“Behold I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and
evil: in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk
in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his
judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply, and that the Lord thy
God may bless thee in the land whither thou passest over Jordan to go
in to possess it” (Deut. xxx. 15). “I call heaven and earth to witness
against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the
blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live,
thou and thy seed: to love the Lord thy God, to obey his voice, and to
cleave unto him: for that is thy life and the length of thy days”
(Ibid. xxx. 19, 20).
The doctrine taught in this passage is the alpha and the omega of the
sacred literature. The whole history related in the Bible from the
Creation to the Babylonian captivity and the restoration of the Jews to
their land is but one continuous series of illustrations of this
doctrine. Obedience to God’s word is followed by His blessings, while
disobedience is the cause of ruin and misery. Thus, in Lamentations the
poet exclaims in the name of his nation, “Just is the Lord, for I
rebelled against his commandment” (Lam. i. 18). Moses, in his last song
exhorting the people to obedience to the Almighty, begins his address
with a praise of God’s justice, saying, “The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are judgment: a God of faithfulness, and without
wrong, just and right is he” (Deut. xxxii. 4). Even those who doubted
the Divine justice, in respect to the fate of individual persons or
nations, admitted, “Surely I know that it shall be well with them that
fear God, which fear before him: but it shall not be well with the
wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow:
because he feareth not before God” (Eccles. viii. 12, 13). Job,
wondering why he should be subjected to the greatest trials, cannot
help confessing, “Even he will be to me an help, for there shall not
come before him an hypocrite” (Job xiii. 16). God is therefore called
“God of judgment,” אלהי המשפט (Mal. ii. 17); דין “Judge” (1 Sam.
xxiv. 15); צדיק “just,” שופט צדיק “just Judge” (Ps. vii. 12); אל
קנא “a jealous God” (Exod. xx. 5); אל נקמות “God of vengeance” (Ps.
xciv. 1); אלהים “God” in the sense of “Judge.” The rejection of this
belief by the wicked is expressed by the phrase אין אלהים “There is
no God.” Thus David exclaims, “The fool hath said in his heart, There
is no God; they are corrupt; they have done abominable things; there is
none that doeth good” (Ps. xiv. 1). In post-Biblical literature we find
this unbelief, which is characterised as the source of all corruption
and wickedness, expressed by the phrase, לית דין ולית דינא “There is
no judgment, and there is no judge” (Targ. Ps. Jonathan, Gen. iv. 8).
There are two different sources from which such unbelief springs
forth—limitation of God’s powers and limitation of man’s capacities.
The one of these sources leads to a denial of God’s Omniscience, whilst
the other deprives man of his freewill. There are some who argue that
God is too high to notice the ways and the acts of individual men, and
that these must be utterly insignificant in comparison with God’s
greatness. “They crush thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage.
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. And
they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob
consider” (Ps. xciv. 5–7). “And thou sayest, What doth God know? Can he
judge through the thick darkness? Thick clouds are a covering to him,
that he seeth not; and he walketh in the sphere of heaven” (Job xxii.
13, 14). The very words which the Psalmist addresses to God with a
heart full of gratitude, “What is man that thou art mindful of him, and
the son of man that thou visitest him?” (Ps. viii. 5), are uttered in a
rebellious spirit by the unbeliever, who thus “sets limits to the Holy
One of Israel” (Ps. lxxviii. 41). But the power of God is not limited,
nor is His wisdom or His goodness; He is not only “the God of heaven,”
but also “the God of the earth.” He who has created everything has
certainly a knowledge of everything. “Lift up your eyes on high and see
who hath created these things. He who bringeth forth by number their
host, calleth all of them by name; not one of them escapeth the
knowledge of him who is great in might and strong in power” (Isa. xl.
26). The Psalmist thus replies to those who deny God’s Omniscience:
“Consider, ye brutish among the people; and ye fools, when will ye be
wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear; he that formed the
eye, shall he not see? He that chastiseth the nations, shall he not
correct, even he that teacheth man knowledge? The Lord knoweth the
thoughts of man, however vain they be” (Ps. xciv. 8–11). It would
indeed be absurd to imagine that the Creator of all things should not
take notice of everything that His hands have made. What difference can
it make to the Almighty whether He provides for the whole human race or
for one individual man? It would be attributing to the Divine Being
human weakness and false pride if we assumed that He is too great to
take notice of any single creature of His! Rabbi Jochanan said wherever
in the Bible we find a description of the greatness of God, there we
find His meekness. Thus, e.g., it is said in the Torah: “For the Lord,
your God, he is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the mighty, the
great, the strong, and the terrible, who regardeth not persons, nor
taketh reward. He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and
widow, and loveth the stranger in giving him food and raiment” (Deut.
x. 17, 18).
