Jewish Theology Part 6

Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; He that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from looking upon evil; He shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; His bread shall be given, his water shall be sure.

Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold a land stretching afar."(282)

Here we behold the fiery element of the divine holiness partly depicted as a reality and partly spiritualized. The last of the prophets compares the divine wrath to a melting furnace, which on the Day of Judgment is to consume evildoers as stubble, while to those who fear the Lord He shall appear as the sun of righteousness with healing on its wings.(283)

5. The idea as expressed by the prophets, then, was that G.o.d's anger will visit the wicked, and particularly the unG.o.dly nations of heathendom, and that He shall judge all creatures in fire.(284) This was significantly altered under Persian influence, when the Jew began to regard the world to come as promising to the righteous greater bliss than the present one.

Then the day of divine wrath meant doom eternal for evil-doers, who were to fall into the fiery depths of Gehenna, "their worm is never to die and their fire never to be quenched."(285) This became the prevailing view of the rabbis, of the Apocalyptics and also of the New Testament and the Church literature.(286) The Jewish propaganda in the h.e.l.lenistic literature, however, combined the fire of Gehenna with the Stoic, or pagan, view of a general world-conflagration, and announced a general doomsday for the heathen world, unless they be converted to the belief in Israel's one and holy G.o.d, and ceased violating the fundamental (Noachian) laws of humanity.(287)

6. A higher view of the punitive anger of G.o.d is taken by Beruriah, the n.o.ble wife of R. Meir,(288)-if, indeed, the wife of the saintly Abba Helkiah did not precede her(289)-in suggesting a different reading of the Biblical text, as to make it offer the lesson: "not the sinners shall perish from the earth, but the sins." From a more philosophical viewpoint both Juda ha Levi and Maimonides hold that the anger which we ascribe to G.o.d is only the transference of the anger which we actually feel at the sight of evildoing. Similarly, when we speak of the consuming fire of h.e.l.l, we depict the effect which the fear of G.o.d must have on our inner life, until the time shall come when we shun evil as unG.o.dly and love the good because it is both good and G.o.d-like.(290)

Chapter XVIII. G.o.d's Long-suffering and Mercy

1. In one of the little known apocryphal writings, the Testament of Abraham, a beautiful story is told of the patriarch. Shortly before his death, the archangel Michael drove him along the sky in the heavenly chariot. Looking down upon the earth, he saw companies of thieves and murderers, adulterers, and other evil-doers pursuing their nefarious practices, and in righteous indignation he cried out: "Oh would to G.o.d that fire, destruction, and death should instantly befall these criminals!" No sooner had he spoken these words than the doom he p.r.o.nounced came upon those wicked men. But then spoke the Lord G.o.d to the heavenly charioteer Michael: "Stop at once, lest My righteous servant Abraham in his just indignation bring death upon all My creatures, because they are not as righteous as he. He has not learned to restrain his anger."(291) Thus, indeed, the wrath kindled at the sight of wrongdoing would consume the sinner at once, were it not for another quality in G.o.d, called in Scripture _long-suffering_. By this He restrains His anger and gives the sinner time to improve his ways. Though every wicked deed provokes Him to immediate punishment, yet He shows compa.s.sion upon the feeble mortal. "Even in wrath He remembereth compa.s.sion."(292) "He hath no delight in the death of the sinner, but that he shall return from his ways and live."(293) The divine holiness does not merely overwhelm and consume; its essential aim is the elevation of man, the effort to endow him with a higher life.

2. It is perfectly true that a note of rigor and of profound earnestness runs through the pages of Holy Writ. The prophets, law-givers, and psalmists speak incessantly of how guilt brings doom upon the lands and nations. As the father who is solicitous of the honor of his household punishes unrelentingly every violation of morality within it, so the Holy One of Israel watches zealously over His people's loyalty to His covenant.

