יִגְמׇר־נָ֬א רַ֨ע ׀ רְשָׁעִים֮ וּתְכוֹנֵ֢ן צַ֫דִּ֥יק וּבֹחֵ֣ן לִ֭בּוֹת וּכְלָי֗וֹת אֱלֹהִ֥ים צַדִּֽיק
yigmor–noʾ raʿ reshoʿiym usechoneyn tzaddiyk uvocheyn libbos ucheloyos ʾelohiym tzaddiyk
Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may You strengthen the righteous man in his ways; for even though He tests hearts and passions, He is a righteous God.
1.....(7.8)
Let the evil of the wicked come to an end...
Rabbi Phinehas said, since we are in debt to You, because every night we leave our souls in pledge with You and You restore them to us, we know that you are a benevolent God. Therefore every morning we say, Blessed are You, O LORD, who restores the souls unto dead bodies.
No One is truly good unless he does good.
1.
...and may You strengthen the righteous...
You know who is the righteous man that You may establish him.
2.
...the righteous God
That is Your name.
1.
Let the evil of the wicked come to an end
the wickedness which the wicked plan and do, may it bring them to an end and destroy them.
2.
...strengthen the righteous man in his ways
And the righteous You will establish his way and his plan, and support him. And he says this of himself and of the righteous who were in Israel.
3.
for even though He tests hearts and passions, He is a righteous God.
He who tries the hearts and knows the thoughts of man knows the righteous and the wicked; for many of the sons of men make a show of being good when they are not so. And He is a righteous God - he means One who judges with equity, and assigns to everyone according to his ways and his thoughts, for He knows all.
1.
The group of words beginning with [yigmor–no] and ending with [tzaddiyk] is one sentence combination: “If only You will let the evil of the lawless come to an end, then You will thus give support and the right direction to the righteous. Once the evil planned by the wicked is thwarted, the righteous man shall be strengthened in his convictions and in his loyalty to his duty, even if that ultimate judgment for which I prayed to You has not yet come about. The Lord is a just God even in the most hidden aspects of His sovereignty; in those facets that no human eye has ever beheld and that are known only to the person directly concerned. He is a God of righteousness even when He “tests the heart and passions.”
2.
He tests hearts and passions
While the word [נָסָה] preponderantly means “to test something for performance;” i.e., to see how much the object of the test is able to accomplish, [בָּחן] preferably denotes a testing for content, quality, strength and endurance. Therefore the term [נָסָה] is used only in reference to human beings or to God, while the word [בָּחן] employed with reference to the testing of things or materials, such as metals,
[אבן בחן] is a proven stone which is capable of withstanding the effects of the elements and of bearing the stress to which it is subjected.
3.
libbos ucheloyos (hearts and passions)
[לֵב] (leb) is the seat of the more lofty emotions, feeling and impulses.
Thr [] (cheloyos) are the center of the physical urges and desires.
God tests our moral aspirations and our physical desires by subjecting us to suſfering. These are trials which serve only to purify us, to increase our moral strength and resolution, and which thus more than compensate us, through the spiritual gain they bring, for the tangible pleasures thus denied us. The hostile, threatening action of the wicked is merely a tool used for the testing of man who is still in need of, and receptive to, moral purification and discipline. Thus evil, against the will and without the knowledge of those who perpetrate it, is actually serving the moral welfare of mankind.
"The Lord made everything for His praise-even the wicked man for the day of evil." (Mishlei - Proverbs 16:4)
"The Master created all, and He hires a fool, and He hires transients.(Mishlei - Proverbs 26:10)"
Therefore the Lord is still a God of justice, even when He permits the wicked to do evil for the purpose of testing and purifying the righteous man.
4.
It is significant that, in this verse, the expression used to designate God is changed to [אלקימ].
In referring to the sovereignty of God, becoming manifest, as it is called upon in Verse 7, the Lord is always called by the name of [הי].
When reference is made, however, to those facets of Divine Sovereignty that are apparent only to the thinking mortal, to those aspects of His rule which guide the natural order of things to his goal, the name for God that is employed is always [אלקימ]