That man is not insignificant in the eyes of God is clearly expressed
in the account of the Creation, where we are taught that man was made
by God ruler “over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air,
and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Gen. i. 26). “Man is loved by the
Almighty,” say our Sages, “because he is created in the image of God;
but it was by a love still greater that it was made known to him that
he was created in the image of God” (Mishnah Aboth, iii. 18).
One of the chief blessings man received at the hands of his Creator is
freewill. Within certain limits man can determine his own actions. When
he is about to do a thing, he can reflect on it, examine its nature,
investigate into its consequences, and accordingly either do it or
refrain from doing it. God said to the Israelites, “I call heaven and
earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life
and death, the blessing and the curse; and thou shalt choose life”
(Deut. xxx. 19). Our freedom, however, is not unlimited. There are
various causes that prevent us from remaining firm to our will. If we
resolve to do what is beyond our physical condition, we cannot carry it
out. Again, if a man chooses to do what would interfere with the will
of his fellow-men, he will frequently be compelled to abandon or change
his own determination; especially as he is in most cases ignorant of
the thoughts and plans of his fellow-men. In a still higher degree this
is the case with regard to the designs of the Supreme Being. Hence the
great difference between our will and our actual deeds. We have,
however, the conviction that בא לטהר מסייעין לו מן השמים בא לטמא
פותחין לו “He who wishes to purify himself is helped by Heaven towards
his aim, while he who desires to defile himself will find the means
thereto” (Babyl. Tal. Shabbath, p. 104).
We admit that there are influences over which man has no control, and
which, on the contrary, help to shape his will. No man is so isolated
as to be entirely inaccessible to outward influences. Man inherits
certain ideas and habits from his parents; others are forced upon him
by his surroundings, especially in his earliest youth; society and the
State compel him to conform to certain notions and laws; climate and
temperature also have no small share in the formation of man’s will.
But in spite of all these influences man’s will is free, and it is by
reason of his free-will that he chooses to conform to the rules of
society and the laws of the State. Hence it happens that individuals,
subject to almost the same influences, still vary greatly in their
resolutions. What the one praises is an abhorrence to the other; what
repels the one attracts the other; what is recommended by the one is
denounced by the other.
Although there may be many who profess to believe in predestination or
fate, as a matter of fact all nations, ancient and modern, have based
their constitutions on the belief in man’s responsibility for his
actions. Every State has its laws, its system of reward and punishment.
A principle so general and so essential for the safety and welfare of
society, as well as of each individual, cannot be a mere illusion; its
good effect has been tested and is generally recognised.
In case of criminals and sinners, we make allowance for the possible
outward influences under which the offender may have fallen; we assume
the broad principle, אין אדם חוטא אלא אם כן נכנס בו רוח שטות “No one
sinneth unless the spirit of folly has entered into him” (Babyl. Talm.
Sotah, 3a); but no one would go so far as to acquit the sinner
altogether from blame. We pity him and try to teach him how to return
to the right path, and how to overcome outward evil influences. When
David had become aware of the greatness of his sin and sincerely
repented, he prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a
right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take
not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;
and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways; and sinners shall return unto thee” (Ps. li. 10–13). Both
elements are here harmoniously united. God’s interference is asked for;
He helps man to carry out his good resolution; but man has free-will,
and the author of the psalm, in seeking the assistance of God, feels
nevertheless the weight of his own responsibility.
Tenth Principle.—“I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His
name, knoweth all the actions of men and all their thoughts, as it is
said, ‘He that fashioneth the hearts of them all, He that considereth
all their works’ (Ps. xxxiii. 15).”
