And the posssuk concludes, „≈ּבַכ¿י 'ה י≈‡¿רƒי ̇∆‡¿ו – He honors those who fear Hashem. Our Sages say it’s talking about Chizkiyah Melech Yehuda; he trained himself that way. Here is Chizkiyah, a king sitting on his throne. He sees a talmid chochom and he gets up from his throne and he walks over and he embraces him and he kisses him.
Chizkiyah Hamelech?! But he’s a king; and this is a plain man, this talmid chochom? The answer is he’s only a plain man to someone with an empty head, a head that is empty of Torah attitudes. But if Hashem’s will is your will so you love this plain talmid chochom. יםƒ ̃יƒּ„ַˆ ב≈הֹו‡ 'ה – Hashem loves tzaddikim. Even though they don’t confer any benefit upon Him, He loves them; ֹ̇ו ָ̃„¿ˆ 'ה ̃יƒּ„ַˆ יƒּכ ב≈הָ‡ – Because Hashem is a tzaddik, He loves righteousness. For itself; no other reason. Hashem loves people who learn His Torah so Chizkiyah loved this man too. He loved him because he learned to adopt the attitudes of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
That’s why Abaye one time said, “יƒליƒ ̇י≈ּ ̇ – If any reward would ever be owing to me, it’s because when I see a tzurba m’rabanan, a ben Torah, who completed a mesichta, it is my custom to make a repast, a seudah, in honor of that achievement” (Shabbos 118b).
Now, it’s not that he himself finished the mesichta – he’s happy that somebody else completed a mesichta. Of course, if you’re the one who finished the mesichta you have more reason to rejoice. But suppose someone else who has no connection with you achieves something in Torah – it’s not your own achievement – but you are so happy that you spend your own money and you furnish a seudah to celebrate it! The mere fact that you saw some virtuous act makes you so happy, just like Hakadosh Baruch Hu is happy; that is already an emulation of the way Hashem thinks.
