Tehilim Perek 18A

Welcome to NachDaily, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, and today we’ll be beginning Tehilim perek yud ches, pessukim aleph through zayin. As this perek has 51 pessukim, we will split it up into three or four shiurim so as not to sacrifice content by rushing through it.

(It’s important to note that this perek runs parallel to Shmuel Beis, perek twenty two.)

Dovid sang this perek to Hashem for saving him from his enemies, specifically Shaul. A person who experiences a miracle should sing to Hashem for what he’s experienced. It would be considered appropriate to include all the miracles that he’s experienced in his life as well.

We continue to get a glimpse into Dovid’s personal relationship with God by seeing how he thanks, praises and relates God’s greatness. We can listen to thousands of hours of Torah classes and daven three times a day with a minyan, but do we actually have a relationship with God? Do we truly feel connected to the Creator of all life, or are we just checking off our list of things to get done?

It should go without saying that we also need to have a private, intimate relationship with Hashem. The most basic way to create a relationship with people is to speak to them. By speaking to God every day of our lives, having private conversations with Him as we would speak to our friends, telling Him everything on our minds, thanking and singing to Him as did Dovid Hamelech, we create and nurture a relationship.

This leads us to passuk aleph.

לַמְנַצֵּ֤חַ ׀ לְעֶ֥בֶד יְהוָ֗ה לְדָ֫וִ֥ד אֲשֶׁ֤ר דִּבֶּ֨ר ׀ לַיהוָ֗ה אֶת־דִּ֭בְרֵי הַשִּׁירָ֣ה הַזֹּ֑את בְּי֤וֹם הִֽצִּיל־יְהוָ֘ה אוֹת֥וֹ מִכַּ֥ף כָּל־אֹ֝יְבָ֗יו וּמִיַּ֥ד שָׁאֽוּל׃

For the conductor of God’s servant Dovid, who recited the words of this song to God after God rescues him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Shaul.

The question arises as to when exactly this song was sung. Some Meforshim explain that Dovid said this perek at the end of his life, when he no longer had problems from other people.

Other Meforshim explain that Dovid would regularly say this chapter after every specific time he was saved.

וַיֹּאמַ֡ר אֶרְחָמְךָ֖ יְהוָ֣ה חִזְקִֽי׃ יְהוָ֤ה ׀ סַֽלְעִ֥י וּמְצוּדָתִ֗י וּמְפַ֫לְטִ֥י אֵלִ֣י צ֭וּרִי אֶֽחֱסֶה־בּ֑וֹ מָֽגִנִּ֥י וְקֶֽרֶן־יִ֝שְׁעִ֗י מִשְׂגַּבִּֽי׃

He said: I love you, O God my strength. God is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer; my God is my rock in Whom I take refuge; my shield, the horn of my salvation, my haven.

מְ֭הֻלָּל אֶקְרָ֣א יְהוָ֑ה וּמִן־אֹ֝יְבַ֗י אִוָּשֵֽׁעַ׃

I call out to God with praise, and I am delivered from my enemies.

Dovid had so much faith in God’s goodness, says Rashi, that he began to praise Him before he was actually rescued!

Reb Nosson, in Hilchos Klai B’Hema, halacha daled, offers a deep insight on this.

First the passuk says that after I call out to God in praise, He saves me from my enemies. Shouldn’t it really say that God saves me from my enemies, and then I thank Him?

Reb Nosson explains that the key to dealing with life’s hardships is to first call out sincerely and honestly thanking God for your hardships. Appreciating even the bad things in your life brings the salvation.

If you have something with which you’re struggling, therefore, first thank God for the struggle.

אֲפָפ֥וּנִי חֶבְלֵי־מָ֑וֶת וְֽנַחֲלֵ֖י בְלִיַּ֣עַל יְבַֽעֲתֽוּנִי׃ חֶבְלֵ֣י שְׁא֣וֹל סְבָב֑וּנִי קִ֝דְּמ֗וּנִי מ֣וֹקְשֵׁי מָֽוֶת׃

The throes of death encircle me, and torrents of ungodly men terrify me. Pangs of the grave surround me. I am confronted with traps of death.

Rashi relates that the simple meaning of this refers to times when Dovid was encircled by enemy camps who wanted nothing more than to see him dead.

בַּצַּר־לִ֤י ׀ אֶֽקְרָ֣א יְהוָה֮ וְאֶל־אֱלֹהַ֪י אֲשַׁ֫וֵּ֥עַ יִשְׁמַ֣ע מֵהֵיכָל֣וֹ קוֹלִ֑י וְ֝שַׁוְעָתִ֗י לְפָנָ֤יו ׀ תָּב֬וֹא בְאָזְנָֽיו׃

In my distress I called on the LORD, cried out to my God; in His temple He heard my voice; my cry to Him reached His ears.

There is both a spiritual and psychological lesson in this.

The word “tsar” here means “distress,” but it also means narrow or constricted. Suffering comes from a person falling to a constricted state of consciousness and a low level of thinking. In English we say that certain people are “narrow-minded.” They can’t see beyond themselves because they’re in a low state of mind, what the Kabbalah calls Mochin D’Katnus – Small mindedness.”

Once God is introduced into the picture, however, we begin to see beyond ourselves. Our own personal thinking then gives way to an expanded state of consciousness, a higher level of being. This is what the Kabbalah calls Mochin D’Gadlus, or, simply stated, a good frame of mind.

Dovid therefore, in his moments of pain, reaches out to God, connecting with the fact that he is in a narrow place and wants to be brought to a higher level.

We’ll hopefully begin at passuk ches in the next shiur.

Thank you for listening and have a wonderful day.