וְכִ֨י מִ֤י אֲנִי֙ וּמִ֣י עַמִּ֔י כִּֽי־נַעְצֹ֣ר כֹּ֔חַ לְהִתְנַדֵּ֖ב כָּזֹ֑את כִּֽי־מִמְּךָ֣ הַכֹּ֔ל וּמִיָּדְךָ֖ נָתַ֥נּוּ לָֽךְ׃
Ngunit sino ba ako, at ano ang aking bayan, upang magkaroon kami ng lakas na kusang-loob na maghandog nang ganito? Sapagkat ang lahat ay nagmumula sa Iyo, at mula sa Iyong sariling kamay ay ibinigay namin sa Iyo.
Rabbeinu Bahya
With these words Solomon warned us to display faith in the Lord and in His ability and willingness to provide our needs for us. The practical way of demonstrating this faith is the setting aside of a portion of our harvests for the Lord or those whom he has appointed to be the recipient of these “gifts.” One should not begrudge the money or food given to the poor and destitute seeing in them something that impoverishes the giver. On the contrary, one should view such gifts as insuring that one will continue to be the beneficiary of G’d’s bounty. Solomon spells this out even more clearly in Proverbs 28,27 where we read: ”He who gives to the poor will not be in need.” We must truly believe that G’d will add to our resources as a result of our demonstrating this faith by sharing what we have with others. This is the meaning of Proverbs 11,24: יש מפזר ונוסף עוד, “one man gives generously (appears to waste) and winds up with more.” Solomon also said (Proverbs 10,2) ”the treasures of wickedness are useless; whereas charity saves from death.” The author of Proverbs means that the excess accumulated by means of robbery and extortion will prove ineffectual, whereas the very giving up of part of one’s fortune to assist the poor and needy is what will prove effective in determining the individual’s fate, so much so that it may save the donor from what otherwise would have been certain death.
Our sages in Ketuvot 66 phrase it thus: מלח ממון חסר, “if someone wants to treat money as if it were salt, i.e. enduring forever, he will find that it decreases.” Others quote the proverb as ממון מלח חסד, “if someone wants his money to endure as does salt, he should use it to perform acts of loving kindness(with it).” Seeing that this is so it behooves a person to spend his money (part of it) on the performance of commandments which involve expense, especially the commandment to give charity. He who gives to the poor in fact gives to the Almighty. [I suppose the meaning is that thereby G’d will not have to trouble Himself to sustain that poor person. Ed]. Similarly, he who donates money for sacred purposes such as the Temple, etc., is only giving to G’d what belongs to G’d in the first place. David spelled this out in Chronicles I 29,14 when he said: “for everything emanated from You and that which comes from Your hand we have given to You.” All of these considerations prompted Solomon to say in the verse quoted above: “honour the Lord with your wealth.”
The expression הון used by Solomon includes all kinds of things which a person accumulates in order to keep and preserve them. The word is derived from Psalms 119,14: כעל כל הון, “as over all riches.” Other examples of the word in the Bible occur in Proverbs 30,16 ואש לא אמרה הון, “and the fire never says ‘enough’”. Fire’s appetite to devour things is never satisfied. As long as an object subject to burning is available fire is anxious to devour it.
According to a Midrashic explanation found in the Midrash Mishley on our verse, the word “fire” here refers to the fires of hell and Solomon means that there is no end to the sufferings which people who are in Gehinom have to endure. It would seem that the two verses quoted at the introduction to our Parshah both describe the need to be generous with one’s wealth in order to avoid paying for one’s miserliness by undergoing the afflictions of Gehinom. It is in order to “put G’d to the test” by fulfilling the obligation to be charitable, to give away some of one’s accumulated wealth in order to see whether indeed G’d will compensate one for doing so. This is why Solomon added at the outset: “so that the Lord will fill your barns with plenty.” The word וימלאו, “and they will be filled,” is to be understood as the result of one’s fulfilling the first half of verse 9, i.e. to honour the Lord from one’s wealth. The words: “and your vats will overflow with new wine,” are in response to the words: “from the first fruits of all your harvests” in verse 9 of that chapter. This is also why the Torah refers to “the harvest of the vineyard” in Deuteronomy 22,9.
Concerning the giving of tithes, the prophet Maleachi 3,10 has stated that if someone were to test the Lord (His promises and if they come true), the only way he is allowed to do this is by means of performing the commandment of giving charity and observing if G’d indeed will enrich him thereby rather than make him poorer. The prophet describes this as an exception to the general rule not to put G’d to the test by saying: “I will perform a certain commandment in order to be enriched materially by the reward.” Compare Deut. 6.16: “you must not put the Lord to the test.” Our sages in Taanit 9,1 have stated that the verse quoted from Malachi represents the single and solitary exception to the prohibition spelled out in Deut. 6,16. They understand the prophet’s words: “bring your tithes, etc.,” as almost an invitation to prove that G’d does reward those who diminish their wealth by sharing the harvest with the poor, as resulting in an addition to those people’s material possessions forthwith. When Solomon spoke about the positive results accruing to the individual who honours the Lord from his wealth, he too meant this not as something given on condition that G’d would reward the individual forthwith but as a statement of fact, of what would ensue as a result of such conduct by those individuals. This is why he did not preface his comments with the words: “if you do such and such.” Basically, the lesson is that although putting the Lord to the test is forbidden, the subject of tithing is an exception to this rule.
