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A Dialogue between Man and God

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2009

Mordecai Roshwald
Mordecai Roshwald
Affiliation:
G-2 Glacier Drive, Nashua, NH 03062, U.S.A.
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Extract

The purpose of this essay is to address one of those passages in the Bible, and in the annals of human spirit, which strike one as monumental. It is not only an exemplary piece of biblical literature, as well as a particularly fitting fragment in the context of a particular story. It stands out because of its relevance in places and times other than those set for it in the text. It transcends the setting of the story and of the epoch, whatever it may be, and becomes perennial. It is, of course, of primary significance to Judaism and an important contribution to what is best in Western Civilization.

Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , May 1989 , pp. 145 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1989

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References

1 Hume, David, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 1779, Part X.Google Scholar

2 The original, literally translated, reads: ‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do judgment?’ ‘Judgment’ (mishpat) in this, as various other contexts, means ‘right judgment’, ‘just judgment’. (Cf., for example, Isaiah 5: 7: ‘and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression.’)

3 The Zohar, translated by Sperling, Harry and Simon, Maurice, London and Bournemouth: The Soncino Press, 1949, Vol. I, pp. 340–341 (106a–106b).Google Scholar

4 Euthyphro, 10a. The quotation follows B. Jowett's translation.

5 Cf. the following statement in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1971, Vol. 10, p. 3, col. b, in an article on ‘Jeshua ben Judah’: ‘He likewise agrees with al-Basir in regarding the nature of good and evil as absolute, not relative, and as binding upon God as well.’

Contrast with these the Lutheran attitude, as reflected in the following account: ‘When Erasmus reproached Luther with ascribing to God conduct which would be hateful in man, Luther answered boldly that this was just what he had a full right to do. God was not bound by His own Laws and He might deal with His creatures as He pleased.’ Geyl, Pieter, Debates with Historians, Groningen: J. B. Walters & The Hague: Martinus NijhofT, 1955, pp. 50–51.Google Scholar

6 After having written this essay, the present writer came across an almost identical formulation in a book by Arieti, Silvano, Abraham and the Contemporary Mind, New York: Basic Books, 1981, p. 113:Google Scholar ‘If a person is entitled to maintain a questioning attitude toward God, a fortiori he should be entitled to maintain such an attitude toward other human beings.’

7 See Mill, J. S., On Liberty (1859).Google Scholar

8 See Ha'am's, Ahad essay, ‘Moses’, in Selected Essays, translated by Sir SirSimon, Leon, 1912.Google Scholar

Similar is the characterization of Judaism — or Hebraism, as he prefers to call it — by Matthew Arnold, who sees righteousness as its quintessence and great contribution to humanity. The idea is scattered in his various writings, but see, for example, the following: The Complete Works of Matthew Arnold, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1970, Vol. VI, Literature and Dogma (1871–1873)Google Scholar, Chapter I. — With reference to our passage, cf. also Speiser, E. A., Genesis (The Anchor Bible), New York: Doubleday & Co., 1964, p. 133, note xviii, 19Google Scholar: ‘The verse as a whole gives an excellent summary of the way of life (“way of Jahwe”) that is expected of Abraham and his descendants.’ — Cf. also Rad, Gerhard von, Genesis, A Commentary, translated from German by Marks, John H., Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1961 (original: 1956), p. 205Google Scholar. Commenting on the same verse 19, he writes: ‘Abraham has the position of teacher for his descendants….’

9 A comparable passage in Genesis 12: 3 refers to Abraham as the focus or means of universal blessing, while in Genesis 22: 18 such reference is made to the seed of Abraham.

10 See the Hebrew commentary of Avi Ezer. — On the possible meanings of the biblical phrasing, see also E. A. Speiser, op. cit., p. 86, note xii, 3, where the commentary is addressed to the same phrasing in another, comparable, context, namely Genesis 12: 3 (mentioned above, in note 9).

11 Cf. the Hebrew dictionary of Yehuda Gor, where the following biblical example is quoted to substantiate the second meaning of berakha (blessing): ‘The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto’ (Deuteronomy 28: 8).