Commentaire sur Les Psaumes 10:20

You hide in times of distress You hide Your eyes in times of distress.

Why standest Thou afar, O Lord? – David did not utter this Psalm of any one particular occasion; it is rather a prayer which anyone who is in trouble by reason of an enemy might use. In it he tells of the ways of the wicked in his persecution of the poor and him who is helpless to escape him. And because usually the persecutor does not act openly, he tells of the persecution by the wicked, how he oppresses the poor by means of ambush and secret place; and that (the poor) has no means of safeguarding himself from him but (in turning) his eyes upon the Lord. And he tells of the deeds of the wicked individually and generally, for the wicked is one and his helpers many. And he includes in the Psalm likewise (a reference to) the persecution with which the nations of the world would persecute Israel in their land; therefore he says (5:16), the heathen are perished out of his land. And he says: that mortal man (shall no longer) oppress (5:18). He says: Why standest Thou afar, O Lord? For when help comes from Him to the poor and to him that crieth, it is as if He were nigh and helping him, as it says (Deut. 4:7): "that hath a God so nigh unto them"; and it says (Ps. 145:18): "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him"; and when the enemy prevails it is as if God were far away, and hiding His eyes from the poor – therefore he says: Why standest Thou afar, O Lord? And the beth of ברחוק stands really for two words; I mean רחוק במקום, "in a place afar."

Why hidest Thou Thyself in times of trouble (בצרה) ? – – times, that is, when the poor is in trouble (בצרה).

he pursues Heb. ידלק, he pursues, as (in Gen. 31:36): “that you pursued (דלקת) me?”

In the pride of the wicked does he hotly pursue the poor: – that is, in the (bold and) public way with which in his pride he pursues him.

they are caught The poor are caught in the plots that the wicked devise against them.

Let them be caught in the devices that (זוּ) they have planned: – Let them be caught is a prayer: May it please Thee that the wicked be caught in the devices that they have planned to catch the poor. זוּ is to be explained as the equivalent of אשׁר, and so (Is. 42:24): לו חטאנו זוּ, "He against whom we have sinned."

For the wicked man boasts This refers to “O Lord, why do You stand from afar,” for now the wicked man boasts that he achieves all the desire of his soul.

For the wicked doth congratulate himself: – because he congratulates himself

and the robber congratulates himself for having blasphemed the Lord And the robber praises himself, saying that he has blasphemed the Lord, yet he will have peace.

upon his soul's desire: – When he does it and none denies him, Thou shalt shew him that there is One supreme over him, and he shall be caught in what he proposes to do.

congratulates Heb. בֵּרֵך, like בֵּרַך, an expression of the past tense. You should know [that this is so,] for if it were a noun, the accent would be on the first letter and it would be vowelized with a “pattah” [meaning a “seggol” under the “resh”], but this one is vowelized with a small “kamatz” [i.e., with a “tzereh”] and it is accented below on the “resh.” Do not wonder about בֵּרֵך, that he did not say: בֵּרַך, because many words spelled with a “resh” are vowelized in this manner, e.g. (below 74:18), “an enemy blasphemed (חֵרֵף) the Lord,” and it does not say חֵרַף.

And blesses the robber, him who despises the Lord: – The wicked blesses and praises the robber and him who holds on his way and despises God, and says that He is powerless to deliver the oppressed out of his hand, or that there is none who pays regard to him, as it says (5:13), He says in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.

blasphemed Heb. נאץ, like חֵרֵף and Menachem interpreted every expression of נאוץ in this manner.

A wicked man at the height of his anger When he is haughty, and he lifts up and holds his face erect, and his anger is at its height.

The wicked according to the loftiness of his looks (lit. nose): – The loftiness of the heart displays itself in the face, and the face is indicated by the nose (אף), for it is high upon the face, as (1 Sam 20:41), "and fell on his nose (לאפיו)," where the meaning is on his face;" and bowed to him nose (אפים) to the earth" (Gen. 42:6), where the meaning is faces.

He will not seek All his thoughts tell him, “The Holy One, blessed be He, will not seek anything that I may do because there is no judgment.”

doth not (seek) God: – Because of his haughtiness and pride he does not seek God, neither does he pray to Him.

there is no God There is no judgment, and there is no judge.

