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Tehillim 119:22
גַּל מֵעָלַי חֶרְפָּה וָבוּז כִּי עֵדֹתֶיךָ נָצָרְתִּי
gal me'alai cherpa vavuz ki edoteicha natzarti
Remove from me insult and contempt; for I have kept Your testimonies.

King David refers to the sixth obstruction, namely, those who vilify and abuse Yisrael. Accordingly, he pleads, "Remove from me insult and contempt; for I have kept Your testimonies."

Why do they vilify and abuse me? It is because "I have kept Your testimonies."

A different interpretation says: "Remove from me humiliation and reproach." Help me to keep the Torah, so others will not say to me: First remove the beam from between your own eyes, before you tell us to remove the splinter from ours. Only then will I be able to say, "I have kept Your testimonies."

Then again, King David pleads: "Remove from me insult and contempt" because "I have kept Your testimonies." I was not ashamed to do so in the presence of those who ridicule me. Indeed, I ask: Let them not accuse me, nor ridicule anyone who adheres to Your Torah. May these words of the Scripture come true for us: "And all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of Hashem; and they will be afraid of you" (Devarim 28:10).

Remove from me: Heb. גל, an expression of rolling, like (Bereishit 29:10): “and he rolled (ויגל) the stone.”

- Me'am Lo'ez; Chabad

Tehillim 119:14
בְּדֶרֶךְ עֵדְו‍ֹתֶיךָ שַׂשְׂתִּי כְּעַל כָּל-הוֹן
bederech edvoteicha sasti keal kol-hon
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.

Even when I am only "in the way" towards observing the mitzvot, I rejoice.  I am as one who is on his way to earn a great fortune; this man does not feel the weariness of the journey.

I rejoice and am glad in the observance of "Your testimonies," like a man who rejoices every time he finds treasure.  I do not rejoice at bodily pleasures, but at having in my possession the treasures of the King.

In this world there is no reward for the observance of a mitzvah, since no material reward is equal to the value of any mitzvah.  But there is reward in this world for the preparation to perform a mitzvah, preparations being the tools for the performance of any mitzvah.  Thus David says here: "In the way of Your testimonies I have rejoiced."

When I studied Torah, David says, I despised all wealth and possessions, for I saw Torah as superior to "all riches."  Similarly, our Sages teach:  A man has silver but he has no gold; he has gold but he has no silver, nor fields, nor vineyards.  But in the Torah there is silver and gold, as it says, "The ordinances of HaShem... More to be desired are they than gold, than fine gold" (v19:10, 11).  There are fields and vineyards, as it says, "Your offshoots are an orchard of pomegranates with luscious friuts" (Shir HaShirim 4:13).

That is to say, it is clear to the student of Torah that he has everything.  For the Torah is superior in value to all possessions in the world.


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

-MeAm Lo'ez