Psalms · Psalm 98

"Sing to the Lord" — All these are for the future.

'A Psalm. O sing to Hashem a new song' — [as for] 'His right hand has wrought salvation for Him,' [compare]: 'and My own arm brought Me salvation' (Isaiah 63:5). the meaning of 'and His holy arm' is that it is outstretched and reaches the place of His desire; perhaps this psalm concerns the coming of the Redeemer.

"A psalm" — we have already explained it. "His right hand has wrought salvation for Him" — as it is written, "And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was none to intervene; therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him" (Isaiah 59:16).

"His right hand... has wrought salvation for Him" — meaning, He needs no salvation from anyone else, for His own right hand has wrought salvation for Him.

"A psalm" — Now he begins to speak about the miraculous governance — the time when Hashem guides the world without intermediary, not through the laws of nature, which are general, but through individual providence, entirely overturning the laws of nature. And he says that "they should sing to Hashem a new song, for He has done wonders" — for wonders are matters that are beyond the laws and customs of this world. Now, the governance of nature is attributed to His left hand, while the miraculous governance is attributed to His right hand (as it is written, "Your hand is strong, Your right hand is exalted" (Psalm 89:14), as stated there, which indicates that the right overpowers the left). And in this there are two levels: sometimes the right hand governs according to the deeds of those below, and according to their merit and arousal; and sometimes this occurs through an arousal from above (Aramaic: it'aruta dile'eila), not on account of the merit of the generation. And it has been explained by us that at the time when [Hashem] overturns the celestial order by virtue of merit, this is called "acting with His right hand"; and at the time when He overturns the celestial order not by virtue of merit or deed, this is called "acting with His arm" — for the arm is the upper joint of the hand, which moves the hand, depicting that even the beginning of the movement, and its cause, is from Him (and this is what is stated there regarding the verse, "Hashem has sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength" (Isaiah 62:8), and in many other places). And so it says: "His right hand" — "brought Him salvation" — that is, the miracles that He performs by virtue of the generation's merit; or "His holy arm" — what He performs without regard at all to the deeds of the generation.

'Hashem has made known' — [this is] in the past tense. and the proof [of this] is: 'His righteousness has He revealed' — and what is this righteousness? It is: 'He has remembered' — [and] 'all the ends of the earth' corresponds to the inhabited regions, which are seven divisions in the north and one in the south.

"He has made known" — the latter half of the verse is an explanation of the first half of the verse.

"Made known" — Before the salvation came, He publicized it through the prophets, and now He has revealed His righteousness before the eyes of all.

"Made known" — It has been explained by us that when "salvation" (yeshu'ah) and "righteousness" (tzedakah) appear adjacent in Scripture, "salvation" denotes the act that He performs for the sake of Israel's redemption, or a general salvation for the whole world, which is the ultimate purpose of His deeds and the perfection of the whole world; while "righteousness" denotes the attribute by which He brings about the salvation. Divine righteousness arouses and brings about the salvation, and so it says (Isaiah 56:1), "for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed" — depicting that righteousness is always present with Him, blessed be He, only that it is sometimes hidden and concealed and needs to be revealed; but salvation does not always exist in actuality, and needs to come [into being]. And so it says here, "Hashem has made known His salvation" — in contrast to what was said earlier regarding the hidden providence exercised in the way of nature, "proclaim His salvation from day to day" (Psalm 96:2) — meaning that now mankind need not proclaim this, for Hashem Himself has made known His salvation and publicized it, for the salvation is now revealed and known, not hidden in the way of nature. Likewise the righteousness, which is the cause of the salvation and had been concealed until now — now "He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations" with great publicity. And he says that Hashem performed these wonders for three reasons: (1) for His own sake and for the attribute of supreme righteousness — which is why it says, "in the sight of the nations He has revealed His righteousness"; (2) He did so because "He remembered His mercy to the house of Israel"; (3) because "He remembered His faithfulness to the house of Israel" — because of the promise He had made to save them, as it says, "to Your name give glory, for Your mercy's sake, for Your truth's sake" (cf. Psalm 115:1). "They have seen" — meaning: and in this, this publicizing is distinguished from the previous one. For at first it said, "Declare among the nations His glory, His wonders among all the peoples" (Psalm 96:3) — meaning: (1) that they would not see with the eye and with the senses, but rather the wise among the nations would tell of it; whereas now, "they have seen" it with their own eyes; (2) that at first not everyone would understand, for the lesser idolators would see only His glory, not His wonders, as stated there; but now, "all the ends of the earth have seen" it; (3) that they would see "the salvation of our God" — for it has been explained by us that the name "God" when it appears with a possessive suffix indicates the bond and attachment that He has with Israel — [meaning] that they would see that this salvation is distinctive, in that He is our God particularly, that His Presence (Shechinah) is within us, and His providence is attached to the people close to Him.