All his thoughts are, There is no God: – All the thoughts of the wicked and his calculations are: that there is no God judging in the earth, and everything which man pleases to do let him do, for there is none to seek (require), and none to search it out, therefore he does not seek God.

prosper Heb. יחילו, prosper, and similar to this is (in Job 20:21): “therefore shall his goods not prosper (יחיל).” Others explain יחילו like (II Sam. 3:29): “May it rest (יחולו) upon the head of Joab.”

His ways are grievous – ( יחילו may be explained) from the significance of חיל in "pain (חיל) as of a woman in travail" (Ps.xlviii. 7). He says: that the evil ways of the wicked cause pangs to the poor.

Your judgments are far removed from him Your judgments of pains and punishments are removed and distanced from him, for they do not come upon him.

always: – for all the while he is in the world they are afraid of him.

All his adversarieshe blows at them With a blowing of wind, he blows at them, and they fall before him.

O Exalted One, Thy judgments are out of his sight: מרום (Exalted) is a vocative addressed to God – Blessed be He ! He says: For Thou, O Lord, Exalted One, Thy judgments are out of his sight and do not touch him, therefore he is boastful.

All his adversaries: – i.e. the poor.

he puffeth at them: – They are as a puff of breath before him. Or it (יפיח) may be interpreted from the meaning (of פח) a trap and a snare: as if to say that he sets a trap among them to take them. And so "they bring a city into a snare (יפיחו)" (Prov. 29:8).

“for all generations I will not be in adversity” Adversity will not befall me throughout my generations.

He says in his heart, I shall not be moved: – He thinks in his heart I shall not ever be moved; I shall never be moved from my greatness.

generation after generation not be in adversity: – For generation after generation shall I live, for I shall not be in, nor see, adversity; therefore I shall live a long time.

and guile Heb. ותך, an expression of an evil thought that lodges constantly in his midst.

His mouth is full of swearing, deceit, and fraud: – Such is the way of the wicked; when he wishes to deceive others he swears to them with a full mouth, so that he may seem to swear in all sincerity, and this is deceit and fraud. Fraud also is the same as deceit, because there is not really in his heart what he pretends with his mouth.

Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity: – When he takes an oath with his tongue, under his tongue is mischief and iniquity. The heart is under the tongue, hidden from what is revealed by the tongue. So also (in the verse) "high praise was under my tongue" (Ps. 66:17); he (the Psalmist) is speaking of the heart. And מלא (full) is not an adjective, but a verb, as: "and the glory of the Lord filled (מלא) the tabernacle" (Exod. 40:34). He says: he fills his mouth with swearing so that a man may trust him, and then he plays him false.

his eyes spy on Your army The eyes of Esau lurk for Israel, who are Your army.

He sitteth in the places of ambush of the villages: – The villages are the open towns which are upon the highways: as "her towns (lit. her daughters) and her villages" (Jos. 15:45); "the villages that Kedar doth inhabit" (Is. 42:11). Similarly we find (Zech. 2:8) "Jerusalem shall dwell as open regions."

on Your army Heb. לחלכה ; (verse 14), “upon You Your army (חלכה) leaves.” Both of them are in the masorah as words spelled with כה instead of ך, like (Exod. 7:29), “upon you (ובכה) and upon your people”; (Prov. 2:11), “discretion shall guard you (תנצרכה) (Exod. 29:35), “I commanded you (אתכה)”; (I Sam. 1: 26), “who was standing with you (עמכה).” We learn from the masorah that חלכה is like חילך, Your army. But Menachem (p.89) interprets לחלכה יצפנו and so יעזב חלכה like (verse 10), “and helpless ones (חלכאים) shall fall into his power,” a word meaning humble and moaning. Accordingly, כה is [part of] the radical.

In the secret places doth he murder the innocent: – for usually the wicked does not do his wicked work openly, but he sits in ambushes and secret places that he may beware of the sons of men so that they may not see him. But he cannot beware of the All-seeing God !

His eyes lie in wait for the hapless: – לחלכה is equivalent to חלך with the addition of he; and its interpretation: "for the poor." He says: that the eyes of the wicked are on the look out for the poor, to take him. And יצפנו (lie in wait for) is an intransitive verb, as if he meant " he sets his eyes in a hidden place (צפון), and from thence looks out over the roads."

