Kaisipang Hudyo sa Mga Kawikaan 30:5: Akeidat Yitzchak

Midrash Rabbah Shemot 2, interprets Proverbs 30,5, "Every utterance of G-d is refined and pure," to mean that G-d does not grant man elevated status until such man has been examined in trivial matters and has passed such examination. So it was, for instance, with David, who let his sheep graze in the desert so as not to benefit from robbery, i.e grass owned by some individual. His brother Eliav had said to him, "Why did you abandon the few sheep in the desert?" (Samuel I 17,28). G-d said to David, "Since you have been faithful concerning the sheep, come and be in charge of My sheep" (Psalms 68). We also find that Moses led the sheep behind the desert to remove himself from suspicion of stealing. Subsequently, G-d took Moses to tend His people. See Psalms 77, "You have guided Your people like sheep at the hands of Moses and Aaron."

In particular, all his intellectual faculties, though G-d given, do not necessarily lead him to the right conclusions. In order to progress from ignorance toward understanding the works of G-d, one must understand the laws of nature as manifest in our universe; subsequently, one may acquire some insights into the workings of the Divine. Chapter thirty in Proverbs illustrates that man without the assistance of G-d is naught. "Agur" describes himself as ignorant, possessing neither knowledge of the natural sciences nor knowledge of the metaphysical. His very name indicates that he is desirous of amassing knowledge. The same applies to his partner "Ittiel," who desires close communion with G-d. The thrust of the message is that as long as no one has offered prophetic insight, "Who ascended to heaven?" "What is my name or the name of my son?" i.e. I amount to nothing as long as I am not in possession of inside knowledge of our tradition. The entire chapter outlines the handicaps someone like Abraham labors under when he endeavors to discover truth, not having the revealed word of G-d to assist him in his quest. The only path which is guaranteed to lead to success is "the word of the Lord is refined, pure" (Proverbs 30,5). If our faculties are inadequate to reveal to us the truths about the workings of the physical universe, how much less adequate are they to make us privy to the workings of the spiritual spheres (Isaiah 44,24)? The prophet, in describing G-d’s exclusive involvement in developing the physical universe and asking "Who is with Me?" i.e. "Who helped Me?", makes it clear that man's insight into the heavenly part of the universe is even less imaginable.

At any rate, we believe in the complete and detailed awareness by G-d of man's deeds, thoughts, hopes etc. Granted that we are unable to fully comprehend the nature of this knowledge of G-d, its existence has been spelled out in the Torah and holy writ so many times that it cannot be doubted. The very attempt to try and understand His mind by using our limited powers of perception is not only foolish, but shows a lack of faith on our part. Abraham was taught this lesson both at his circumcision and on the occasion G-d asked him to offer his son Isaac as a total offering. Both commandments completely defy our way of reasoning. They prove, therefore, that we cannot arrogate to ourselves the right to presume what His will would be. All attempts to define the nature of His knowledge, therefore, are childish. Suppose man decided to sacrifice his dearest possession out of love for G-d, what good is it to G-d, what need does He have for it? Besides, if that person has that much love for G-d, why not present G-d with his own life, surely his dearest possession?! The fact that G-d has gone out of His way to tell us about His awareness of our individual psyches as well as our deeds is to avoid His appearing deficient in any way in our eyes. If G-d says to Abraham after the akeydah, "Now I know that you are G-d-fearing," this shows that Abraham's motives are well known to G-d. If Sarah is accused of harboring certain unworthy thoughts (Genesis 18,13), this clearly shows G-d’s awareness of all that goes on in any individual's mind. The question arises why we need to know of this process of G-d’s knowledge altogether, seeing we do not understand it? There are two answers. Someone ignorant of the state of world affairs is considered both an ignoramus and a fool. G-d says, "How can information be withheld from Me?" The idea is "How can I be considered ignorant?" Ignorance would result in reduced stature. Man, too, by being given certain information is raised in stature, though he may not comprehend how this information is arrived at. We all know that spectacles are apt to improve one's failing vision. Glasses, though an aid to seeing, do not have independent vision themselves. How can any person who needs spectacles in order to improve his vision judge the quality of the eyesight of someone who does not require spectacles? Our study of optics teaches that the image is recorded by our eye upside down, distorted. Only with the aid of our mind are we able to compensate for that distortion. Surely there is a lesson here for us. We must not compare the quality of our "seeing" to His "seeing". In Psalm 94,9, David already mocks those who belittle G-d’s knowledge of the minutia and trivia, by exclaiming ,"Shall the Creator of the eye be unable to see?" When our sages tell us that the Torah uses the idiom of human language to convey concepts that are beyond our imagination, it is this kind of thing they have in mind. This is why Maimonides explains in Moreh 1 Section 52, that all anthropomorphic expressions relating to G-d are to be understood as describing G-d’s activities, not His essential attributes. At the end of the akeydah, when G-d is reported as having gained a new insight, i.e."Now I know that you are G-d-fearing," this creates an erroneous impression. What is meant is that G-d was as aware of the changed state of mind and degree of piety of Abraham after the event as He had been aware of Abraham's previous state of mind and piety.