Myśl Żydowska do Psalmów 102:13

The Midrash quoted at the outset of this chapter, listing a variety of comparisons for the Israel/G-d relationship, refers to the various temples. The first example, the shepherd and his dwelling, refers to the tabernacle in the desert. G-d’s function in the desert was to provide all the needs of the people directly. (Manna-water-meat) Solomon's temple,-since it did not endure-, was referred to as a hut, the need of the guardian to keep manning his observation post. Israel was referred to as the vineyard during that epoch. (Compare Isaiah chapter five or Song of Songs chapters one and eight) In the first chapter of Isaiah we find that after the destruction of Solomon's temple, Israel is described as having been abandoned like a hut in a vineyard. These various prophecies envisage the rebuilding of something permanent. None of the prophecies concerning rebuilding can be matched to historic events that have already occurred. A temple that lacked the holy ark, to mention but one of the many items missing in the second temple, and one that had been built at the direction of, or at least with the consent of a gentile government to which Israel owed allegiance, cannot possibly be something that manifests G-d’s reign on earth. Chaggai and Ezekiel clearly refer to the temple of the future. If it is an honour for the father to be surrounded by his children as the Midrash says, the small number of Jews that returned to Israel during the reign of Cyrus etc., surely cannot confer much honour on the father. This latter condition will only come about as we read in Psalms 126, "when the Lord returns to Zion we shall be as dreamers," during an era of which we can truly say "then our mouth will be full of laughter and our tongue will be filled with jubilation." That the expanded temple in the days of Herod- a slave of the Hasmoneans-, his hands bloodstained by much Jewish blood, could not be the temple envisaged by our prophets, goes without saying. One must therefore view the entire relationship between Israel and G-d as that between groom and betrothed. The proper husband/wife relationship is to be consummated when the permanent temple will be built. An alternate view of the opening Midrash would be that it refers to parts of the tabernacle. The inner sanctuary would be referred to as the house, the sanctuary proper, heychal, as the hut, and the courtyard as the enclosure, the pen. In the latter event, "enclosure," G-d has a claim on us because He provides food and shelter. In the case of "hut, He can demand more, since He has also given us the Torah. In the case of "house," since He is prepared to act as our father, providing All, He can expect that we prepare His abode accordingly. The author clearly refers the first approach.

THE term kam (he rose) is a homonym. In one of its significations it is the opposite of “to sit,” as “He did not rise (kam) nor move for him” (Esth. 5:9). It further denotes the confirmation and verification of a thing, e.g.: “The Lord will verify (yakem) His promise” (1 Sam. 1:23); “The field of Ephron was made sure (va-yakom) as the property of Abraham” (Gen. 23:17). “The house that is in the walled city shall be established (ve-kam)” (Lev. 25:30); “And the kingdom of Israel shall be firmly established (ve-kamah) in thy hand” (1 Sam. 24:21). It is always in this sense that the verb is employed with reference to the Almighty; as “Now shall I rise (akum), saith the Lord” (Ps. 12:6), which is the same as saying, “Now shall I verify my word and my dispensation for good or evil.” “Thou shalt arise (takum) and have mercy upon Zion” (Ps. 102:13), which means: Thou wilt establish what thou hast promised, viz., that thou wouldst pity Zion.

Generally a person who resolves to set about a matter, accompanies his resolve by rising, hence the verb is employed to express “to resolve” to do a certain thing; as, “That my son hath stirred up my servant against me” (1 Sam. 22:8). The word is figuratively used to signify the execution of a divine decree against a people sentenced to extermination, as “And I will rise against the house of Jeroboam” (Amos 7:9); “but he will arise against the house of the evildoers” (Isa. 31:2). Possibly in Psalm 12:6 the verb has this latter sense, as also in Psalm 102:13, namely: Thou wilt rise up against her enemies.