Tehilim Perek 21

Welcome to NachDaily, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, and today we’ll be discussing Tehilim, chapter 21. [Pause.]

In this perek Dovid describes a king who was granted all of his heart’s desires. Hashem placed a royal crown made of fine gold on his head. The king asked God for long life and God gave it to him, granting him Divine light and making him greater than anyone on earth.

Dovid attributed the king’s greatness to his deep emunah in God. God, in His loving kindness, elevated the king because he was solely reliant on Him.

In the second half of this perek, from passuk 9 and on, Dovid prays for the king’s enemies to be destroyed.

Who is the mysterious “king” in this perek?

Rashi and the Ibn Ezra say that he is none other than Dovid himself, speaking in the 3^rd person. He was expressing gratitude for all that Hashem did for him during his lifetime.

Most Meforshim, however, explain that he is referring to Mashiach, and the enemies refer to the war of Gog U’Magog. Hashem illuminated Dovid’s eyes to see until the end of time. Dovid davened to Hashem on behalf of Am Yisrael, to sweeten the judgment on His holy nation.

There’s a great Ramad Walli on passukim beis and gimmel that further discusses Mashiach.

יְֽהוָ֗ה בְּעָזְּךָ֥ יִשְׂמַח־מֶ֑לֶךְ וּ֝בִישׁ֥וּעָתְךָ֗ מַה־יגיל [יָּ֥גֶל] מְאֹֽד

O God, the king rejoices in Your strength and delights greatly in Your salvation. The Ramad Walli explains that Hashem is going to give Mashiach an extra dose of “oz – strength,” in order to be able to bring the world to its final Tikkun.

This is why it says “Mah yagel me’od – the king will delight greatly.” Kabbalistically, the letters of the word mah, mem hey, refer to one of Hashem’s Divine names. It also contains the numerical value of the number 45.

The word “me’od – a lot,” is spelled mem aleph daled, which also equals the numerical value of 45.

This hints to the double potions of strength, oz, that Mashiach will receive in order to raise the world to a new level of consciousness.

The Ramad Walli continues to explain the next passuk in this vein.

׃ תַּאֲוַ֣ת לִ֭בּוֹ נָתַ֣תָּה לּ֑וֹ וַאֲרֶ֥שֶׁת שְׂ֝פָתָ֗יו בַּל־מָנַ֥עְתָּ סֶּֽלָה׃

You grant him his heart’s desires, and don’t deny the requests of his lips.

We know that Hashem doesn’t give us all of our desires because half of the things that we want wouldn’t be good for us, but Mashiach, who will be straight and trustworthy, will only have pure desires.

This is why the passuk says “Tavos libo nasata lo- he gives him his heart’s desires” with the emphasis on the word “lo – his.” Mashiach will be helped because his sole desire will be to reveal the Divine ideal for all mankind to see and experience.

The Ramad Walli says that not only will Mashiach rule over the revealed world, but will expose all the impeding negative spiritual forces. These negative forces are called “klipos, husks of impurity.” Mashiach will expose them to the pure light of Kedusha, which will cause them to dissipate.

This is hinted to in the word “areshes,” which is spelled aleph, reish, shin and suf. The aleph is the first letter of the Aleph Beis, which represents God. The reish, shin, and suf make up the last letters of the Aleph Beis, representing the things in life which seem furthest from God.

Mashiach is going to expose the things in our lives and in the world which seem furthest from God, but also contain Divinity and God’s light.

The letter aleph is comprised of two yuds and a vav, the numerical value of twenty-six. This is the same numerical value of God’s holy Name, yud key vav key, which equals twenty-six.

Dovid was praying for Mashiach to reveal himself in the world to show us that nothing in our lives is separate from God! When Mashiach will come, the truth of this will be totally apparent for all to see.

Thank you for listening and have a wonderful day.