아모스 4:7의 유대 사상

Rabbi Yitzchak proceeds to illustrate that the phenomenon we call eyesight, vision, at certain times and at certain angles, creates an image which, while known to us empirically, defies our ability to analyze and explain its cause. It therefore ranks with those phenomena which were created after sunset but before nightfall of the sixth day of creation (Avot 5,6). Scientists have concluded that the appearance of the rainbow after a downpour signifies immediate dispersal of rainclouds, clearing skies. This would be in line with the significance of the rainbow as described in the Torah. It also demonstrates that the concentration of disastrous rain was limited to a section of the earth, not its entire surface. Similarly, a rainbow over a relatively clear area of sky would signal approaching rainfall in other areas of the globe. (6) The whole ot brit, sign of the covenant would correspond to the moral lessons absorbed during the great flood. This in turn would make it unlikely that all of mankind would once more deserve terminal punishment at the same time. It is therefore the very naturalness of the rainbow's appearance that will recall to G-d the changed nature of man on earth. The Talmud in Ketuvot 77 states that in the generation of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi no rainbow was ever seen. This was due to two causes. 1) Reminders to G-d were not necessary, due to the righteousness of the leaders of that generation, a fact which was brought home to the people of that era by the absence of rainbows and the continued existence of the earth in spite of such absence. 2) Since the normal appearance of the phenomenon signifies rainfall due to G-d’s general Providence, in the generation of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi people were under G-d’s particular Providence, the proof of which was the absence of the rainbow. Rainfall in those days occurred simultaneously all over the earth at times which did not conflict with normal human outdoor activities. The verse in Isaiah 54,10 quoted earlier about no more deluges in the future does not constitute a promise which negates the attribute of justice, i.e. no undeserved preferential treatment was promised, rather it is a reference to the changed nature of man which makes the need for any future deluge obsolete. In the fullness of time and in accordance with prophetic visions, in the messianic age, all desire to deviate from the ways of the Lord will cease, and man observing G-d’s will in full will become a natural phenomenon at all times. This is what the Talmud (Shabbat 151) has in mind when it interprets "the days when I have no more desire" (Kohelet 12,1) as referring to the messianic age. One may then view the perfect state of man as something that existed or will exist at three distinct points in time. 1) At creation; at that time man was perfect, but that perfection was of an extremely fragile nature. 2) Immediately after the deluge, at that time, perfection was due to the personal experience that perfection was the only way to avoid disaster recurring. 3) In messianic times, when perfection will no longer be so fragile since it is the result of personality growth.