Jewish Theology Part 11

Still the Bible makes no clear distinction between the three terms, _nefesh_, _neshamah_, and _ruah_.(644) Philo first distinguished between three different substances of the soul, but his theory was the Platonic one, for which he simply used the three Biblical names.(645) The Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages, beginning with Saadia, took the same att.i.tude, even though they realized more or less that the division of the soul into three substances has no Scriptural warrant.(646) In rabbinical literature this division is scarcely known, and there is little mention of either the animal soul, _nefesh_, or the vital spark, _ruah_. Instead the word _neshamah_ is used for the human _psyche_ as the higher spiritual substance, and the contrast to it is not the Biblical _basar_, flesh, but the Aramaic _guph_, body.(647) This bears a trace of Persian dualism, with its strong contrast between the earthly body and the heavenly soul.

4. In fact, rabbinical Judaism does not recognize any relationship between the soul of the animal and that of man, but claims that man has a special type of existence. The Midrash tells(648) that G.o.d formed Adam's body so as to reach from earth to heaven, and then caused the soul to enter it. In the same way G.o.d implants the soul into the embryo before its birth and while in the womb. Before this the soul had a bird-like existence in an immense celestial cage (_guph_ = _columbarium_), and when it leaves the body in death, it again takes its flight toward heaven. There its conduct on earth will reap a reward in the garden of eternal bliss or a punishment in the infernal regions. The belief in the preexistence of the soul was shared by the rabbis with the apocryphal authors and Philo.(649)

However, rabbinical Judaism never followed Philo so far in the footsteps of Plato as to consider the body or the flesh the source of impurity and sin, or "the prison house of the soul." This view is fundamental in the Paulinian system of other-worldliness. For the rabbis the sensuous desire of the body (_yezer_) is a tendency toward sin, but never a compulsion.

The weakness of the flesh may cause a straying from the right path, but man can turn the desires of the flesh into the service of the good. He can always a.s.sert his divine power of freedom by opposing the evil inclination (_yezer ha ra_) with the good inclination (_yezer ha tob_) to overcome it.(650) In fact, the rabbis are so far from acknowledging the existence of a compulsion of evil in the flesh, that they point to the history of great men as proof that the highest characters have the mightiest pa.s.sions in their souls, and that their greatness consists in the will by which they have learned to control themselves.(651)

5. In the light of modern science the whole theory separating body and soul falls to the ground, and the one connecting man more closely with the animal world is revived. In this connection we think of the idea which medieval thinkers adopted from Plato and Aristotle, that there is a substance of souls-_nefesh hahiyonith_-which forms the basic life-force of men and animals. Physiology and psychology reveal the interaction and dependence of body and soul in the lowest forms of animal life as well as in the higher forms, including man. The beginnings of the human mind must be sought once for all in the animal, just as the origin of the animal reaches back into the plant world. Indeed, Aristotle antic.i.p.ates the discoveries of modern science, placing the vegetative and animal souls beside the spirit of man. Thus motion and sensibility form the lower boundary-line of the animal kingdom, and self-consciousness and self-determination are the criteria of humanity.

Yet this very self-conscious freedom which forms man's personality, his _ego_, lifts him into a realm of free action under higher motives, transcending nature's law of necessity, and therefore not falling within the domain of natural science. Dust-born man, notwithstanding his earthly limitations, in spite of his kinship to mollusk and mammal, enters the realm of the divine spirit. In the Midrash the rabbis remark that man shares the nature of both animals and angels.(652) Admitting this, we feel that he is tied neither to heaven nor to the earth, but free to lift himself above all creatures or sink below them all.

6. Endowed with this dual nature, man stands in the very center of the universe, and G.o.d esteems him "equal in value to the entire creation," as Rabbi Nehemiah says of a single human soul.(653) Rabbi Akiba stresses the image of G.o.d in humanity when he says: "Beloved is man, for he is created in G.o.d's image, and it was a special token of love that he became conscious of it. Beloved is Israel, for they are called the children of G.o.d, and it was a special token of love that they became conscious of it."(654) The Midrash compares man to G.o.d in exquisite manner: "Just as G.o.d permeates the world and carries it, unseen yet seeing all, enthroned within as the Only One, the Perfect, and the Pure, yet never to be reached or found out; so the soul penetrates and carries the body, as the _one_ pure and luminous being which sees and holds all things, while itself unseen and unreached."(655) The conception of the soul is here divested of every sensory attribute, and portrayed as a divine force within the body.

