The straight and crooked path back to Hashem

במדרש בא וראה מה בין צדיק לרשע לעובד אלקים כו' משל המטרונא כו' יבוא בוקר ונראה למי אוהב המלך.

The Midrash: "Come and see the difference between a tzaddik, a rasha, and one who serves Elokim…" — the parable of the noblewoman — "Let morning come and we shall see whom the king loves."

The Midrash distinguishes between the wicked, the righteous, and "one who serves Hashem," using a mashal of a queen confident that when morning comes it will be revealed to whom the king is truly devoted.

פי' מי שהוא עובד אלקים בטוח הוא כי יהי' חלקו בג"ע.

The explanation: one who serves Elokim is assured that his portion will be in Gan Eden.

The "one who serves Hashem" can rest secure with bitachon that his ultimate portion is guaranteed, even if his present path is hard.

אך הצדיק המתחזק בצדקו גובר כל הסט"א ומיישר הדרך לפניו ומי שאינו צדיק צריך לעבור כמה דרכים עקמניים עד שמיישר דרכו בסוף כי הצדיק מקורב להשי"ת.

However, the tzaddik who strengthens himself in his righteousness overpowers the entire sitra achra and straightens the path before him; whereas one who is not [yet] a tzaddik must pass through many crooked roads until his path is straightened in the end — for the tzaddik is close to Hashem Yisborach.

The fully righteous person, by holding firm in his tzidkus, conquers the forces of evil outright and walks a straight road. One who has not reached that level still arrives at the goal, but only after winding detours, because he lacks the tzaddik's intimate closeness to Hashem.

ומי שמרוחק מן המלך הסט"א מתגרה בו אבל צריך האדם להתחזק בהשי"ת ולידע להשיב לו יבוא בוקר ונראה למי המלך אוהב.

And one who is distant from the King — the sitra achra provokes him; but a person must strengthen himself in Hashem Yisborach and know how to answer it: "Let morning come and we shall see whom the King loves."

When a person feels far from Hashem, the yetzer hara taunts him. His task is to strengthen his emunah and answer back with confidence that, in the end, it will be revealed that Hashem's love rests upon Bnei Yisrael.

וזה שאמר הפ' כי מי שעובד אלקים הקב"ה מסבב סיבות לבל ידח ממנו נדח.

And this is what the verse means: that for one who serves Elokim, the Holy One arranges causes "so that no banished one shall remain banished from Him" (Shmuel II 14:14).

Hashem orchestrates events behind the scenes so that even one who has strayed is eventually brought back, and no one is ultimately lost.

וכן בחטא המרגלים שנקראו רשעים אעפ"כ לא עשה בהם כלי' ונאמר במדבר הזה יתמו כו'.

So too with the sin of the meraglim (spies), who were called wicked — even so, He did not bring annihilation upon them, but rather it was said: "In this wilderness they shall be finished…" (Bamidbar 14:35).

Even after the grave sin of the spies, that generation was not destroyed outright; they passed away in the midbar, yet the nation as a whole was preserved.

ובנ"י באו אח"כ לארץ ישראל רק שהוצרכו לסבב כמה מסעות ומלחמות עד שתקנו הכל וזה גרם החטא לעובד אלקים אך בסוף מיישר דרכיו כאמור:

And Bnei Yisrael afterward did come to Eretz Yisrael — except that they were compelled to wind through many journeys and wars until they rectified everything. This is what the sin caused for the "one who serves Elokim," but in the end He straightens his ways, as has been said.

The sin did not bar Bnei Yisrael from the Land; it only forced them onto a longer, more circuitous route of travels and battles. This is the lesson: sin turns the servant of Hashem's straight road into a crooked one, yet in the end Hashem still straightens his path and brings him to his goal.

Summary: There are three types — the rasha, the tzaddik, and the "servant of Hashem." The tzaddik, close to Hashem, conquers evil and walks a straight road; the lesser servant still reaches his destination, but through winding detours. Even sin — like that of the meraglim — does not destroy the servant of Hashem; it merely lengthens his journey, for in the end Hashem straightens every path and lets no one remain banished.