In the rhymed form of the Creed (יגדל) this article is expressed
thus: “He watcheth and knoweth our secret thoughts; He beholdeth the
end of a thing in its beginning.” Here the author proclaims not only
the Omniscience of God, but also His foresight; His knowledge is not
limited, like the knowledge of mortal beings, by space and time. The
entire past and future lies unrolled before His eyes, and nothing is
hidden from Him. Although we may form a faint idea of the knowledge of
God by considering that faculty of man that enables him, within a
limited space of time, to look backward and forward, and to unroll
before him the past and the future, as if the events that have happened
and those that will come to pass were going on in the present moment,
yet the true nature of God’s knowledge no man can conceive. “God
considereth all the deeds of man,” without depriving him of his
free-will; he may in this respect be compared to a person who observes
and notices the actions and the conduct of his fellow-men, without
interfering with them. It is the Will of God that man should have
free-will and should be responsible for his actions; and His foresight
does not necessarily include predetermination. In some cases the fate
of nations or of individual men is predetermined; we may even say that
the ultimate fate or development of mankind is part of the design of
the Creation. But as the actual design in the Creation is concealed
from man’s searching eye, so is also the extent of the predetermination
a mystery to him. To solve this problem is beyond the intellectual
powers of short-sighted mortals; it is one of “the hidden things that
belong to the Lord our God.”
David, in Ps. cxxxix. 1–12, describes the Omniscience and the
Omnipresence of God in the following way: “O Lord, thou hast searched
me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou
understandest my thoughts afar off. Thou searchest out my path and my
lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a
word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou
hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy
presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed
in the grave, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the
morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea: even there shall
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely
the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me shall be night;
even the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the
day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”
Our belief in God’s Omniscience is beautifully expressed in the Musaph
prayer of New-year: “Thou rememberest the work of bygone times, and
thinkest of all the imaginations of former days; all hidden things are
revealed before thee; also all the multitude of hidden things which are
from the beginning. For there is no forgetting before the throne of thy
glory, and nothing is concealed from thine eye. Thou rememberest every
deed, and no thought is hidden from thee. Everything is revealed and
known before thee, O Lord our God, who beholdest and seest to the end
of all generations.”
Eleventh Principle.—“I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be He,
rewards those who keep His commandments, and punishes those who
transgress His commandments.”
The immediate reward and punishment for our conduct we receive in the
pleasure and happiness we experience in doing something good, and in
the grief and remorse we ought to feel on learning that we have
displeased the Almighty by our conduct. As a rule, every good act leads
to further good acts, and every sin to further sins; and our Sages say
therefore: “The reward of a good act (מצוה) is another good act, and
the punishment for a transgression is another transgression.”
But when we speak of the principle of Retribution, we generally mean
such reward and punishment as is given in addition to the feeling of
happiness or unhappiness inseparable from our actions.
This principle of retribution has been proclaimed in the grand
Revelation made to all Israel on Mount Sinai, in the Decalogue which
has been accepted by all civilised nations as the basis of religion: “I
the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of
them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love
me and keep my commandments” (Exod. xx. 5, 6). We understand the
doctrine of retribution only in its general outlines; we are convinced
of the truth of the Divine words, “There is no peace to the wicked”
(Isa. lvii. 21); but how the law is applied in every single case is
known to God alone. It is presumptuous on the part of short-sighted man
to criticise God’s judgments, and to find injustice in the seeming
prosperity of the wicked and the seeming misery of the righteous. What
man is able to estimate the merits of his neighbour fully and
correctly? “For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the
outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Sam. xvi. 7).
This our inability of rightly estimating the merits of our neighbour’s
actions, is illustrated by the Biblical narrative of Cain and Abel.
Both brought sacrifices to the Lord; and we cannot discover any
difference in their actions, and yet the sacrifice of Cain was rejected
by God and that of Abel was accepted. Some important element there must
therefore be in man’s deeds which is hidden from his neighbour’s eye,
but is known to the Almighty. The inability of man to penetrate into
the secret of God’s rule is also illustrated by the prophet Habakkuk.
He asked, “Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously,
and holdest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is
more righteous than he; and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the
creeping things that have no ruler over them?” Whereupon he receives
the Divine answer: “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth it.... Behold, there is crookedness in the
eyes of him whose soul is not straight; but the just will live by his
faith” (Hab. i. 13, 14, and ii. 2, 4).