This conception, which was accepted by the medieval philosophers, is thoroughly consistent with our view of the world. The soul it is which mirrors both the material and spiritual worlds and holds them in mutual relation through its own power. It is at the same time swayed upward and downward by its various cravings, heavenly and earthly, and this very tension const.i.tutes the dual nature of the human soul.

Chapter x.x.xV. The Origin and Destiny of Man

1. Of all created beings man alone possesses the power of self-determination; he a.s.signs his destiny to himself. While he endeavors to find the object of all other things and even of his own existence in the world, he finds his own purpose within himself. Star and stone, plant and beast fulfill their purpose in the whole plan of creation by their existence and varied natures, and are accordingly called "good" as they are. Man, however, realizes that he must accomplish his purpose by his manner of life and the voluntary exertion of his own powers. He is "good"

only as far as he fulfills his destiny on earth. He is not good by mere existence, but by his conduct. Not what he is, but what he ought to be gives value to his being. He is good or bad according to the direction of his will and acts by the imperative: "I ought" or "I ought not," which comes to him in his conscience, the voice of G.o.d calling to his soul.

2. The problem of human destiny is answered by Judaism with the idea that G.o.d is the ideal and pattern of all morality. The answer given, then, is "To walk in the ways of G.o.d, to be righteous and just," as He is.(656) The prophet Micah expressed it in the familiar words: "It has been told thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord doth require of thee: Only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy G.o.d."(657) Accordingly the Bible considers men of the older generations the prototypes of moral conduct, "righteous men who walked with G.o.d." Such men were Enoch, Noah, and above all Abraham, to whom G.o.d said: "I am G.o.d Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou whole-hearted. And I will make My covenant between thee and Me."(658) The rabbis singled out Abraham as the type of a perfect man on account of his love of righteousness and peace; contrasting him with Adam who sinned, they beheld him as "the great man among the heroes of the ancient times." They even considered him the type of true humanity, in whom the object of creation was attained.(659)

3. This moral consciousness, however, which tells man to walk in the ways of G.o.d and be perfect, is also the source of shame and remorse. With such an ideal man must feel constantly that he falls short, that he is not what he ought to be. Only the little child, who knows nothing as yet of good and evil, can preserve the joy of life unmarred. Similarly, primitive man, being ignorant of guilt, could pa.s.s his days without care or fear. But as soon as he becomes conscious of guilt, discord enters his soul, and he feels as if he had been driven from the presence of G.o.d.

This feeling is allegorized in the Paradise legend. The garden of bliss, half earthly, half heavenly, which is elsewhere called the "mountain of G.o.d,"(660) a place of wondrous trees, beasts, and precious stones, whence the four great rivers flow, is the abode of divine beings. The first man and woman could dwell in it only so long as they lived in harmony with G.o.d and His commandments. As soon as the tempter in the shape of the serpent called forth a discord between the divine will and human desire, man could no longer enjoy celestial bliss, but must begin the dreary earthly life, with its burdens and trials.

4. This story of the fall of the first man is an allegorical description of the state of childlike innocence which man must leave behind in order to attain true strength of character. It is based upon a view common to all antiquity of a descent of the race; that is: first came the golden age, when man led a life of ease and pleasure in company with the G.o.ds; then an age of silver, another of bra.s.s, and finally the iron age, with its toil and bitter woe. Thus did evil deeds and wild pa.s.sions increase among men. This view fails utterly to recognize the value of labor as a civilizing force making for progress, and it contradicts the modern historical view. The prophets of Israel placed the golden age at the end, not the beginning of history, so that the purpose of mankind was to establish a heavenly kingdom upon the earth. In fact, the fall of man is not referred to anywhere in Scripture and never became a doctrine, or belief, of Judaism. On the contrary, the h.e.l.lenistic expounders of the Bible take it for granted that the story is an allegory, and the book of Proverbs understands the tree of life symbolically, in the verse: "She (the Torah) is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her."(661)

5. Still the rabbis in Talmud and Midrash accepted the legend in good faith as historical(662) and took it literally as did the great English poet:

"The fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden."

