Mitzvos steer the world; mishpatim follow

במדרש מגיד דבריו ליעקב כו' ומשפטיו לישראל כו' ע"ש ד' המדרש.

In the Midrash: "He tells His words to Yaakov… and His statutes and judgments (mishpatav) to Yisrael…" (Tehillim 147:19) — see the words of the Midrash there.

The Sefas Emes opens with the pasuk that distinguishes between Hashem's "words" given to Yaakov and His "judgments" given to Yisrael.

פי' דבריו הוא עשרת הדיברות והוא הנהגתו יתברך את כל הבריאה כמ"ש במ"א כי בעשרה מאמרות נברא העולם ובעשרת הדברות מתקיימת העולם שהקב"ה מנהיג העולם במצות ופקודיו שמסר לבני ישראל.

The explanation: "His words" are the Aseres HaDibros, and this is His conduct of all creation, as explained elsewhere — that the world was created with ten utterances (asarah ma'amaros) and the world is sustained through the Aseres HaDibros; for Hashem conducts the world through the mitzvos and commandments that He handed over to Bnei Yisrael.

The "words" are the Ten Commandments, which parallel the ten utterances of creation — Hashem runs and sustains the entire world through the mitzvos He entrusted to Bnei Yisrael.

ובכל דבר יש מצוה מיוחדת והם מקיימים הכל.

And in every thing there is a particular mitzvah, and they (Bnei Yisrael) sustain everything.

Each element of creation has a specific mitzvah attached to it, and through fulfilling these mitzvos Bnei Yisrael uphold the whole world.

וכפי שמירת בנ"י המצות.

And according to Bnei Yisrael's observance of the mitzvos —

The state of the world tracks the degree of mitzvah observance.

כך מתנהג העולם.

— so the world is conducted.

How the world runs is directly determined by how Bnei Yisrael keep the mitzvos.

נמצא שבמה שנתן המצות לבנ"י מסר הנהגת העולם בידינו.

It emerges that, by giving the mitzvos to Bnei Yisrael, Hashem placed the conduct of the world into our hands.

Entrusting us with the mitzvos effectively handed us responsibility for steering all of creation.

וזה צריך כל אדם לידע כי הנהגת הכל תלוי בקיום המצות של האדם כנ"ל.

And this every person must know — that the conduct of everything depends on a person's fulfillment of the mitzvos, as above.

One must be conscious that his own mitzvah performance carries cosmic weight, affecting the running of the entire world.

ומשפטיו לבנ"י הוא מעלה גדולה מזאת.

"And His judgments (mishpatav) to Bnei Yisrael" is an even greater level than this.

The giving of the mishpatim represents a still higher madreigah than the "words."

שגם המשפט מסר לבנ"י כאשר מצינו שכשיצא מב"ד זכאי אין מחזירין אותו כו'.

That He handed over even the judgment to Bnei Yisrael, as we find that once one has left beis din acquitted, we do not bring him back (Sanhedrin 33b).

Hashem even entrusted the very power of judgment to Bnei Yisrael — once a human beis din rules someone innocent, that verdict stands.

נמצא שהקב"ה מסר המשפטי' לבנ"י.

It emerges that Hashem handed the judgments over to Bnei Yisrael.

The authority of mishpat itself was placed in the hands of Bnei Yisrael.

וז"ש המדרש שהקב"ה אינו כבו"ד רק שמקיים הוא עצמו הגזירה כו' שנשתנה כביכול המשפט עליון ע"י ב"ד שלמטה שכך מסר משפטיו לישראל.

And this is what the Midrash says — that Hashem is not like a (mortal) judge, but rather He Himself upholds the ruling… that the heavenly judgment is changed, as it were (kivyachol), by the beis din below; for so He handed His judgments over to Yisrael.

Unlike a human ruler who is bound by his own laws, Hashem willingly conforms the heavenly verdict to the ruling of the earthly beis din — that is how completely He entrusted mishpat to Bnei Yisrael.

אמנם ב' אלו הבחי' הם זה אחר זה כשבנ"י קיבלו הדיברות מקודם והוא קבלת עול מלכות שמים ועול מצות אף בלי השגת הטעמים.

However, these two aspects come one after the other: first Bnei Yisrael received the Dibros — which is accepting the yoke of Malchus Shomayim (the kingship of Heaven) and the yoke of mitzvos, even without grasping the reasons.

The two levels are sequential: first comes pure acceptance of the Dibros — taking on Hashem's sovereignty and the mitzvos as a decree, without yet understanding their reasons.

רק לקיים גזירת המלך להיות מתנהג העולם ברצון הבורא ע"י שמירת המצות של בנ"י כמו שבארנו למעלה.

Only to fulfill the decree of the King, so that the world should be conducted according to the ratzon Hashem through the mitzvah observance of Bnei Yisrael, as we explained above.

At this first stage one keeps the mitzvos simply as the King's decree, which alone suffices to steer the world by Hashem's will.

עי"ז זכו אח"כ אל המשפטים שהוא השגת הכל עפ"י השכל.

Through this they afterward merited the mishpatim, which is the comprehension of everything according to reason (sechel).

Only after the unquestioning acceptance did they merit the mishpatim — grasping the mitzvos with the intellect.

וכפי הסכמת דעת בני ישראל שלמטה מסכים הקב"ה עמהם.

And in accordance with the consensus of the da'as of Bnei Yisrael below, Hashem agrees with them.

Once they reach this level of comprehension, Hashem aligns the heavenly ruling with the reasoned decision of Bnei Yisrael.

וזה פי' נעשה ונשמע שע"י העשיה זוכין אח"כ לשמיעה שהיא ההשגה כנ"ל.

And this is the meaning of "na'aseh v'nishma" (we will do and we will hear) — that through the doing one afterward merits the "hearing," which is comprehension, as above.

"We will do" first, "we will hear" after: the unquestioning doing (the Dibros) is what earns the later understanding (the mishpatim).

וזה ואלה המשפטים ו' מוסיף על ענין ראשון שאין להשיג המשפטים רק אחר קבלת הדברות כנ"ל:

And this is "And these are the judgments" (v'eileh hamishpatim) (Shemos 21:1) — the vav adds to the preceding matter, for one cannot attain the mishpatim except after the acceptance of the Dibros, as above.

The connecting vav of "And these are the judgments" links the mishpatim to the Aseres HaDibros that preceded them, teaching that comprehension of the mishpatim is only reachable after first accepting the Dibros.

Summary: Hashem's "words" (the Aseres HaDibros, paralleling the ten utterances of creation) are how He conducts and sustains the world — by entrusting the mitzvos to Bnei Yisrael, He placed the steering of all creation in our hands, so every person must know his mitzvah observance carries cosmic weight. The "mishpatim" are an even higher level: Hashem handed over the very power of judgment, conforming the heavenly verdict (kivyachol) to the ruling of the earthly beis din. These two come in sequence — first the unquestioning acceptance of the Dibros (the yoke of Malchus Shomayim, "na'aseh"), which then earns the reasoned comprehension of the mishpatim ("nishma"). The connecting vav of "v'eileh hamishpatim" teaches that the judgments are attainable only after accepting the Dibros.