Commentary: On Psalms

To the leader: on shoshanim [lilies]. Of David. (Psalms 69:1)

The phrase on shoshanim means that this plea is on behalf of the righteous, who are likened to shoshanim, as it says: like a lily among thorns (Song of Songs 2:2). They are also compared to “buds” and “a vine” and “a fig” and various vegetation and fruits, each one having its own signification, which we will mention in our commentary on the Song of Songs.

Here I will say that these lilies and other [flowers] emerge as winter retreats, as the verse says: For lo, the winter is past (Song of Songs 2:11). Similarly, the righteous appear at the end of the “four kingdoms” [see Daniel 2, 7]. They appear as circumstances change, each group stronger than the previous one. This process continues until the “remnant” [see Isaiah 10:20–22] appears.

During the fourth kingdom, ‘Anan emerged and softened people’s hearts and opened their eyes, so that they yearned [to understand] scripture [lit., “the book of God”] as best they could. For the school of the Rabbanites and the preoccupation with Talmud caused them to forget scripture and to neglect to seek truth in it. Then Benjamin [al-Nahāwandī] came and went farther in confirming [truth], revealing matters in which ‘Anan had followed the school of the Rabbanites. Then, after Benjamin, the Karaites appeared. And they went farther in their devotion to the study and mastery of scripture. Then people in the east and west appeared, going farther in adherence to religion and in exertion and in knowledge, and they sought to live in Jerusalem, leaving the comforts of home and renouncing the pleasures of the world. They are now in Jerusalem, [where they will be] until the remnant appears after them, about whom it has been said: The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness (Zephaniah 3:13), and these are the “lilies,” and all who adhere to the religion of scripture are “the righteous” and are referred to [as “lilies”].

And this psalm is connected to what came before [Psalm 68], which contains good tidings [of redemption], and this [Psalm 69] mentions the shoshanim, in order to inform [us] that with the appearance of these lilies and their pleading with God—through this pleading the redemption will commence.

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.

I am sinking in deep mire, where there is no standing

I have come into deep waters, and the flood overwhelms me. (Psalms 69:2–3)

He likens the exile to “many waters” because the nations among whom we dwell are like water, as I have explained in my commentary on the phrase: We went through fire and through water (Psalms 66:12) and: Many waters cannot quench love (Song of Songs 8:7). And the words here are waters and deep mire and deep waters and flood, because each one is more severe than the one before. This is fitting because the travails of Israel among them [i.e., the nations] and their oppression will become worse and worse until the end of the matter will be great affliction, from which relief will come, as it says: And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it (Jeremiah 30:7). A scholar has said that these four terms symbolize the four kingdoms. By for the waters have come up to my neck, he intends the kingdom of the Chaldeans [Babylonians], which destroyed the Temple and put an end to the kingdom and exiled the people. As for: I am sinking in deep mire, that is Media and Persia, the second kingdom, during whose reign we were nearly destroyed and were on the brink of annihilation in the time of Haman, were it not for the compassion of God. As for: I have come into deep waters, this verse refers to the third kingdom, which destroyed the Second Temple and exiled us, one group to the lands of Rum [Byzantium] and one group to the West. The flood overwhelms me. With this phrase he intends the fourth kingdom, which is the most severe of the kingdoms. Regarding all of them, he said: I am weary of my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God (Psalms 69:4).

Those who sit in the gate speak against me; and [I am] the songs of the drunkards (Psalms 69:13)

Those who sit in the court [majlis] complain about every blemish; and [I am] the melodies of the drinkers of wine.

In other words, this refers to the most exalted among them, the people of the court, who sit in judgment, criticizing and discussing every fault, so that they distance people’s hearts from the righteous [ones]. And when they go to drinking parties, they say, “Come, tell us about how the Karaites mourn over Zion, how they lament the destruction of Jerusalem and recite [the book of Lamentations] and other things.” They do this to the point that they no longer feel sadness over this exile.

This verse indicates that the prophets knew that there would be such situations for Israel, and they preemptively mention them, one, to warn Israel not to do this, and, two, to strengthen the hearts of the righteous, so when they see the wicked acting this way toward them, they will be undeterred.

[In Psalms 69:10–12,] he [i.e., David] mentions “zeal,” “crying,” “fasting,” and “sackcloth,” to teach that this is the way of the mourners of Zion, who grieve over what they see of the house of God and all the afflictions of our hearts, and they cry and fast because of this, as it says: when I wept and fasted [I was reproached for it] (Psalms 69:11), and it says: my knees give way with fasting; [I am the object of their scorn] (Psalms 109:24–25). Then there is the wearing of [sackcloth], as it says: [They repay me evil for good, seeking my bereavement,] yet when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth (Psalms 35:12–13). He said, as much as they deride me for my faults and talk about me, I will not think about [them], and I will not desist from my service.