Why does it say "Gam Avdecha"?
Radak: Also I am one of them. Even though I am not from the Chachamim 1 , I am Your servant, and I am zealous for Your Mitzvos and careful about them. They are desirable and sweet to me.
Malbim: Also I Your servant, who does not pursue what appears to give benefit and is pleasant, even so I am careful about [Divrei Torah], for there is great reward in keeping them. There is a great purpose in guarding them - love of the good in them themselves.
Was David not among the Chachamim?! The night that David fled to Shmuel, he learned more than a [regular] Chacham learns in 100 years (Yalkut Shimoni Shmuel, 129)! Is there a source to say that David wrote this in his youth, when he was a shepherd? (PF)
What is "Ekev Rav"?
Rashi #1: It is great [reward], like "Ekev Asher Sham Avraham b'Koli" (Bereishis 26:5). Radak - just like the Ekev (heel) is the end of the body, so the reward is the end of the deed. The deed is not finished until the day of death.
Rashi #2: It is greatness that will come to Chachamim. This is like "Ikvos Meshicha" (Sotah 49b).
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes [in one Perush] that Ekev Rav is the great reward for Torah. Why did David mention this?
Rashi: This is why I guarded it carefully - for "Rav Tuvecha Asher Tzafanta" (31:20).
Radak: Even without hope for reward, the intellectual Nefesh naturally yearns for Chachmah, just like the nature of the Nefesh 1 desires tasty food. Hope of reward is an additional incentive.
Malbim: Refer to 19:12:1:2.
I.e. the aspect of the Nefesh that also animals have. (PF)