His glorious name, His holy majesty cannot be violated with immunity from His dreaded wrath. There is nothing of the joyous abandon which was predominant in the Greek nature and in the Olympian G.o.ds. The ideal of holiness was presented by the G.o.d of Israel, and all the doings of men appeared faulty beside it.

But its power of molding character is shown by Judaism at this very point, in that it does not stop at the condemnation of the sinner. It holds forth the promise of G.o.d's forbearance to man in his shortcomings, due to His compa.s.sion on the weakness of flesh and blood. He waits for man, erring and stumbling, until by striving and struggling he shall attain a higher state of purity. This is the bright, uplifting side of the Jewish idea of the divine holiness. In this is the innermost nature of G.o.d disclosed. In fear and awe of Him who is enthroned on high, "before whom even the angels are not pure," man, conscious of his sinfulness, sinks trembling into the dust before the Judge of the whole earth. But the grace and mercy of the long-suffering Ruler lift him up and imbue him with courage and strength to acquire a new life and new energy. Thus the oppressive burden of guilt is transformed into an uplifting power through the influence of the holy G.o.d.

3. The predominance in G.o.d of mildness and mercy over punitive anger is expressed most strikingly in the revelation to Moses, when he had entreated G.o.d to let him see His ways. The people had provoked G.o.d's anger by their faithlessness in the worship of the golden calf, and He had threatened to consume them, when Moses interceded in their behalf. Then the Lord pa.s.sed by him, and proclaimed: "The Lord, the Lord, G.o.d, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children, unto the third and unto the fourth generation."(294) Such a pa.s.sage shows clearly the progress in the knowledge of G.o.d's nature. For Abraham and the traditions of the patriarchs G.o.d was the righteous Judge, punishing the transgressors. He is represented in the same way in the Decalogue on Sinai.(295) Was this to be the final word? Was Israel chosen by G.o.d as His covenant people, only to encounter the full measure of His just but relentless anger and to be consumed at once for the violation of this covenant? Therefore Moses wrestled with his G.o.d. Filled with compa.s.sionate love for his people, he is willing to offer his life as their ransom. And should G.o.d himself lack this fullness of love and pity, of which even a human being is capable? Then, as from a dark cloud, there flashed suddenly upon him the light of a new revelation; he became aware of the higher truth, that above the austerity of G.o.d's avenging anger prevails the tender forgiveness of His mercy; that beyond the consuming zeal of His punitive justice shines the sun-like splendor of His grace and love. The rabbis find the expression of mercy especially in the name JHVH (_i.e._ "the One who shall ever be") which is significantly placed here at the head of the divine attributes. Indeed, only He who is the same from everlasting to everlasting, and to whom to-morrow is like yesterday, can show forbearance to erring man, because in whatsoever he has failed yesterday he may make good to-morrow.

4. Like Moses, the master of the prophets, so the prophet Hosea also learned in hard spiritual struggle to know the divine attribute of mercy and lovingkindness. His own wife had proved faithless, and had broken the marital covenant; still his love survived, so that he granted her forgiveness when she was forsaken, and took her back to his home. Then, in his distress at the G.o.d-forsaken state of Israel through her faithlessness, he asked himself: "Will G.o.d reject forever the nation which He espoused, because it broke the covenant? Will not He also grant forgiveness and mercy?" The divine answer came to him out of the depths of his own compa.s.sionate soul. Upon the crown of G.o.d's majesty which Amos had beheld all effulgent with justice and righteousness, he placed the most precious gem, reflecting the highest quality of G.o.d-His gracious and all-forgiving love.(296) Whether the priority in this great truth belongs to Hosea or Moses is a question for historical Bible research to answer, but it is of no consequence to Jewish theology.

