Chasidut do Hioba 28:25

The root of faith,which leads to the fear of God, is for man to wholeheartedly believe that God brought forth the entire creation ex nihilo, out of absolute non-existence.²²⁵The proper expression of faith leads one to believe in the absolutely autonomous power of God to create the world. One who lacks this faith will see only inflexible, natural laws of an eternal universe. As the author explained above, this approach will ultimately lead to idolatry, which is a fear born of deficiency; that is, the fear of losing one’s own absolute truths. He carved the laws of the universe, established all its systems, and arranged all of its orders. He meted out knowledge and wisdom to every aspect of His creation, with everything received its proper amount. He gave every creature the amount of wisdom perfectly suited to its attributes, and gave mankind the ability to know and comprehend, each person according to his own measure. All was emenated, created, formed, and made²²⁶These four terms parallel the basic concept of the Kaballah of the four worlds, atzilut, beriyah, yetsirah, and asiyah. See Yeshayahu, 43:6. out of nothing. Everything was established only in order to create the appearance of separate entities in the world, with each being acting on its own accord, based upon the consciousness that God has granted us. Still, we need to know and believe that our own human knowledge does not come close to the root of God’s knowledge. We may only contemplate that which we are permitted to know. Even the prophet’s knowledge is limited by the way God created him and the power of comprehension granted unto him. His prophecy is only according to his knowledge, as it is written (Hoshea, 12:11), “I have multiplied their visions, and I shall use images through the prophets.” This idea is found in the Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 19, page 40a). When God wants to draw prophecy into the world, then all of the Sefirot are included in a man, and he is called a prophet. The Sefirah of Malkhut (sovereignty) is a representation of all of the Sefirot. This is as it is written, “I shall use images through the prophets.” And as it is written (Hoshea, 12), “I have spoken to the prophets,” where Malkhut is like a mirror in which you can see all of the various faces.²²⁷The sefirah of Malkhut is the lowest in the arrangement of the sefirot. Thus, Malkhut serves as a sort of catch-basin, or mirror, that receives and reflects the potencies of the upper sefirot that descend into it. The prophet attains this consciousness, and is therefore able to receive God’s word, as it filters down through all the upper worlds and spheres. Similarly, all of the Sefirot show their power and forms to the prophet according to his ability to perceive the upper realms. In the same way it is enclothed below in the Throne of Glory, in all of the angels, the Ofanim, the holy Hayot, in all of their firmaments and thrones, and in all of the angels that are dependent on them. There are many levels of angels, one above the other, as it is written (Kohelet, 5:7), “For there is a higher one who watches over him that is high, and there are yet higher ones over them.” So too, with every Cherub and mazal (astrological force), as it is written (Tehillim, 145), “His sovereignty (Malchus) is in every dominion.” This is, “I shall use images through the prophets.” Each one sees the images (from the beyond) according to his power, which is his soul. It is said in the Midrash (Rabbah, Ta’azria, 15), “Even when Ruah haKodesh rests upon the prophets, it does so only according to a defined measure.” “To make a scale for the wind (spirit)” (Iyov, 28:25). This is all to say that the understanding of the prophets is also a force created by God and allocated to each prophet and sage according to God’s wisdom. His prophecies all follow the specific power of understanding granted at the root of his soul. All of man’s ability to understand is a force that God created and distributed to mankind.²²⁸The point here is that human wisdom – even the highest, prophetic wisdom – is a creation of God, which God emanates in accordance with the level of the prophet’s soul. That being the case, one must realize that there is something higher than all comprehension, whether knowledge is prophetic or intellectual.