Commentary for I Chronicles 28:9
וְאַתָּ֣ה שְׁלֹמֹֽה־בְנִ֡י דַּע֩ אֶת־אֱלֹהֵ֨י אָבִ֜יךָ וְעָבְדֵ֗הוּ בְּלֵ֤ב שָׁלֵם֙ וּבְנֶ֣פֶשׁ חֲפֵצָ֔ה כִּ֤י כָל־לְבָבוֹת֙ דּוֹרֵ֣שׁ יְהוָ֔ה וְכָל־יֵ֥צֶר מַחֲשָׁב֖וֹת מֵבִ֑ין אִֽם־תִּדְרְשֶׁ֙נּוּ֙ יִמָּ֣צֵא לָ֔ךְ וְאִם־תַּֽעַזְבֶ֖נּוּ יַזְנִיחֲךָ֥ לָעַֽד׃
And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a whole heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts; if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off for ever.
Rashi on I Chronicles
and worship Him with a whole heart Heb. בְּלֵב שָׁלֵם. It is not stated בְּלֵבָב שָׁלֵם, which would mean two hearts, but בְּלֵב שָׁלֵם, that you shall have but one heart for our Father Who is in heaven. And so did the liturgical poet set down (in the Kedushah of Musaph of the first day of Rosh Hashanah): “You have two hearts like one for the One.” Similar to this, [we find in] (I Kings 8:61): “Let your heart [therefore] be whole (שָׁלֵם) with the Lord our God.” It is not written שְׁלֵמִים but שָׁלֵם: your two hearts will be one whole heart. And so it is explained (Gen. 18:5): “... and refresh your heart (לִבְּכֶם), afterwards you may pass on.” This teaches us that the angels have only one heart, and also in the future it will be so, as it is written: (Ps. 48:14): “Give heed (לִבְּכֶם lit., your heart) to its walls.”
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Rashi on I Chronicles
for the Lord seeks all hearts Here it is appropriate to say לְבָבוֹת ; the Lord seeks all hearts, whether good or bad.
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Rashi on I Chronicles
and He understands the thoughts of every creation In Genesis Rabbah (9:3), we learned: “Before a creature is created, the Holy One, blessed be He, understands what the person is destined to think.”
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Rashi on I Chronicles
if you seek Him, He will be found to you Therefore, I say, (v. 8): “and seek all the commandments of the Lord.”
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Rashi on I Chronicles
He will abandon you forever Heb. יַזְנִיחֲךָ. It is not written here: He will forsake you (יַעַזָבְךָ), but He will abandon you (יַזְנִיחֲך), which is [a] harsher [term] like (Isa. 19: 6): “And they will abandon (הֶאֶזְנִיחוּ) the rivers”; (Lam 2:7): “The Lord abandoned (זָנַַח) His altar.”
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