ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף תהילים 8:4

And Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro. The commentators said that since every shepherd is disqualified because they graze animals in others’ fields and are suspected of theft, therefore it says that these sheep belonged to Jethro, and a person does not sin if it is not for them. But nevertheless, it was necessary to inform us that he was a shepherd because most prophets attained prophecy through shepherding, as prophecy requires solitude. And through seeing the heavens, the work of God’s hands, as it is written: When I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, etc. (Psalms 8:4), because through this their thoughts will be entirely focused on the existence of the Holy One, Blessed be He, until the spirit of God is poured upon them from above. This is not as readily available to one who sits in their house or engages in some other work in the field, besides the shepherd who sits unoccupied most of the time.

High and lifted up. Attributes to throne (כסא), not, as many thought, to the Lord. The throne⁵The throne כסא הכבוד is, according to I. E., the sphere or force (גלגל) that encompasses and moves all the remaining spheres. The whole Universe is divided into three parts; a. עולם העליון the highest world, described as spiritual, indivisible, and unchangeable; b. עולם התיכון the middle world, or היכל the divine temple, described as being of a mixed nature, containing bodiless forms, and also bodies, but of a pure and unchangeable substance; c. עולם השפלות the lowest world, the earth and the fulness thereof, consisting of bodies of all description. The forms and bodies of the middle world are contained in ten spheres : sun, moon, and five planets in seven spheres, the large body of stars in the eighth, the Zodiac in the ninth, the tenth is the throne.—The angels inhabit the middle world. See I. E. on Ps. 8:4, and on Dan. 10:21. is above the Hajoth⁶חיות lit. living beings, signify a certain class of angels, frequently mentioned by Ezekiel (1:5, 13, etc.). as I shall explain on Ezekiel.⁷The commentary of Ibn Ezra on Ezekiel, promised by <underline>him</underline> repeatedly, is not known.

A more rational approach: The author speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven. Solomon warns man not to approach it over and beyond one’s mental capacities. We find other verses in Scripture describing G’d as מושל, ruler, such as Psalms 22,29: כי לה' המלוכה ומושל בגויים, “for kingship is the Lord’s and He rules the nations.” Keeping this thought in mind, Solomon warns you that when you sit down to eat with the ruler you better be clear what nearness to G’d entails, i.e. who qualifies for such an elevated station in life. You must appreciate that the food served at G’d’s table is soul-food, not of the type that is served at the table of a king of flesh and blood. The food you receive there is known as חכמה, the spiritual equivalent to the לחם, “bread,” served here on earth by human kings. The words בין תבין את אשר לפניך mean in essence that you must be sure to comprehend things about the nature of G’d by what is לפניך, “by what is before your eyes,” i.e. by the historical record of G’d’s actions. This is also what David said in Psalms 8,4: “when I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars that You set in place.” The word בין, “between,” suggests that there are two distinct kinds of insights that one must possess in order to properly appreciate the grandeur of G’d and His impact on history as well as on our individual fates. The very concept G’d, Creator, is not a point of departure in one’s thinking but is a conclusion one arrives at after having weighed all the phenomena we are familiar with. This is the meaning of Deut. 4,39: והשבות אל לבביך כי ה' הוא האלו-הים, “and let your heart come to the conclusion that the Lord is your G’d, etc.” When Elijah experienced a personal revelation at Mount Chorev after he had been disillusioned subsequent to what he thought would be G’d’s triumph at Mount Carmel, he had to experience a variety of supernatural phenomena before finally, a most insignificant phenomenon, a whisper, proved to be the real thing, the Presence of G’d (Kings I 19,11-12).
It is due to such considerations that Solomon hints that several insights have to be gained in order to appreciate certain truths about G’d.
If one is an intellectually oriented person, Solomon warns that one should not allow one’s intellectual curiosity to cause one to bite off more than one can chew (intellectually speaking); he couches the warning in these words: “thrust a knife in your gullet.” What he means is simple: you would do better to commit suicide than to reach beyond your intellectual capacity in coming close to the Lord. Solomon phrases this more clearly in Kohelet 7,16: “don’t act the wise man to excess or you will be dumbfounded.” You can see what happened to the two sons of Aaron who were guilty precisely of the arrogance of overestimating their mental/moral capabilities when they were described at the revelation on Mount Sinai as feasting their eyes on divine visions, breaching barriers that had been designed to prevent precisely such a disaster from occurring (compare Exodus 19,24 as well as 24,10). Death was decreed for them because they approached domains which were beyond what they were allowed to approach. This is the meaning of the opening lines of our Parshah.