Kommentar zu Tehillim 68:37

May God rise; His enemies scatter Amalek and his ilk.

As smoke is driven away as it is driven away. As the smoke is driven away so will You drive [them] away.

from before God From before the Ark in the days of Moses. (And it came to pass when the Ark traveled, that Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and Your enemies will scatter.”Shem Ephraim) And when it rested, he would say, “Return, O Lord, etc.”

and they will delight with joy And this is the joy, and so will they say, “Sing to God, etc.”

praise Heb. סולו, an expression of praise. Similarly (Job 28:16): “It cannot be praised (תסלה) with the jewelry of Ophir”; (Lam. 4:2), “worth their weight (המסלאים) in fine gold.”

by His name Yah By the name י-ה, which is an expression of fear, as we translate it דחילא, fear (below 118:14): “My might and my praise is the fear of the Lord (י-ה).” Likewise (Exod. 17:16): “For a hand is on the throne of the Lord (י-ה),” in the Targum: [And he said, “This is stated with an oath from below the fear of the Shechinah on the throne of His glory, etc.] Similarly (Isa. 26:4): “for in Yah the Lord,” is paraphrased by the Targum: for then You will be redeemed by the word of the fear of the Lord, the Strongest of the world.” The Psalmist says, “Praise Him, fear Him, and rejoice.” This resembles what is said elsewhere (above 2:11): “and rejoice with quaking.”

O Father of orphans And this is the praise that You shall praise before Him: the entire matter until the end of the psalm.

Father of orphans Who became a father to Israel, who are orphans, as it is said (Lam. 5:3): “We were orphans without a father.”

and Judge of widows Who performed the judgment of Jerusalem, concerning which it says (Lam. 1:1): “was like a widow.”

settles the solitary in a house Israel, who were spread out. He gathered together each one from the place where he was lost and settled them in a complete household and a complete nation.

He takes the prisoners out at the most opportune time He took Israel out of Egypt in the month that is best suited for travelers, neither hot nor cold.

but the rebellious The Egyptians.

dwell in an arid land Their land remained arid and thirsty. I found [this].

when You marched When You stepped with your step.

forever There You showed me that this is Your way forever: for every distress, redemption.

this is Sinai That too quaked because of the Lord God of Israel.

Generous rain You poured down This too You did for us: if we needed rain, You lifted them and poured upon us constantly rains of generosity and blessing.

Your heritage, which was weary, You established When the heritage of Your land was weary and thirsty for rain, You established it [Your heritage]. I found: Your heritage which was weary Which is called your heritage, and which is weary; i.e., sometimes it is so.

Your congregation dwelt therein Heb. (חיתך). Your congregation has dwelt therein, as (II Sam. 23:11): “and the Philistines gathered together their camp (sic) into a troop (לחיה).” Another explanation: The congregation of Israel is known as the animal and the beast of the Holy One, blessed be He.

You prepare with your goodness When they left Egypt, You led them around in the desert for forty years because the Canaanites rose and cut down the trees. During the interim, when they tarried in the desert, they rose and rectified it all.

The Lord will give out a word; they will announce it to a great multitude Heb. אמר, [like] מאמר, statement. He will yet roar with [His] voice to allow the hosts of the great nations to hear it. Now what is the word?

The kings of the hosts of nations will wander, yea they will wander. They will wander and be cast out of the land of Israel, and the congregation of Israel, who is the dweller of the house, will divide their spoils, as it is said (Isa. 23:18): “And her commerce and her hire shall be holy, etc.”

If you lie between the borders, etc. All this is the word. He says to them, “If you had lain between your borders and had enjoyed pleasures, this My dove, My congregation, whose feathers are covered with silver.” Now what is the silver, and what is the gold? (15) When the Almighty spreads out, etc. When the Holy One, blessed be He, explained His Torah, with which the kings are “snowed and whitened” in a land of the Shadow of Death and darkness then its feathers (dove’s feathers) were covered with the desire and yearning for the Torah and [its] Commandments. the feathers of a dove Plumes in French.

and its pinions Its wings, with which it flies.

with brilliant gold Heb. בירקרק חרוץ. Dunash the son of Labrat interpreted חרוּץ as gold. Therefore, the Psalmist juxtaposed it to silver, and ירקרק חרוץ is the gold brought from the land of Havilah and from the land of Cush; very good gold, neither yellow nor red. Therefore, it is called ירקרק, as (Lev. 13:42): “reddish white (לבן אדמדם),” which is neither white nor red. Therefore, it is doubled: אדמדם, ירקרק.

