TEHILLIM LIGHT

Commentaries

Mizmor 008, Verse 009

צִפּ֣וֹר שָׁ֭מַיִם וּדְגֵ֣י הַיָּ֑ם עֹ֝בֵ֗ר אׇרְח֥וֹת יַמִּֽים

tzippor shomayim udegey hayyom ʿoveyr ʾorchos yammiym

the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, He strides over the paths of the seas.

MIDRASH TEHILLIM

1.....(8.7)
A.
In saying - the fowl of the air, they were alluding to Eliyahu (Elijah), who flies about the world like a bird. Of Eliyahu it is also said: "And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning..." (Melachim I - I Kings 17:6).
B.
In saying - and the fish of the sea, they were alluding to Yonah, of whom it is said: "...and Jonah was in the belly of the fish..." (Yonah - Jonah 2:1).
C.
In saying - He strides over the paths of the seas, they the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea (Shemot - Exodus 15:19).

RADAK

1.
Fowl of heaven and fish of the sea:
Even over those which are not in the earth with him, as the fowl which flies in the air, and the fishes which swim in the waters, he rules over all and snares them by his cunning devices. And further, by his understanding and his cunning devices

Rabbi HIRSCH

1.
“Yea, He strides over the paths of the seas” which thus cease to be partitions and instead become waterways linking the continents. This last stroke of the pen in the picture of human supremacy in the world is quite typical. The entire theme of this psalm is that, once man will understand his purpose on earth and will act accordingly, his supremacy on earth should help spread the recognition and worship of God throughout the world. Man's inventive genius, too, is harnessed in the service of the eventual unification of mankind in the praise of the One God. For it is this inventive genius which, by bridging the seas that divide continents, will reunite the family of man which has been scattered to the ends of the earth ever since the dispersion of the nations at Babel. In times of moral corruption, human inventiveness may help disseminate ideas leading to error and degeneration, but the time will come when the human mind will use its faculties to spread, from pole to pole, the knowledge of all that is good and true.

WORDS