In fact, they even followed the Persian dualism with its evil principle, the primeval serpent, or the Babylonian legend of the sea-monster Tiamat, and regarded the serpent in Paradise as a demon. He was identified with Satan, the arch-fiend, and later with evil in general, the _yezer ha ra_.(663) Thus the belief arose that the poisonous breath of the serpent infected all generations, causing death even of the sinless.(664) The apocrypha also held that the envy of Satan brought death into the world.(665) This prepared for the dismal church doctrine of original sin, the basis of Paul's teachings, which demanded a blood atonement for curse-laden humanity, and found it after the pagan pattern in the vicarious sacrifice of a dying G.o.d.(666)

Against such perversion of the simple Paradise story the sound common sense of the Jewish people rebelled. While the early Talmudists occasionally mention the poisoning of the human race by the serpent, they find an antidote for the Jewish people in the covenant with Abraham or that of Sinai.(667) One cannot, however, discern the least indication of belief in original sin, either as inherent in the human race or inherited by them. Nor does the liturgy express any such idea, especially for the Day of Penitence, when it would certainly be mentioned if the conception found any place in Jewish doctrine. On the contrary, the prevailing thought of Judaism is that of Deuteronomy and Ezekiel,(668) that "Each man dies by his own sin," that every soul must bear only the consequences of his own deeds. The rabbis even state that no man dies unless he has brought it upon himself by his own sin, and mention especially certain exceptions to this rule, such as the four saintly men who died without sin,(669) or certain children whose death was due to the sin of their parents.(670) They could never admit that the whole human race was so corrupted by the sin of the first man that it is still in a state of sinfulness.

6. Of course, the rabbinical schools took literally the Biblical story of the fall of man and laid the chief blame upon woman, who fell a prey to the wiles of the serpent. This is done even by Ben Sira, who says: "With woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all must die."(671) So the Talmud says that due to woman, man, the crown, light, and life of creation, lost his purity, his l.u.s.ter, and his immortality.(672) The Biblical verse, "They did eat, and the eyes of them both were opened," is interpreted by Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai and Rabbi Akiba as "They saw the dire consequences of their sin upon all coming generations."(673) The fall of man is treated most elaborately in the same spirit in the two apocalyptic books written after the destruction of the Second Temple, the Apocalypse of Baruch and the IV Book of Esdras.(674) The incompatibility of divine love with the sufferings of man and of the Jewish people on account of the sin of the first man is solved by an appeal to the final Day of Judgment, and the striking remark is added that, after all, "each is his own Adam and is held responsible for his own sin." We cannot deny that these two books contain much that is near the Paulinian view of original sin. It seems, however, that the Jewish teachers were put on their guard by the emphasis of this pessimistic dogma by the nascent Church, and did their best to give a different aspect to the story of the first sin. Thus they say: "If Adam had but shown repentance, and done penance after he committed his sin, he would have been spared the death penalty."(675) Moreover, they actually represent Adam and Eve as patterns of repentant sinners, who underwent severe penance and thus obtained the promise of divine mercy and also of final resurrection.(676) Instead of transmitting the heritage of sin to coming generations, the first man is for them an example of repentance. So do the Haggadists tell us quite characteristically that G.o.d merely wanted to test the first man by an insignificant command, so that the first representative of the human race should show whether he was worthy to enter eternal life in his mortal garb, as did Enoch and Elijah. As he could not stand the test, he forfeited the marks of divine rank, his celestial radiance, his gigantic size, and his power to overcome death.(677) Obviously the Biblical story was embellished with material from the Persian legend of the fall of Yima or Djemshid, the first man, from superhuman greatness because of his sin,(678) but it was always related frankly as a legend, and could never influence the Jewish conception of the fall of man.

7. Judaism rejects completely the belief in hereditary sin and the corruption of the flesh. The Biblical verse, "G.o.d made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions,"(679) is explained in the Midrash: "Upright and just as is G.o.d, He made man after His likeness in order that he might strive after righteousness, and unfold ever more his G.o.d-like nature, but men in their dissensions have marred the divine image."(680) With reference to another verse in Ecclesiastes:(681) "The dust returneth unto the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto G.o.d who gave it,"

the rabbis teach "Pure as the soul is when entering upon its earthly career, so can man return it to his Maker."(682) Therefore the pious Jew begins his daily prayers with the words: "My G.o.d, the soul which Thou hast given me is pure."(683) The life-long battle with sin begins only at the age when sensual desire, "the evil inclination," awakens in youth; then the state of primitive innocence makes way for the sterner contest for manly virtue and strength of character.

