Today we will discuss chapter 37 of Tehilim, verse 6
וְהוֹצִ֣יא כָא֣וֹר צִדְקֶ֑ךָ וּ֝מִשְׁפָּטֶ֗ךָ כַּֽצׇּהֳרָֽיִם
Your righteousness will be brought out like a like a light ,And your judgment like the afternoon.
We will soon see how this is a pasuk of Bitachon.
David HaMelech, in other places, compares a person waiting for his Yeshua/salvation to the morning sun. As it says in the famous pasuk, “נפשי לה׳ משמרים לבקר שמרים לבקר
My soul to Hashem, is waiting for the morning, like the night watchman waits for morning.
A night watchman is up all night. It is a long, tiring job, battling sleep. But he knows that the sun will definitely come up in the morning. David HaMelech is saying, “I am waiting for you Hashem, more than the night watchman looks forward to the sun coming up.
I know for sure that it is going to happen.”
On this pasuk, the Midrash mentions a very interesting concept.
In the first part of the pasuk it says,
וְהוֹצִ֣יא כָא֣וֹר צִדְקֶ֑ךָ
your righteousness will be like the light,
And in the second part,
וּ֝מִשְׁפָּטֶ֗ךָ כַּֽצׇּהֳרָֽיִם
And your judgement, like the afternoon
Both parts are talking about the sun. Tzeddek- righteousness, is your goodness, your merits. And Mishpat/ justice is a person’s suffering because of his sins and the like.
When it comes to your righteousness,
וְהוֹצִ֣יא כָא֣וֹר צִדְקֶ֑ךָ
your righteousness will be come up like the morning sun- slowly but surely, one ray of light after the other, until the kindness is fully exposed.
And what about the judgement which is symbolized by the afternoon burning, hot sun?
The morning sun is nice and refreshing. When you get up and go outside it’s 68 or 72° degrees- perfect walking weather. But then, when you get to the afternoon, the sun is beating down- and that is God’s judgment.
וּ֝מִשְׁפָּטֶ֗ךָ
And this judgment, the negativity is like the afternoon sun. It will definitely set. It will definitely dissipate.
So a person has to look, with conviction, at both ends. He has to say that his salvation will definitely come up, like it’s 4:30 AM and he’s waiting for the sun to rise. That’s the way to look at Tzeddek/salvation, at the positive side. For sure,
וְהוֹצִ֣יא כָא֣וֹר צִדְקֶ֑ךָ
it will come out come out slowly, like the rising sun of the morning.
But what about the problems and challenges that we are having?
וּ֝מִשְׁפָּטֶ֗ךָ
Your judgments will definitely set, like the setting of the sun.
The Alshech adds that actually, the two parts of the pasuk work together.
He asks why people have challenges and suffering. In his words, “Every Jewish person is rooted in holiness. The fact that he sins is only an external stain that cleaves to him. But his insides are good.”
Therefore, he says, we need the judgments and challenges of the outside and once that happens, it will bring out your righteousness. Your righteousness is inside of you but you need to bring it out. Every Jew has wonderful Emuna and Bitachon.
Like Rabbi Grossman, from Migdal Emek, said last week in one of his speeches, when he visited the Deal community, “I never met an irreligious Jew. It’s just hiding inside.” So therefore, all of the suffering will be וְהוֹצִ֣יא כָא֣וֹר צִדְקֶ֑ךָ it will bring out your righteousness, like the light that is hiding or being covered up.
The Rishon R”i Ibn Yichyeh says, “Your salvation will be for sure, like the morning sun rising.” And the negativity, “for sure it will go away, like the sun setting in the afternoon.”
This should be our outlook.
This seems like a simple pasuk at first glance, but it carries a powerful message:
וְהוֹצִ֣יא כָא֣וֹר צִדְקֶ֑ךָ וּ֝מִשְׁפָּטֶ֗ךָ כַּֽצׇּהֳרָֽיִם
Your righteousness will come out like the rising sun in the morning
Slowly but surely, it will come out fir sure
וּ֝מִשְׁפָּטֶ֗ךָ כַּֽצׇּהֳרָֽיִם
And your challenges will set, like the afternoon sun-
As hot as it is in the afternoon, when the sun is beating down at two or 3 o’clock, by 8:30 or 9 o’clock at night, the sun is gone. That is the feeling that a person has to have, on both ends. On the positive side, for sure it’s going to come out, and on the negative, that for sure it is going to end.
Have a wonderful day