Today we will discuss a pasuk in tehilim, Perek כ״א, pasuk ח. As usual, there are beautiful Hiddushim hiding in the pasuk
כִּֽי־הַ֭מֶּלֶךְ בֹּטֵ֣חַ בַּה׳
The king (referring to David HaMelech) relies on God
וּבְחֶ֥סֶד עֶ֝לְי֗וֹן
and in the Hessed Elyon/
the kindness of the Most High
בַּל־יִמּֽוֹט
that will never falter
On a simple level, the Radak tells us that David HaMelech is saying that he has no reliance or happiness other than Hashem; Not in the amount of the people he has, and not in his armies, but rather he relies in the Hessed Elyon/ the kindness of the Most High.
Simply, this is God. He is above everything, more powerful than everything. He can decide to do good to whom ever he wants. That Hesed never falters. Therefore, he relies on God.
As the Hovot HaLevavot says, One of the principles of bitachon is the understanding that God‘s kindness is forever, whether you deserve it or not. This is what David HaMelech is relying on: the hesed, (the kindness) of God, who is the Elyon.
That is the simple explanation. The kindness of God, who is up high.
The Mekubalim have a different explanation. The Reshit Hochma, a commonly learned Sefer, says that there are two levels of God’s supervision (what this means exactly, I don’t know). One is called Hashgacha Tachtona, the Lower Supervision, which isn’t always in full force. Sometimes there is Hester Panim, when it seems that God is hidden from us, although He’s always watching. On that we say,
“Awake, why are you sleeping?”
When the Jewish people are not deserving, at this lower level, it seems that Hashem is not fully supervising.
But the higher level, that he calls Hashgacha HaElyon, never stops.
He says that whenever we use the word Bitachon, we are appealing to God’s kindness, which comes from the Hessed Elyon that never ends.
David HaMelech is actually telling us this, here in the pasuk. He is appealing to something called Hesed Elyon, and in that High Place, God is always watching, and God is always kind.
When we have Bitachon, we break to the barriers of this world, where it looks like God is not watching, and enter the point where God is always watching.
The Sefer Shaare Orah, another great Kabbalist, says that there are different kinds of Hesed. The first is Hesed Elyon, which comes from Mekor Elyon, the Highest Spot, where it says that there is no mixture of anything else but kindness. When a kindness comes from there, it’s called Hasadim Tovim, good kindness. Someone might ask, isn’t all kindness good?
Actually, no- some kindness can possibly be mixed with a little bit of negativity.
If you give a child a candy, he might get cavities.
But Hesed Elyon is called Hasadim Tovim.
So with this, we can better understand a pasuk in our Amidah, that we say every day.
We say, in our first beracha, called Avot,
Elokei Avraham,
Elokei Yitzhak
Elokei Yaakov
This is the first unit of the beracha. The next unit is Gadol, Gibbor, Norah
Gadol matches with Avraham,
Gibbor matches with Yitzhak,
Norah matches with Yaakov.
In the next unit, a higher level El Elyon, we say,
Gomel Hasadim Tovim
In this last unit, we refer to God not just as El, but as El Elyon.
What arouses that higher level called El Elyon that brings Hasadim Tovim?
It’s the power of Bitachon.
If look back at our pasuk,
כִּֽי־הַ֭מֶּלֶךְ בֹּטֵ֣חַ בַּה׳
The king, David relies on Hashem,
וּבְחֶ֥סֶד עֶ֝לְי֗וֹן
and he reached the world called Hessed Elyon/
the kindness of the Most High
בַּל־יִמּֽוֹט
that never falters
This is our first point. The Chatam Sofer also talks about this, in his commentary on the Torah in Bamidbar ( perek י״ט, pasuk כג) and he says the same thing.
David HaMelech has never ending kindness from God. From where did he get this?
From his bitachon and Hesed Elyon.
He says there is a thing called Hesed Tachton, and something called Hesed Elyon.
He says that it was David HaMelech’s Limud Torah that aroused the Hesed Elyon.
As we have discussed in the past, you need Torah to have bitachon.
Regardless, they all explain the pasuk the same way- there is something called Hesed Elyon.
The second point, that the Chatam Sofer and the Sefer Tiferet Shlomo both say, is that it’s easier to rely on Hashem when things are difficult.
By what about when you’re a king?
Not only when he’s down trodden, but even when David HaMelech is a king, he is not relying on his forces, or on his people. He is always relying on Hashem, regardless of what he has
This works for us as well. It is one thing to rely on Hashem when you want to buy your house.. But you need to rely on Hashem to keep your house too.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein says, on the pasuk of birkat kohanim, that we will have in this week’s Parasha, Naso:
Yebarechecha Hashem,Hashem blesses you
V’Yishmerecha,And He guards you
Rashi says that this means even you after have something, there’s no guarantee that you’ll keep it. But Hashem watches over us as well. We need Hashem’s constant kindness in order to keep the gifts we have, not just to get what we want.
David HaMelech understands that we constantly need Hesed Elyon, not just to receive, but to keep it going.
This is David HaMelech’s powerful message here. He appeals to Hesed Elyon, he appeals to that high level of hesed, and realizes that he needs it constantly.
This is the secret to David HaMelech’s success.
כִּֽי־הַ֭מֶּלֶךְ בֹּטֵ֣חַ בַּה׳
The king relies on God
וּבְחֶ֥סֶד עֶ֝לְי֗וֹן
and in the Hessed Elyon
בַּל־יִמּֽוֹט
that will never falter
What a powerful pasuk!
Have a wonderful day.