8. In fact, the whole Paradise story could never be made the basis for a dogma. The historicity of the serpent is denied by Saadia;(684) the rabbis transfer Paradise with the tree of life to heaven as a reward for the future;(685) and both Nahmanides the mystic and Maimonides the philosopher give it an allegorical meaning.(686) On the other hand, the Haggadic teachers perceived the simple truth that a life of indolence in Paradise would incapacitate man for his cultural task, and that the toils and struggles inflicted on man as a curse are in reality a blessing. Therefore they laid special stress on the Biblical statement: "He put man into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."(687) The following parable is especially suggestive: "When Adam heard the stern sentence pa.s.sed: 'Thou shalt eat the herb of the field,' he burst into tears, and said: 'Am I and my a.s.s to eat out of the same manger?' Then came another sentence from G.o.d to rea.s.sure him, 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,' and forthwith he became aware that man shall attain a higher dignity by dint of labor."(688) Indeed, labor transforms the wilderness into a garden and the earth into a habitation worthy of the son of G.o.d. The "book of the generations of man" which begins with Adam is accordingly not the history of man's descent, but of his continuous ascent, of ever higher achievements and aspirations; it is not a record of the fall of man, but of his rise from age to age. According to the Midrash(689) G.o.d opened before Adam the book with the deeds and names of the leading spirits of all the coming generations, showing him the latent powers of the human intellect and soul. The phrase, "the fall of man," can mean, in fact, only the inner experience of the individual, who does fall from his original idea of purity and divine n.o.bility into transgression and sin. It cannot refer to mankind as a whole, for the human race has never experienced a fall, nor is it affected by original or hereditary sin.

Chapter x.x.xVI. G.o.d's Spirit in Man

1. Man is placed in an animal world of dull feelings, of blind and crude cravings. Yet his clear understanding, his self-conscious will and his aspirations forward and upward lead him into a higher world where he obtains insight into the order and unity of all things. By the spirit of G.o.d he is able to understand material things and grasp them in their relations; thus he can apply all his knowledge and creative imagination to construct a world of ideals. But this world, in all its truth, beauty and goodness, is still limited and finite, a feeble shadow of the infinite world of G.o.d. As the Bible says: "The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inward parts."(690) "It is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty, that giveth them understanding."(691)

2. According to the Biblical conception, the spirit of G.o.d endows men with all their differing capacities; it gives to one man wisdom by which he penetrates into the causes of existence and orders facts into a scientific system; to another the seeing eye by which he captures the secret of beauty and creates works of art; and to a third the genius to perceive the ways of G.o.d, the laws of virtue, that he may become a teacher of ethical truth. In other words, the spirit of G.o.d is "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord."(692) It works upon the scientific interest of the investigator, the imagination of the artist and poet, the ethical and social sense of the prophet, teacher, statesman, and lawgiver. Thus their high and holy vision of the divine is brought home to the people and implanted within them under the inspiration of G.o.d. In commenting upon the Biblical verse, "Wisdom and might are His ... He giveth wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding,"(693) the sages wisely remark, "G.o.d carefully selects those who possess wisdom for His gift of wisdom." Even as a musical instrument must be attuned for the finer notes that it may have a clear, resonant tone, so the human soul must be made especially susceptible to the gifts of the spirit in order to be capable of unfolding them. Thus the Talmud records an interesting dialogue on this very pa.s.sage between a Roman matron familiar with the Scripture, and Rabbi Jose ben Halafta. She asked sarcastically, "Would it not have been more generous of your G.o.d to have given wisdom to those that are unwise than to those that already possess it?" Thereupon the Jewish master replied, "If you were to lend a precious ornament, would you not lend it to one who was able to make use of it? So G.o.d gives the treasure of wisdom to the wise, who know how to appreciate and develop it, not to the unwise, who do not know its value."(694)

3. Thus the diverse gifts of the divine spirit are distributed differently among the various cla.s.ses and tribes of men, according to their capacity and the corresponding task which is a.s.signed them by Providence. The divine spark is set aglow in each human soul, sometimes feebly, sometimes brightly, but it blazes high only in the privileged personality or group.

