ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף תהילים 32:6

“And you shall make for it a grate of netting of copper.” Because the evil inclination spreads a net to capture a person in its trap, and the net of the altar removes him from the net of his evil inclination. We find that there were miracles with the altar, for it was saved from fire, as the fire burned on it day and night yet the fire did not burn it nor melt its copper. It was saved from water, as the rains did not extinguish the fire of the arranged wood. It was saved from wind, as the wind did not overpower the column of smoke. The altar was hollow and filled with earth, or it was an altar of stones upon which no iron tool was raised. All this alludes to a person, that through the altar, a person is saved and does not receive damage in all four elements within him. As it is written: We went through fire and through water, yet You brought us out to abundance. I will enter Your house with burnt offerings (Psalms 66:12–13). For just as the altar of burnt offerings is saved from fire and water, so too will a person be saved from them through it.
And likewise, the altar saves him from all four death penalties of the court: from stoning with stones he is saved through the stone altar (Deuteronomy 27:5); from burning with fire he is saved through the fire of the altar which burns on it (Leviticus 6:5); from execution by sword he is saved through the altar, about which it is said (Deuteronomy 27:5), Do not raise an iron tool on them; from strangulation he is saved, in the way that our Sages of blessed memory said (Ketubot 30b), “Even though the four death penalties of the court have been abolished, nevertheless the judgment of the four death penalties has not been abolished. One who is liable to strangulation either drowns in a river, etc.” It follows that just as the altar is saved from the flood of rainwater, so too the sinner — to the flood of many waters, they will not reach him (Psalms 32:6).

And he fled and went outside. The verse doesn’t simply state “and he fled outside” because when someone runs through city streets, people notice and wonder why he is running and what he’s running from. Therefore, he only ran while inside the house itself, but when he left through the doorway, he walked normally without running. Our Sages teach (Tanchuma 9) “The sea saw and fled” — what did it see? It saw Joseph’s coffin, about which it is said “and he fled and went outside.” For our Sages said (Ketubot 30b) that although the four death penalties of the court were abolished, the judgment of the four deaths was not abolished — one who deserves strangulation either drowns in a river or dies of suffocation. It is known that one who commits adultery with a married woman is punished by strangulation, and for this reason the generation of the flood was punished through drowning, due to their promiscuity. And it is written For this shall every righteous person pray to You at a time when You may be found (Psalms 32:6) — our Sages explained (Berachot 8a) this refers to [finding] a wife, and it is followed by surely the flood of great waters shall not reach him. Therefore, Joseph, who guarded himself from sexual impropriety, as it says and he fled and went outside, was worthy of saving Israel from the flood of the sea’s waters. This is what is meant by “the sea saw and fled” — it saw Joseph’s flight from his master’s wife, and thus it was appropriate that the sea’s waters should not flood Joseph’s coffin. And because of him, all those carrying his coffin and all of Israel who walked after his coffin were saved, while the Egyptians, who were steeped in lewdness, drowned.

And behold, I am bringing the flood waters. [This verse provides] the reason for the judgment of the Generation of the Flood, for they sinned through idolatry, sexual immorality, and theft. Regarding idolatry, it is written They have forsaken Me, the source of living waters, to dig for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water (Jeremiah 2:13). Regarding the sin of sexual immorality, for one who commits adultery with a married woman, his death penalty is by strangulation, and our Sages said (Ketubot 30a) that although the four death penalties of the court were abolished, the four death penalties themselves were not abolished — one who deserves strangulation either drowns in a river, etc. Thus, the Generation of the Flood who stumbled with married women, whose punishment is strangulation, it is fitting that they should drown in water. And as it is written For this shall every righteous person pray to You at a time when You may be found (Psalms 32:6), which our Sages interpreted as referring to [finding] a wife, and adjacent to this it states surely the flood of great waters shall not reach him — implying that in the absence of a wife, since he will not be saved from transgression, the flood of great waters will reach him. Regarding the sin of theft, since every thief enters his neighbor’s domain, it is therefore fitting to bring upon them a flood of great waters, for then each drop touches its neighbor and enters its boundary. For regarding blessed rains it is said Who has divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters? (Job 38:25). From here we learn (Bava Batra 16a) that each drop has its own mold, and there is a hair’s breadth between each drop so that one should not enter the boundary of another. And this person who steals and enters his neighbor’s domain — it is fitting that the blessed rains should be transformed for him into a flood, for then all the drops mix together.