TEHILLIM LIGHT

Commentaries

Mizmor 024 Verse 001

לְדָוִ֗ד מִ֫זְמ֥וֹר לַֽ֭יהֹוָה הָאָ֣רֶץ וּמְלוֹאָ֑הּ תֵּ֝בֵ֗ל וְיֹ֣שְׁבֵי בָֽהּ

Ledovid mizmor ladonai ho'oretz umelo'oh teiveil veyoshevei voh

Of David, a song. The earth is the LORD'S, and all its fulness; the world, and those who dwell therein.

MIDRASH TEHILLIM

1.....(24.1)
To David, A Song...
A.
Note that in the preceding Mizmor (23.1), the introductory phrase is - A SONG OF DAVID, while in this Mizmor it is - TO DAVID, A SONG. How to explain the different word order?
When David besought the Holy Spirit to rest upon him, he summoned it with the words of - The Song of David; but when the Holy Spirit came to him of its own accord, he said - To David, A Song.
B.
Our Masters taught, In the book of Tehillim, all the Songs that David composed apply either to himself or to all Israel.
Each Song that speaks in the singular, applies to David's own person, and each Song that speaks in the plural, applies to all Israel.
Wherever for the leader; with string music is used, it itroduces a Song which deals with the age to come. Wherever a Song of David is used, it denotes that David played on his harp, and that then the Holy Spirit rested upon him. But where it is said Unto David a Song, it denotes that the Holy Spirit rested upon Davidm and that then he played.

RADAK

1.
Of David, a song.
David composed this Psalm that they might recite it as they brought the ark to the Most Holy House. And this was after he had offered a burnt-offering on Mount Moriah, and the place had been revealed to him, and he knew that there would be (built) the House of the Lord, as it is written in the Divrei Hayamim - Books of Chronicles I. 22:1).
2.
The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; The world and they that dwell therein:
And although the earth is the Lord's, this mountain is called the mountain of the Lord and His Holy Place (specifically), because it is His Holy Place in truth, for it is a habitation (in the earth) corresponding to the Throne of Glory (in heaven).
The expression הארץ (the. earth) includes the whole of the earth, as (Bereshit - Genesis 1:1) "the heavens and the earth";
The expression תבל (world) is equivalent to the inhabited parts; therefore, in connection with earth, he uses the phrase its fulness, and with world (he uses) and those that dwell therein.

Rabbi HIRSCH

1.
Of David, a song.
This is one of the few psalms which begin with the superscription - Of David, a song, instead of - A song of David.
According to our sages the title phrase - Of David, a song, shows that, when David wrote this particular song, he did not do so for the purpose of raising his downcast spirit to exaltation on the wings of his song. Instead this superscription indicates a situation in which David was already filled with inspiration before and employed the medium of song only to express this Divinely-sent enthusiasm. The few verses of this brief song contain the most profound truths that any mortal lips were ever privileged to utter concerning the ways of God in the history of man.
[להי] (Hashem)
The earth and the fullness thereof are the Lord's, therefore the world of men and its inhabitants are also His.
[אֶרֶץ] (erets) the earth as a cosmic planet and as a physical sphere with all the variety of creatures dwelling on it is not merely subordinate to the physical world order of natural law set forth by God as ALOCHIM, the Creator and Ruler of the universe. The earth and the fullness thereof belong to the Lord Himself, Who is also [הי] (HASHEM), the God of the Torah, the God of history. The earth must serve His Sovereignty which trains men how to fulfill His moral Law, which Sovereignty He has designated with His Name.
[ho'oretz umelo'oh] - the "earth and the fullness thereof," that basic prerequisite for all of human life and development, belongs to the Lord Who disciplines individual human beings and mankind as a whole.
[tevel veyoshevei voh] - the WORLD of men and all things dwelling, sojourning, living and evolving therein, are also "His".
Is the world where human arbitrariness and selfishness, instead of God's Law, seem to reign supreme. It is that world which continues the work begun at BEVEL. But because the Lord has in His hands ERETS, the physical essentials for all of human existence and volition, He rules even this TEVEL, which thus cannot escape the ultimate goals set for it by the Divine will.

WORDS