The mutual relationship between G.o.d and man is recognized by the Synagogue in the Eighteen Benedictions, where the one directly following the three praises of G.o.d is devoted to wisdom and knowledge: "Thou favorest man with knowledge, and teachest mortals understanding. So favor us with knowledge, understanding, and discernment from Thee. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, gracious Giver of knowledge."(695) This pet.i.tion, remarks Jehuda ha Levi,(696) deserves its position as first among these prayers, because wisdom brings us nearer to G.o.d. It is also noteworthy that the Synagogue prescribes a special benediction at the sight of a renowned sage, even if he is not a Jew, reading, "Praised be He who has imparted of His wisdom to flesh and blood."(697)

4. Maimonides holds that in the same degree as a man studies the works of G.o.d in nature, he will be filled with longing for direct knowledge of G.o.d and true love of Him.(698) "Not only religion, but also the sciences emanate from G.o.d, both being the outcome of the wisdom which G.o.d imparts to all nations,"-thus wrote a sixteenth-century rabbi, Loewe ben Bezalel of Prague, known usually as "the eminent Rabbi Loewe."(699) The men of the Talmud also accord the palm in certain types of knowledge to heathen sages, and did not hesitate to ascribe to some heathens the highest knowledge of G.o.d in their time.(700) As a mystic of the thirteenth century, Isaac ben Latif, says: "That faith is the most perfect which perceives truth most fully, since G.o.d is the source of all truth."(701) Of the two heads of the Babylonian academies, Rab and Samuel, one a.s.serted that Moses through his prophetic genius reached forty-nine of the fifty degrees of the divine understanding (as the fiftieth is reserved for G.o.d alone), while the other claimed the same distinction for King Solomon as the result of his wisdom.(702)

5. Thus the spirit of G.o.d creates in man both consciously and unconsciously a world of ideas, which proves him a being of a higher order in creation. This impulse may work actively, searching, investigating, and creating, or pa.s.sively as an instrument of a higher power. At first it is a dim, uncertain groping of the spirit; then the mind acquires greater lucidity by which it illumines the dark world; and, as one question calls for the other and one thought suggests another, the world of ideas opens up as a well-connected whole. Thus man creates by slow steps his languages, the arts and sciences, ethics, law and all the religions with their varying practices and doctrines. At times this spirit bursts forth with greater vehemence in great men, geniuses who lift the race with one stroke to a higher level. Such men may say, in the words of David, the holy singer: "The spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was upon my tongue."(703) They may repeat the experience of Eliphaz the friend of Job:

"Now a word was secretly brought to me, And mine ear received a whisper thereof.

In thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falleth on men, Fear came upon me, and trembling, And all my bones were made to shake.

Then a spirit pa.s.sed before my face, That made the hair of my flesh to stand up.

It stood still, but I could not discern the appearance thereof; A form was before mine eyes; I heard a still voice."(704)

In such manner men of former ages received a religious revelation, a divine message.

6. The divine spirit always selects as its instruments individuals with special endowments. Still, insight into history shows that these men must needs have grown from the very heart of their own people and their own age, in order that they might hold a lofty position among them and command attention for their message. However far the people or the age may be from the man chosen by G.o.d, the mult.i.tude must feel at least that the divine spirit speaks through him, or works within him. Or, if not his own time, then a later generation must respond to his message, lest it be lost entirely to the world.

The rabbis, who knew nothing of laws of development for the human mind, a.s.sumed that the first man, made by G.o.d Himself, must have known every branch of knowledge and skill, that the spirit of G.o.d must have been most vigorous in him.(705) They therefore believed in a primeval revelation, coeval with the first man. Our age, with its tremendous emphasis on the historical view, sees the divine spirit manifested most clearly in the very development and growth of all life, social, intellectual, moral and spiritual, proceeding steadily toward the highest of all goals. With this emphasis, however, on process, we must lay stress equally on the origin, on the divine impulse or initiative in this historical development, the spirit which gives direction and value to the whole.

Chapter x.x.xVII. Free Will and Moral Responsibility

1. Judaism has ever emphasized the freedom of the will as one of its chief doctrines. The dignity and greatness of man depends largely upon his freedom, his power of self-determination. He differs from the lower animals in his independence of instinct as the dictator of his actions. He acts from free choice and conscious design, and is able to change his mind at any moment, at any new evidence or even through whim. He is therefore responsible for his every act or omission, even for his every intention.