He lieth in ambush in the secret place as a lion in his den: He lieth in ambush to catch the poor: He catcheth the poor, when he draweth him in his net. – He likens him to a lion as he crouches in his den and lieth in wait to catch the passer-by or one near at hand, so that they will not (be able to) guard themselves against him and flee from him when they see him; and when he sees the prey he catcheth (it). And (the word) "catching" here means "seizing quickly," for the wicked sits in ambush in the secret place. Afterwards he compares him with a fowler who spreads his net and stands at a distance from it so that the bird may not be aware of him, and the cords of the net are in his hand, and when the bird falls into the net he closes the net with the cords in his hand and the bird is taken. So is the way of the wicked. Sometimes he will not be in ambush, but will stand at a distance from the roads, so that men may not beware of him; and then when he sees the poor and the helpless he rushes upon them. Or he stations some members of his band on the roads without any weapons, while he himself is with the armed men some distance off. Then as defenceless people pass these give them a signal and they come; and they (the decoys) are to them as the net to the fowler. He tells of yet another way the wicked adopts, and this is what he says:

He crouches, he bows down So is the habit of the lurker; he crouches and lowers [himself] and makes himself small in order to be inconspicuous.

He is crushed, he humbleth himself: – ודכה, the Kethib is written with waw, and the Keri (ידכה) with yodh, and the waw and the yodh interchange. He says: that in yet another sense it is the way of the wicked to get the poor into his power. He makes himself (as one) crushed and humble. He and his band pretend that they are weak and crushed, so that the children of men may not be on their guard against them, but go forth with them in the company on the way; and then when they are far from any human habitation they reveal their strength and power and seize them; and this (is the meaning of)

and an army of broken people fall by his signals Heb. חלכאם, an army of broken people. I saw in the great masorah that חלכאים is one of fifteen words that are written as one word and read as two words, as is בגד in the verse (Gen. 30:11) commencing “And Leah said.” Also (in Deut. 33:2), “a fiery Law (אשדת) is to them”; (Isa. 3: 15), “What do you mean (מלכם) that you crush My people?” Also this word means חל כאים, an army of broken people. כאים is an expression of (below 109:16) “and a broken-hearted one (ונכאה לבב) to kill.” If you say that the “nun” is the radical, (Ezek. 13:22) “Because you have broken (הכאות) the heart of the righteous” will prove that [it is not]. We learn that the “nun” of נראה is like the “nun” of (I Sam. 15:9) נמבזה and the “nun” of (Jer. 6:14) נקלה, and so is its interpretation: and...fall by the signals of this wicked man, with his hints and his winks, an expression of (Isa. 41:21) “present your signals (עצמותיכם).” and (ibid. 33:15) “and closes (ועצם) his eyes,” an army of poor people. Another explanation: בעצומיו, by his mighty men. Said Rabbi Simon: This wicked man puts into his “callirus,” meaning army, only mighty men like himself, as it is said (in Dan. 3:20): “And he commanded the mighty warriors who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abed- nego” (Mid. Ps. 10:5). However, Menachem, (p. 89) interprets חלכאים as “poor and weak (וחלך),” the “chaf” being a radical.

And the hapless fall by their strong (ones): – (The Kethib) is written as one word, חלכאים, but the Keri reads as two words, כאים חל; and its interpretation is: "the congregation of the stricken and the weary." And עצומיו (their strong ones) is an adjective for "their strong limbs" – their hands and feet. And all these are the ways which he narrates in the matter of the wicked, to shew that in all these ways he may be wary of the sons of men, but cannot be wary of God, and (that) he shews himself to be no fearer of God; for he says in his heart that He (God) does not see and does not know, as he says:

He says in his heart, God hath forgotten: He hideth His face; He will never see. – If He knows, He has forgotten. Or its interpretation is: that He does not know at all, like the man who has forgotten a matter and does not know it, or like the man who knows a matter, but hides his face and is unwilling ever to see it; therefore he says:

Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Thy hand: – Because the wicked says that Thou dost not see, do Thou arise and lift up Thy hand against him.