5. Certainly Scripture represents G.o.d too much after human fashion, when it ascribes to him changes of mood from anger to compa.s.sion, or speaks of His repentance.(297) But we must bear in mind that the prophets obtained their insight into the ways of G.o.d by this very process of transferring their own experience to the Deity. And on the other hand, we are told that "G.o.d is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent."(298) All these anthropomorphic pictures of G.o.d were later avoided by the ancient Biblical translators by means of paraphrase, and by the philosophers by means of allegory.(299)

6. According to the Midrashic interpretation of the pa.s.sage from the Pentateuch quoted above, Moses desired to ascertain whether G.o.d ruled the world with His justice or with His mercy, and the answer was: "Behold, I shall let My _goodness_ pa.s.s before thee. For I owe nothing to any of My creatures, but My actions are prompted only by My grace and good will, through which I give them all that they possess."(300) According to Judaism justice and mercy are intertwined in G.o.d's government of the world; the former is the pillar of the cosmic structure, and the latter the measuring line. No mortal could stand before G.o.d, were justice the only standard; but we subsist on His mercy, which lends us the boons of life without our meriting them. That which is not good in us now is to become good through our effort toward the best. G.o.d's grace underlies this possibility.

Accordingly, the divine holiness has two aspects, the overwhelming wrath of His justice and the uplifting grace of His long-suffering. Without justice there could be no fear of G.o.d, no moral earnestness; without mercy only condemnation and perdition would remain. As the rabbis tell us, both justice and mercy had their share in the creation of man, for in man both good and bad appear and struggle for supremacy. All generations need the divine grace that they may have time and opportunity for improvement.(301)

7. Thus this conception of grace is far deeper and worthier of G.o.d than is that of Paulinian Christianity; for grace in Paul's sense is arbitrary in action and dependent upon the acceptance of a creed, therefore the very reverse of impartial justice. In Judaism divine grace is not offered as a bait to make men believe, but as an incentive to moral improvement. The G.o.d of holiness, who inflicts wounds upon the guilty soul by bitter remorse, offers also healing through His compa.s.sion. Justice and mercy are not two separate powers or persons in the Deity, as with the doctrine of the Church; they are the two sides of the same divine power. "I am the Lord before sin was committed, and I am the Lord after sin is committed"-so the rabbis explain the repet.i.tion of the name JHVH in the revelation to Moses.(302)

Chapter XIX. G.o.d's Justice

1. The unshakable faith of the Jewish people was ever sustained by the consciousness that its G.o.d is a G.o.d of justice. The conviction that He will not suffer wrong to go unpunished was read into all the stories of the h.o.a.ry past. The Babylonian form of these legends in common with all ancient folk-lore ascribes human calamity to blind fate or to the caprice of the G.o.ds, but the Biblical narratives a.s.sume that evil does not befall men undeserved, and therefore always ascribe ruin or death to human transgression. So the Jewish genius beheld in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah a divine judgment upon the depraved inhabitants, and derived from it a lesson for the household of Abraham that they should "keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice."(303) The fundamental principle of Judaism throughout the ages has been the teaching of the patriarch that "the Judge of all the earth cannot act unjustly,"(304) even though the varying events of history force the problem of justice upon the attention of Jeremiah,(305) the Psalmists,(306) the author of the book of Job,(307) and the Talmudical sages.(308) "Righteousness and justice are the foundations of Thy throne"(309)-this is the sum and substance of the religious experience of Israel. At the same time man realizes how far from his grasp is the divine justice: "Thy righteousness is like the mighty mountains; Thy judgments are like the great deep."(310)

2. The Master-builder of the moral world made justice the supporting pillar of the entire creation. "He is The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a G.o.d of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is He."(311) There can be no moral world order without a retributive justice, which leaves no infringement of right unpunished, just as no social order can exist without laws to protect the weak and to enforce general respect. The G.o.d of Judaism rules over mankind as Guardian and Vindicator of justice; no wrong escapes His scrutinizing gaze. This fundamental doctrine invested history, of both the individual and the nation, with a moral significance beyond that of any other religious or ethical system.

