Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Awit 106:48

A Midrashic approach based on Tanchuma Bamidbar 19: the words “count them according to their hosts,” are reminiscent of Isaiah 43,4: “because you are precious to Me, and honoured, and I love you, I have given men in exchange for you and peoples in your stead.” G’d said to Yaakov: “you are so precious in My eyes that I have engraved your facial features on My throne, and the angels praise Me by employing your name, saying: ‘blessed be the name of the G’d of Israel from one end of time to the ultimate end of time.’” The Midrash breaks down these compliments into its constituent parts. “You are precious to Me,” because although I did not bother to count any of the other nations I counted you, giving you an importance expressed in numbers.“ This can be better understood in terms of a parable. A king had many barns most of which were filled with straw and other relatively worthless matters. He did not bother to count the precise contents of each of these barns. He had one barn, however, which was filled with wheat. He told his manager: “count for me how many measures of wheat are stored in that barn.” The king in the parable is a metaphor for G’d; the wheat is a metaphor for the Jewish people. We have a verse in Isaiah 21,10 comparing the Jewish people to grain when the prophet exclaims: “My threshing, the product of My threshing floor.” The harvest the prophet speaks about are the Jewish people as Jeremiah 2,3 described the Jewish people as “Israel is sacred to G’d, it is the first of His harvest.” The “manager” mentioned in the parable is a metaphor for Moses, of whom G’d Himself said in Numbers 17,7 that in “My entire house he is trusted.” Similarly, the barns filled with straw in the parable are metaphors for the Gentile nations concerning whom we have been told in Job 21,18: (Job speaking about the wicked) “Let them become like straw in the wind, like chaff carried off by a storm.” we also have a verse in Ovadiah 18 expressing similar sentiments, i.e. “and the house of Esau shall be straw; they shall burn it and devour it.” The Jewish people by way of contrast are compared to wheat, are described as righteous as per Isaiah 60,21: “and Your people, all of them righteous, shall possess the land for all time; “ this is why G’d was so concerned with each one of them that He ordered each one to be counted.

And blessed be the Eternal, the G-d of Israel,
From everlasting even to everlasting.³⁶⁷Psalms 106:48.
I have found³⁶⁸This section is from manuscripts and found only in early editions of the commentary. The thought behind it is clear. Since Ramban finishes his commentary with a prayer for the building of “the House and the Ariel” he proceeds now in a concluding note to refer to the approaching time of redemption when “G-d will go forth from attribute to attribute — from the attribute of justice to that of mercy to hasten the redemption.” in Midrash Mishlei the following text:³⁶⁹Midrash Mishlei, Chapter 22. “When the Sanhedrin wanted to count Solomon among the three kings and four commoners [that have no share in the World to Come],³⁷⁰The three kings are Jeroboam, Ahab, and Menasheh. The four commoners are Balaam, Doeg, Ahitophel, and Gehazi (Sanhedrin 90a). Solomon’s sin was that he married foreign women who introduced idol-worship to the Land (I Kings 11:1-6). the Divine Glory stood up before the Holy One, blessed be He, and said: ‘Sovereign of the universe! Seest thou a man diligent in his work? he shall stand before kings etc.’”³⁷¹Proverbs 22:29. “He who built My house before his, and moreover, My house he built in seven years, and his in thirteen — this man [Solomon] shall stand before kings [in the World to Come] and he shall not stand before mean men [together with those who have no share in the World to Come]. (Rashi Sanhedrin 104b). And in our Gemara, in Chapter Cheilek³⁷²“Portion” — “All Israel have a portion in the World to Come” (Sanhedrin 104b). [the same text is stated in the following way]: “A vision of [Solomon’s] father’s face appeared and prostrated itself before [the members of the Sanhedrin] etc.” And in the Yerushalmi it is stated:³⁷³Yerushalmi Sanhedrin X, 1. “David came and prostrated himself before them.” All these texts mean to express the same thought, namely, that the Holy One, blessed be He, “cometh forth and goeth forth from attribute to attribute; He cometh forth from the attribute of justice, and goeth to the attribute of mercy,”³⁷⁴See Vol. I, p. 245. this being “the attribute of David,” just as the Rabbis have said with reference to the sanctification of the moon, “David king of Israel ever lives.”³⁷⁵Rosh Hashanah 25a. The student learned [in the mysteries of the Torah] will understand.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His loving-kindness exists forever This verse (34) is not a conclusion of the Psalm (96) but [a continuation] of Psalm (105): “Give thanks to the Lord, call out in His Name.” The verse (35): “And say, save us, etc.” is from the Psalm (106). And this Psalm (106) commences with this verse (in Chron.). Now is it appropriate here, “And say, etc. and save us from the nations,” for when were they exiled in David’s time, that he should say, “and save us from among the nations”? And this is the arrangement in Psalms. Psalm (105) commences: “Give thanks to the Lord, call out in His name,” and it concludes only with “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, etc.” until “Amen! Hallelujah,” for it is all one topic, but because it is a long psalm, it was divided, and it commences, “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.” Similarly, Job, when he had to lengthen his reply, he shortened it and divided it in two, and it says, (Job 29:1): “And Job again took up his parable,” for in song, because of his ecstasies of joy, he could not speak at length; so he divided it in two. And so, in the matter of lamentation, because of his intense pain he could not speak at length, and he divided it in two, because both song and lamentation are uttered similarly. When Hannah came to pray in the forecourt, Eli thought her to be a drunken woman, because he thought that she acted in that manner because of wine, but she said, (I Sam. 1:15f.): “... and neither new wine nor old wine have I drunk, etc., for out of the abundance of my complaint and my vexation....” From here we learn that drunken people and those suffering from pain behave in the same manner.