Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Mazmur 49:6

“If you will heed” [7:12]. Our sages said that the verse teaches us that the commandments that we fulfill with our feet, that one goes to the synagogue, or to a sermon, or visiting the sick, to someone who is sick, or to attend a funeral, or console the mourners; all of these commandments have great merit. Even on the Sabbath, one may run or walk quickly to go to the synagogue. Whoever does not fulfill the commandments, after his death the commandments will complain about him on the Day of Judgment, as the verse says, “the encompassing evil of those who would supplant me” [Psalms, 49:6]. This means, the sins that he commits with his feet will surround him. Similarly, when he is arrogant with his feet or he runs to commit sins, he will be punished. In particular, the one who engages in arrogance with his footsteps will be punished, as we find regarding the daughter of Rabbi Haninah, who was forced into a brothel because of the sin of arrogance she engaged in with her haughty walk. She said herself: I have sinned in that I walked haughtily with my feet. The Holy One is punctilious with the steps of the people. Therefore, the portion begins with “If you will heed” [7:12]. This means, when you will keep the commandments that one does with one’s feet, then the Holy One will give you the land, and everything that the Holy One promised you. Another explanation is that the reward for the commandments is at the end, in the next world. The reward of the evildoer for the few commandments that he fulfilled is in this world. Concerning this the verse said, “If you will heed” [7:12]. This means, when you will hear the commandments. Thus, God will repay you the reward in the end, in the next world.¹Bahya, Deuteronomy, 7:12.

והיה עקב תשמעון, “it will be as a consequence of your hearkening, etc.” Rashi comments on why Moses used the word עקב, “heel,” here when he could have used numerous other words meaning: “as a result of.” He says that Moses refers here to the kind of commandments which the average person tramples underfoot with his heel, is hardly conscious of, for the observance of which meticulously the Torah promises great reward, even though it takes no effort to fulfill theses commandments. This is also what David had in mind in Psalms 49,6 when he said: למה אירא רע בימי עון עקבי יסובני, “why should I be afraid of trouble in days to come –seeing that I have fulfilled the most difficult commandments?-He answers rhetorically, “I have reason to be afraid of being punished for trespassing the commandments that are so easy to fulfill as it is to put one heel behind another.” Our sages in Ethics of the Fathers chapter 2 mishnah 1, warn us to be as meticulous to fulfill the commandments which are easy to fulfill as we are with fulfilling the commandments which are difficult and expensive to fulfill. Something along the same line has been written in Proverbs 5,6 where Solomon warns: ארח חיים פן תפלס נעו מעגלותיה לא תדע “she (the immoral woman who is the subject here) does not chart a path of life; her ways are unstable; you do not know them.” Solomon warns us not to apply our yardsticks to different commandments and taking credit for the ones we performed with a great deal of effort, while neglecting to fulfill the ones we considered as unimportant. We have no way of knowing how G–d values the performance of different commandments, so that we do not know what rewards are in store for their performance. This can be illustrated best by a parable. A king had an orchard; he brought workmen to that orchard to plant trees and did not tell them how much he would pay each for each tree that they planted. If he had told them beforehand which planting would be paid for most, he would find at the end that only half the orchard had been planted with trees, as the workers would, of course, all plant the trees for which they would be paid the most. According to Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, G–d revealed the reward of only two of all the commandments; one is the commandment which is the easiest to fulfill, the other is the commandment which is the hardest to fulfill. Honouring father and mother is the easiest commandment to fulfill, it can be fulfilled several times daily without special effort. The other is the sending away of the mother bird when one plans to take the chicks it had hatched or was about to hatch. Both of these commandments are rewarded with same reward, long life of the person who fulfills them. The reason is that G–d wanted to show the world that there are commandments which we think must carry a great reward, and others which precisely because they are so easy to fulfill, and the opportunity to fulfill them is ever present, so that we might have thought that they cannot carry much of a reward. [The author continues with further elaborations, which I have omitted as the point has been made sufficiently. Ed.]

And a proof for our words from what is concluded in the Yalkut (446) “And it shall be, if you hearken [eikev]” This is as it is said (Psalms 49:6), Why should I fear in days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels [akevai] surrounds me. David said, “I am not afraid of the severe [transgressions] because they are severe, but I am afraid of the minor ones, lest I transgressed them, and You said, ‘Be careful with a minor commandment as with a severe one.’ Therefore it says, And it shall be, if you hearken [eikev].” David said before the Holy One, blessed be He, “Your servant is careful with them; in keeping them there is great reward [eikev rav] (Psalms 19:12). How abundant is Your goodness (Psalms 31:20) — this refers to the reward for minor commandments,” end of quote.
I searched throughout the entire Scripture and did not find where the Holy One, blessed be He, said, “Be careful with a minor commandment as with a severe one,” so how did David say, “and You said, etc.”? And how did the author of the midrash connect his words to the verse And it shall be, if you hearken [eikev]? And what indicates that the verse How abundant is Your goodness speaks about the reward for minor commandments?
Rather, certainly he found it difficult [to understand] And it shall be, if you hearken [eikev] to the judgments [mishpatim] — why didn’t it also mention the statutes [chukim]? Furthermore, if the word “eikev” alludes to minor commandments, it should have said “and the judgments,” because the word “et” [in “et hamishpatim”] is not connected to what is above.