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Tehillim 119:6 az lo evosh behabiti el kol mitzvoteicha
Then I will not be ashamed, when I look at all your commandments.

If I will "observe Your statutes" (v119:5), I will also observe Your ordinances.  As a result, when I open up the Torah and study it closely, "I will not be ashamed" that I did not keep "all Your commandments."

However, when one realizes that some aspect of his behavior is not in accordance with G-d's precepts, he should be filled with great shame for betraying his Creator and Father.  Moreover, he has betrayed himself and fallen short of his true potential.

If I will find a good reason for keeping the statutes, and subject myself to their observance, then I will assuredly "not be ashamed."  I will stand up to the prosecuting angel, "when I look at all Your commandments." For I will behold the reasons for all of them.

If I will keep the mitzvot, "then I will not be ashamed, when I look at all Your commandments."  For instance, if someone steals and then he sees written in the Torah, "You shall not steal!" (Shemot 20:13), he will be ashamed.  Therefore should every man be wary of every evil deed, so as not to be ashamed when he reads the Torah.

It was Rambam's custom to begin each of his works by citing a pasuk (verse). One such example is his introduction to the Mishneh Torah (as well as at the outset of each of the fourteen books that comprise the Mishne Torah). The verse used to introduce the Mishneh Torah is "Az lo evosh b'habiti el kol mitzvotecha" "Then I will not be ashamed, when I look at all Your commandments" (Tehillim 119:6). This verse serves as a "motto" that encapsulates the entire Mishneh Torah.

This verse teaches us that there is a supreme added value to having the Torah in its entirety laid out before us. Thus the Rambam in the Mishneh Torah summarizes the entire Oral Torah. The Midrash describes to us the shame one might feel upon reaching the Gates of Paradise without having learned all the sections of the Torah. By laying out the Oral Torah before us, the Rambam is assisting us in avoiding this very shame. (Rav Y. Steinberger)

Tehillim 119:5
Tehillim 119:4
Tehillim 119:3
Tehillim 119:2
Tehillim 119:1


MeAm Lo'ez
Chazal
Sefer Tehillim - Schottenstein Edition

Tehillim 119:5 achalai yikonu derachai lishmor chukeicha
My hopes: that my ways be directed to observe Your statutes!

"My hopes" - these are my pleas that I place before You: "That my ways be directed" so I should also "observe Your statues" whose reason elude us.

"[These are] my [fervent] prayers (hopes)," I desire nothing else but this. (Ibn Ezra)

Because the reasons for the statutes are not known, ha-satan and the other peoples condemn us.  But I say: "My hopes" and pleas are "that my ways be directed to observe Your statues" as well.

The mitzvah must be made possessions of the soul.  Therefore, I plead and petition that "my ways be directed to observe Your statutes."  Let none of my mundane affairs beset me.  I implore You to protect me from the diversions of the world, so that my heart and being are free "to observe Your statutes."

Let "my ways be directed to observe Your statutes." Let them not be directed towards bodily needs or towards any other diversion.

R’ Shmuel Shmelke Güntzler z”l (1838-1911; rabbi of Oyber-Visheve, Hungary for 45 years) writes: We read in Tehilim (119:5-6), “My prayer is: ‘May my ways be firmly guided to keep Your decrees; then I will not be ashamed when I gaze at all your commandments’.” In these verses, King David is noting the tension between our obligation to try to understand G-d’s Will, on the one hand, and our duty to serve Him as subjects, i.e., not because we understand or approve of His mitzvot but simply because they are His commandments. How can a person evaluate whether he is serving Hashem for the right reason (as a subject) or the wrong reason (because the person has evaluated the mitzvot and decided they make sense to him, in which case he is serving himself, not G-d)?

The answer is that one should look at how he performs those mitzvot that do not seem to be logical. If a person performs the decrees with the same enthusiasm with which he performs the “logical” mitzvot, then he knows that he is behaving as a subject. This is what King David meant: If I am firm in my commitment to Your decrees, then I will not be ashamed when I perform the “logical” commandments. Rather, I will know that those mitzvot, as well, I am performing as a subject and not because they make sense to me. (Meishiv Nefesh)

Tehillim 119:4
Tehillim 119:3
Tehillim 119:2
Tehillim 119:1


MeAm Lo'ez
Chazal

Tehillim 119:4 atah tzivitah fikudeicha lishmor meod
You have ordained Your commands, that we should observe them diligently.

King David now goes on to explain why the Holy One has commanded that we fulfill 613 Mitzvot.   If when we simply "do no wrong," we also "walk in His ways" (v119:3).  Why has the Holy One commanded that we fulfill 613 mitzvot?  The answer is, "You have ordained Your commands, that we should observe them diligently."  When there are many mitzvot to keep, there are always occasions for performing any number of them!

It is "that we should observe them diligently" in order to make them part of our souls.  Thereafter, we will perform them with heart and soul.



Tehillim 119:3
Tehillim 119:2
Tehillim 119:1


MeAm Lo'ez
Chazal