Comentário sobre Salmos 3:10

A song of David, when he fled The Aggadists expounded many homilies on this matter. Our Sages said (Ber. 7a): When the prophet said to him (in II Sam. 12:11), “Behold I will raise up against you evil out of your own house etc.,” his heart was quaking, perhaps a slave or a mamzer [a child of an illicit union] will rise up against me, who will not have mercy on me. As soon as he found out that it was his son, he was happy. The Midrash Aggadah (Midrash Psalms 3:3) [states]: Because he saw his order intact, for his servants, and the Kerethite and Pelethite, who were the Sanhedrin were affirming his lordship over themselves. When he said to them (ibid. 15:14), “Arise and let us flee etc. from Absalom,” what is written there? (verse 15) “Whatever my lord the king shall choose, behold your servants [are ready to do].” And when he came to Mahanaim (ibid. 17:27), “Shobi, etc. and Machir the son of Amiel, etc. and Barzilai the Gileadite” came to meet him and sustained him there.

A Psalm of David when he fled from before Absalom his son: – Our teachers of blessed memory have explained (Midrash, Shoher Toh, ad loc.; Babli, Berakhoth 7 b) that David gave utterance to this Psalm as he ascended the Mount of Olives, as it is said (2 Sam. 15:30), "And David went up by the ascent of the (Mount of) Olives and wept as he went up." If weeping, why singing, and if singing, why weeping? (Nay) but as soon as the prophet said to him (ibid. 12:11): "Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house" he said, "Perhaps it is a slave [or a nathin] or a bastard, one of the members of the household, who has no pity on me?" As soon as he saw that it was his son he thought that he certainly would have pity upon him, and he said: A Psalm. Further they say (Midrash, Shoher Tob, ad loc.): "[Thus] David said: Jacob our father fled (Gen. 27:43); as it is said (Hos. 12:13): 'And Jacob fled into the field of Aram.' Moses fled, as it is said (Exod. 2:15) 'and Moses fled;' and I am a fugitive as they were. I thought that I was condemned to death, and now that I am going into exile, exile atoneth for iniquity" (Babli, Berakhoth 56a; Sanhedrin 37b). He says: "I have remembered Thy judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself " (Ps. 119:52). I remember the men of old time - and Thou hast borne with ine as Thou didst with them - and am comforted, knowing that through my flight the iniquity has been pardoned me. He begins and says A Psalm of David, (to be taken) according to the literal sense. For the Psalms were not so named (called) at the time of (the actual) event, but because they were sung in the Sanctuary. So, " When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul" (Ps. 52:2); and "When the Ziphites came" (Ps. 54:2); and "And they watched the house to kill him" (Ps. 59:1). Similarly, those which have reference to the Exile and the Destruction of Jerusalem, as, "A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the heathen are come into Thine inheritance" (Ps. lxxix. i). So all those which were uttered with reference to David, on an historical occasion when David was in danger, but after he had been delivered from them all they became Psalms and praise and confession to God - Blessed be He ! - while those which were uttered concerning the Exile became Psalms on the Return of the Exiles. Now it is possible that this Psalm is connected with the preceding because the Philistines had come against David to contest his right to the kingdom and fight with him; and so Absalom his son proposed to take the kingdom from his father and kill him, but [David] conquered all and was left in possession of the kingdom. Our rabbis of blessed memory who have interpreted the Second Psalm of Gog and Magog have said (Babli, Berakhoth 1o a), "Why is the passage about Absalom (Ps. iii) connected with the passage of Gog and Magog? For this reason. If a man should say to thee, Is it possible that a servant would rebel against his master? say to him, Is it possible a son would rebel against his father? But so it was - it really was so."

Great men rise up against me Men great in Torah, great in wisdom, great in wealth, tall in stature, such as Saul; the children of Raphah; Doeg, and Ahitophel.

Lord, how are mine adversaries increased! – For even his son had turned against him for an enemy, and Amasa, his sister's son, was with Absalom, and the greater part of Israel, whose heart inclined after Absalom; and this is reason for the repetition.

