1. Holy Writ employs two terms for religion, both of which lay stress upon
its moral and spiritual nature: _Yirath Elohim_—“fear of God”—and _Daath
Elohim_—“knowledge or consciousness of God.” Whatever the fear of God may
have meant in the lower stages of primitive religion, in the Biblical and
Rabbinical conceptions it exercises a wholesome moral effect; it stirs up
the conscience and keeps man from wrongdoing. Where fear of God is
lacking, violence and vice are rife;(54) it keeps society in order and
prompts the individual to walk in the path of duty. Hence it is called
“the beginning of wisdom.”(55) The divine revelation of Sinai accentuates
as its main purpose “to put the fear of God into the hearts of the people,
lest they sin.”(56)
2. God-consciousness, or “knowledge of God,” signifies an inner experience
which impels man to practice the right and to shun evil, the recognition
of God as the moral power of life. “Because there is no knowledge of God,”
therefore do the people heap iniquity upon iniquity, says Hosea, and he
hopes to see the broken covenant with the Lord renewed through
faithfulness grounded on the consciousness of God.(57) Jeremiah also
insists upon “the knowledge of God” as a moral force, and, like Hosea, he
anticipates the renewal of the broken covenant when “the Lord shall write
His law upon the heart” of the people, and “they shall all know Him from
the least of them unto the greatest of them.”(58) Wherever Scripture
speaks of “knowledge of God,”(59) it always means the moral and spiritual
recognition of the Deity as life’s inmost power, determining human
conduct, and by no means refers to mere intellectual perception of the
truth of Jewish monotheism, which is to refute the diverse forms of
polytheism. This misconception of the term “knowledge of God,” as used in
the Bible, led the leading medieval thinkers of Judaism, especially the
school of Maimonides, and even down to Mendelssohn, into the error of
confusing religion and philosophy, as if both resulted from pure reason.
It is man’s moral nature rather than his intellectual capacity, that leads
him “to know God and walk in His ways.”(60)
3. It is mainly through the _conscience_ that man becomes conscious of
God. He sees himself, a moral being, guided by motives which lend a
purpose to his acts and his omissions, and thus feels that this purpose of
his must somehow be in accord with a higher purpose, that of a Power who
directs and controls the whole of life. The more he sees purpose ruling
individuals and nations, the more will his God-consciousness grow into the
conviction that there is but One and Only God, who in awful grandeur holds
dominion over the world. This is the developmental process of religious
truth, as it is unfolded by the prophets and as it underlies the historic
framework of the Bible. In this light Jewish monotheism appears as the
ripe fruitage of religion in its universal as well as its primitive form
of God-consciousness, as the highest attainment of man in his eternal
seeking after God. Polytheism, on the other hand, with its idolatrous and
immoral practices, appeared to the prophets and lawgivers of Israel to be,
not a competing religion, but simply a falling away from God. They felt it
to be a loss or eclipse of the genuine God-consciousness. The object of
revelation, therefore, is to lead back all mankind to the God whom it had
deserted, and to restore to all men their primal consciousness of God,
with its power of moral regeneration.
4. In the same degree as this God-consciousness grows stronger, it
crystallizes into _belief_ in God, and culminates in _love_ of God. As
stated above,(61) in Judaism belief—_Emunah_—never denotes the acceptance
of a creed. It is rather the confiding trust by which the frail mortal
finds a _firm_ hold on God amidst the uncertainties and anxieties of life,
the search for His shelter in distress, the reliance on His ever-ready
help when one’s own powers fail. The believer is like a little child who
follows confidingly the guidance of his father, and feels safe when near
his arm. In fact, the double meaning of _Emunah_, faith and faithfulness,
suggests man’s child-like faith in the paternal faithfulness of God. The
patriarch Abraham is presented in both Biblical and Rabbinical writings as
the pattern of such a faith,(62) and the Jewish people likewise are
characterized in the Talmud as “believers, sons of believers.”(63) The
Midrash extols such life-cheering faith as the power which inspires true
heroism and deeds of valor.(64)
5. The highest triumph of God-consciousness, however, is attained in
_love_ of God such as can renounce cheerfully all the boons of life and
undergo the bitterest woe without a murmur. The book of Deuteronomy
inculcates love of God as the beginning and the end of the Law,(65) and
the rabbis declare it to be the highest type of human perfection. In
commenting upon the verse, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might,” they say: “Love the
Law, even when thy life is demanded as its price, nay, even with the last
breath of thy body, with a heart that has no room for dissent, amid every
visitation of destiny!”(66) They point to the tragic martyrdom of R. Akiba
as an example of such a love sealed by death. In like manner they refer
the expression, “they that love Thee,”(67) to those who bear insults
without resentment; who hear themselves abused without retort; who do good
unselfishly, without caring for recognition; and who cheerfully suffer as
a test of their fortitude and their love of God.(68) Thus throughout all
Rabbinical literature love of God is regarded as the highest principle of
religion and as the ideal of human perfection, which was exemplified by
Job, according to the oldest Haggadah, and, according to the Mishnah, by
Abraham.(69) Another interpretation of the verse cited from Deuteronomy
reads, “Love God in such a manner that thy fellow-creatures may love Him
owing to thy deeds.”(70)
All these passages and many others(71) show what a prominent place the
principle of love occupied in Judaism. This is, indeed, best voiced in the
Song of Songs:(72) “For love is strong as death; the flashes thereof are
flashes of fire, a very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench that
love, neither can the floods drown it.” It set the heart of the Jew aglow
during all the centuries, prompting him to sacrifice his life and all that
was dear to him for the glorification of his God, to undergo for his faith
a martyrdom without parallel in history.