Whatever practice or sense of justice may exist among the rest of mankind, it is at best a glimpse of that divine righteousness which leads us on and becomes a mighty force compelling us, not only to avoid wrongdoing, but to combat it with all the pa.s.sion of an indignant soul and eradicate it wherever possible. Though in our daily experience justice may be sadly lacking, we still cling to the moral axiom that G.o.d will lead the right to victory and will hurl iniquity into the abyss. As the sages remark in the Midrash: "How could short-sighted and short-lived man venture to a.s.sert, 'All His ways are just,' were it not for the divine revelation by which the eyes of Moses were opened, so that he could gaze into the very depths of life?"(312) That is, the idea of divine justice is revealed, not in the world as it is, but in the world as it should be, the ideal cosmos which lives in the spirit.

3. It cannot be denied that justice is recognized as a binding force even by peoples on a low cultural plane, and the Deity is generally regarded as the guardian of justice, exactly as in Judaism. This fact is shown by the use of the oath in connection with judicial procedure among many nations.

Both Roman jurisprudence and Greek ethics declare justice to be the foundation of the social life. Nevertheless the Jewish ideal of justice cannot be identified with that of the law and the courts. The law is part of the social system of the State, by which the relations of individuals are determined and upheld. The maintenance of this social order, of the _status quo_, is considered justice by the law, whatever injustice to individuals may result. But the Jewish idea of justice is not reactionary; it owes to the prophets its position as the dominating principle of the world, the peculiar essence of G.o.d, and therefore the ultimate ideal of human life. They fought for right with an insistence which vindicated its moral significance forever, and in scathing words of indignation which still burn in the soul they denounced oppression wherever it appeared. The crimes of the mighty against the weak, they held, could not be atoned for by the outward forms of piety. Right and justice are not simply matters for the State and the social order, but belong to G.o.d, who defends the cause of the helpless and the homeless, "who executes the judgment of the fatherless and the widow," "who regardeth not persons, nor taketh bribes."(313) Iniquity is hateful to Him; it cannot be covered up by pious acts, nor be justified by good ends. "Justice is G.o.d's."(314) Thus every violation of justice, whether from sordid self-seeking or from tender compa.s.sion, is a violation of G.o.d's cause; and every vindication of justice, every strengthening of the power of right in society, is a triumph of G.o.d.

4. Accordingly, the highest principle of ethics in Judaism, the cardinal point in the government of the world, is not love, but _justice_. Love has the tendency to undermine the right and to effeminize society. Justice, on the other hand, develops the moral capacity of every man; it aims not merely to avoid wrong, but to promote and develop the right for the sake of the perfect state of morality. True justice cannot remain a pa.s.sive onlooker when the right or liberty of any human being is curtailed, but strains every effort to prevent violence and oppression. It battles for the right, until it has triumphed over every injustice. This practical conception of right can be traced through all Jewish literature and doctrine; through the laws of Moses, to whom is ascribed the maxim: "Let the right have its way, though it bore holes through the rock",(315) through the flaming words of the prophets;(316) through the Psalmists, who spoke such words as these: "Thou art not a G.o.d who hath pleasure in wickedness; evil shall not sojourn with Thee. The arrogant shall not stand in Thy sight; Thou hatest all workers of iniquity."(317)

Nor does justice stop with the prohibition of evil. The very arm that strikes down the presumptuous transgressor turns to lift up the meek and endow him with strength. Justice becomes a positive power for the right; it becomes _Zedakah_, righteousness or true benevolence, and aims to readjust the inequalities of life by kindness and love. It engenders that deeper sense of justice which claims the right of the weak to protection by the arm of the strong.