Many they are that are rising up against me: – All were rising up against him and were taking counsel to fight against him; and Shimei ben Gera even, who dared to reproach him and to pelt him with stones.

say concerning my soul Heb. לנפשי, concerning my soul.

Many there are which say of my soul (לנפשי): – that is, "about my soul," as "Say concerning me (לי), He is my brother" (Gen. 20:13); "and the men of the place asked of his wife (לאשתו)" (ibid. 26:7), and such like. And the reason: because many of the wise ones of Israel, as Ahithophel and others, were of opinion that this punishment came to him on account of the affair of Bathsheba, as was actually the case; and they were thinking likewise that the kingdom would never return to him; therefore they followed Absalom and rebelled against him, and were saying that for him there was no portion in the world to come. Therefore he says of my soul. And he says:

“He has no salvation in God to eternity” Because he was intimate with a married woman.

There is no salvation (ישועתה) for him in God: – There is no salvation for him in this world, for he cannot escape from the hand of Absalom, neither is there salvation for his soul in the world to come. For this reason it is that he uses the intensive form ישועתה ["salvation"], his meaning being salvation and salvation; for every reduplication of ending is (equivalent) to a duplication of meaning; and in like manner (we have) עזרתה (Ps. 44:27; 63:8; 94:17) (meaning) "great help"; תבואתה (Deut. 33:16); נפלאתה (2 Sam. 1:26) החבאתה (Josh. 6:17) as I have written in the grammatical part of the book Miklol. And so in the Haggadic interpretation (Shoher Tob, ad loc.) it says: "Great ones are saying, i.e. (men) great in the Torah . . . Doeg the Ab beth Din it was of whom it is said 'chiefest of Saul's shepherds' (1 Sam. 21:8); 'And Ahithophel was counsellor' (1 Chron. 27:33); 'and the counsel of Ahithophel which he counselled in those days was as if a man inquired at the oracle of God' (2 Sam. 16:23). And what was it they were saying? 'Is it possible! The man who took captive the ewe-lamb and slew the shepherd and caused Israel to fall by the sword, shall there be salvation for him? There is no salvation for him in God!'"

Selah: – The majority of commentators say of the word Selah that it is equivalent to לעולם ("for ever"); and so Jonathan renders it in the Prayer of Habakkuk (3:3, 9, 13) for ever (לעלמין). And in this sense the word is common in our prayers. And the learned Rabbi Abraham ben Ezra - may the memory of the just be blessed ! - has interpreted (ad loc.) that it is equivalent to אמת (truth). For myself, I say it is not a significant word. And it is to be interpreted as having the meaning "lifting up" (of the musical accompaniment) from (the passage) "cast up, cast up (סלו) the way" (Is. Ixii. 10), signifying that at the point where this word is mentioned and read there was a raising of the sound of the music (מזמור). And the proof is in the fact that it is not found except in this book and in the Prayer of Habakkuk, which was a song (accompanied by music), as is written also there (3:19), "For the chief musician on my stringed instruments."

But Thou, Lord, art a shield about me: – the opposite of their words who are saying that there is no hope for me in this world, nor in the world to come. Thus they are thinking and saying; but Thou wilt deal with me in the very opposite way and wilt be a shield about me to deliver me in this world and a shield about me in the world to come.

My glory: – The "glory" is the soul, as "and my glory rejoiceth" (Ps. 16:9); "in order that (my) glory may sing praise to Thee" (Ps. 30:13), and (the word) "shield" which he has already used is to be understood here, "a shield about me" and "a shield of my glory." Or the interpretation of my glory may be: the opposite of the dishonour which was his as a fugitive.

and the lifter up of mine head: – so that I shall not be put to shame nor my countenance fall before my enemies, but I shall walk erect and with uplifted head; for when Thou deliverest me they will recognise and know that Thou hast pardoned me the iniquity through this punishment with which Thou dost punish me.

I cry unto the Lord with my voice: – i.e. unto the Lord with my voice, for I cry to Him by reason of (my) distress.