One of the Psalmists (Asaph; Ps. lxxiii. 2 seq.) confesses that this
problem had greatly troubled him and endangered his faith. He says: “As
for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I
was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no bands in their death; but their strength is firm. They
are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other
men.... Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup
are wrung out by them. And they say, How doth God know? and is there
knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked, and being
always at ease, they increase in riches. Surely in vain have I cleansed
my heart, and washed my hands in innocency; for all the day long have I
been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I had said, I will speak
thus; behold, I had dealt treacherously with the generation of thy
children. When I think how I might know this, it is trouble in mine
eyes: until I come into the sanctuary of God; then shall I consider
their latter end.” The temporary success and seeming prosperity of the
wicked does not shake the firm belief of the singer in the justice of
God; his communion with God, his coming into the sanctuaries of God, is
a blessing which the soul of the pious yearns for, and in comparison
with which all the wealth and power of the wicked is but a deceitful
shadow.
The Book of Job illustrates the vanity of man’s attempts to lift the
veil that conceals the plan of God’s decrees. The reader is informed
beforehand why Job is afflicted with pains and troubles. But Job and
his friends have not been informed. Job desires to know what act of his
has brought upon him that terrible calamity, if it is to be endured as
a punishment; he protests his innocence, and criticises the justice of
the Almighty. The three friends declare with certainty that Job’s
sufferings are a punishment for sins committed, and are angry that Job
does not accept their view.
God appears, rebukes Job for his presumption, but declares that the
view expressed by his friends, insinuating sinful conduct to Job, was
wrong, and that Job, who contended that he did not know the cause of
the suffering, spoke more rightly than his friends. For Job had not
been afflicted because of his sins, and this was shown to the friends
of Job by the compensation which God gave Job for all that he had lost
and suffered.
Koheleth likewise shows the futility of man’s endeavour to find
independently of Divine revelation the aim and object of man’s life on
earth, or the share his free-will has in the performance of his actions
and the determination of his fate. Man is lost in a labyrinth of
problems, out of which he can extricate himself only by faith in God
and His guidance. The result to which the investigations of Koheleth
led him is expressed thus: “Fear God, keep his commandments; for this
is the whole of man’s duty. For every action God will bring to judgment
together with all hidden thoughts, whether good or evil” (Eccles. xii.
13).
The acts of Divine justice recorded in the sacred literature serve as a
warning to the evil and an encouragement to the good. They are all of a
material character, as only in this shape can they be perceived by man.
But by no means do they exhaust all the ways of God. The Divine
retribution so frequently referred to in the Law points mostly to the
good or evil consequences which the conduct of the Israelites will
bring upon the whole community or state, because the whole community is
benefited by the virtues and injured by the misconduct of each of the
members composing it; it is the duty of the authorities, by
watchfulness and by well-defined punishments, to prevent the spread of
disobedience to the Divine Law. What other rewards or punishments await
the individual in this life or after death we do not know. But there
are, especially in the Psalms, numerous indications that the pious
sufferer was sure that everlasting happiness would more than compensate
for the absence of material and transient success in this life. The
following passages may serve as an illustration:—
“Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he that trusteth in the Lord,
mercy shall compass him about” (Ps. xxxii. 10).
“How precious is thy loving-kindness, O God! and the children of men
take refuge under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink
of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life:
in thy light shall we see light” (xxxvi. 8–10).
“For evil-doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord,
they shall inherit the land” (xxxvii. 9).
“For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are
preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off” (Ibid.
28).
“Mark the perfect man; and behold the upright: for the latter end of
that man is peace. As for transgressors, they shall be destroyed
together; the latter end of the wicked shall be cut off” (Ibid. 37,
38).
In these and similar passages the pious and enthusiastic singer has in
his mind something more durable and permanent than this short life, or
otherwise the conflict between his hopes and the reality would have
shaken his faith.
Twelfth Principle.—“I firmly believe in the coming of Messiah; and
although he may tarry, I daily hope for his coming.”
When Abraham was chosen by God to be the founder of a nation
proclaiming the Unity of God, when he was commanded to separate from
his relatives and friends and to travel a stranger in a foreign land,
the blessing promised to him was not to be enjoyed by him in the
present, but by his descendants in remote future: “All the families of
the earth shall be blessed in thee” (Gen. xii. 3). The same promise was
repeated when Abraham stood the trial, and was ready to bring any
sacrifice in obedience to the Will of the Supreme Being: “All the
nations of the earth shall bless themselves in thee” (Ibid. xxii. 18).