['His righteousness has He revealed — and what is this righteousness? It is:] 'He has remembered' — [and] 'all the ends of the earth' corresponds to the inhabited regions, which are seven divisions in the north and one in the south.

"He has remembered" — the faithfulness that He had toward the house of Israel, to bring them out of exile, He remembered on their behalf, and brought them out before the eyes of all; this is [the meaning of] "and all the ends of the earth have seen."

"He remembered" — Hashem remembered for Israel the kindness that He had promised in His faithfulness. "The ends of the earth" — those who dwell at the extremities of the earth.

'Shout [to Hashem]' — to raise your voice. And likewise 'break forth' and 'sing for joy.'

"Shout to Hashem, all the earth" — Even the nations have cause to shout and rejoice at the salvation of Israel, for it will be a salvation for the whole world, so that there will no longer be war in the world between nation and nation. "Break forth" — Open with song.

"Break forth" — open the mouth, as in 'break forth into joy, sing together' (Isaiah 52).

'Shout' — the custom is that while the king is still shut up in his palace, the people sing songs and hymns in his honor, meditative music upon the harp; but when he goes out from his palace and shows himself to the people, they all shout a great shout, and this is the sign that their king has come among them, as mentioned above (Psalm 95:1). And here he depicts the salvations of Hashem as an abstract entity, as if Hashem Himself were revealed to the inhabitants of the world in His glory. Therefore, 'shout to Hashem, all the earth' — as a sign that He has come among them; and afterward, 'break forth, and sing for joy, and sing praises' — over His deeds and His praises. And he adds, saying that so it will be forever.

'Sing praises... with the harp' — [first] the harp alone, and [then] 'with the harp and the voice of melody' [together].

"Sing praises" — With the harp alone, and also with the harp together with the voice of song, which is song with the mouth.

"With the harp, etc." — meaning, with the harp alone, and also with the harp together with the voice of song, to sweeten the sound.

(5-6) 'Sing praises to Hashem with the harp; with trumpets and the sound of the shofar, shout' — that they should sing praises with the harp to recount His constant praises and deeds, and they should shout with the sound of the shofar, because at every time that they sing praises before Him, He reveals Himself in His glory to them — this is what the shofar and the shout signify.

'With trumpets [and sound of the horn]' — he added the word 'king,' for such is the practice of those who go out to greet [a king] when he arrives.

"Before the King, Hashem" — That they should come to the Temple to shout, sing, and give praise before Him.

"With trumpets" — the name of a musical instrument.

'Let the sea roar' — in the manner of: 'and the mountains trembled,' or the meaning is that there will be peace throughout the whole earth.

"And the sea, and the world" — By way of metaphor, as we have explained.

"Let it roar" — Let a sound of thunder be heard, out of joy. "And its fulness" — the creatures that fill it.

'Let it roar' — here he does not say 'let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad,' as he said before, because now the governance of the cosmic order will be nullified, and there will not be the constant rejoicing of the heavens over their constant governance, nor rejoicing on earth over the general providence — for the providence will now be individual, not over the earth in general alone, but over the tevel (the settled world), where mankind is found; for the miracle is particular, only for the people who dwell in the inhabited world. Therefore he says, 'let the sea roar, and its fullness' — at the time He commands the sea to be split, as it was at the time of the exodus from Egypt; or [he speaks of] the tevel and its inhabitants, that changes will occur in the settled world.

"Rivers will clap hands" — The prophets spoke in a language that the ear can hear; not that the rivers have a hand, but it is an expression of joy and gladness.

'Let the floods [clap their hands]' — the meaning is that the people who travel in ships on the sea, and [those] on the rivers and mountains, will sing for joy.

"Floods" — This verse, too, is a metaphor. "Let them clap their hands" — They strike hand against hand, in the manner of dancers and those who rejoice, as it is written, "and they clapped hands."

"Let them clap their hands" — Let them strike hand against hand, as is the way of those who rejoice; and this is a figure of speech to indicate the abundance of joy. "Together" — all the mountains will sing for joy together.

"Clap" — a term for striking [together] in joy, as in 'because you have clapped your hands' (Ezekiel 25:6).

(8-9) 'Let the rivers clap their hands' — for He will bring about changes in the rivers and in the mountains, as happened at the Jordan and at the streams of Arnon. And this will be 'before Hashem, for He has come to judge the earth' — here it says 'has come,' meaning that He comes on a single occasion, for He comes not by means of an intermediary. Therefore it says, 'He will judge the tevel with righteousness, and the peoples with equity,' and it does not say 'with His faithfulness,' which indicates the fixed order of nature, but rather, according to the laws of equity.

'Before Hashem' — everything will sing for joy when He comes to judge the earth.

"With righteousness and with equity" — His judgment shall be such that good comes to the righteous and evil to the wicked.

"Before Hashem" — the joy will be before Hashem, because He has come to judge. "With equity" — with righteous judgment, as is fitting for each and every one.