יֵשֵׁ֣ב ע֭וֹלָם לִפְנֵ֣י אֱלֹהִ֑ים חֶ֥סֶד וֶ֝אֱמֶ֗ת מַ֣ן יִנְצְרֻֽהוּ׃
Nawa'y manatili siyang nakaupo sa harap ng Diyos magpakailanman; ihanda mo ang kagandahang-loob at katapatan upang siya'y ingatan.
Ohel Ya'akov
Likewise, the wealthy appear to be in their situation like those reclining and sitting up front at the table that is before the Lord [alluding to Ezekiel 41:22], which the Lord distributed and they eat [from] His inheritance [alluding to Deuteronomy 18:1], whereas the poor stand for away and are only nourished from that which remains from the mouth of the wealthy. That is why David said that they all sit close to the table to get portions from their Father in heaven. And this is [the meaning of] that which they explained, "Let Your world be settled in peace, etc." As when we examine the topography of the ground that we are upon, is it not also uneven? Rather, it has mountains and hills; it has valleys and clefts. And the intellect concludes that what is lacking here is made up in another place, and what is lacking in the valley is made up on the mountain. And in the future, it shall be said, Let every valley be raised, Every mountain and hill made low, and everything will be even. Exactly like this does the intellect determine that what is lacking of their needs from the poor is added to the wealthy. As to give to the wealthy what he does not need — God forbid from the Holy One, blessed be He, to do a wasteful act! Is it not that He gives to the wealthy exactly what is missing from the poor? And the Holy One, blessed be He, does this on account of the reason that He said to David, His servant, kindness and truth, that they might preserve him (Psalms 61:8). And it is like we found with the dream of Pharaoh, that he saw that the mangy cows swallowed the healthy ones because the bounty that was added in the years of plenty is what was lacking in the years of famine. That is why he commanded to make piles to leave over the excess for the years of famine.
Rabbeinu Bahya
You should appreciate that the four directions of the world, i.e. מזרח, מערב, צפון, דרום, are known by three names each. מזרח, (East) is known as מזרח, קדם or פנים. West is known as either מערב, ים or אחור. South is known as דרום, נגב or ימין. North is known as צפון, אסתן or שמאל. the meaning of these various terms for these directions is as follows: The reason the Hebrew word מזרח means East, is that the sun “shines” זורחת in the morning from the East. The reason it is also called קדם is because it proceeds in a forward direction from the East as it spreads its light over more parts of the globe. It is also called פנים (face) as when G’d created man he made him face East after completing him. His back faced westward, his right side southward, and his left side northward.
The name מערב for West, i.e. “mixing,” derives from the fact that the sun sets in the West; it is a time when the shadows merge, become confused and indistinct. It is also called ים as the great Sea, the Mediterranean, is the western boundary of the Holy Land. It is also called אחור, “rear,” seeing its counterpart, East, is also known as קדם, “front.” Incidentally, Onkelos calls the Mediterranean the ים האחרון, “the Sea of the rear,” or “the ים המערבאה, the Sea of the West.” The word אחור, meaning “West” occurs in the verse from Job 23,8-9 we quoted earlier. The South is known as דרום, seeing that at its highest point at midday the sun is high in the sky. The word דרום is a combination of the two words דר רום, “residing on high.” Alternatively, we may view the word as an acrostic of דרך רום from Chabakuk 3,10 רום ידהו נשאת ”lifted up his hands on high.”
The reason South is called נגב, is that that direction is very dry, exposed to extreme heat of the sun which spreads out over that region more than on any other. This is what Solomon referred to when he said (Kohelet 1,6) “it travels toward the South and then describes a turn moving northward.” Solomon uses the verb הלך in connection with the sun’s motion while shining, whereas he uses the verb סבב, “turning,” when describing the sun’s motion when out of view of man’s eyes. We have been told by the “scientists” that it happened once that someone living in the South forgot a wooden bowl outside and left it lying outside in the midst of the sun’s rays in the middle of the summer. When he returned to pick it up in the evening he found it completely dried out, shrunk as if it had been burned by the fire. This is why the South is called נגב i.e. ”dried up.” We know this from Judges 1,15 where Calev’s daughter complains to her father that the land she was given was parched, dried out, deprived of water, and she requested sources of water to offset it. The Targum there renders the words ארע דרומא, normally translated as “southern land,” as ימין, the right side, seeing that it is on the right of man as he was when first created, i.e. facing East. It is also possible that the reason for this translation is that the sun always has the south on its right. We have a verse in Daniel 1,5 וימן להם המלך, “the king provided for them.” This is the reason the provisions the Israelites received in the desert from heaven were called מן. The word reflects the fact that it was ready for them on a daily basis, i.e. available like “provisions.” The North is also called צפון because the sun is perceived as “hiding” in that region while invisible to man at night. Furthermore, the northern extremes of the globe are known to be unfit for human habitation. Our sages in Baba Batra 25 interpret Job 26,7 נוטה צפון על תהו to mean that ”He stretches Tzafon over chaos” means that the north wind does not operate there.
