Tehilim Perek 104

Hello everybody, I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. Today’s NachDaily is Tehilim Chapter 104.

Although this is a separate perek, it opens with the same words as the previous one.

“Barchi nafshi es Hashem, My soul blesses God.” Dovid thanks Hashem for the entire creation which was made with such impeccable design and precision. It starts with the creation of light on day one, and moves its way through the rest of the days of creation.

The Chovos Halevavos in Shaar Habechina explains that the main way to come to recognizing God is by looking at the amazing design and wisdom that’s found in the science of the world. Through the amazing order and design of the creation itself, one will realize that there had to have been an intelligent designer behind it. This Designer is non-other than Hashem Himself, Who created the world with incredible wisdom!

The perek opens by relating God’s omnipotence. He is cloaked with light. Hashem covered the earth with a “tahom, deep black abyss.” He also set boundaries on earth so that everything will stay in its place. This refers to the boundaries of the spiritual world as well, so that it won’t completely overtake the physical aspect.

Hashem’s providence includes all of the wildlife and animals. I once heard in the name of the Baal ShemTov that even the dinner of an ant is pre-ordained by Hashem and is under His direct control. If that’s true for one single ant, how much more so for we, who are the pinnacle of the entire creation! Everything in our lives, including our parnassa, is in exact control by God.

It is fitting, therefore, to bless God forever and ever.

Verse 24 says:

מָֽה־רַבּ֬וּ מַעֲשֶׂ֨יךָ ׀ יְֽהוָ֗ה כֻּ֭לָּם בְּחָכְמָ֣ה עָשִׂ֑יתָ מָלְאָ֥ה הָ֝אָ֗רֶץ קִנְיָנֶֽךָ׃

Hashem, how many are Your works! You made them all with wisdom. The earth is full of your possessions!

By looking at the world we are able to come closer to Hashem, connecting to the Intelligence behind creation itself.

“Ma rabu, How great are they!” The word rabu, meaning great or a lot, comes from the word rav. Rav also can mean a Rabbi. Hashem in a way is the Rabbi of the world, constantly teaching us about His ways through the creation itself!

On a similar note, it’s taught in many of the Sifrey Chassidus that upon the initial creation of the world, Hashem’s light was so great that it overwhelmed the keilim, vessels, of creation which caused a shattering of the vessels to occur. This caused nitzotzot of kedusha, sparks of holiness, to be spread out over the entire creation.

It’s said that our purpose in the world is to uplift and elevate these sparks of holiness.

Now back to our passuk. When it says “mal’ah ha’aretz kinyanecha, the world is filled with ways to acquire You,” it refers to the shattering of the vessels. People can come close to Hashem no matter where they find themselves in life because they can be koneh, acquire, the holy sparks. The world is filled with Hashem’s chochma, which can be found in all areas of your life.

May we merit connecting to the wisdom of God no matter where we are, being able to always say “Barchi nafshi es Hashem, my soul will bless God.”

Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.