Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Awit 25:8

May my teaching drop like rain, may my utterance flow like dew. It seems to me, following an explanation I heard on the verse You save man and beast, O Lord (Psalms 36:7), based on the Jerusalem Talmud (Makkot 2:6): They asked Prophecy, “What should a sinner do to atone?” It replied, The soul that sins shall die. They asked the Torah, “What should a sinner do to atone?” It replied, “Let him bring a sacrifice and be atoned.” They asked the Holy One, blessed be He, “What should a sinner do to atone?” He replied, “Let him repent and be atoned,” as it is said (Psalms 25:8), Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in the way. Consequently, according to Prophecy’s answer, there is no salvation for the sinning person; and according to the Torah’s answer, there is no salvation for the animal, which would inevitably be put to death to atone for the person’s sin. But according to the Holy One’s answer, who said, “Let him repent and be atoned,” both find salvation — the person and the animal. Therefore it says, You save man and beast, O Lord.

שלש ערים תבדיל לך בתוך ארצך, “Three cities you shall set aside for yourself in the midst of your land;” together with the three towns which Moses had already designated as cities of refuge on the east bank of the Jordan as reported in Deut. 4,41-43, this makes a total of 6 such cities. It is essential that these cities are regular, populated cities with all the normal amenities of a city, seeing the Torah wrote in verse 3 תכין לך הדרך, “prepare the way for yourself,” and the Talmud Makkot 10 understands these words to mean that signs with the word מקלט, “refuge,” must be posted on all the roads leading to such cities. This is in order for the unintentional killer not to lose time while trying to escape the vengeance of the slain man’s family. On Psalms 25,8: “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He shows the sinners the way,” the sages say that these signs are designed to help unintentional sinners seeing their sin was inadvertent. We have another verse along similar lines in Job 36,22: “See, G’d is beyond reach in power; Who governs like Him?” The author refers to the unique attribute of G’d who helps the inadvertent sinner to rehabilitate himself.

תכין לך הדרך, “prepare the way for yourself;” the route to such cities of refuge should not be a narrow path, etc., but a road that is easy to travel, and has been marked clearly. Rabbi Avin, son of Rabbi Yaakov, is quoted in a Midrash on Psalms 25,10 describing how every mile or so, there were markers how to get to these cities, and in every kiosk, there were directional signals identifying the route. [The purpose was not only for the killer to know how to get to such cities, but to remind the people at large to be careful never to become guilty of killing through negligence. Ed.] This was hinted at two verses earlier in the same chapter of Psalms.