Forget not the meek: – even as the wicked has said, God has forgotten. The Kethib is עניים (poor); the Keri ענוים (meek).

Why did a wicked man blaspheme the Holy One, blessed be He? Because he said in his heart that You do not seek.

Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God, (And) say in his heart, Thou wilt not require ? – For why is he despising Thee ? Only because he says in his heart that Thou wilt not require, nor regard what he says and does.

You saw what he does, and You remain silent.

Thou hast seen: – The yodh of the third radical is missing from the form as written. The wicked man says that Thou dost not see; but Thou hast seen all.

for You So is Your custom, that You look at mischief and provocation.

For Thou – assuredly

to give with Your power With Your power, You lend a hand to the wicked to prosper with their wickedness.

beholdest mischief and spite: – The mischief and spite which the wicked exhibits towards the poor, Thou beholdest it.

upon You Your army leaves Your people Israel, who are Your army, leave the burden upon You that You should execute justice upon the wicked. Menachem (p. 132) interprets יעזב as an expression of help, as (in Exod. 23:5): “you shall help (עזב תעזב) with him.” He interprets חלכה as an expression of “poor and weak (חלך),” the “chaf” being a radical.

To put (the matter) in Thine hand: – when it shall please Thee to. exact the judgment of the poor from the wicked. For

You would help the orphan in the early days.

To Thee the hapless leaveth: – the hapless, i.e. he that is poor, (leaveth) his cause; for often has he seen that

Thou hast been the helper of the fatherless: – for Thou hast been the helper of the fatherless and the weak, therefore he waits for Thee and leaves his cause to Thee. And in חלכה the he is added, as we have (already) explained (supra, 5:8).

Break the arm of the wicked Esau.

Break Thou the arm of the wicked: – Break his arm and his strength.

but as for the evil one—You will seek his wickedness and not find [it] As for the wicked of Israel, when they see the wicked [of the nations] prospering, their heart inspires them to deal wickedly, but when You break the arm of the wicked, if You were to come [then] to seek the wickedness of the wicked of Israel, You would not find it.

And as for the evil man, do Thou seek out his wickedness and Thou shalt find none: – When he says Thou wilt not require, as he said above (13), shew him that Thou dost require; and if Thou doest so, Thou shalt not find wickedness in the earth, for if Thou shouldest break his arm, then those who remain will hear and fear. And רשע and רע (wickedness and evil) are synonyms (lit., is a double word).

The Lord is King forever and ever after the nations perish from His land.

The Lord is King for ever and ever: – When Thou shalt execute judgment upon the wicked who oppress Israel in exile, then Thou shalt be King for ever and ever and none shall rebel against Thy word, as it says (Zech. 14:9), "And the Lord shall be King over all the earth "; and then

The heathen are perished out of his land: – and the kingdom shall return to Israel.

Lord, Thou hast heard the desire of the meek: – Thou hast heard is equivalent (here) to "Thou wilt hear," and its interpretation (is) Thou hast heard their prayer according to their desire. Or its interpretation is: Thou didst hear their desire before they gave it expression, as it says (Is. 65:24): "And it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer"; and so on.

Thou wilt establish their heart: – Thou wilt remove from their heart worldly anxiety, for their heart is distracted by reason of their poverty and their wanderings, and Thou wilt help them to establish their heart upon Thee in devotion. And then

Thou wilt make Thine ear attend – to their prayer. And the interpretation of אזנך תקשׁיב is: Thou shalt make Thine ears to be attentive.

To judge the orphan To perform judgments for Israel, the orphans, and crushed people.

To judge the fatherless and the downtrodden: – And what was their prayer ? (For Thee) to judge the fatherless and downtrodden. And its interpretation is: to exact their judgment from their oppressors. For

that he no longer continue Ishmael and Esau.

No longer shall terrify – them or affright them any more

to break the weak To crush and break the weak and sick.

man (that is) of the earth: – and they shall only be in fear of Thee. לערץ (terrify) is (here) a transitive verb, and is similarly transitive (in the passages): "when He ariseth to terrify (לערץ) the earth" (Is. 2:19); "Wilt thou harass (תערוץ) a driven leaf?" (Job 13:25).