שִׂמְחָ֣ה לַ֭צַּדִּיק עֲשׂ֣וֹת מִשְׁפָּ֑ט וּ֝מְחִתָּ֗ה לְפֹ֣עֲלֵי אָֽוֶן׃
Kagalakan sa matuwid ang paggawa ng katarungan, ngunit kapahamakan ito sa mga gumagawa ng kasamaan.
Tze'enah Ure'enah
“Take a census” [4:22]. King Solomon said. “Justice done is a joy to the righteous, to evildoers, ruination” [Proverbs, 21:15]. The verse teaches us that it is woeful to the evildoer to do justice and right. However, for the righteous it is a great joy to do justice and fulfill commandments, and that no robbery and theft should occur in his city. However, the evildoer fears justice, that he should not be punished for his evil. King Solomon lets me know that the person is obligated to rejoice and be joyful at fulfilling every commandment. He should rejoice wholeheartedly when he fulfills a commandment. The Holy One gives him a reward for the joy that he has in connection to the commandment, just like He was at the event Himself, as the verse says, “worship the Lord in gladness” [Psalms, 100:2]. Worship God with joy and therefore, those who sang in the Temple had to have a good voice. In the wilderness, they also had to sing with good voices and beautiful instruments in the Tabernacle, at the sacrifices, expecting that the joy should be on the people who were present at the sacrifices. Therefore, the verse says about the sacrifices, “subject to duties of service” [4:47]. Our sages write. What kind of work is the work that serves others in their work? The explanation is that the Levites had to serve to bring joy that they should do the other work with joy. That is, offering the sacrifices with joy.1Bahya, Naso, Introduction.
Rabbeinu Bahya
שמחה לצדיק עשות משפט ומחתה לפעלי און, “It is a joy for the righteous to do justice; ruin will come to evildoers “ (Proverbs 21,15).
Rabbeinu Bahya
In this verse King Solomon informed us that the system of justice by means of which the universe continues to exist is a source of ruin and trepidation for the wicked and a source of joy for the righteous.
The expression שמחה describes a greater degree of joy and happiness than expressions such as גילה, רינה, משוש, all of which also describe joy of varying degrees. The expressions just cited appear also in connection with the righteous in such verses as Proverbs 23,24: “the father of the righteous will rejoice greatly (גיל יגיל), he who fathers a wise child will be happy (ישמח) with him.” You will observe that Solomon described the joy of the righteous as גיל, whereas he used the expression שמחה in connection with the חכם, the wise. The reason is simply that the wise enjoys both the virtue of being righteous plus the attribute of wisdom. It is quite inconceivable that Solomon would sing the praises of a חכם who is wicked. In Psalms 32,11 David mentions three different kinds of joy in one verse writing שמחו בה' וגילו צדיקים, והרנינו כל ישרי לב, “Rejoice in the Lord; and exult O you righteous; shout for joy all upright men.” You will note that David reserved the term שמחה for association with Hashem; seeing G’d is so superior in virtuous attributes the highest form of joy is associated with His Being. After all, David did not write שמחו וגילו צדיקים בה', which would have meant that the righteous are to display both forms of joy in relation to Hashem. The meaning of the verse we quoted at the beginning is: the righteous has reason to be happy (שמחה) when justice and righteousness is being observed in the city and there is an absence of violence and robbery; if, however, there is oppression of the poor and robbery then the righteous will worry about it and will be upset about this as it is the nature of the righteous to care. The second half of the verse which speaks about the ruin means that the performance of justice will frighten the wicked of becoming ruined when the righteous admonish the wicked about their conduct pointing out that retribution is in store for them. They will be punished for the hatred they display against the practice of justice. In other words, the new dimension of insight revealed here by Solomon is that the very performance, i.e. prevalence of justice and righteousness spells doom for the evildoers. When the righteous observes this reaction of the evildoers he has cause to rejoice.
The expression שמחה describes a greater degree of joy and happiness than expressions such as גילה, רינה, משוש, all of which also describe joy of varying degrees. The expressions just cited appear also in connection with the righteous in such verses as Proverbs 23,24: “the father of the righteous will rejoice greatly (גיל יגיל), he who fathers a wise child will be happy (ישמח) with him.” You will observe that Solomon described the joy of the righteous as גיל, whereas he used the expression שמחה in connection with the חכם, the wise. The reason is simply that the wise enjoys both the virtue of being righteous plus the attribute of wisdom. It is quite inconceivable that Solomon would sing the praises of a חכם who is wicked. In Psalms 32,11 David mentions three different kinds of joy in one verse writing שמחו בה' וגילו צדיקים, והרנינו כל ישרי לב, “Rejoice in the Lord; and exult O you righteous; shout for joy all upright men.” You will note that David reserved the term שמחה for association with Hashem; seeing G’d is so superior in virtuous attributes the highest form of joy is associated with His Being. After all, David did not write שמחו וגילו צדיקים בה', which would have meant that the righteous are to display both forms of joy in relation to Hashem. The meaning of the verse we quoted at the beginning is: the righteous has reason to be happy (שמחה) when justice and righteousness is being observed in the city and there is an absence of violence and robbery; if, however, there is oppression of the poor and robbery then the righteous will worry about it and will be upset about this as it is the nature of the righteous to care. The second half of the verse which speaks about the ruin means that the performance of justice will frighten the wicked of becoming ruined when the righteous admonish the wicked about their conduct pointing out that retribution is in store for them. They will be punished for the hatred they display against the practice of justice. In other words, the new dimension of insight revealed here by Solomon is that the very performance, i.e. prevalence of justice and righteousness spells doom for the evildoers. When the righteous observes this reaction of the evildoers he has cause to rejoice.