The conviction that the seed of Abraham have the distinction and the
mission to become a source of a blessing to all mankind was transmitted
from generation to generation; from Abraham through Isaac to Jacob or
Israel, whose descendants, the Israelites, guarded the inherited
charge, as their peculiar treasure. Before receiving the Decalogue on
Mount Sinai, the Israelites were reminded of this their mission in the
words, “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”
(Exod. xix. 6). It was not by force of arms or by persuasion that they
were to influence the whole earth, but by setting an example of noble,
pure, and holy conduct. A special spot was selected for them where they
should, in seclusion from the rest of the world, be trained in the true
worship of God and in the practice of virtue. Zion and Jerusalem became
in course of time the religious centre from which “instruction came
forth and the word of the Lord.” The Israelites became negligent in
their mission and faithless to their holy charge. Instead of leading
other nations to the true worship of God, they allowed themselves to be
misled by them to idolatry; instead of living a pure life of justice
and righteousness, they yielded to luxury and lust, and committed acts
of injustice and oppression. They were punished. Troubles followed
troubles; they lost their independence and their religious centre. The
men of God, the prophets, from Moses to the last of the prophets,
Malachi, foretold the catastrophe, but at the same time added words of
comfort and encouragement, pointing to a distant future, when “her
appointed time of trouble will be complete, and her guilt atoned for;”
when Israel will be restored to his land, and under the guidance of
Messiah, “the Anointed of the Lord,” he will be filled with the fear of
the Lord and an earnest desire to do that which is just and right.
Moses, in one of his last addresses to Israel, said, “And it shall come
to pass, when all these things have come upon thee, the blessing and
the curse, which 1 have set before thee; and thou shalt call them to
mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee,
and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice,
according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children,
with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; that the Lord thy God will
return thy captivity, and have compassion on thee, and will return, and
gather thee from all the peoples whither the Lord thy God hath
scattered thee. If any of thy outcasts be in the uttermost parts of
heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence
will he fetch thee,” &c. (Deut. xxx. 1–3). The glorious times of
Messiah are described by Isaiah in the following words: “And it shall
come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted
above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples
shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his
ways, and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the
Law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among
the nations, and shall reprove many peoples; and they shall beat their
swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
any more” (Isa. ii. 2–4). The same has been prophesied in almost
identical words by Micah (iv. 1–4), a contemporary of Isaiah. The peace
of the Messianic period is figuratively described by Isaiah in the
following verses: “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion,
and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the
cow and the bear shall feed: their young ones shall lie down together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall
play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on
the basilisk’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy
mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as
the waters cover the sea” (Isa. xi. 6–9). In the days of Messiah all
people will unite in the proclamation of the Unity of God and in His
worship: “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day
shall the Lord be one, and his name one” (Zech. xiv. 9). “Then will I
turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the
name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent” (Zeph. iii. 9).
The distinction given to Israel and to his land will again appear in
all its glory. Israel is punished, deprived of independence, even
despised and ill-treated at times; but with all this he is loved by
God, and not rejected by Him for ever. Isaiah prophesies as follows:
“Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel, for thou art my servant: I
have formed thee; thou art my servant; O Israel, thou shalt not be
forgotten of me” (Isa. xliv. 21). “For the mountains shall depart, and
the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee,
neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath
mercy on thee” (Ibid. liv. 10). Comp. lix. 20, 21; lx. 19–21; lxvi. 22;
Jer. xxxiii. 25, 26; Hos. ii. 21, 22.
Those who during the years of Israel’s punishment have despised and
ill-treated him will repent of their conduct when they witness his
wonderful redemption. Their repentance is beautifully depicted by
Isaiah in the passage beginning, “Behold, my servant will be
successful” (lii. 13). Israel, the servant of God, patiently bears
insults and persecution, faithfully waiting for the fulfilment of the
Divine promise. Israel’s oppressors will then, on seeing how God loves
him, confess their wrong and own that Israel has innocently suffered at
their hands. With the redemption of Israel is connected the restoration
of the throne of David. “A branch of the house of David” will be at the
head of the nation, upon whom “the spirit of the Lord will rest, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord” (Isa. xi. 2).
