תהלים, פרק קי״ח, פסוק י״ח

Suffering, whether experienced by a single person or an entire nation, often feels overwhelming and endless. Yet, even the most severe and prolonged hardships have a distinct limit and a meaningful purpose. The pain is never arbitrary, nor is it meant to bring about destruction. Instead, it is guided by precise divine providence with the ultimate goal of correction. The primary approach among commentators is that the purpose of such hardship is to wash away sins and cleanse a person from their past wrongs. This concept applies on a broader scale as well, referring specifically to the intense hardships endured during the period of exile, which serve as a necessary process of atonement [רש״י].

While God does subject a person to affliction, He establishes an absolute boundary for the pain. The suffering does not stem from a divine desire to end a person's life, and God ensures that the individual is not ultimately handed over to death at the mercy of their rising enemies [רד״ק, מצודת דוד]. In a profound turn of events, two opposite realities occur at the exact same time. Rather than leading to destruction, the very suffering that a person endures is the exact mechanism that saves them from death [אלשיך].