Today we will study perek סט pasuk ז of Tehilim:
אַל־יֵבֹשׁוּ בִי ׀ קֹוֶיךָ אֲדֹנָי ה׳ צְבָאוֹת אַל־יִכָּלְמוּ בִי מְבַקְשֶׁיךָ אֱלֹקי יִשְׂרָאֵל
Those that hope to You, Hashem, Should not be embarrassed by me. God of the Hosts,
They shouldn’t be ashamed through me, those that seek You out, God of Hashem.
Rav Sadya Gaon learns from this pasuk, a constant principle that we have discussed in the past. David HaMelech is saying, If, Heaven forbid, You don’t answer me, it will cause many people to despair and say, ‘If Hashem didn’t answer David, who is considered a pious man, surely He won’t answer us.’”
That won’t be good for business, so to say.
Someone can appeal to God, based on the fact that it won’t look good if he, a Baal Bitachon, is not answered.
There are people that pride themselves on their Bitachon, and others know that they are relying on Hashem. If something were to go wrong for such a person, people would wonder what was going on. They would wonder why this righteous man was not being answered.
That would not look good. David HaMelech is saying, “I might not be so special, but people think I’m special. They are making a mistake, they consider me to be a righteous man, they consider me a Baal Bitachon, and therefore it will cause an embarrassment for me, and it will cause their Emunah weakened. So therefore, I am asking that You should answer me in that merit.”
The Hasid Yavetz says something similar- that David HaMelech is saying, “I have sins, and my sins are causing things to go wrong in my life. But despite that, Hashem should be concerned about the KiddushHashem, or lack there of. People shouldn’t say, “Look at what happens to a Baal Bitachon!”
The Radak asks why Hashem uses the term אדני
- צבאות
Which means God, Master of the hosts.
Who are the hosts here? The hosts refer to the Jewish people, who are known as God’s army.
Hashem is the One that gave us the challenges. He put us in the problem, and therefore, we ask Him to take us out of it, because we believe that He controls, and is in charge of, everything.
Here we are, the Jewish people, in exile for such a long time. God is Elokei Yisrael, He is Adonai Seva’ot/ the God of the Jewish people.
How long do we have to suffer in exile? Why should the goyim ask,”Where is the God of the Jews?” So David HaMelech is arousing the feelings of, “You are Elokei Yisrael, You are God of the hosts. It will be a shame and embarrassment.”
He uses two different terms, for the different levels of shame and embarrassment.
אַל־יֵבֹשׁוּ
אַל־יִכָּלְמוּ
The rabbis point out the difference between the two. Bushah is the embarrassment of being caught in the act. Kelem is a longer lasting shame, occurring when something becomes apparent and clear to all. For example, when something embarrassing is on the front page of the newspaper.
Bushah is in this world, which is short. Kelem is a lasting shame, which is in the world to come. It’s irreversible.
David HaMelech is asking to be saved the from both the momentary embarrassment of not being answered, and the long-term shame of not being answered. He’s saying,
“I don’t want any embarrassment or shame,
Hashem. I am counting on You to please come through for me, so that everyone can see that when you count on Hashem, it works.”