5. Hence comes the truth of Matthew Arnold's striking summary of Israel's Law and Prophets in his "Literature and Dogma," as "The Power, not ourselves, that maketh for righteousness." Still, when we trace the development of this central thought in the soul of the Jewish people, we find that it arose from a peculiar mythological conception. The G.o.d of Sinai had manifested Himself in the devastating elements of nature-fire, storm, and hail; later, the prophetic genius of Israel saw Him as a moral power who destroyed wickedness by these very phenomena in order that right should prevail. At first the covenant-G.o.d of Israel hurls the plagues of heaven upon the hostile Egyptians and Canaanites, the oppressors of His people. Afterward the great prophets speak of the Day of JHVH which would come at the end of days, when G.o.d will execute His judgment upon the heathen nations by pouring forth all the terrors of nature upon them. The natural forces of destruction are utilized by the Ruler of heaven as means of moral purification. "For by fire will the Lord contend."(318)

In this process the sense of right became progressively refined, so that G.o.d was made the Defender of the cause of the oppressed, and the holiest of duties became the protection of the forsaken and unfortunate. Justice and right were thus lifted out of the civil or forensic sphere into that of divine holiness, and the struggle for the down-trodden became an imperative duty. Judaism finds its strength in the oft-repeated doctrine that the moral welfare of the world rests upon justice. "The King's strength is that he loveth justice," says the Psalmist, and commenting upon this the Midrash says, "Not might, but right forms the foundation of the world's peace."(319)

6. Social life, therefore, must be built upon the firm foundation of justice, the full recognition of the rights of all individuals and all cla.s.ses. It can be based neither upon the formal administration of law nor upon the elastic principle of love, which too often tolerates, or even approves certain types of injustice. Judaism has been working through the centuries to realize the ideal of justice to all mankind; therefore the Jew has suffered and waited for the ultimate triumph of the G.o.d of justice. G.o.d's kingdom of justice is to be established, not in a world to come, but in the world that now is, in the life of men and nations. As the German poet has it, "Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht" (the history of the world is the world's tribunal of justice).

7. The recognition of G.o.d as the righteous Ruler implies a dominion of absolute justice which allows no wrongdoing to remain unpunished and no meritorious act to remain unrewarded. The moral and intellectual maturity of the people, however, must determine how they conceive retribution in the divine judgment. Under the simple conditions of patriarchal life, when common experience seemed to be in harmony with the demands of divine justice, when the evil-doer seemed to meet his fate and the worthy man to enjoy his merited prosperity, reward and punishment could well be expressed by the Bible in terms of national prosperity and calamity. The prophets, impressed by the political and moral decline of their era, announced for both Israel and the other nations a day of judgment to come, when G.o.d will manifest Himself as the righteous Ruler of the world. In fact, those great preachers of righteousness announced for all time the truth of a _moral government of the world_, with terror for the malefactors and the a.s.surance of peace and salvation for the righteous.

"He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity"

becomes a song of joyous confidence and hope on the lips of the Psalmist.(320) This final triumph of justice does not depend, as Christian theologians a.s.sert, on the mere outward conformity of Israel to the law.(321) On the contrary, it offers to the innocent sufferer the hope that "his right shall break forth as light," while "the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness."(322) We must admit, indeed, that the Biblical idea of retribution still has too much of the earthly flavor, and often lacks true spirituality. The explanation of this lies in the desire of the expounders of Judaism that _this_ world should be regarded as the battle-ground between the good and the bad, that the victory of the good is to be decided _here_, and that the idea of justice should not a.s.sume the character of other-worldliness.

8. It is true that neither the prophets, such as Jeremiah, nor the sages, such as the authors of Job and Koheleth, actually solved the great enigma which has baffled all nations and ages, the adjustment of merit and destiny by divine righteousness. Yet even a doubter like Job does not despair of his own sense of justice, and wrestles with his G.o.d in the effort to obtain a deeper insight. Still the great ma.s.s of people are not satisfied with an unfulfilled yearning and seeking. The various religions have gradually transferred the final adjustment of merit and destiny to the hereafter; the rewards and punishments awaiting man after death have been depicted glaringly in colors taken from this earthly life. It is not surprising that Judaism was influenced by this almost universal view. The mechanical form of the principle of justice demands that "with the same measure one metes out, it shall be meted out to him,"(323) and this could not be found either in human justice or in human destiny. Therefore the popular mind naturally turned to the world to come, expecting there that just retribution which is lacking on earth.

