a chok? Mishpatim are the laws of justice and fairness according to reason: do not murder, do not steal, laws between people and monetary laws and the like. Chukim are matters between a person and God, in the sense of "I have engraved a decree, I have issued an edict, and you have no permission to question it": tefillin, the red heifer, shaatnez - laws without a reason. David says: "All His laws are before me," they are always before me and I contemplate them and engage in them, "and His statutes I do not turn away from."
And which is harder, a mishpat or a chok? A chok, for the mishpat I understand with my mind, but with a chok I do not understand why it is so, what the logic is, and why specifically in this way. The mishpat is logical: an ox that gored pays full damage, a forewarned ox pays full damage, that is acceptable to me; a murderer committed an act of transgression and deserves punishment, that is understandable. But when they tell you that one who eats an animal that was not slaughtered according to halacha transgresses the severe prohibition of neveilah, you ask: what difference does it make whether they passed the knife over the neck or over the back? We do not understand this with our minds. And when they tell you that if the tip of a yud is missing in the tefillin you have not put on tefillin, you ask: what difference does it make, these are the same tefillin? We do not understand this with our minds. And so with many mitzvot that are of the category of "I have engraved a decree." And even so, "I do not turn away from it," I conduct myself according to the statutes of the Holy One, blessed be He, without making calculations.
The analogy for this: you go to a doctor, and he tells you to take this pill three times a day. You ask him what is in this pill, and he tells you: sir, do I look to you like a medical school? Go study for seven years as I did, and then you will know. You say: but I do not know what is in this. He tells you: this is the rule, take it, swallow it, and it will be fine. And if he tells you to take it only after eating and not before, and you wonder what difference it makes, since it all enters the body anyway - he tells you that it makes a difference, and you do not argue, because he studied and you did not, he knows medicine and you do not. So too when the Holy One, blessed be He, in His great wisdom, tells you that it must be this way and not otherwise, and that if you do otherwise you are cutting down the plantings and causing destruction in the world, do not be overly clever. Just as you trust the doctor, trust the Creator of the world.
And note that a chok can exist only in the Torah of truth. In all the religions of the world there are no chukim, and all their commandments are logical: they have mishpatim and they have no chukim. And why? Because the moment the founder of the religion or the sect comes and tells you a certain chok, you will ask him: what is this all about? Why? What is the logic? And he will be obligated to explain it to you. But when the Torah is divine, the Holy One, blessed be He, knows what I do not know. If I wanted to found a religion I would say only logical things, because I want you to accept them. But the Creator of the world does not need to persuade me to accept: He is not flesh and blood who must convince me to accept, for otherwise He would have no believers. The moment the Creator of the world has spoken, whether logical or not logical, according to the understanding of the Creator of the world it must be done this way, and I nullify my opinion to His opinion, and in this I know that I am doing the right act.
וָאֶהְיֶה תָמִים לוֹ, וָאֶשְׁתַּמְּרָה מֵעֲוֹנִי׃ - And I was wholehearted with Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity.
"Tamim" means whole: when I did something, I guarded myself from that iniquity so as not to stumble in it again, and I was in wholeness with Him. And some explain that the intent is to the sin with Bat Sheva: after I stumbled in it, I strove to be in wholeness and purity of heart so as not to come to that iniquity again.
וַיָּשֶׁב יְהֹוָה לִי כְּצִדְקָתִי, כְּבֹרִי לְנֶגֶד עֵינָיו׃ - And the Lord repaid me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness before His eyes.