TEHILLIM LIGHT

Commentaries

Mizmor 004, Verse 003

בְּנֵ֥י אִ֡ישׁ עַד־מֶ֬ה כְבוֹדִ֣י לִ֭כְלִמָּה תֶּאֱהָב֣וּן רִ֑יק תְּבַקְשׁ֖וּ כָזָ֣ב סֶֽלָה׃

beney ʾiysh ʿad–meh chevodiy lichlimmo teʾehovun riyk tevakshu chozov selo

You sons of men, how long will my honor be disgraced? You love vanity and seek deception. Selah.

MIDRASH TEHILLIM

1.....(4.7)
You sons of men...
A.
In this verse, David was saying to Doeg and Ahithophel, O you sons of such renowned men as Avraham, Izchok and Yakov, how long will you turn my glory into shame.
B.....(4.8)
Why are the nations of the earth called the sons of man? Because they are descendants of Noah's children's children. By man is meant the renowned Noah of whom it is said: "Noah was a righteous man he was perfect in his generations; Noah walked with God." (Bereishit - Genesis 6:9) 2.....(4.8)
how long will my honor be disgraced?
This is, how long will you turn the glory of my own name into shame by calling me the son of Jesse, as when Doeg says: "I saw the son of Jesse..." (Shmuel I - I Samuel 22:9), or as Soul says to Jonathan: "Did I not know that you choose the son of Jesse, to your shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?".
Have I no name of my own?
3.....(4.8)
You love vanity and seek deception
This is, David said to Doeg and Ahithophel, How long will you abuse me with vain and empty words, saying of me, God has abandoned him, God has forgotten him, God has taken His presence away from him, and henceforth kingship will never return to him. You expect the loss to continue forever? David meant, Long ago, God gladdened me with good tidings through Nathan the prophet, who told me: "Also the Lord has removed your sin; you shall not die." (Shmuel II - II Samuel 12:13)

RASHI

1.
will you constantly seek lies:
Will you chase to find lies, e.g., the Ziphites, who inform on me, yet show me friendliness, and other informers like them who were in Saul’s time (I Samuel 23:19): “Is David not hiding… in the hill of Hachilah?” And so, many.

RADAK

1.
How long shall my honour...
i.e. my soul, as he says in the previous Psalm, "Many say of my soul"; or the interpretation of my honour
be dishonour? – is that I am king and you are putting me to dishonour and making me a fugitive from my kingdom.
2.
You love a vain (thing)...
a thing that shall not be established: that is, the kingdom of Absalom.
3.
And seek after falsehood. Selah:
And this is falsehood, a thing that has no permanence, as (in the passage) (Yeshayahu - Isaiah 58:11) "Whose waters fail not."

Rabbi HIRSCH

1.
beney ʾiysh (You sons of men) ...
He interrupts his communion with God with this form of address directed to human beings. He sees those about him (or ordinary, average men) smile at his ideas. They smile, they even ridicule him for turning to God in such distress instead of seeking help from men. They sneer at the thought that he might find comfort and peace of soul by raising his eyes heavenward. They feel that prayer itself is a form of self deception, of weakness, an empty, idle act unworthy of man. He therefore first addresses himself to men such as they and upbraids them because of their erroneous views on the value of prayer.
It is BNEI ISH, and not BNEI ADAM, human beings in general, but BNEI ISH; “every one of you is the son of a “man’,” says David. “You are all men of good breeding, of education, of good repute, men of whom one would expect more understanding than you have shown.”

WORDS