Only superior minds could ascend to that higher ethical conception where compensation is no longer expected, but man seeks the good and happiness of others and finds therein his highest satisfaction. As Ben Azzai expresses it, "The reward of virtue is virtue, and the punishment of sin is sin."(324) At this point justice merges into divine holiness.

9. The idea of divine justice exerted its uplifting force in one more way in Judaism. The recognition of G.o.d as the righteous Judge of the world-_Zidduk ha Din_(325)-is to bring consolation and endurance to the afflicted, and to remove from their hearts the bitter sting of despair and doubt. The rabbis called G.o.d "the Righteous One of the universe,"(326) as if to indicate that G.o.d himself is meant by the Scriptural verse, "The righteous is an everlasting foundation of the world."(327)

Far remote from Judaism, however, is the doctrine that G.o.d would consign an otherwise righteous man to eternal doom, because he belongs to another creed or another race than that of the Jew. Wherever the heathens are spoken of as condemned at the last judgment, the presumption based upon centuries of sad experience was that their lives were full of injustice and wickedness. Indeed, milder teachers, whose view became the accepted one, maintained that truly righteous men are found among the heathen, who have therefore as much claim upon eternal salvation as the pious ones of Israel.(328)

Chapter XX. G.o.d's Love and Compa.s.sion

1. As justice forms the basis of human morality, with kindness and benevolence as milder elements to mitigate its sternness, so, according to the Jewish view, mercy and love represent the milder side of G.o.d, but by no means a higher attribute counteracting His justice. Love can supplement justice, but cannot replace it. The sages say:(329) "When the Creator saw that man could not endure, if measured by the standard of strict justice, He joined His attribute of mercy to that of justice, and created man by the combined principle of both." The divine compa.s.sion with human frailty, felt by both Moses and Hosea, manifests itself in G.o.d's mercy. Were it not for the weakness of the flesh, justice would have sufficed. But the divine plan of salvation demands redeeming love which wins humanity step by step for higher moral ends. The educational value of this love lies in the fact that it is a gift of grace, bestowed on man by the fatherly love of G.o.d to ward off the severity of full retribution. His pardon must conduce to a deeper moral earnestness.(330) "For with Thee there is forgiveness that Thou mayest be feared."(331) R. Akiba says: "The world is judged by the divine attribute of goodness."(332)

2. As a matter of course, in the Biblical view G.o.d's mercy was realized at first only with regard to Israel and was afterward extended gradually to humanity at large. The generation of the flood and the inhabitants of Sodom perished on account of their guilt, and only the righteous were saved. This att.i.tude holds throughout the Bible until the late book of Jonah, with its lesson of G.o.d's forgiveness even for the heathen city of Nineveh after due repentance. In the later Psalms the divine attributes of mercy are expanded and applied to all the creatures of G.o.d.(333) According to the school of Hillel, whenever the good and evil actions of any man are found equal in the scales of justice, G.o.d inclines the balances toward the side of mercy.(334) Nay more, in the words of Samuel, the Babylonian teacher, G.o.d judges the nations by the n.o.blest types they produce.(335)

The ruling Sadducean priesthood insisted on the rigid enforcement of the law. The party of the pious, the _Hasidim_, however,-according to the liturgy, the apocryphal and the rabbinical literature,-appealed to the mercy of G.o.d in song and prayer, acknowledging their failings in humility, and made kindness and love their special objects in life. Therefore with their ascendancy the divine attributes of mercy and compa.s.sion were accentuated. G.o.d himself, we are told, was heard praying: "Oh that My attribute of mercy may prevail over My attribute of justice, so that grace alone may be bestowed upon My children on earth."(336) And the second word of the Decalogue was so interpreted that G.o.d's mercy-which is said to extend "to the thousandth generation"-is five hundred times as powerful as His punitive justice,-which is applied "to the third and fourth generation."(337)

