Psalms · Psalm 13

"For the leader... How long" — the meaning is: if he is not saved from his enemies, it will appear, in the eyes of people, that his God has forgotten him, or that He does not know what has happened to him.

"For the leader, a psalm of David" — David composed this psalm at a time when he was in distress from his enemies, or it is said with reference to the exile; and this is the correct [interpretation].

"For the Leader" — a prayer to Hashem, that He not forget him and not hide His face from him, concerning the two kinds of forsaking and hiding of the face that occur to sinners.

"How long" — Four times, corresponding to the four kingdoms [Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Edom] and it is stated concerning all Israel.

"How long, Hashem, will You forget me forever" — like "how long will You forget me." Since You have left me in the hand of my enemies these many years, the nations will say that You have forgotten me. "How long will You hide Your face from me" — or, You know of my affliction and yet "You hide Your face from me," meaning that You do not wish to turn to me. And in the Midrash (Shocher Tov, with variations): this is [the meaning of] what Scripture says (Zechariah 7:13), "and it came to pass that as he called and they did not listen, so shall they call and I will not listen." Rabbi Yitzchak said: measure for measure. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: since I said "how long" four times — "how long will you refuse" (Exodus 16:28); "how long will they spurn Me" (Numbers 14:11); "and how long will they not believe in Me" (ibid.); "how long [shall I bear] with this evil congregation" (Numbers 14:27) — so I am destined to hand you over into the hand of four kingdoms, and you will cry out before Me four times: "How long, Hashem, will You forget me forever" — in Babylon; "how long will You hide Your face from me" — in Media; "how long shall I take counsel in my soul" (below, verse 3) — in Greece; "how long shall my enemy be exalted over me" (ibid.) — in Edom.

"How long" — How long will I be wandering and cast about, and will You forget me forever?

'Ad anah' — until when. 'Netzach' — forever.

"How long" — sin sometimes causes forgetting, and sometimes causes hiding of the face. Forgetting occurs at a time when one has grown so great in sin that Hashem removes His providence from him entirely, so that He then neither does him good nor harm, but he is given over to chance in all his affairs. Hiding of the face occurs when Hashem does watch over him in order to punish him for his sin — in which case he is not forgotten by the supernal providence — except that this providential punishment is hidden and concealed by natural means, so that He punishes him through enemies and oppressors and the like, until it seems to him that the evils came upon him by chance or by nature; in that case Hashem appears as though hiding His face from him, for one who hides his face sees the thing but is not seen by it, and so Hashem watches over the person at that time, only the person does not recognize that it is a providential punishment. Concerning the first he prayed, "How long, O Hashem, will You forget me for ever?" and concerning the second he prayed, "How long will You hide Your face from me?"

"How long" — must I think and take counsel with myself, continually, because of the sorrow that is in my heart daily, on account of my enemy being exalted over me?

"How long shall I take counsel" — how long will I need "to take counsel" "Counsel in my soul" — how shall I escape from the distress I am in? "Sorrow in my heart by day" — even during the day, when a person is occupied with the needs of the world and forgets his sorrow, I am not so; for my troubles are so many that "sorrow" does not depart from my heart "by day"! "How long shall my enemy be exalted over me" — in that he rules over me?

"I will set counsels" — I devise plans as to how to escape from the sorrow that is in my heart all day.

"How long" — corresponding to what he said, "How long, O Hashem, will You forget me for ever," he asks, "How long shall I take counsel in my soul." For a man who is not watched over by Hashem and is abandoned to chance — even though his affairs prosper according to nature — his spiritual soul senses that its shade has departed from it, and it is troubled over this and filled with sorrow. Therefore he said, "How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart" — for his heart is full of sorrow even though it is "by day," meaning that his hour is prosperous, which is called "day"; nevertheless his heart is full of sorrow and his soul takes counsel for itself, because it senses that it is forsaken by Hashem. And corresponding to what he said, "How long will You hide Your face from me," he said, "How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?" for then he will receive punishment through enemies and oppressors.

"lest I sleep the sleep of death" — For death is called sleep, (as in Jer. 51:39): “and sleep a perpetual sleep.”

"Behold [me]" — in contrast to "You hide Your face" [Psalm 13:2]. "Lest I sleep" — the sleep of death; for nouns carry the force of verbs.