Our sages in Ketuvot 66 phrase it thus: מלח ממון חסר, “if someone wants to treat money as if it were salt, i.e. enduring forever, he will find that it decreases.” Others quote the proverb as ממון מלח חסד, “if someone wants his money to endure as does salt, he should use it to perform acts of loving kindness(with it).” Seeing that this is so it behooves a person to spend his money (part of it) on the performance of commandments which involve expense, especially the commandment to give charity. He who gives to the poor in fact gives to the Almighty. [I suppose the meaning is that thereby G’d will not have to trouble Himself to sustain that poor person. Ed]. Similarly, he who donates money for sacred purposes such as the Temple, etc., is only giving to G’d what belongs to G’d in the first place. David spelled this out in Chronicles I 29,14 when he said: “for everything emanated from You and that which comes from Your hand we have given to You.” All of these considerations prompted Solomon to say in the verse quoted above: “honour the Lord with your wealth.”
The expression הון used by Solomon includes all kinds of things which a person accumulates in order to keep and preserve them. The word is derived from Psalms 119,14: כעל כל הון, “as over all riches.” Other examples of the word in the Bible occur in Proverbs 30,16 ואש לא אמרה הון, “and the fire never says ‘enough’”. Fire’s appetite to devour things is never satisfied. As long as an object subject to burning is available fire is anxious to devour it.
According to a Midrashic explanation found in the Midrash Mishley on our verse, the word “fire” here refers to the fires of hell and Solomon means that there is no end to the sufferings which people who are in Gehinom have to endure. It would seem that the two verses quoted at the introduction to our Parshah both describe the need to be generous with one’s wealth in order to avoid paying for one’s miserliness by undergoing the afflictions of Gehinom. It is in order to “put G’d to the test” by fulfilling the obligation to be charitable, to give away some of one’s accumulated wealth in order to see whether indeed G’d will compensate one for doing so. This is why Solomon added at the outset: “so that the Lord will fill your barns with plenty.” The word וימלאו, “and they will be filled,” is to be understood as the result of one’s fulfilling the first half of verse 9, i.e. to honour the Lord from one’s wealth. The words: “and your vats will overflow with new wine,” are in response to the words: “from the first fruits of all your harvests” in verse 9 of that chapter. This is also why the Torah refers to “the harvest of the vineyard” in Deuteronomy 22,9.
Concerning the giving of tithes, the prophet Maleachi 3,10 has stated that if someone were to test the Lord (His promises and if they come true), the only way he is allowed to do this is by means of performing the commandment of giving charity and observing if G’d indeed will enrich him thereby rather than make him poorer. The prophet describes this as an exception to the general rule not to put G’d to the test by saying: “I will perform a certain commandment in order to be enriched materially by the reward.” Compare Deut. 6.16: “you must not put the Lord to the test.” Our sages in Taanit 9,1 have stated that the verse quoted from Malachi represents the single and solitary exception to the prohibition spelled out in Deut. 6,16. They understand the prophet’s words: “bring your tithes, etc.,” as almost an invitation to prove that G’d does reward those who diminish their wealth by sharing the harvest with the poor, as resulting in an addition to those people’s material possessions forthwith. When Solomon spoke about the positive results accruing to the individual who honours the Lord from his wealth, he too meant this not as something given on condition that G’d would reward the individual forthwith but as a statement of fact, of what would ensue as a result of such conduct by those individuals. This is why he did not preface his comments with the words: “if you do such and such.” Basically, the lesson is that although putting the Lord to the test is forbidden, the subject of tithing is an exception to this rule.
Rabbeinu Yonah
He was accustomed to say: Make His [God's] will like your will: [Just] as when a person does his own will with want and desire, so should he do the will of the Holy One, blessed be He. And [he] should not separate between the will of the blessed Holy One, blessed be He, and his [own] will, but rather make both of them [into] one thing. He means to say that he should not will anything that is not the will in front of God. And they said in the Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan (Midrash Mishlei 9), "And so did David say (I Chronicles 29:14), 'but all is from You, and it is from Your Hand that we have given to You.'" And he gave a good counsel to people to overcome their nature [and] do the desire and will of God, may He be blessed - also from their money and from the acquisitions: because God gave everything and [what they have] is [only] a deposit in their hands. And when [one] brings this up into his heart, at the very least he will do the will of the owners - which is God - with the deposit. And with this, he will not worry when he gives charity and he will do the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, willingly and with a good heart.
Rashi
And who can gather up strength to build Him a house Since he said, “And the House which I am building is great,” perhaps [you may think that] this will mean “great enough for His needs,” but this is not so, for “who can gather strength?” For who can compress and gather his strength enough to build a house fit for Him? An example of this appears above (I Chron. 29:14): “that we should gather up strength to donate.”
Rashi
We extended [a hand]. נָתַנּוּ is] the same as נָתַנְנוּ. The dagesh in the nun takes the place of the second nun, as in, “for all is from You, and from Your hand we have given נָתַנּוּ it to You,”4I Divrei Hayomim 29:14. and as in, “and we will give וְנָתַנּוּ our daughters to you.”5Bereishis 34:16.