1. A leading objection to the belief in divine Providence is the existence
in this world of physical and moral evil. All living creatures are exposed
to the influence of evil, according to their physical or moral
constitutions and the peculiar conditions of their existence. Heathenism
accounts for the powers of darkness, pain and death by assuming the
existence of forces hostile to the heavenly powers of light and life, or
of a primitive principle of evil, the counterpart of the divine beings.
But to those who believe in an almighty and all-benign Creator and Ruler
of the universe, the question remains: Why do life and the love of life
encounter so many hindrances? Why does God’s world contain so much pain
and bitterness, so much passion and sin? Should not Providence have
averted such things? The answer of Judaism has already been stated here,
but we need further elaboration of the theme that there is no evil before
God, since a good purpose is served even by that which appears bad. In the
life of the human body pleasure and pain, the impetus to life and its
restraint and inhibition form a necessary contrast, making for health; so,
in the moral order of the universe, each being who battles with evil
receives new strength for the unfolding of the good. The principle of
holiness, which culminates in Israel’s holy God, transforms and ennobles
every evil. As the Midrash explains, referring to Deut. XI, 26: “If thou
but seest that both good and evil are placed in thy hand, no evil will
come to thee from above, since thou knowest how to turn it into
good.”(523)
2. The conception of evil passed through a development parallel with that
of the related conceptions which we have just reviewed. At first every
misfortune was considered to be inflicted by divine wrath as a punishment
for human misdeeds. Nations and individuals were thought to suffer for
some special moral cause; through suffering they were punished for past
wrong, warned against its repetition in the future, and urged to
repentance and improvement of their conduct. Even death, the fate of all
living creatures, was regarded as a punishment which the first pair of
human beings brought upon all their descendants through their
transgression of the divine command. The Talmudic sages clung to the view
of the Paradise legend in the Bible, when they held that every death is
due to some sin committed by the individual.(524)
This view, which was shared by paganism, was accompanied by a higher
conception, gradually growing in the thinking mind. As a father does not
punish his child in anger, but in order to improve his conduct, so God
chastens man in order to purify his moral nature. Good fortune tends to
harden the heart; adversity often softens and sweetens it. In the crucible
of suffering the gold of the human soul is purified from the dross. The
evil strokes of destiny come upon the righteous, not because he deserves
them, but because his divine Friend is raising him to still higher tests
of virtue. This standpoint, never reached even by the pious sufferer Job,
is attained by rabbinic Judaism when it calls the visitations of the
righteous “trials of the divine love.”(525) Thus evil, both physical and
spiritual, receives its true valuation in the divine economy. Evil exists
only to be overcome by the good. In His paternal goodness God uses it to
educate His children for a place in His kingdom.
3. According to the direct words of Scripture good and evil, light and
darkness, emanate alike from the Creator. This is accentuated by the great
seer of the Exile,(526) who protests against the Persian belief in a
creative principle of good and a destructive principle of evil. The
rabbis, however, ascribe the origin of evil to man; they take as a
negation rather than a question the verse in Lam. III, 38: “Do not evil
and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?” Thus they refer this to
the words of Deuteronomy, “Behold, I have set before you this day life and
good, death and evil; choose thou life!”(527)
Such medieval thinkers as Abraham Ibn Daud and Maimonides did not ascribe
to evil any reality at all.(528) Evil to them is the negation of good,
just as darkness is the negation of light, or poverty of riches. As evil
exists only for man, man can overcome it by himself. Before God it has no
essential existence. Unfortunately, such metaphysics does not equip man
with strength and courage to cope with either pain or sin. The same lack
is evident in that modern form of pseudo-science which poses as a
religion, Christian Science, which has made propaganda so widely among
both Jews and non-Jews. Christian Science declares pain, sickness, and all
evil to be merely the “error of mortal mind,” which can all be dispelled
by faith; such a view neither strengthens the soul for its real struggles
nor convinces the mind by an appeal to facts.(529)
4. Frail mortals as we are, we need the help of the living God. Thus only
can we overcome physical evil, knowing that He bears with us, feels with
us, and transforms it finally into good. We need it also to overcome moral
evil, in the consciousness that He has compassion upon the repentant
sinner and gives him courage to follow the right path. The modern
philosophers of pessimism had the correct feeling in adopting the Hindu
conception, and emphasizing the pain and misery of existence, repeating
Job’s ancient plaint over the hard destiny of mankind. The shallow
optimism of the age would rather conceal the dark side of life and indulge
in outbursts of self-sufficiency. Yet if we measure it only by a physical
yardstick, life cannot be called a boon. Against shallow optimism we have
the testimony of every thorn and sting, every poisonous breath and every
destructive element in nature’s household, as well as all vice and evil in
the world of man. The world does not appear good, unless we measure it by
the ideal of divine holiness. If God is the Father watching over the
welfare of every mortal, all things are good, because all serve a good
purpose in His eternal plan. Every hindrance or pressure engenders new
power; every sting acts as a spur to higher things. Short-sighted and
short-lived as is man, he forgets too easily that in the sight of God “a
thousand years are as a single day,” world-epochs like “watches in the
night,” and that the mills of divine justice grind on, “slowly but
exceeding small.” But one belief illumines the darkness of destiny, and
that is that God stands ever at the helm, steering through every storm and
tempest toward His sublime goal. In the moral striving of man we can but
realize that our every victory contributes toward the majestic work of
God.(530)