Kaisipang Hudyo sa Malakias 3:6: Akeidat Yitzchak, Guide for the Perplexed & HaEmunot veHaDeot

The Sifri on Parshat ha-azinu quotes the following parable. A king entrusted his son to a pedagogue, to sit and watch over him. The son said to himself: "if my father thinks that the fact that he has handed me into the hands of a pedagogue will change anything, he is mistaken." I will see to it that the pedagogue will be well fed, and will have a comfortable place to sleep. Meanwhile, I shall do as I please." The father explained to the son that the only reason he had entrusted him to the pedagogue was to protect him from being led astray. Moses said to the Israelites: "in case you have any intention of escaping from beneath the wings of Divine protection, or to escape to any place on earth, Heaven and Earth will be on record." Job says "that the Heavens will reveal his sin, the Earth will rise against him." (Job 20,27) When Israel will argue at the celestial Court in the future "I am not sure who went wrong, or who changed the relationship. Has G'd changed His relationship with Israel, or vice versa?" At that point, "the Heavens will tell about His righteousness." (Psalms 50,6) Israel corrupted its ways before G'd; G'd certainly did not change His commitment to Israel. This is what the prophet Maleachi said: "I am the Lord, said the Lord, I have not changed." (Maleachi 3,6)

Reflecting the high standard of Israel, the opening Midrash described the disease as epilepsy, a temporary affliction, of brief duration. The remedy quoted, the kami-a, amulet, is considered spiritual in nature, not something organic, (in Talmudic and Midrashic parlance) This suggests that the aberration had been brief, subject to prompt correction by proper spiritual orientation. Angels achieve their shleymut, perfection, by means of a single expression, i.e. experience. (Daniel 4,14), whereas man requires two expressions, i.e. experiences. The first was "let Us make man in Our image," at the time man was being created. The second expression, a further stage leading to complete perfection was the revelation at Mount Sinai. Hopefully, the two experiences between them will achieve mankind's refinement, and convert our potential into the actual achievement of the finest our species is capable of.

When applied to God, the verb is to be taken in that latter sense: “Thou O Lord, remainest (tesheb) for ever” (Lam. 5:19); “O thou who sittest (ha-yoshebi) in the heavens” (Ps. 123:1); “He who sitteth in the heavens” (ii. 4), i.e., He who is everlasting, constant, and in no way subject to change; immutable in His Essence, and as He consists of nought but His Essence, He is mutable in no way whatever; not mutable in His relation to other things: for there is no relation whatever existing between Him and any other being, as will be explained below, and therefore no change as regard; such relations can take place in Him. Hence He is immutable in every respect, as He expressly declares, “I, the Lord, do not change” (Mal. 3:6); i.e., in Me there is not any change whatever. This idea is expressed by the term yashab when referring to God.