Thus Jeremiah prophesies: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that
I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king,
and deal wisely, and shall execute judgment and justice in the land. In
his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this
is his name, whereby he shall be called, The Lord is our righteousness”
(xxiii. 5, 6). All the attributes of Messiah are those of a human being
in his highest possible perfection. No superhuman qualities are
ascribed to him; all his glory, all his success, is dependent on the
Will of God. He is an ideal man, and an ideal king, but not more; if
miracles are to be wrought, it is not Messiah who will perform them,
but God, who will act wondrously for Messiah and Israel. The advent of
Messiah is not expected to change the nature of man, much less the
course of the world around us. The only change we expect is, that the
Unity of God will be acknowledged universally, and that justice and
righteousness will flourish over all the earth. Those who believe in a
superhuman nature of Messiah are guilty of idolatry. Our Sages express
this principle in the words, אין בין העולם הזה לימות המשיח אלא שעבוד
מלכיות בלבד, “There is no other difference between the present time
and the days of Messiah but the restoration of Israel’s independence.”
An opinion is mentioned in the Talmud in the name of a Rabbi Hillel—not
the great Hillel, the Babylonian—that “there is no Messiah for the
Israelites, because they have already enjoyed the blessings of Messiah
in the reign of Hezekiah” (Babyl. Talm. Sanhedrin, 98b). This can only
refer to the miraculous defeat of the enemy, and the direct benefits
derived therefrom by the Israelites. But the Rabbi by no means rejects
our belief that Messiah will come, and with him the universal worship
of the One God, the universal practice of virtue in all its forms, and
universal peace and prosperity. [17] Hillel, however, found no support
for his view; on the contrary, his error is at once shown to him, that
he forgot the prophets who prophesied after Hezekiah.
There are some theologians who assume the Messianic period to be the
most perfect state of civilisation, but do not believe in the
restoration of the kingdom of David, the rebuilding of the Temple, or
the repossession of Palestine by the Jews. They altogether reject the
national hope of the Jews. These theologians either misinterpret or
wholly ignore the teaching of the Bible, and the Divine promises made
through the men of God.
The hopes with which our religion inspires us can never lead us to
intrigues, political combinations, insurrection, or warfare for the
purpose of regaining Palestine and appointing a Jewish Government. On
the contrary, our religion teaches us to seek the welfare of those
nations in whose midst we live, and to conscientiously take part in the
work for their national progress and prosperity, whilst patiently
waiting for the miraculous fulfilment of the prophecies. Even if a band
of adventurers were to succeed in reconquering Palestine for the Jews
by means of arms, or reacquiring the Holy Land by purchasing it from
the present owners, we should not see in such an event the consummation
of our hopes.
Does the advent of Messiah and the rebuilding of the Temple in
Jerusalem imply the restoration of the Sacrificial Service? The last of
the prophets, Malachi, declares that “then the offering of Judah and
Jerusalem shall be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and
as in ancient years” (Mal. iii. 4). In the same spirit all the prophets
spoke, and when in some cases prophets denounce sacrifices, it is only
the sacrifices of the wicked that they denounce. Sacrifices must be
preceded by purification of the heart, and by the earnest resolve to
obey the word of God, otherwise they constitute an increase of sin.
When we express our longing for the rebuilding of the Temple and the
restoration of the Temple-Service—the return of the priests to their
service, and the Levites to their song and music—it is solely our
desire for the opportunity of serving God according to His Will and
command, and is not a feeling that should be modified by fashion or
taste. It is because of our sins that we have been deprived of our
Temple; the rebuilding of the Temple and the restoration of the
Sacrificial Service will be the result of our own purification, and the
consequent Divine pardon.
When will this take place? We do not know, and are content to bear in
mind that the time of our redemption is one of the “hidden things which
are the Lord our God’s;” “If it tarries,” says Habakkuk, “wait for it,
for it will surely come, and not later than the time fixed” (ii. 3).
Certain numbers of days and weeks are mentioned in Daniel, [18] but it
is not stated how these are to be counted; to which period they are
intended to apply; whether to the time of the restoration under
Zerubbabel, to the period of the Maccabees, to the destruction of the
second Temple, or to the future and final redemption. It is also
possible that these numbers have some symbolic signification. In
reference to these mysterious numbers Daniel says (xii. 8–10): “And I
heard, but I understood not; then said I, O my lord, what shall be the
issue of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel; for the words
are shut up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall purify
themselves and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked
shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand; but they
that be wise shall understand.” These words of Daniel are a warning to
all those who are inclined to compute by means of the numbers given in
Daniel the exact year of Messiah. Many have disregarded the warning and
have fallen into gross error. It is the duty of the pious Israelite to
have faith in God’s wisdom, goodness, and power: “The righteous shall
live in his faith” (Hab. ii. 4).