"Behold You, and answer me, Hashem my God" — corresponding to what he said [above], "You hide Your face from me," he [now] says, "Behold You, and answer me, Hashem my God"; You are "Hashem," and the power to save me is in Your hand, and You are "my God," who judges my case [and delivers it] from the hand of "my enemy." "Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death" — for I am in darkness, in the slumber of exile and troubles, and before "I sleep" the sleep of "death," answer me and "lighten my eyes."

"Behold" — See my affliction and answer me. "Enlighten my eyes" — so that I may become wise with useful counsel to be saved from the hand of the enemy, lest I be caught in his hand and sleep the sleep of death, for he would destroy my soul.

"Behold" — corresponding to the time when he is forgotten by Hashem, he asks, "Behold" me with the eye of Your providence, "and answer me." "Lighten my eyes" indicates that at that time his spiritual eyes grow dark and his soul sleeps in the slumber of spiritual and intellectual death — for the true life is the spiritual, intellectual life by which one lives when walking before Hashem (as it is written, "But you who cleave to Hashem your God are alive, all of you, today" [Deuteronomy 4:4]) — not so the life of sensation and movement, which is the life of the animal and is the true death of the divine soul. Concerning this he asked, "Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death," for then my soul sleeps, ceasing from its spirituality, until it is cut off from its root and dies the death of the soul.

"Lest he say," "I have prevailed against him" [yekholtiv] — [the root] "yakhol" is an intransitive verb; therefore it is as if it were "yakholti lo" ("I have prevailed over him," with the preposition), like [the equivalence between] "va-yiz'akukha" (with the pronominal suffix) and "va-yiz'aku eilekha" (with "el"), or "lekha" (with "lamed").

"But as for me, I trust in Your lovingkindness" — they think that I have no savior; "but as for me, I trust in Your lovingkindness" that You will save me. "My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation" — corresponding to [the fear that] "my adversaries will rejoice when I am moved." And when You save me, "my heart shall rejoice," and they shall mourn. "I will sing to Hashem" — then, when He saves me, "I will sing to Hashem" and offer Him thanks. "For He has dealt bountifully with me" — and I have not slept the sleep of "death." And in the Midrash (Shocher Tov): corresponding to the four cries, four consolations: "but as for me, I trust in Your lovingkindness" — in Babylon; "my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation" — in Media; "I will sing to Hashem" — in Greece; "for He has dealt bountifully with me" — in Edom.

"Lest he say" — If He will not act for my own sake, [let Him act so that] the enemy not say, "I have overpowered him," and "my hand has triumphed," and my adversaries rejoice when I am about to fall to the ground.

'Yecholtiv' — from the language of yecholet (ability) and strength.

"Lest" — and corresponding to what he said, "How long shall my enemy be exalted over me," he said, "Lest my enemy say: 'I have prevailed against him.'" There is a difference between the terms "tzar" (adversary) and "oyev" (enemy): the adversary actually causes distress in practice, whereas the enemy seeks harm but does not actually cause distress in practice. And he makes a forceful point: that because Hashem hid His face from him, he was given over into the hand of his oppressors, to the point that the enemy — even though it is not his way to actually fight him, but only to seek his harm in secret — will say, "I have prevailed against him," as if merely by seeking his harm that was enough to fell him, and he did not need to fight against him at all; whereas the adversary, whose way is to fight, will see that he collapsed by himself through Hashem's providence.

"But as for me" — I have no merit of my own in which to trust, but only in Your mercy; and because of this trust, "my heart shall rejoice."

"But as for me" — always, whenever I trusted in Your kindness, my heart was glad in the salvation that comes from You. "I will sing" — even now I will sing to Hashem, when He bestows His kindness upon me.

"But as for me, in Your mercy do I trust; my heart shall rejoice" — the definition of "gil" (rejoicing) is being glad over something good that one never hoped for, a sudden good tiding. Accordingly he says that although "I trust in Your mercy," to the point that salvation is not a new thing for me, since I have trusted in it, nevertheless "my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation," like one glad over something he did not hope for — for I trusted only in Your mercy, that You would act for me out of loving-kindness and not out of reward, since I am not worthy of that. But now, "I will sing to Hashem, because He has dealt bountifully with me" — out of reward: in His goodness He accounted it to me as though I were worthy of it because of my deeds, and this is a new joy, one that I did not hope for.