TEHILLIM LIGHT

Commentaries

Mizmor 003 Verse 001

מִזְמ֥וֹר לְדָוִ֑ד בְּ֝בָרְח֗וֹ מִפְּנֵ֤י ׀ אַבְשָׁל֬וֹם בְּנֽוֹ

mizmor ledovid bevorecho mippeney ʾavsholom beno

A song of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.

MIDRASH TEHILLIM

1.....(3.1)
"It is a joy for a righteous man to do judgment..." (Mishlei - Proverbs 21:15)
It may mean that when God executes judgment upon righteous men, it is a joy to them, because He cleanses them of their transgressions. As soon as the measure of God's judgment struck David, He began to rejoice and to compose a Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
2.....(3.3)
When did David compose this Psalm?
When he went up by the ascent of the Mountain of Olives and wept as he went up (Shmuel II - II Samuel 15:30)
According to rabbi Yudan, this is what David said - Yakov fled, as it is said: "And Yakov fled to the field of Aram..." (Hoshea - Hosea 12:13), Moshe fled, as it is said: "...Moshe fled from before Pharaoh." (Shemot 2:15). Like them, I am fleeing. Upon this David recieved the verse: "I remembered Your judgments of old, O LORD, and I was consoled", as if to say - When I remember the measure of judgment which You did deal to those who lived before me, it comforts me. When did David speak thus? When he fled from Absolom, his son.

RADAK

1.
... it is possible that this Psalm is connected with the preceding because the Philistines had come against David to contest his right to the kingdom and fight with him; and so Absalom his son proposed to take the kingdom from his father and kill him, but [David] conquered all and was left in possession of the kingdom. Our rabbis of blessed memory who have interpreted the Second Psalm of Gog and Magog have said (Babli, Berakhoth 1o a), "Why is the passage about Absalom (Ps. iii) connected with the passage of Gog and Magog? For this reason. If a man should say to thee, Is it possible that a servant would rebel against his master? say to him, Is it possible a son would rebel against his father? But so it was - it really was so."

Rabbi HIRSCH

1.
The following rule has been stated in Pesachim 107a. - wherever, in the title of a psalm, the name of David occurs before the phrase “A Song”, exaltation came first and the song was its outpouring. But wherever the phrase “A song” precedes David's name, there David raised himself to exaltation only upon the wings of his song. This general rule is borne out throughout the Psalms. Psalm 3, too, in the title of which MIZMOR comes first, begins (Verses 2, 3) on a note of utter depression, which is lifted (Verses 4, 5) only in the course of the song, until finally the fact brought to mind in Verse 6, and then Verse 7, exalts the Psalmist and raises his spirit to the feeling of complete trust.

WORDS