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, [[148]]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 [[149]]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. [[150]]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 [[151]]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). [[152]]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 [[153]]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.