Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Mazmur 103:14

The Rock, His work is perfect. This is explained in the way that Solomon said (Ecclesiastes 7:29), God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. This is to remove from the heart of man evil thoughts, to speak incorrectly about God, claiming that the Craftsman who created him put within him material that has a tendency toward physical desires, and that this corruption came from His hand. As we say by way of excuse, Remember that we are dust (Psalms 103:14), and similarly Job said (10:9), Remember, I beseech You, that You have made me as clay, etc. Perhaps the sinner might come to attribute his guilt to his Creator. On this it says that this is not so, but rather “the Rock [Tzur] who formed man with wisdom, His work is perfect.” For “there is no artist [tzayar] like our God” (Berakhot 10a), and all His work is perfect without deficiency. The proof of this is that all His ways are just, and if man were deficient because of his creation, then he would not have free will, as he would be compelled in his actions, and it would not be appropriate to bring him to judgment for his deeds. Yet you acknowledge that all of God’s ways are just and far be it from the Almighty to do injustice. For God is faithful, to reward the righteous, and without injustice, to repay even the wicked. Just as you acknowledge that He justly gives good reward to those who do His will, so too He justly punishes the wicked because He is righteous and upright, and He made man upright in every way, but they have sought out many schemes. For corruption came from their side and not from His side, blessed be He. This is what it means by He has corrupted himself, which Onkelos translates as “they have corrupted themselves, it is not His,” because the corruption depends on them due to their poor choices, and not on Him, for one cannot attribute the corruption to Him at all. The defect is not of His children, meaning that it is not as they thought, to attribute their defect to being His children, saying to the Craftsman who made me a physical being, This came to me from Your hand. Rather, their main defect is from themselves, in that they are a perverse and crooked generation. And they have no defect or deficiency from the aspect of being His children, blessed be He, for the Rock made them in perfection, without deficiency, but they chose for themselves corrupt ways that God did not command. This also fits well with Rashi’s interpretation, who explains himself/Himself as referring to the Holy One, blessed be He, meaning that this corruption should be attributed to Him, blessed be He — no, this is not so, but rather they were His children, and the corruption, their blemish, is their own blemish.

And there are those who say that he spoke about repentance. From the perspective of God’s exaltedness, repentance is truly wondrous beyond wonder, for any husband who divorces his wife will not take her back after she has been defiled. So how could the exalted and lofty King draw near to Him sinful people who have turned away from Him and strayed after foreign gods? But from you meaning from your angle, it is not wondrous, as it is said He remembers that we are dust (Psalms 103:14). Because from the material angle, there is no righteous person on earth who does good and does not sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Therefore, it is proper that He accept your repentance. And perhaps this is why it says it is not in heaven, because it is not found among the spiritual heavenly hosts, but rather in you, a person born of dust. Therefore, from your angle, repentance is an appropriate and acceptable matter, in the way that has been explained.

And when I am for myself alone, what am I? I still cannot reach one thousandth of what I am obligated to do. And they made a parable [about this]: To what is the thing similar? To a king that gave his field to his servants and agreed with them [that his portion would be] thirty kor. They toiled and they brought him five kor. The king said to them, "But didn't I agree with you that it be thirty kor?" They said to him, "Our master, the king, the field that you gave us was of low quality. We toiled greatly on it and we were not able to get out from it more than five kor." So did they say in front of the Holy One, blessed be He, "It is the evil impulse that you have given us from our youth, as it is stated (Genesis 8:21), 'the impulse of man’s heart is evil from his youth.' And even when a man toils greatly to do what is straight in the eyes of God, a man only accomplishes a small part of what he is obligated to do." And this is what is stated (Psalms 103:14), "For He knows our impulse; He is mindful that we are dust." Since were it not that He made the evil impulse [powerful] in man - even without his working hard and pursuing the commandments - he would do many of them. [It would be] like in a high quality field - even if they did not toil in the work of his land - something would come out of it. But now that he knows that even if he toils greatly, he will only attain a small amount because of the evil impulse that corrupts his body; [then] all the more so if he does not toil, his soul will remain empty of the commandments, like a poor quality field if one does not toil in it. And if he does not fertilize it and plow it, nothing will come out of it. And about this is it stated (Proverbs 24:30-31), "I passed by the field of a lazy man, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense. It was all overgrown with thorns; its surface was covered with chickweed, and its stone fence lay in ruins." And for this reason he made the motivation of others adjacent to the motivation of himself and said, " If I am not for me, who will be for me," but if I don't toil and motivate myself to pursue the commandments, I will stay devoid of them - since, even "when I am for myself" and toil in them, I only reach a small portion of the many portions and what do I reach (mah ani can mean both "what am I" and what do I) if I don't toil at all?