Tehilim Perek 10A

Welcome to NachDaily, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, and today we’ll be discussing Tehilim perek yud, pessukim aleph through yud aleph. We will hopefully finish the perek in tomorrow’s shiur.

Dovid said this perek as a tefilah for anyone who is suffering from enemies.

There are two types of enemies. The first, and most obvious, are those with whom you feel you have a difficult relationship: coworkers, people in your neighborhood, and even family members.

Secondly, we can be struggling internally, with our own thoughts and feelings, our so-called demons. We can feel down and broken, worn-out and shattered like a broken vessel.

In this perek of Tehilim we see Dovid struggling with his relationship with Hashem, wanting to feel His presence in his life. We all know, deep down, that if we felt the light of God radiating through our souls, our feelings of suffering would end.

And with this Dovid opens:

Why, O God, do You stand at a distance, turn a blind eye in times of trouble?

Parenthetically, the Meforshim explain, this perek is really a continuation of the previous one, and therefore doesn’t open with the usual attribution, just beginning with the word “Lama, Why?”

“God, why are you so far?” Dovid calls out. “Don’t leave me here to suffer when I’m in trouble!”

The Radak relates that the calling out itself is what brings Hashem closer and brings a remedy to the situation.

The wicked in their arrogance persecute the poor – they are caught in the very schemes they plan! For the wicked man glories in his passion, the thief praises himself that he reviles God.

The Alshich Hakdosh explains that this is referring to Am Yisrael in Galus. The reshaim here are a metaphor for the nations of the world. The “ani – poor person,” is a metaphor for the Jewish people.

Thus the very fact that the Gentile nations persecute the Jews brings their downfall. By denying Am Yisrael, they’re denying the divinity and moral consciousness of the world.

The wicked man, in his arrogance, does not seek out God. His evil thoughts are that ‘there is no God!’

Notice that the passuk points out that the reshaim think that there is no God. Thoughts create our feelings, they are one and the same. Obviously, then, we are going to act upon our feelings. Dovid relates to the evil thoughts with no mention of feelings because this was obvious to him.

Let us return to the Alshich’s explanation of this perek, that it’s referring to Yisrael in exile. With this understanding, the meaning of the next group of pessukim becomes clearer. They are referring to the fact that the nations of the world that deny God are self-serving, and are in essence denying a higher purpose to reality and existence.

His ways prosper at all times; Your judgments are far beyond him; he snorts at all his foes. He thinks, “I shall not be shaken, throughout all time I will never be in trouble.”

The nations of the world, that deny Divine intelligence, think that they can go through life’s challenges without faith in God.

His mouth is full of oaths, deceit, and fraud; mischief and evil are under his tongue. He lurks in outlying places; from a covert he slays the innocent; his eyes spy out the hapless.

According to the Alshich, this passuk refers to the way that certain nations of the world are just waiting to destroy Am Yisrael.

Rav Charlop, in his Seforim called Mei Marom, goes into lengthy and deep explanations to demonstrate that Am Yisrael is the pipeline that Hashem uses to bring down all Divine blessing in the world.

Therefore, the impeding negative forces will do anything in their power to stop Am YIsrael from attaining Kedusha and specifically from obtaining Eretz Yisrael.

He waits in a covert like a lion in his lair; waits to seize the lowly; he seizes the lowly as he pulls his net shut; he stoops, he crouches, and the hapless fall prey to his might. He thinks, “God is not mindful, He hides His face, He never looks.”

We will end here for today, and the next shiur will start with Yud Beis and finish the Perek.

May Hashem continue to give us strength to march forward with our heads held high in our everyday lives as proud members of Hashem’s army.

Have a great day.