וְיָסְפ֧וּ עֲנָוִ֛ים בַּֽיהוָ֖ה שִׂמְחָ֑ה וְאֶבְיוֹנֵ֣י אָדָ֔ם בִּקְד֥וֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל יָגִֽילוּ׃
Orang-orang yang rendah hati akan makin bersukacita di dalam Yang Mahakekal, dan orang-orang yang paling miskin di antara manusia akan bersorak-sorai di dalam Yang Mahakudus Israel.
Rabbeinu Bahya
An alternative meaning alluded to by the word אך which is always diminutive, restrictive, may be that joy in this world is never complete joy. Even while rejoicing on the festival we must remain conscious of the limitations of this terrestrial universe. The reminder is especially timely seeing that starting with Pessach followed by Shavuot we experience increasing amounts of joy seeing more and more of the life-sustaining harvest is secured, we might delude ourselves of reaching a state of serenity, living a life without challenges. The wording of the verse is designed to teach us to temper our joy in this imperfect world, the life our sages call חיי שעה, “a life of only hours.”
Even while preoccupied with the fulfillment of the command-ments which ought to be fulfilled in a spirit of joy, we must never exclude the emotion of trembling that we are in the presence of our Creator. This is how our sages in Berachot 30 understood the call of Psalms 2,11: “serve the Lord in awe, tremble with fright.” The very word גילה, a form of joy, mentioned in that verse, embodies also a feeling of “fright.” The reason for all these negative sounding emotions is the fact that this world is inhabited also by the evil urge who constantly lies in wait for us. He is so consumed with seducing us by painting a picture of “joy” (joyous abandon) that we must be on our guard that what commences as the joy of performing מצות does not degenerate into something totally secular. True joy is reserved for the world of the future. This is what Isaiah 29,19 had in mind when he wrote: “then the humble shall have increasing joy through the Lord, and the neediest of men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.”
Even while preoccupied with the fulfillment of the command-ments which ought to be fulfilled in a spirit of joy, we must never exclude the emotion of trembling that we are in the presence of our Creator. This is how our sages in Berachot 30 understood the call of Psalms 2,11: “serve the Lord in awe, tremble with fright.” The very word גילה, a form of joy, mentioned in that verse, embodies also a feeling of “fright.” The reason for all these negative sounding emotions is the fact that this world is inhabited also by the evil urge who constantly lies in wait for us. He is so consumed with seducing us by painting a picture of “joy” (joyous abandon) that we must be on our guard that what commences as the joy of performing מצות does not degenerate into something totally secular. True joy is reserved for the world of the future. This is what Isaiah 29,19 had in mind when he wrote: “then the humble shall have increasing joy through the Lord, and the neediest of men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.”