And He answered me: – a past (tense) in place of a future, equivalent to "and He will answer me"; and there are many similar cases. Or, it may be taken according to its literal sense; for he was confident of this. Or the Holy Spirit made a revelation upon his tongue; and this is the correct view - for we have already interpreted that all the Psalms were uttered in the Holy Spirit. And in the greater part of prophecy this is found, that the speaker uses a past tense in place of a future; for it is as though the thing had already happened when it has been spoken in the Holy Spirit.

out of His holy hill. Selah: – We can interpret (this) of Mount Moriah. And although it was not yet holy, it may be that there was a tradition among them that the Sanctuary would be there. And because of this David, in his flight, ascended the Mount of Olives and from thence worshipped God; for from thence one can see that (holy) place. Or the interpretation of out of His holy hill (may be): from Mount Sion, where the Ark was. Or the interpretation of out of His holy hill (may be) out of heaven, as "Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? " (Ps. xv. i).

I lay down and slept My heart was clogged from worry and fear.

I laid me down and slept: – I laid me down in safety and slept in peace as a man free from fear.

I awoke from my worry, because I trusted that the Lord would support me.

I awaked, – and was not troubled as is a man sleeping in the midst of distress who on waking is troubled; for while he sleeps he sees evil dreams according to what he has imagined because of his fear. And why am I confident in Thee to this full extent? Because I know that

(for) the Lord sustaineth me: – for so I saw in a dream. And in the Haggadic interpretation (Midrash, Shoher Tod, ad loc.): "I laid me down from prophecy, and slept from the Holy Spirit, and awaked by the agency of Hushai the Archite, for the Lord sustains me by means of Nathan the prophet." His intention is to say that by reason of the toil and fear in which he was the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from David; and the Holy Spirit does not rest (dwell) except in the midst of joy (Babli, Shabbath 30 b; Pesahim 117 a). And when he saw Hushai the Archite he rejoiced in him, for he knew that he would frustrate for him the counsel of Ahithophel, and he awoke, and the Holy Spirit rested upon him, and he said For the Lord sustaineth me, by the agency of Nathan the prophet, who said to him, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin: thou shall not die" (2 Sam. 12:13).

have set themselves Heb. שתו, an expression of desolation, gatiront in Old French, to destroy. Others say that שתו is like שמו, they placed, like (Exod. 10:1): “in order that I set up (שתי) my signs.”

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of the people: – for all Israel were with Absalom, except those who were with David in Jerusalem, and had gone out with him, and those who had joined him afterwards.

That have set themselves (שתו) against me round about: – They have set their battle in array against me. Or the interpretation of שתו may be "they have fought." And so "they have taken their stand" (fought, שת שתו ) "at the gate" (Is. 22:7); and " He will assail (ישית) thy waves with violence" (job 38:1 1).

for You have struck all my enemies on the cheek This is a disgraceful blow, as you say (Lam. 3: 30): “Let him offer his cheek to the smiter”; (Micah 4:14), “with a rod they strike...on the cheek.” According to the Midrash Aggadah (Mid. Ps. 3:7), this is a sickness of the mouth, [choking, croup] as you say (II Sam. 17:23): “And he [Ahithophel] gave charge to his household and he strangled himself.

Rise, O Lord; save me, O my God: – קומה (Rise) has the accent milra', and so on every occasion where the word occurs in this book, with the exception of "and stand up (וקומה) for mine help" (Ps. 35:2), where it is milel.

the teeth of the wicked Their might.

For Thou hast smitten all mine enemies: – Many times hast Thou delivered me and smitten mine enemies: so wilt Thou do now. Or its interpretation may be with regard to this very war and is as we have interpreted (the clause) and He answereth me out of His holy hill. And the interpretation of

(upon the) cheek: – is, a striking of the cheek, and it is a striking in contempt. So also (contemptuously)

Thou hast broken the teeth of the wicked: – These are those who were proposing to tear him; and it is an expression of the same form as "And I brake the jaws of the wicked" (Job 29:17).

It is incumbent upon the Lord to save, etc. It is incumbent upon Him to save His servants and His people, and it is incumbent upon His people to bless Him and thank Him forever.

To the Lord belongeth salvation: – and as Thou wilt deliver me I will acknowledge it and say, to the Lord belongeth salvation, and without Him man shall not be saved.

Thy blessing be upon Thy people. Selah: – That Thy people may not perish in this war.