3. Divine mercy shows itself in the law, where compa.s.sion is enjoined on all suffering creatures. Profound sympathy with the oppressed is echoed in the ancient law of the poor who had to give up his garment as a pledge: "When he crieth unto Me, I shall hear, for I am gracious."(338) In the old Babylonian code, might was the arbiter of right,(339) but the unique genius of the Jew is shown in adapting this same legal material to its impulse of compa.s.sion. The cry of the innocent sufferer, of the forsaken and fatherless, rises up to G.o.d's throne and secures there his right against the oppressor. Thus in the Mosaic law and throughout Jewish literature G.o.d calls himself "the Judge of the widow," "the Father of the fatherless,"(340) "a Stronghold to the needy."(341) He calls the poor, "My people,"(342) and, as the rabbis say, He loves the persecuted, not the persecutors.(343)

4. Even to dumb beasts G.o.d extends His mercy. This Jewish tenderness is an inheritance from the shepherd life of the patriarchs, who were eager to quench the thirst of the animals in their care before they thought of their own comfort.(344) This sense of sympathy appears in the Biblical precepts as to the overburdened beast,(345) the ox treading the corn,(346) and the mother-beast or mother-bird with her young,(347) as well as the Talmudic rule first to feed the domestic animals and then sit down to the meal.(348) This has remained a characteristic trait of Judaism. Thus, in connection with the verse of the Psalm, "His tender mercies are over all His works,"(349) it is related of Rabbi Judah the Saint, the redactor of the Mishnah, that he was afflicted with pain for thirteen years, and gave as reason that he once struck and kicked away a calf which had run to him moaning for protection; he was finally relieved, after he had taught his household to have pity even on the smallest of creatures.(350) In fact, Rabban Gamaliel, his grandfather, had taught before him: "Whosoever has compa.s.sion on his fellow-creatures, on him G.o.d will have compa.s.sion."(351) The sages often interpret the phrase "To walk in the way of the Lord"-that is, "As the Holy One, blessed be He, is merciful, so be ye also merciful."(352)

5. Thus the rabbis came to regard _love_ as the innermost part of G.o.d's being. _G.o.d loves mankind_, is the highest stage of consciousness of G.o.d, but this can be attained only by the closest relation of the human soul to the Most High, after severe trials have softened and humanized the spirit.

It is not accidental that Scripture speaks often of G.o.d's goodness, mercy, and grace, but seldom mentions His love. Possibly the term _ahabah_ was used at first for sensuous love and therefore was not employed for G.o.d so often as the more spiritual _hesed_, which denotes kind and loyal affection.(353) However, Hosea used this term for his own love for his faithless wife, and did not hesitate to apply it also to G.o.d's love for His faithless people, which he terms "a love of free will."(354) His example is followed by Jeremiah, most tender of the prophets, who gave the cla.s.sic expression to the everlasting love of G.o.d for Israel, His beloved son.(355) This divine love, spiritually understood, forms the chief topic of the Deuteronomic addresses.(356) In this book G.o.d's love appears as that of a father for his son, who lavishes gifts upon him, but also chastises him for his own good.(357) The mind opened more and more to regard the trials sent by G.o.d as means of enn.o.bling the character,(358) and the men of the Talmudic period often speak of the afflictions of the saints as "visitations of the divine love."(359)

6. The sufferings of Israel in particular were taken to be trials of the divine love.(360) G.o.d's love for Israel, "His first-born son,"(361) is not partial, but from the outset aims to train him for his world mission. The Song of Moses speaks of the love of the Father for His son "whom He found in the wilderness";(362) and this is requited by the bridal love of Israel with which the people "went after G.o.d in the wilderness."(363) It is this love of G.o.d, according to Akiba's interpretation of the Song of Songs, which "all the waters could not quench," "a love as strong as death."(364) This love raised up a nation of martyrs without parallel in history, although the followers of the so-called Religion of Love fail to give it the credit it deserves and seem to regard it as a kind of hatred for the rest of mankind.(365) Whenever the paternal love of G.o.d is truly felt and understood it must include all cla.s.ses and all souls of men who enter into the relation of children to G.o.d. Wherever emphasis is laid upon the special love for Israel, it is based upon the love with which the chosen people cling to the Torah, the word of G.o.d, upon the devotion with which they surrender their lives in His cause.(366)

