Еврейская мысль к Йехезкэля 8:12

R. Chelbo said in the name of Rav Huna, ‘one should always take care with the afternoon prayer because Eliyahu was only answered through the afternoon prayer, as it says “And it came to pass at the time of the afternoon offering that Eliyahu the prophet drew near and said…answer me, Lord, answer me…” (Melachim I 18:36-37) R. Yochanan said, ‘so too the nighttime prayer, as it says “Let my prayer be set before You as incense; and the lifting up of my hands like the evening offering.” (Tehillim 141:2) Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said ‘so too the morning prayer, as it says “Lord, in the morning hear my voice; in the morning I will direct my prayer to You and wait expectantly.”’ (Tehillim 5:4) [Berachot 6b]
There are limbs which are doubled, whose redundancy is for enhanced safety, that if one should be lost the remaining one will fill its place. There are limbs each of which have their own intrinsic value, and if one is lost another cannot fill its place. Each of the three prayers fixed in their times is aligned with a particular aspect of the service of prayer, in such a manner that it cannot be considered a redundant limb, that at the very least one proper prayer will rise up from amongst the three; rather each one requires particular care in itself. One stands as a foundation against the overflowing of the inclination of one’s heart with the dissolution and foolishness that are mingled into the business of the world. This prayer restores one’s spiritual loss through pouring out the heart’s conversation before G–d, cleansing it of its false veneer (See Yechezkiel 13:10 as well as 22:28) with loftiness of pure conceptions of G–d consciousness and Divine service. The afternoon prayer acts toward this end. It comes after the intensity of the mundane concerns of the day, just as Eliyahu was answered then in his battle against the worship of the ba’al.⁵⁹Ba’al, which in Hebrew means master, was the foundational male deity with which Israel was in conflict in the biblical period. See Kings I 18 for the story of Eliyahu’s final showdown with the priests of the Baal. And check out theageofprophecy.com The nighttime prayer lifts the human spirit into the glorious station of its soul, through the purification of thoughts and musings. “Let my prayer be set before You as incense…,” because the incense offering is a ‘thing done in secret’ (Yoma 44a) bringing about the fixing of one’s ways in their innermost chambers. (See Yechezkiel 8:12) It atones for evil speech said in private (Zevachim 88b) which occurs primarily through the thoughts of the heart (See Bereshit 6:5) , as it is written ”let one not devise evil in his heart against his neighbor…” (Zechariah 18:17) But in the morning, when evil influences have not yet clung to the powers of the soul, but they nevertheless lack a wholeness of potency due to the ascendency of physical nature during the night’s sleep, the morning prayer awakens and orders them in a framework of holiness, in a lofty accounting of righteousness and rectitude, in the awe of G–d and His love. “HaShem, in the morning hear my voice, in the morning I direct (e’eroch) my prayer to you,” the framework (ma’arechet) of my heart and the powers of my soul, “and I wait expectantly” that you will be with me to sustain my valor, because one who comes to purify himself receives assistance. (Shabbat 104a)

My object in this chapter was to show how the belief of the ignorant, that God does not notice the affairs of man because they are uncertain and unsystematic, is very ancient. Comp. “And the Israelites uttered things that were not right against the Lord” (2 Kings 17:9). In reference to this passage the Midrash says: “What have they uttered? This Pillar [i.e., God] does not see, nor hear, nor speak”; i.e., they imagine that God takes no notice of earthly affairs, that the Prophets received of God neither affirmative nor negative precepts; they imagine so, simply because human affairs are not arranged as every person would think it desirable. Seeing that these are not in accordance with their wish, they say, “The Lord does not see us” (Ezek. 8:12). Zephaniah (i. 12) also describes those ignorant persons “who say in their heart the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.”

Another very important lesson is taught by the additional phrase, “in the earth.” It implies a fundamental principle of the Law; it rejects the theory of those who boldly assert that God’s providence does not extend below the sphere of the moon, and that the earth with its contents is abandoned, that “the Lord hath forsaken the earth” (Ez. 8:12). It teaches, as has been taught by the greatest of all wise men in the words, “The earth is the Lord’s” (Exod. 9:29), that His providence extends to the earth in accordance with its nature, in the same manner as it controls the heavens in accordance with their nature. This is expressed in the words, “That I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.” The prophet thus, in conclusion, says, “For in these things I delight, saith the Lord,” i.e., My object [in saying this] is that you shall practise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. In a similar manner we have shown (Part I. liv.) that the object of the enumeration of God’s thirteen attributes is the lesson that we should acquire similar attributes and act accordingly. The object of the above passage is therefore to declare, that the perfection, in which man can truly glory, is attained by him when he has acquired—as far as this is possible for man—the knowledge of God, the knowledge of His Providence, and of the manner in which it influences His creatures in their production and continued existence. Having acquired this knowledge he will then be determined always to seek loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, and thus to imitate the ways of God. We have explained this many times in this treatise.