Tehillim on the Parsha: Pekudei: Great Deeds Without Limit Part Two
And after that the angel inserts the spirit into the mother’s womb. He then summons two Angels that guard it so that it should not leave there and that it should not fall. They take into there a lamp that is lit and place it over its head. This is the meaning of the verse which states, “If only I were as in the early months, as in the days when God watched over me; when His lamp which shine over my head (Job 29:2–3).”
He can gaze and see from one end of the world to the other. In the morning the Angel picks them up from there and takes into the Garden of Eden and shows him the righteous sitting in honor with their crowns on their heads. The Angel says to that spirit, “Do you know who these are?” The Spirit says to him, “No, my master.”
The angel then speaks to him again, “These that you see were first created like you, in their mother’s womb, and then they went out into the world and observed the Torah and mitzvot. Therefore they have merited to encounter all this good that you see. You should know that you are destined to go out to the world, and if you merit to observe the Torah of the Holy One, Blessed is He, you will merit this, to be seated with all these. But if not, you should know that you will merit to be in a different place.”
That evening he takes into get Gehinnom, and shows him the wicked there, with the destructive Angels striking them with sticks of fire. They call out, “Woe, woe,” but the Angels have no mercy on them.
That Angel speaks again to that spirit, and says, “Do you know who these are?” The spirit says, “No, my master.” And the angel says to him, “These are the ones who are burned. They were created like you and went out into the world, but did not keep the Torah and laws of the Holy One, Bless is He. Therefore they have come to the disgrace that you see. And you should know that you are destined to go out into the world, so be righteous and do not be wicked, and then you will merit to live in the World to Come.”
And how do we know this is so? For it is stated, “For I was a son to my father, and a tender one and only one before my mother. He instructed me and said to me, may your heart draw close to my words; keep my mitzvot in you will live (Proverbs 4:3–four).”
We now paraphrase the verse: “for I was a son to my father,” before I came out of my mother’s womb I was the son of the Holy One, blessed is He, for He disciplined me as a father disciplines his son. “And a tender one and only one before my mother,” at that time I was tender and I was alone with my mother, for there was no one else with us. “He instructed me,” the angel instructed me and said to me, “May your heart draw close to my words; keep my mitzvot and you will live.”
The meaning is as we said above. Thus, the Holy One, Blessed is He, warns it about everything.