Tehilim Perek 70

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 70.

The Meoforshim suggest that Dovid said this short prayer when he was fleeing for his life from Yerushalayim while being chased by his son Avshalom.

The chapter opens with words “La’minatzeach l’Dovid l’hazkir, a song of Dovid to remember. Dovid asks God to remember to save him from his adversaries.

Rashi brings the following Medrash to explain that this chapter is really a continuation of the previous one.

A king with many sheep once got angry and drove out his flock, dismantled their barn, and sent away the shepherd. When the king’s anger subsided, he rebuilt the barn and brought the sheep back. The shepherd approached the king, saying, “You returned everything except for me. Please bring me back as well!”

As the previous chapter ended with the rebuilding of Yerushalayim, Dovid was asking God to please save him and bring him back to His city so that it can once again have a proper leader.

Alternatively, Dovid was speaking to himself, remembering all of the times that Hashem had saved him when he was younger. By recalling the goodness of the past, he was giving himself strength in the moment.

There might be a great spiritual and psychological lesson in this. Dovid was speaking to himself in an attempt to remember his deeper nature. This is key to dealing with suffering and pain. When life gets difficult, we often find ourselves without the inner strength and resolve that we need to deal with our circumstances.

We must remember our true selves, that we are souls possessing reservoirs of wellbeing. This will help us to feel stronger and more confident in navigating the storms of life. When we forget who we really are, however, that we’re all manifestations of the Divine energy of life, we feel cut off from our natural insight and innate resilience.

Therefore, Dovid was saying this song to awaken his neshama, to gain insight, strength, and perspective to deal with his life-threatening situation.

Dovid asks Hashem to quickly rescue him from those who want him dead. He no longer wanted to be laughed at by his enemies, and asks for them to be punished.

He end the chapter with a prayer that those who have true emunah, faith in God, will not feel abandoned, but experience the joy of serving Him.

In verse 6 Dovid turns inward, calling himself “poor in need.” Dovid wasn’t degrading himself, but saw his human frailty. He was humbly saying that he was totally reliant on God for his salvation. He had completely removed his ego to let the light of God in.

May we merit remembering God in everything that we do, to recognize that He has always been with us.

Thank you for listening and have a wonderful day.