Musar sobre Génesis 5:22

We find that his service was out of love and not out of fear and this is the highest service. The Creator, blessed be He, did not praise him for fearing Him, nor did he say, “The seed of Abraham who fears me or is terrified,” but he said (Isaiah 41:8), “The seed of Abraham, My friend.” We have already said that fear is contained in love. Know that the service of the Creator, blessed be He, out of fear is not the service of the truly pious, but it is the service of the wicked or the nations of the world, as He has said to the wicked (Jeremiah 5:22), “Fear ye not Me?”, and He says concerning the Egyptians (Exodus 9:20), “He that feared the word of the Lord,” for they were not doing His command out of love, but out of fear. But to the pious he says (Deuteronomy 6:5), “And thou shalt love the Lord, thy God,” and (ibid., 11:13), “To love the Lord your God.” But he says in Job (Job 1:8), “A wholehearted and an upright man, one that feareth God, and shunneth evil,” and He did not say concerning him, “a lover of God.” And similarly it is said (Psalms 34:10), “O fear the Lord, by His holy ones,” and this is said of the wicked. For when the wicked cleave to the service of God and sanctify and cleanse themselves from their uncleanliness, they are called “holy ones” as it is said (Numbers 11:18), “Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow.” Whereas of the pious ones, whose heart is pure from the first day of their existence, it is said (Psalms 31:24), “O love the Lord all ye His godly ones; the Lord preserveth the faithful.” And of Enoch, it is said (Genesis 5:22), “And Enoch walked with God,” and it is not said, “And Enoch feared God.” And concerning Noah it is said (Genesis 6:9), “Noah was in his generations a man righteous and whole-hearted.”¹⁷Job was regarded by Jewish tradition as a gentile, as were Enoch and Noah. The latter two lived prior to the time of Abraham, the founder of Judaism. Thus the service of God through fear is not like the service of God through love.