Thirteenth Principle.—“I firmly believe that there will take place a
revival of the dead at a time which will please the Creator, blessed be
His name and exalted His memorial for ever and ever.”
As imperfect as is our conception of a creation from nothing, so
imperfect is our notion of the resurrection of the dead. We only
perceive the dissolution of the body into its elements, which enter
into new combinations and form new bodies; and it is almost impossible
for us to imagine a reconstruction of the original body out of its own
elements. There is no doubt that the Almighty produces fresh life from
death—we need only observe the action of Nature in the world around us
to convince ourselves that God is מחיה המתים “that he gives life to
things dead.” But how this will be done in reference to our own selves,
whether we shall enjoy the same life, whether our future life will be
an improved edition of the present one, whether all will be restored to
life, or whether the new life after death will be enjoyed by the soul
alone, or by body and soul jointly: these and similar questions
transcend the bounds of human knowledge. We know nothing but the bare
fact that God can restore to life that which is dead, and that a
resurrection will take place. But all further description of this event
rests on man’s imaginative powers. The fact itself is stated by Daniel
(xii. 2): “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt;” it is indicated in the Pentateuch in the words, “I shall
kill and I shall make alive; I have wounded and I shall heal” (Deut.
xxxii. 39). According to Maimonides, the author of the Thirteen
Principles, the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is identical
with that of the immortality of the soul, calling the life of the soul
after separation from the body, resurrection; the verse quoted from
Daniel is accordingly interpreted in a figurative sense. The belief in
תחית המתים “the resurrection of the dead,” emphatically enjoined in
the Talmud, was thus restricted by Maimonides to the separate life of
man’s soul after his death, because the immortality of the soul
appeared to him more rational and more acceptable to thinking man. This
may be the case, but we, human beings, a combination of soul and body,
are, in reality, as unable to conceive the separate existence of our
soul as we are to comprehend the resurrection of our body. We are
taught that there exists for us a life beyond the present one. But any
attempt to describe that life must be considered merely as an act of
imagination rather than of knowledge. It is probably for this reason
that no distinct ordinance in the Pentateuch sanctioned the belief in
future life, or in the immortality of the soul. The belief,
nevertheless, existed among the Israelites, and found expression in
several passages of the Bible. Foremost among these is the following
verse of Koheleth (xii. 7): “And the dust shall return to the earth as
it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” David also
gives frequent expression to this belief in his Psalms. In the
Seventeenth Psalm, e.g., he speaks with contempt of the wealth and the
success of the wicked, and says of himself: “As for me, I shall see thy
face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with
beholding thy likeness” (Ps. xvii. 15). Similarly he says in Ps. xvi.
8–11: “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right
hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory
rejoiceth: my flesh also shall dwell in safety. For thou wilt not leave
my soul to death, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see
corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is
fulness of joy, in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” In
the Book of Proverbs (xii. 28) we read: “In the path of righteousness
there is life, and a smoothed way where there is no death.” These and
similar verses show that the belief in the immortality of the soul was
firmly established among the Israelites, and found frequent expression
in the words of the men of God.
The belief in the Resurrection assists us in our endeavour of
reconciling the apparent contradictions between the justice of God and
our own experience. The latter comprises only the transient pleasures
of the wicked and the sufferings of the just in this short life, and
cannot be compared with the pleasure of the good and the suffering of
the bad in the future, eternal life. Another benefit derived from this
belief consists in its raising us above the ordinary sphere of earthly
gains and losses; it turns our minds to higher aims; it purifies our
heart and elevates it.
Opponents of this belief quote some passages from Job in support of
their view; e.g.: “Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the
land of darkness and of the shadow of death” (x. 21). “As the cloud is
consumed and vanishes away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall
come up no more” (vii. 9). These and similar words were uttered by Job
when he suffered great pain, and wished, as many would wish under
similar circumstances, to be relieved by death from his momentary
troubles, unconcerned as to what might happen in distant future.
Besides, Job is not an Israelite; he is described as a man just and
upright, but need not have had the same convictions and beliefs as the
Israelites. How little the above verses represent the exact view of Job
may be learnt from the fact that he gives also expression to the
opposite belief: “If a man dieth, will he live again? All the days of
my appointed time will I wait, till my relief cometh” (xiv. 14). “And
when my skin is gone, when worms have destroyed this body, and when my
flesh is no more, yet shall I see God” (xix. 26).