Musar su I Samuele 17:63

Thus it happened to Pharaoh, who said (Ex. v. 2), "Who is the Lord?" and Goliath when he spake (I Sam. xvii. 10), "I defy the armies of Israel ; " and Sennacherib for his boastfulness in saying (II Kings xviii. 35), "Who are they among all the gods of the countries "; and Nebuchadnezzar in that he said (Dan. iii. 15), "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" and others who follow them in the manner of their speech and whose end was complete abasement and utter obscurity. Whosoever is in this state is not secure from error and sin. Thus saith the sage (Prov. xxi. 24), "Proud and haughty scorner is his name." He mentions craftiness, because it is the source of boastfulness.

Whoever has the quality of arrogance ought to try and turn away from it for it is very base, and the damage caused by it is great and ever-present, and the worth that is in it is very little. Therefore, we must distance ourselves from it with all our might, for arrogance brings man to ruin and to humiliation, as it is said: "Pride goes before destruction" (Prov. 16:18), and it is also said: "A man's pride shall bring him low" (Prov. 29:23). And you already know what happened to Pharaoh when he said, "Who is the Lord, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go?" (Exod. 5:2), and to Goliath, the Phillistine, who said: "I do taunt the armies of Israel this day" (I Sam. 17:10), and to Sennacherib, who said, "Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand ?" (Is. 36:20). And Nebeuchadnezzar, when he said, "And who is the god that shall deliver you from my hand?" (Dan. 3:15), and similar instances of those who spoke thusly, and their end was shame and disgrace. And whoever clings to this quality is not saved from sin and wrongdoing, as the Sage said, "A proud and haughty man, scorner is his name. Even he that dealeth in overbearing pride" (Prov. 21:24).

Another way of explaining our Psalm may be that David felt the need to apologize for taking credit for his humility, i.e. he apologized שלא גבה לבו, for having his humility become common knowledge. This in itself would rate as a form of boastfulness. He apologized, for not having remained silent, i.e. אם לא שויתי ודממתי נפשי. Whichever may be the case, the subject of this Psalm is the extreme importance of practicing humility.

Since we are already on the subject of the relative importance of the sun and the moon, I will now proceed to explain the discussion in Chulin 60b described as having taken place between the moon and G–d. So many commentators, and especially Kabbalists, have written on this subject that all I want to do is deal with it on the most fundamental basis, i.e. the פשט. I believe that the sun and moon in the story are to be accepted at face value; they may, however, be symbols of the relationship between study and performance at the same time. Just as the moon depends on the sun, so performance depends on the knowledge of what is to be performed, when it is to be performed, and where it is to be performed. The wording of the statement of Rabbi Shimon ben Pezzi in the Talmud illustrates this point. The Rabbi questioned the verse in Genesis 1,16 according to which G–d made "two large luminaries, the great luminary to dominate by day and the small luminary to dominate by night." In order to deal with the apparent contradiction of there being two great luminaries, the Rabbi tells us a parable in which the moon complained to G–d about two kings not being able to wear one single crown (to rule simultaneously). G–d thereupon invited the moon to reduce itself in size. The moon replied that it could not see why it should be punished for having made a valid observation. Thereupon G–d told the moon to dominate (shine) by day as well as by night. To this the moon replied that there was no point in shining by day since its light would not be noticed (after the sun already shone by day). G–d then consoled the moon by telling it that in the future Israel would base its calendar on the lunar cycles. The moon responded that Israel would not count its days according to the lunar cycles because the Torah already stated in Genesis 1,14 that the luminaries would determine the seasons, i.e. solstices. G–d then told the moon that the righteous, i.e. Jacob would share its adjective "small" also with Samuel and David, all of whom would be called "small" in the Bible, (cf. Amos 7,5, and Samuel I 17). When G–d realized that the moon was still not satisfied He told the Jewish people to offer a sin-offering on His behalf on every New Moon in order to expiate for His having reduced the moon in size.

Another puzzling statement is the reference to "Jacob the small one," "Samuel the small one", "David the small one," in that order. We are forced to assume that the prophet Samuel is meant here so as to justify the order in which the names are listed. Some people say that the reason Samuel is referred to as the "small" one is, because his mother made a "small" robe for him when he was a little boy (Samuel I 2,19). This surely is a very forced explanation.