This alone renders him a moral being, a child of G.o.d; thus the moral sense rests upon freedom of the will.(706)

2. The idea of moral freedom is expressed as early as the first pages of the Bible, in the words which G.o.d spoke to Cain while he was planning the murder of his brother Abel: "Whether or not, thou offerest an acceptable gift," (New Bible translation: "If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up? and if thou doest not well,") "sin coucheth at the door; and unto thee is its desire, but thou mayest rule over it."(707) Here, without any reference to the sin of Adam in the first generation, the man of the second generation is told that he is free to choose between good and evil, that he alone is responsible before G.o.d for what he does or omits to do.

This certainly indicates that the moral freedom of man is not impaired by hereditary sin, or by any evil power outside of man himself. This principle is established in the words of Moses spoken in the name of G.o.d: "I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed."(708) In like manner Jeremiah proclaims in G.o.d's name: "Behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death."(709)

3. From these pa.s.sages and many similar ones the sages derived their oft-repeated idea that man stands ever at the parting of the ways, to choose either the good or the evil path.(710) Thus the words spoken by G.o.d to the angels when Adam and Eve were to be expelled from Paradise: "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil," are interpreted by R. Akiba: "He was given the choice to go the way of life or the way of death, but he chose the way of death by eating of the forbidden fruit."(711) R. Akiba emphasizes the principle of the freedom of the will again in the terse saying: "All things are foreseen (by G.o.d), but free will is granted (to man)."(712)

4. At the first encounter of Judaism with those philosophical schools of h.e.l.las which denied the freedom of the human will, the Jewish teachers insisted strongly on this principle. The first reference is found in Ben Sira, who refutes the arguments of the Determinists that G.o.d could make man sin, and then goes on: "G.o.d created man at the beginning, endowing him with the power of self-determination, saying to him: If thou but willest, thou canst observe My commandments; to practice faithfulness is a matter of free will.... As when fire and water are put before thee, so that thou mayest reach forth thy hand to that which thou desirest, so are life and death placed before man, and whatever he chooses of his own desire will be given to him."(713) The Book of Enoch voices this truth also in the forceful sentences: "Sin has not been sent upon the earth (from above), but men have produced it out of themselves; therefore they who commit sin are condemned."(714) We read similar sentiments in the Psalms of Solomon, a Pharisean work of the first pre-Christian century:(715) "Our actions are the outcome of the free choice and power of our own soul; to practice justice or injustice lies in the work of our own hands."

The Apocalypse of Ezra is especially instructive in the great stress which it lays on freedom, in connection with its chief theme, the sinfulness of the children of Adam. "This is the condition of the contest which man who is born on earth must wage, that, if he be conquered by the evil inclination, he must suffer that of which thou hast spoken (the tortures of h.e.l.l), but if he be victorious, he shall receive (the reward) which I (the angel) have mentioned. For this is the way whereof Moses spoke when he lived, saying unto the people, 'Choose life, that thou mayest live!'...

For all who knew Me not in life when they received My benefits, who despised My law when they yet had freedom, and did not heed the door of repentance while it was still open before them, but disregarded it, after death they shall come to know it!"(716)

5. h.e.l.lenistic Judaism also, particularly Philo,(717) considered the truly divine in man to be his free will, which distinguishes him from the beast.

Yet h.e.l.lenistic naturalism could not grasp the fact that man's power to do evil in opposition to G.o.d, the Source of the good, is the greatest reminder of his moral responsibility. Josephus likewise mentions frequently as a characteristic teaching of the Pharisees that man's free will determines his acts without any compulsion of destiny.(718) Only we must not accept too easily the words of this Jewish historian, who wrote for his Roman masters and, therefore, represented the Jewish parties as so many philosophical schools after the Greek pattern. The Pharisean doctrine is presented most tersely in the Talmudic maxim: "Everything is in the hands of G.o.d except the fear of G.o.d."(719) Like the quotation from R.

Akiba above, this contains the great truth that man's destiny is determined by Providence, but his character depends upon his own free decision. This idea recurs frequently in such Talmudic sayings as these: "The wicked are in the power of their desires; the righteous have their desires in their own power;"(720) "The eye, the ear, and the nostrils are not in man's power, but the mouth, the hand, and the feet are."(721) That is, the impressions we receive from the world without us come involuntarily, but our acts, our steps, and our words arise from our own volition.