Tehillim 119:16
בְּחֻקֹּתֶיךָ אֶשְׁתַּעֲשָׁע לֹא אֶשְׁכַּח דְּבָרֶךָ
bechukoteicha eshtaasha lo eshkach devarecha
I will delight in Your statutes, I will not forget Your word.
I do not know the reasons for "Your statutes." Yet is their observance a "delight" to me. "I will not forget Your word" of admonition that "you shall keep My statutes" (VaYikra 19:19).
Another reading says: "I will occupy myself (eshtaasha) with Your statutes." Similarly, it says, "At that day shall a man look to (yishe) his Maker" (Yeshayahu 17:7).
Some see this verse as expressing a plea. David says: Let me "delight in Your statutes" - let me know the reasons for them; so "I will not forget to keep Your word."
"I will delight in Your statutes." Similarly, when a king hands over an item for safekeeping, the trustee of that item will be delighted. His joy will keep him from misplacing it.
"I will delight in your statutes." The mitzvot are meant to bring a person joy, provided he follows the median path in his observance of the Torah. For "her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace" (Mishlei 3:17). Therefore, "I will not forget Your word" in all its wisdom.
Usually, when a person is involved in doing something that he does not understand, he derives no pleasure from his task. But "I will" also "delight in Your statutes" whose reasons are unknown. "I will not forget Your word," when You said: A statute have I established and a decree have I decreed. You are not permitted to transgress My decrees!
Tehillim 119:1 - Tehillim 119:2 - Tehillim 119:3 - Tehillim 119:4 - Tehillim 119:5 - Tehillim 119:6 - Tehillim 119:7 - Tehillim 119:8 - Tehillim 119:9 - Tehillim 119:10 - Tehillim 119:11 - Tehillim 119:12 - Tehillim 119:13 - Tehillim 119:14 - Tehillim 119:15
-MeAm Lo'ez
