Chapter 39: Writings [1] A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2) Blessed are the people of Israel when they do the will of the Lord, as they are elevated like ministering angels, as it is said, "And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be only at the top, and not at the bottom" (Deuteronomy 28:13).
The phrase "only at the top" is not written here, but rather "at the top." What does "only" signify? It means that sometimes you are above, but when you listen to the voice of the Lord and fulfill His commandments, as it is written, "if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 28:13), you are always elevated. However, if you don't follow His will, you are sometimes below, as it is written, "And the stranger who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower" (Deuteronomy 28:43).
This is also what God promised to Abraham when He said, "Look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them.... So shall your descendants be" (Genesis 15:5). In another place, He says, "And your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth" (Genesis 28:14). Why did He say "dust" if He had already said "stars"?
He meant that when your children do My will, just as the stars are above all the world, so too will your children be above all, but when they do not do My will, just like the dust is below, so too will they be below. As it says, "For the king of Aram has destroyed your people and made them like the dust in threshing" (2 Kings 13:7). He said to Abraham, "And so you leave them," but Abraham replied, "Are You not the One who sustains them?"
As it is written, "Rise up and shake off the dust" (Isaiah 52:2). The generations said to him, "Master of the Universe, the time of the end and the appointed time has arrived." Therefore, David said, "I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." (Psalms 121:1-2)