Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Mazmur 141:2

And I am adding to his words to bring robust and good proofs on this matter. For initially it says And the fire of the altar shall be kept burning in it — there is no prohibition here but only a positive commandment. And in the second [verse], both a prohibition and a positive commandment are stated, as it says And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning in it, it shall not go out — shall be kept burning is a positive commandment, shall not go out is a negative commandment. And in the third [verse], a prohibition and a positive commandment are also stated, with the addition of the concept of permanence, as it says A perpetual fire shall be kept burning on the altar, it shall not go out. And all this was not written haphazardly, but with a great and wonderful purpose. This is because the evening prayer is optional and not obligatory, therefore no prohibition is mentioned regarding it, and even the positive commandment is not a complete commandment, as there is no direct command to the fire, since it says And the fire of the altar shall be kept burning in it. The morning prayer is obligatory and forbidden to neglect, therefore the prohibition of it shall not go out was added. And for the afternoon prayer, in addition to the prohibition of it shall not go out, it says perpetual fire, indicating the permanence that should not be neglected due to any business in the world, as concluded in tractate Berakhot (6b): Rabbi Chelbo said: A person should always be careful about the afternoon prayer, for Elijah was answered only in the afternoon prayer, etc. Rabbi Yochanan says: Also with the evening prayer, as it says Let my prayer be set forth as incense before You, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice (Psalms 141:2). Rabbi Nachman bar Yitzchak says: Also with the morning prayer, as it says O Lord, in the morning You shall hear my voice; in the morning I will direct my prayer to You and watch (Psalms 5:4). You can see that the terms “perpetual” and “always” indicate diligence and persistence in the afternoon prayer, therefore it says here perpetual fire, and there they said “a person should always be careful, etc.”

Rabbi Yochanan adds a time for the mincha prayer, even if one was prevented [by circumstances] and did not pray mincha, nevertheless he should be careful to make up the prayer in the evening service that follows it. And this is what he meant by “even in the evening prayer,” meaning that one should be careful to pray mincha even in the evening, as it is said, May the lifting of my hands be like the evening offering [minchat arev] (Psalms 141:2). The difficulty is: Why did he call the evening prayer “mincha”? Certainly, he is speaking about someone who forgot to pray mincha and now prays two evening prayers — first the regular evening prayer and the second as a make-up for mincha. Therefore it is said regarding the evening prayer, May my prayer be established as incense before You (Psalms 141:2) — this refers to the evening prayer that comes at the time of the offering of the incense in the late afternoon, that is, at the time of the kindling of the lamps. And afterward, one prays another [prayer] for mincha, which is what he called the evening offering.

בין הערבים יקטירנה, “he shall bring it up in smoke in the afternoon.” It is a well known fact that the fragrance of incense burned in the late afternoon lingers longer than its counterpart burned in the morning. This is already referred to in Psalms 141,2: “take my prayer as an offering of incense, my upraised hands as an evening sacrifice.” David emphasizes that which is offered in the afternoon/evening. When referring to his offering he did not mention such offerings as sin-offerings or guilt-offerings or even burnt-offerings, but asked G’d to look kindly on his offering of incense. All the other offerings are in expiation of some sin, even sins committed only in one’s thoughts and never carried out which are atoned for by the עולה, the burnt-offering. The incense offering has no connotation of sin associated with it at all. David asked that his prayer be accepted by G’d as if it had been incense. This is also why he said in the verse following שיתה ה' שמרה לפי, “O Lord set a guard over my mouth.” I believe that the word שיתה belongs together with the word לפי, as if David had said: שיתה ה' לפי, שמרה לפי, he meant that G’d should put suitable words in his mouth. David thereby alluded to what G’d had said to Moses in Exodus 4,11 מי שם פה לאדם, “who has provided man with a mouth?” David requested that G’d help him not to utter words which are not appropriate. This is the meaning of the latter half of the verse in Psalms 141,3 נצרה על-דל שפתי, “set a watch at the door of my lips.” The word דל is short for דלת שפתי. The idea of a mouth having a door is already described in Micah 7,5 where the prophet says שמר פתחי פיך, “be guarded in your speech.” He used the word פתח to describe the mouth which opens and closes just like a door. G’d uses similar language in Job 41,6 saying of Leviathan: דלתי פניו מי פתח, “who can pry open his face?” The word נצרה in Psalms 141,3 is in an imperative form just like מכרה in Genesis 25,31, or in Genesis 43,8 when Yehudah told his father Yaakov שלחה הנער אתי, “send the lad (Binyamin) with me!” The dagesh in the letter צ of the word נצרה is merely for aesthetical purposes to make the reading of the word more pleasant-sounding. It is similar to the dagesh in Exodus 15,17 in the letter ק of the word מקדש of the line מקדש ה' כוננו ידיך. It results in doubling the sound. The psalmist could have written נצור just as easily as he wrote נצרה.
Concerning the words משאת כפי מנחת ערב, “my upraised hands as a gift of the evening,” David requests here that his prayer at this time be even more welcome to G’d than an offering of incense in the morning. The reason he describes his prayer as “his outstretched palms,” is to compare it to the incense which is born on one’s hands, having in mind Leviticus 16,12: “and his cupped handfuls of finely ground incense.” Another thought David may have had in mind when he referred to מנחת ערב may have been related to the meaning of the word ערבות, “pleasing,” as in Maleachi 3,4, וערבה לה' מנחת יהודה וירושלים, “then the offerings of Yehudah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, etc.” Seeing that of all the sacrifices none is as welcome to G’d as the incense, its smoke begins to rise heavenwards immediately it is placed on the altar. This is why at the beginning of this hymn David describes it as קראתיך חושה לי, “when I call You hasten to me.”

ולעבדו בכל לבבכם AND TO SERVE HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART — i.e. to serve Him with a service that is in the heart: that is prayer, for prayer is termed service (עבודה), as it is said, (Daniel 6:17) “Thy God whom thou servest continually”. But was there service (i.e. sacrificial service, the technical term for which is עבודה) in Babylon? But the term is used because he offered prayer there, as it is said, (Daniel 6:11) “Now his windows were open [in his upper chamber towards Jerusalem and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed]”. And so, too, it states in the case of David (Psalms 141:2): “Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee” (incense being part of the sacrificial service) (Sifrei Devarim 41:25-27).