7. Still, Judaism does not proclaim love, absolute and unrestricted, as the divine principle of life. That is left to the Church, whose history almost to this day records ever so many acts of lovelessness. Love is unworthy of G.o.d, unless it is guided by justice. Love of good must be accompanied by hate of evil, or else it lacks the educative power which alone makes it beneficial to man.

G.o.d's love manifests itself in human life as an educative power. R. Akiba says that it extends to all created in G.o.d's image, although the knowledge of it was vouchsafed to Israel alone.(367) This universal love of G.o.d is a doctrine of the apocryphal literature as well. "Thou hast mercy upon all ... for Thou lovest all things that are, and hatest nothing which Thou hast made.... But Thou sparest all, for they are Thine, O Lord, Lover of souls," says the Book of Wisdom;(368) and when Ezra the Seer laments the calamity that has befallen the people, G.o.d replies, "Thinkest thou that thou lovest My creatures more than I?"(369)

8. Among the mystics divine love was declared to be the highest creative principle. They referred the words of the Song of Songs,-"The midst thereof is paved with love,"(370) to the innermost palace of heaven, where stands the throne of G.o.d.(371) Among the philosophers Crescas considered love the active cosmic principle rather than intellect, the principle of Aristotle, because it is love which is the impulse for creation.(372) This conception of divine love received a peculiarly mystic color from Juda Abravanel, a neo-Platonist of the sixteenth century, known as Leo Hebraeus. He says: "G.o.d's love must needs unfold His perfection and beauty, and reveal itself in His creatures, and love for these creatures must again elevate an imperfect world to His own perfection. Thus is engendered in man that yearning for love with which he endeavors to emulate the divine perfection."(373) Both Crescas and Leo Hebraeus thus gave the keynote for Spinoza's "Intellectual love" as the cosmic principle,(374) and this has been echoed even in such works as Schiller's dithyrambs on "Love and Friendship" in his "Philosophic Letters."(375) Still this neo-Platonic view has nothing in common with the theological conception of love. In Judaism G.o.d is conceived as a loving Father, who purposes to lead man to happiness and salvation. In other words, the divine love is an essentially moral attribute of G.o.d, and not a metaphysical one.

9. If we wish to speak of a power that permeates the cosmos and turns the wheel of life, it is far more correct to speak of G.o.d's creative goodness.(376) According to Scripture, each day's creation bears the divine approval: "It is good."(377) Even the evil which man experiences serves a higher purpose, and that purpose makes for the good. Misfortune and death, sorrow and sin, in the great economy of life are all turned into final good. Accordingly, Judaism recognizes this divine goodness not only in every enjoyment of nature's gifts and the favors of fortune, but also in sad and trying experiences, and for all of these it provides special formulas of benediction.(378) The same divine goodness sends joy and grief, even though shortsighted man fails to see the majestic Sun of life which shines in unabated splendor above the clouds. Judaism was optimistic through all its experiences just because of this implicit faith in G.o.d's goodness. Such faith transforms each woe into a higher welfare, each curse into actual blessing; it leads men and nations from oppression to ever greater freedom, from darkness to ever brighter light, and from error to ever higher truth and righteousness. Divine love may have pity upon human weakness, but it is divine goodness that inspires and quickens human energy. After all, love cannot be the dominant principle of life.

Man cannot love all the time, nor can he love all the world; his sense of justice demands that he hate wickedness and falsehood. We must apply the same criterion to G.o.d. But, on the other hand, man can and should _do good_ and _be good_ continually and to all men, even to the most unworthy.