1. A song of
ascents about Solomon. If the Lord will not build a house, its builders have
toiled at it in vain; if the Lord will not guard a city, [its] watcher keeps
his vigil in vain.
א.
שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת לִשְׁלֹמֹה אִם ה' לֹא יִבְנֶה בַיִת שָׁוְא עָמְלוּ בוֹנָיו בּוֹ
אִם ה' לֹא יִשְׁמָר עִיר שָׁוְא שָׁקַד שׁוֹמֵר:
2. It is futile for
you who arise early, who sit late, who eat the bread of toil, to his beloved he
will give tranquility.
ב.
שָׁוְא לָכֶם מַשְׁכִּימֵי קוּם מְאַחֲרֵי שֶׁבֶת אֹכְלֵי לֶחֶם הָעֲצָבִים כֵּן יִתֵּן
לִידִידוֹ שֵׁנָא:
3. Behold, the
heritage of the Lord is sons, the reward is the fruit of the innards.
ג.
הִנֵּה נַחֲלַת ה' בָּנִים שָֹכָר פְּרִי הַבָּטֶן:
4. Like arrows in
the hand of a mighty man, so are the sons of one's youth.
ד.
כְּחִצִּים בְּיַד גִּבּוֹר כֵּן בְּנֵי הַנְּעוּרִים:
5. Praiseworthy is
the man who has filled his quiver with them; they will not be ashamed when they
talk to the enemies in the gate.
ה.
אַשְׁרֵי הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר מִלֵּא אֶת אַשְׁפָּתוֹ מֵהֶם לֹא יֵבֹשׁוּ כִּי יְדַבְּרוּ
אֶת אוֹיְבִים בַּשָּׁעַר:
King David’s life was one of dedication and
love of Hashem. He also loved his wife Bathsheba and his son Solomon very
dearly. In addition he took great pride that he would father the line of the
kings of Israel. Solomon, his son, was overflowing with gifts and faith. Like a
good father David recognized early where his son’s imperfections lied, and tried
to nip them in the bud. Solomon was only twelve years old when he became
king, so this psalm was written when he was still a boy. Psalm 127 is basically
a heart to heart talk King David was giving to his son Solomon, the crown
prince, interweaving the topics of women, religion, and progeny. Because of his
son’s youth and the nature of his concerns, it was necessary to be oblique.
Rashi comments: “David saw
through divine inspiration that in the future Shlomo would build the temple and
on that day he would marry the daughter of Pharaoh. Concerning this it is
written, “For
this city has aroused My anger and My wrath from the day they built it until today.
Therefore the song is asking, ‘What are you gaining my son to wander from the
Omnipresent after that which He does not desire and for nothing is your labor
in it?’” The Talmud (Sanhedrin 21b) remarks: “Rabbi Yitzchak said when Solomon
married Pharaoh’s daughter, [the angel] Gabriel descended and stuck a reed in
the sea, which gathered a sand bank around it on which was built the
great city of Rome”. The Soncino Talmud comments: “By this, his moral weakness,
he laid the foundations of a hostile world, symbolized by the Talmud as Rome,
which overthrew Israel”.
The kings from the dynasty of
David tended to be good kings; even so they made good natured mistakes. King
Solomon felt that marrying the daughters of foreign kings, would not only
result in peace, but would cause many to learn the book of Proverbs as well. It
was not successful. When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart towards
other gods and his he did not go fully after Hashem as did David his father
(see Kings 1 chapter 11). In the book of Ecclesiastics (7:26) he laments, “I
find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, her hands
are bonds; whoever is good in G-d's sight will escape from her, and a sinner
will be taken by her.” Solomon’s son Rehavam is not a bad king, but later on
abandons the Torah (see 2 Chronicles 12:1).
The Meiri explains: David saw
that his efforts to build the Temple would not succeed and the prophet Nathan
told him that his son would build it; he gives him the advice and council
typically given at the start of an endeavor. Even though good efforts are being
made, he should not place his confidence in these efforts and not think that he
will obtain his objective, because it will be obtained by his efforts. Rather
everything is from the Almighty, and He arouses ones efforts and He allows one
to obtain his objective. The Torah in fact had already cautioned about this when
it said, “and you will say in your heart my strength and the power of my hand
did for me this magnificence and you should know that Hashem your G-d gave you
the power to do great things (Deuteronomy 8:17-8). It also says this generally,
“If Hashem does not build the house”, meaning, there would not have been an
effort from man’s side without [G-d’s] providence.
The Psalm then uses the labor
a person puts into obtaining his sustenance as an example. Basically it says
that a person can get up early in the morning and work late and his only gain
will be bitter bread. It then continues that G-d will give his beloved sleep.
Rashi explains this means that the Holy One Blessed be He will support those
that banish sleep from their eyes to be busy with Torah. The idea is that hard
work alone may only result in aggravation, but doing the will of G-d often
produces satisfaction.
There is a hint that all of
this is like having children i.e. many efforts may be fruitless and few efforts
can be fruitful. He also praises having good sons and how valuable they can be,
hinting that this should be important to him. The Yalkut Shemoni brings an
anecdote that Rabbi Judah the prince sent Rabbi Chiyya, Rabbi Yosa, and Rabbi
Ami to work in the cities of the land of Israel. There they were to establish
in them scribes and students so that not a place would be found without a sofer
and a student. They asked if there would be guards for the cities. He replied
to them, “You are the guards and that those others do nothing except destroy
the city. From where do we know that you are the guards of the city, because it
says, “If Hashem does not guard the city useless is the diligence of the guard”
(Psalm 127:1). Rashi sees sons of one’s youth as the students a man produces in
his youth, as well as wise students that prevail over each other in halacha, who
appear as if they are enemies of each other [when debating].
The lesson seems to be that
when a person is engaging in a worthy pursuit their actions are the body of a
success and the will of G-d is the soul of the success. If a person’s actions
do not find favor in the eyes of heaven, they are likely to yield a blemished
result. In terms of marriage a man can consider things like politics and
positive influence on others, but the woman herself must be right. She should
encourage her husband to go down a good path and certainly not the opposite. In
addition the children she bears should be raised to be moral individuals who
pursue wisdom.
לע"נ
הסבתא טויבע בת יואל לייב ז"ל נלב"ע כה בשבט תשכ"ג
העלון ניתן לקבל בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר
http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.il
Blogger Hebrew http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com/2016/02/160.html
YouTube https://youtu.be/2oxvbkNHzEg
