“Thou art wise, and the wisdom of Thy fount of life floweth from Thee;
And compared with Thy wisdom man is void of understanding;
Thou art wise, before anything began its existence;
And wisdom has from times of yore been Thy fostered child;
Thou art wise, and out of Thy wisdom didst Thou create the world,
Life the artificer that fashioneth whatsoever delighteth him.”[408]
Chapter XXIII. God's Condescension
1. An attribute of great importance for the theological conception of God, one upon which both Biblical and rabbinical literature laid especial stress, is His condescension and humility. The Psalmist says[409]: “Thy condescension hath made me great,” which is interpreted in the Midrash that the Deity stoops to man in order to lift him up to Himself. A familiar saying of R. Johanan is[410]: “Wherever Scripture speaks of the greatness of God, there mention is made also of His condescension. So when the prophet begins, ‘Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place,’ he adds the words, ‘With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.’[411] Or when the Deuteronomist says: ‘For the Lord your God, the great God, the mighty and the awful,’ he concludes, ‘He doth execute justice for the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger.’[412] And again the Psalmist: ‘Extol Him that rideth upon the skies, whose name is the Lord, a Father of the fatherless and a Judge of the widows.’ ”[413] “Do you deem it unworthy of God that He should care for the smallest and most insignificant person or thing in the world's household?” asks Mendelssohn in his Morgenstunden. “It certainly does not detract from the dignity of a king to be seen fondling his child as a loving father,” and he quotes [pg 143] the verse of the Psalm, “Who is like unto the Lord our God, that is enthroned on high, that looketh down low upon heaven and upon the earth.”[414]