{"id":85257,"date":"2020-12-23T18:49:03","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T16:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=85257"},"modified":"2020-12-28T17:35:19","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T15:35:19","slug":"nearer-my-god-to-thee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/nearer-my-god-to-thee\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearer My God to Thee"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This psalm bears the name of Asaph as its composer, perhaps the very Asaph who is named as one of the Levites appointed by David over \u201cthe songs of the House of the Lord\u201d (1 Chronicles 6:24). In fact, eleven of the thirteen psalms that make up the third book of Psalms (<\/span>see our remarks on the previous chapter<\/span><\/a>) are attributed to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

While our psalm opens with \u201cGod is truly good to Israel\u201d (1) and closes with \u201cAs for me, nearness to God is good\u201d (28), the intervening verses describe the theological challenge\u2014 called theodicy by philosophers\u2014that the Sages described as: \u201cWhen harm befalls the righteous\u201d (<\/span>tzadik v\u2019ra lo<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, whereas the Book of Job addresses this challenge on a universal level, here it is dealt with on an individual level by the use of the first person pronoun (2,22,28) and the numerous uses of verbs in the first person singular (particularly 13-17).<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi addressed the issue rather abruptly, writing:<\/span><\/p>\n

Because the theme of the psalm addresses troubles that beset God\u2019s servants, he opened thus: Although I cry out and ponder the distress befalling Israel, I know that God is good to them and He sets troubles upon them in order to enhance their merit for life in the world to come.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph Albo (138-1444), on the other hand, devoted considerably more attention to it, noting:<\/span><\/p>\n

Having explained the justice of God\u2019s ways, and having made clear that we have no complaint to make either on account of the adversity of the righteous or the prosperity of the wicked, we must now give a reason why the prophets and the sages were so much exercised about these two phenomena\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Asaph, it seems to me, set down the difficulties in the seventy-third Psalm in order to state their solution… He begins: \u201cSurely God is good to Israel,\u201d meaning to emphasize the fact that every evil which comes to the righteous is for a good purpose. This is why he says, \u201csurely,\u201d meaning that though at first sight it does not seem that the evil which comes to Israel, who are righteous, is a good, nevertheless it is nothing else than a good (<\/span>The Book of Principles<\/span><\/i> 4:14).<\/span><\/p>\n

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