When... spreads out Heb. בפרש, an expression of (Deut. 22:17): “and they will spread out (ופרשו) the garment”; they clarify the matter as a new garment.

kings These are the Torah scholars, as it is said (Prov. 8:15): “Kings reign with me.”

The mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan And where did He spread it out? On Mt. Sinai, which is the mountain of God and is near Bashan on the eastern side of the Jordan.

the mountain of peaks The special mountain among the mountains.

peaks Heb. גבננים, an expression of mountains, because of their height, as (Ezek. 16:24): “and you built for yourself a platform (גב).” Any high thing is called גַב.

Why do you lurk, you lofty mountains All this refers back to “The Lord will give out a word.” He says further to them, “Why do you lurk (תרצדון), you lofty mountains?” Why do you lurk, you lofty mountains, to destroy the mountain that God desired for His dwelling, to cause His Shechinah to rest upon it? That is the Temple Mount. Even He will dwell there forever. Its sanctity is a perpetual sanctity. After it was chosen for His dwelling, the Shechinah did not rest elsewhere. I saw in the works of Rabbi Moshe Hadarshan that רצד is “ambush” in Arabic. But Menachem (p. 166) explained תרצדוּן like תרקדוּן, you prance. That expression, too, fits the context.

Why do you lurk (tratzdun) – There are those who explain tratzdun as dance, meaning why do you praise yourselves? You are considered nothing compared the mountain which God desired for His dwelling, which is the mountain of the House. Rabbenu Hai explained tratzdun as a language of consideration and expectation, comparing it to the Arabic in this case. The meaning then would be – why are you interested in and in expectation of honor? Honor is due only to the mountain which God desired for His dwelling. This is the mountain of the House where the Holy Temple is located, the cause of the glory of Jerusalem because there the glory is seen continually, as well as His aid and compassion. Behold, over all of the land of Israel the hand of the enemy rules, and of Jerusalem it says “…neither shall he shoot there an arrow, nor shall he advance upon it with a shield, nor shall he pile up a siege mound against it,” (Isaiah 37:33) and it says “And I will protect this city to save it…” (Isaiah 37:35) And the verse continues ‘Even the Lord will dwell there forever’ because on mount Sinai He did not dwell forever:

God’s chariot, etc. This too refers back to the “The Lord will give forth a word,” to mention the love of His people. Even when God’s chariot of “twice ten thousand times thousands of” brilliant “sharpened” angels appeared, and the Lord was among them at Sinai with His holiness, there too,

you, the leader of His people, Moses the son of Amram ascended on high and took captives.

and also rebellious ones for Yah God to dwell Also you brought about that the Holy One, blessed be He, rested in the Tabernacle of the Torah, and you took gifts from the celestial beings to give them to the sons of men, also among a people who were rebellious and were rebelling against Him and provoking Him.

Blessed is the Lord, etc. This is part of the song mentioned above: “Sing to God.”

lavishes upon us He will give us a great salvation, [greater] than any burden, as much as we can carry. (I found: every day...lavishes upon us He always behaves in this manner to us, that for every distress there is a salvation.)

God is to us the God of salvations God is our Savior, but He has many paths, i.e., kinds of death. תוצאות means, ways to death. However, He does not lay them upon us, but with them He wounds the head of His enemies.

the hairy pate The pate of Esau, who is a “hairy man,” and who always goes with his guilt.

The Lord said, “I shall restore from Bashan” For so He promised to restore us from the mighty ones of Bashan and from the islands of the sea.

In order that your foot may wade through blood When He crushes the head of the enemy, our feet will wade through their blood. תִּמְחַץ is an expression of splitting into the blood, as (Jud. 5: 26): “she split (ומחצה) and penetrated his temple,” like בָּקְעָה, she split. This is Mishnaic Hebrew: “and the pilgrims were wading (בוקעים) up to their knees in blood.” Another explanation: תִּמְחַץ The name of a vessel with which they draw wine from the pit is called מַחַץ, in Tractate Avodah Zarah (72b).

from the enemies From the blood of the enemies.

will have its portion Heb. מנהו, its sustenance will be, as we say (Suc. 39b): “How do we know that מן is an expression of food?” For it is written (Dan. 1: 10): “who appointed (מנה) your food, etc.”

