Pensée juive sur L’Ecclésiaste 1:9

If one considers, as the Rambam does, for instance, that man is a microcosm compared to the universe, the macrocosm, and that the six days of creation symbolize the six thousand years of human existence on earth followed by one thousand years of transformation pending the advent of the messianic age, one may also see some significance in the seventy years allotted to man on this earth. If the first two thousand years of mankind's history are considered tohu, chaos, a period in which man was subject to juvenile errors, mistakes etc. and that this was why there was a need for a deluge after about sixteen hundred years, then in the life of individuals also, the juvenile years are the underlying cause of sinfulness. G-d’s resolve not to bring another deluge was due to recognition of this factor. Immaturity as a cause of sin is prevalent both in the species and in the individuals. If our sages describe the yetzer hara, evil urge as appearing in seven different guises, they refer to manifestations of the evil urge in seven different forms during seven different decades of man's life. Since with advancing age the evil urge within us weakens, his name changes also. The name ra refers to the way it manifests itself during the first ten years of our lives. At that time, we do not possess within us a force that compensates for the evil urge, something all of us have been born with. A youth's activities are largely dictated by the very immaturity of the victim of this "evil." Moses called the evil urge arel, the uncircumcised one; David referred to ist as tamey, impure. Solomon called it the soneh, the "hater." Isaiah called it michshol, hindrance, obstruction. Ezekiel called it tzefoni, the viper. If one were to subscribe to the theory that life has existed since time immemorial, that the universe existed prior to G-d, we would face the problem of how to account for the sudden depravity of man after millions of years of uninterrupted forward development. According to the theory of Solomon in Kohelet, the concept of kadmut ha-olam, the universe preceding G-d, pyramidical development of the human race is impossible; all there could be would be a never ending repetitious cycle of happenings. Clearly, according to such thinking, the very term "development" would be a misnomer. This is what Solomon means when he keeps talking about "what has been is what will be."

When Abraham sacrificed the ram, he was not yet certain if that act had been accepted as a substitute for Isaac and would be considered equivalent to his having actually sacrificed Isaac physically. He called the place "the mountain where it is proper to demonstrate obedience (fear) of the Lord," to indicate what he had come to accomplish there. Beyond this, he expressed the hope that also in the future this site would be looked up to as the place where his act of obedience had been duly noted. The second call of the angel confirmed to him that his intention had in fact been considered by G-d as if he had already carried out the deed, and this would benefit the whole of mankind through his descendants, and that the world at large would know all about it. Something else created after sunset on the sixth day of Creation, and being activated when a suitable opportunity presented itself, is the "mouth of the earth" which swallowed Korach and his followers. Moses suggested that if a gehinam had not yet been created, this would be a good time to create it and to consign Korach and his followers to it. The use of the earth's "mouth" then had not yet been decreed, and awaited an opportunity for man to trigger it (compare Bamidbar Rabbah 18). The same consideration can be applied to the other examples listed in that Mishnah in Avot. Abraham returned to Beer Sheva to lead a life of spreading blessings for his fellow men (he planted the Eshel). As pointed out in the opening Midrash, the ultimate justification for subjecting the righteous to trials lies in the fact that such tzaddikim emerge spiritually elevated. When such righteous people also enjoy material success, the midat hadin, G-d’s attribute of justice, can point out that such material wealth had not been bestowed arbitrarily, but had been earned the hard way by its recipients. In Michah 6,8, we are taught that the trial of the akeydah in its applied sense had become the claim G-d has on all of us. The moral imperative which the call to the akeydah represented, and which Abraham had demonstrated to be within man's capacity to respond to, has since become the call addressed to each one of Abraham's descendants, even if no first born is needed as an actual sacrifice on the altar. The commandment to blow the shofar, the ram's horn, on New Year's day, is to remind the midat hadin, attribute of justice, of the successful trial of Abraham, and of the fact that the hachna-ah, submissive feelings, evoked in us at the sound of the shofar, are the symbolic akeydah of each one of us.

The Mutakalllimun²⁰See supra, c. I. p. 41, n. 2; and p. 77. are, however, of a different opinion in this regard, for I have heard them say that the Divine Will is constantly at work, decreeing everything from time to time.²¹Cf. Moreh, I, 73. Sixth Proposition. See Munk, Guide, I, p. 286, n. 3. We do not agree with them, but believe that the Divine Will ordained everything at creation, and that all things, at all times, are regulated by the laws of nature, and run their natural course, in accordance with what Solomon said, "As it was, so it will ever be, as it was made so it continues, and there is nothing new under the sun".²²Eccles. I, 9.