The word אסתן is not a Biblical term but one coined by our sages occurring as a proverb in Ketuvot 23 and meaning that when someone’s witnesses are in an inaccessible, “hidden” region, how can they be relied on? Rashi understands the word as meaning “north.” The author quotes some sources showing that the north wind is associated with therapeutic qualities, [maybe freezing kills the bacteria. Ed.]. At any rate, this would agree with the tradition that the Israelites did not circumcise their children while in the desert due to the absence of this North wind and its therapeutic effects on wounds.
The reason North is also known as שמאל, left, is that when man faces East, as we said, North is always on his left. It may also be due to the fact that it is on “the wrong side” of the sun, i.e. the sun never shining in that direction. The “left,” basically is associated with negative connotations, something inferior. The word, phonetically speaking, is related to סומא, “a blind person.” When we speak about something hidden, the Talmud uses the term סמוי מן העין, “hidden from the eye.”
According to a Midrash quoted in Tosafot Baba Batra 25 the reason that David spoke about Adam describing himself as having been created “both forward and backward” (Psalms 92,8), was because he faced forward toward sources of light, whereas his rear faced darkness, an absence of light, i.e. the rear of the sun being perceived as having no light to radiate. His right side, the one always exposed to the light of the sun was called “right,” his left, the northern side, always out of reach of the sun was called שמאל. This is the side with which man does not perform his work.
The name מערב for West, i.e. “mixing,” derives from the fact that the sun sets in the West; it is a time when the shadows merge, become confused and indistinct. It is also called ים as the great Sea, the Mediterranean, is the western boundary of the Holy Land. It is also called אחור, “rear,” seeing its counterpart, East, is also known as קדם, “front.” Incidentally, Onkelos calls the Mediterranean the ים האחרון, “the Sea of the rear,” or “the ים המערבאה, the Sea of the West.” The word אחור, meaning “West” occurs in the verse from Job 23,8-9 we quoted earlier. The South is known as דרום, seeing that at its highest point at midday the sun is high in the sky. The word דרום is a combination of the two words דר רום, “residing on high.” Alternatively, we may view the word as an acrostic of דרך רום from Chabakuk 3,10 רום ידהו נשאת ”lifted up his hands on high.”
The reason South is called נגב, is that that direction is very dry, exposed to extreme heat of the sun which spreads out over that region more than on any other. This is what Solomon referred to when he said (Kohelet 1,6) “it travels toward the South and then describes a turn moving northward.” Solomon uses the verb הלך in connection with the sun’s motion while shining, whereas he uses the verb סבב, “turning,” when describing the sun’s motion when out of view of man’s eyes. We have been told by the “scientists” that it happened once that someone living in the South forgot a wooden bowl outside and left it lying outside in the midst of the sun’s rays in the middle of the summer. When he returned to pick it up in the evening he found it completely dried out, shrunk as if it had been burned by the fire. This is why the South is called נגב i.e. ”dried up.” We know this from Judges 1,15 where Calev’s daughter complains to her father that the land she was given was parched, dried out, deprived of water, and she requested sources of water to offset it. The Targum there renders the words ארע דרומא, normally translated as “southern land,” as ימין, the right side, seeing that it is on the right of man as he was when first created, i.e. facing East. It is also possible that the reason for this translation is that the sun always has the south on its right. We have a verse in Daniel 1,5 וימן להם המלך, “the king provided for them.” This is the reason the provisions the Israelites received in the desert from heaven were called מן. The word reflects the fact that it was ready for them on a daily basis, i.e. available like “provisions.” The North is also called צפון because the sun is perceived as “hiding” in that region while invisible to man at night. Furthermore, the northern extremes of the globe are known to be unfit for human habitation. Our sages in Baba Batra 25 interpret Job 26,7 נוטה צפון על תהו to mean that ”He stretches Tzafon over chaos” means that the north wind does not operate there.
The word אסתן is not a Biblical term but one coined by our sages occurring as a proverb in Ketuvot 23 and meaning that when someone’s witnesses are in an inaccessible, “hidden” region, how can they be relied on? Rashi understands the word as meaning “north.” The author quotes some sources showing that the north wind is associated with therapeutic qualities, [maybe freezing kills the bacteria. Ed.]. At any rate, this would agree with the tradition that the Israelites did not circumcise their children while in the desert due to the absence of this North wind and its therapeutic effects on wounds.
The reason North is also known as שמאל, left, is that when man faces East, as we said, North is always on his left. It may also be due to the fact that it is on “the wrong side” of the sun, i.e. the sun never shining in that direction. The “left,” basically is associated with negative connotations, something inferior. The word, phonetically speaking, is related to סומא, “a blind person.” When we speak about something hidden, the Talmud uses the term סמוי מן העין, “hidden from the eye.”
According to a Midrash quoted in Tosafot Baba Batra 25 the reason that David spoke about Adam describing himself as having been created “both forward and backward” (Psalms 92,8), was because he faced forward toward sources of light, whereas his rear faced darkness, an absence of light, i.e. the rear of the sun being perceived as having no light to radiate. His right side, the one always exposed to the light of the sun was called “right,” his left, the northern side, always out of reach of the sun was called שמאל. This is the side with which man does not perform his work.