They saw Your ways, O God That is to say, it is fitting that You save these people, for when they saw Your ways in Your sanctity in the sea, singers came first to sing before You the Song of the Sea, and after them came the minstrelsthese are the angels.

in the midst of maidens playing timbrels With Miriam and her maidens, who took the timbrel in her hand, and they said with their praise...

In congregations bless God, the Lord, from the womb of Israel Even the fetuses in their mothers’ wombs recited the Song.

There Benjamin the youngest became the ruler over them.

rules over them Heb. רֹדֵם, like רֹדָם, with a “kamatz.” From there, he merited to become king because he descended first into the sea, and so did Samuel say to Saul (I Sam. 15:17): “Even if you are small in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel?” which Jonathan paraphrases: The tribe of Benjamin crossed the sea at the head of all the other tribes.

the princes of Judah pelt them with stones They envy them and throw stones at them, and so do the princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naftali. So, he says to him, “Your God has commanded your strength.” Another explanation: רִגְמָתָם is the equivalent of רִקְמָתָם, their embroidery, their embroidered garments, an expression of purple (ארגמן). In this way Menachem associated it (p. 161).

show this strength, O God, etc. Now the Psalmist returns to his prayer that he prayed, “Let God rise, and let His enemies scatter.” Show Your strength, O God, and strengthen Yourself, for You have wrought all these for us.

From Your Temple, which is over Jerusalem, etc. And since the kings will see the glory of Your temple, which is over Jerusalem, they will bring You a gift and a tribute.

Rebuke the people of the forest This is Ishmael [Esau], who is compared to the “boar from the forest,” which dwells among the reeds (below 80:14).

the congregation of mighty bulls, among peoples like calves A people that has become fat and thick like mighty bulls among the other nations, which are merely like calves as compared to them.

submitting himself for pieces of silver They do not submit themselves to any person unless he persuades them with money.

he scatters peoples They scattered the tribes, as it is said: (Deut. 33:3): “Also He loves the peoples,” and they always desire battles. They want to fight with us.

Gifts will be brought (Then, when You destroy Esau and the King Messiah arises, they will bring you gifts from Egypt and from Cush.Parshandatha) Then, when You scatter the enemy, and the King Messiah arises in the future, they will bring you gifts from Egypt and from Cush. Menachem interpreted חשמנים as the name of a province, the dwellers of Hashmonah (p. 96), but the commentators interpret it as an expression of a gift.

sing to God Who showed His greatness and redeemed His people.

behold He gives forth Heb. יתן, behold He gives.

You are feared, O God, from Your Sanctuary Because You destroyed it, You are feared. If He did not show favoritism to His [own] Sanctuary, surely [He will] not [show favoritism] to the wicked of the heathens. The Midrash Aggadah explains: Do not read: מִמִּקְדָּשֶׁיךָ, “from Your Sanctuaries,” but מִמְּקֻדְּשֶׁיךָ, “from Your hallowed ones.” When the Holy One, blessed be He, executes justice upon the righteous, He is feared, elevated, and praised. Similarly, it is said (Lev. 10:3): “Through those near to me I will be sanctified.” [Also] (Exod. 29:43), “and it will be sanctified with My honor” [i.e., with My honored ones]. With the death of Aaron’s two sons (Zev. 115b). Our Rabbis, however, expounded on the entire psalm until (verse 20): “Blessed is the Lord; every day” as referring to the giving of the Torah; (verse 10) “generous rain” refers to the giving of the Torah, and (verse 11) “Your congregation dwelt therein,” means that they became engrossed in Torah (Mid. Ps. 68 with variations). But as for me I feel uncertain in explaining the expression ישבוּ as meaning that they became engrossed in Torah. Also, my heart is uneasy at explaining (verse 17) “the mountain that God desired for His dwelling” as referring to Mt. Sinai, because He did not desire it for His dwelling and [did] not [want] to dwell there forever, whereas here it is written: “Even the Lord will dwell there forever.” Likewise (verse 13): “Kings (מלכי) of hosts,” he explained as “angels (מלאכי) of hosts,” which is not the language of Scripture.