תהלים, פרק קי״ט, פסוק קמ״ח

King David held an immense dedication to learning and drawing close to God. This deep devotion drove him to rise in the dark of night, long before the rest of the world stirred [רד״ק]. The night itself was understood as being divided into distinct periods or watches [מצודת ציון]. These shifts were naturally recognized as the hours when guards stood awake at their posts [רד״ק], or simply as the natural intervals when people might briefly stir from their sleep [מאירי].

The exact moment David opened his eyes is a subject of careful consideration. The primary approach among commentators is that the night was divided into three watches, and David would wake at the very end of the first watch. By doing so, he completed only the first third of the night in sleep and remained awake for the remaining two-thirds, a practice especially notable during the long, cold nights of winter [רד״ק, מאירי, מצודת דוד]. To align this with his well-known practice of rising at midnight to give thanks, it is understood that David divided his early waking hours: from the end of the first third until midnight, he immersed himself in Torah study, and from midnight onward, he transitioned to singing songs and praises to God [רש״י, תורה תמימה]. Other perspectives suggest slightly different schedules, proposing that he woke just before the final watches of the night [ביאור שטיינזלץ], at the start of the second watch [מלבי״ם], or even before the night watches officially began, driven entirely by his burning desire for God's word [אבן עזרא, אלשיך].

The ultimate purpose of sacrificing his sleep was to immerse himself deeply in Torah study [רש״י, מצודת דוד, מאירי]. In the quiet of the night, David would reflect on God's wonders [מאירי]. He focused on the promises written in the Torah, contemplating how God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked [אבן עזרא], and he used these divine promises to seek salvation from his own personal troubles [מלבי״ם]. From a deeply spiritual viewpoint, this early awakening was designed to bring David to a state of complete unity with the divine. By rising so early, he allowed God's word to rest within him so fully that his lips moved on their own, as if God’s own word was speaking directly through his mouth [אלשיך].