Tehillim 98 - The Crowned Psalm

Zohar on Tehillim - The Crowned Psalm

Tehillim 98:1  - “Mizmor, shiru la-Hashem shir chadash ki niflaot asah, hoshia lo yemino uzroa kodsho” - (A psalm. Sing to the L-rd a new song, for He has performed wonders; His right hand and holy arm have brought salvation). “Rabbi Shimon opened and said: - “A psalm. Sing to the L-rd (shir chadash) a new song, for He has performed wonders.” The psalm raised its cantillation mark upward. Why? This is why: a great cantillation mark is depicted, because this psalm came crowned, with the Supernal Crown above its head, and came upright. Who sang this psalm? Those cows, with their lowing, when they lowed. In I Samuel (4–6), it is related how the Ark of the Covenant fell into the hands of the Philistines during the war. They placed it in the temple of Dagon, and in the morning discovered that the idol of Dagon had been shattered and was lying beside the Ark. The cities of the Philistines were struck by various illnesses and calamities. Then the Philistines made a special cart, placed the Ark on it, and harnessed two recently calved cows to the cart. They reasoned as follows: if the cows went toward Beit Shemesh, to the Jews, then all the calamities were caused by the Ark; but if they turned homeward, toward their calves, then the troubles had been merely accidental. “And the cows went straight along the road to Beit Shemesh; they went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn right or left, while the Philistine lords followed them as far as the border of Beit Shemesh.” (I Samuel 6:12) - “Sing to the L-rd a new (shir chadash) song.” To whom did the cows say, “Sing”? To the multitude of chariots, the multitude of lords, and the multitude of steps that gathered there and went out to meet the Ark. And they said to them: “Sing to the L-rd a new song” - masculine. What is the meaning of the fact that here it is a song, while Moses said: song (shirah) - feminine? This is the explanation: there, in the time of Moses, only one Ark, Zot (this), emerged from exile, together with its host, and therefore: - “This (Zot) song” -  feminine. But here the Ark emerged together with what was concealed within it, and it is on account of what was concealed within it that it says: “a new song” - masculine. For He performed wonders - what He did to the Philistines and what He did to their idols. It is stated in Shemot Rabbah (23:11) that all the songs uttered by the Jews are feminine in gender. This emphasizes that just as a female creature conceives and gives birth, and then gives birth again, so too do the calamities that befall them. Thus they uttered songs in the feminine gender, because Babylonia, Media, Greece, and Rome arose and enslaved the Jews. But in the future, there will no longer be calamities, as it is said: “Joy and gladness shall overtake them” (Isaiah 35:10) – at that time, a song in the masculine gender will be uttered - “Sing to the L-rd a new song.” (Zohar 3, 200b–202b, translated by M. Kravtsov, Jewishbook)