Now prophecy differs from divination and dreams in
several ways. First, prophecy is a perfection that is attained after study;
hence the Prophets had students who attempted to prophesy, i.e., they proceeded
in a step by step manner so that they would receive prophetic illumination. No
such thing obtains in divination or dreams. Second, a condition for prophecy is
wisdom, which is obvious from the very nature of prophecy. But this is not true
for divination or dreams. Indeed, sometimes children and fools have more such knowledge
[by ways of divination and reams] than many who are wiser than they. Third,
everything that a prophet transmits is true, i.e., the order obtaining among
these events insofar as it is determined by the heavenly bodies, is exactly the
same as the prophet communicates it, although such events are contingent with
respect to choice. Accordingly, it is said that the evil predicted by the
prophet need not be fulfilled, since it is possible for that man or that nation
to avoid it through choice, which has been given as an instrument for this
purpose, as he has explained. However, the good that a prophet predicts will
doubtless occur, i.e., the good that is ordained by the heavenly bodies, since
the human intellect, which is the principle of choice, motivates a person to
achieve the good. This is the very purpose of human choice. Hence, it is not
possible for the motivation coming from the intellect to be directed toward the
evil so long as it was ordained by the heavenly bodies that the good would
occur. Rather, man tries by various means to attain that good of which the
prophet informs him. This shall be explained (with God’s help) in detail in
Book Six [Part II]. However, in divination and dreams there are many
falsehoods, as the senses testify. Fourth, when a prophet conveys this knowledge,
he guides the man or nation to whom he transmitted this information toward
human perfection, such as when the prophet tells the man to depart from his
evil ways and return to God (may He be blessed) and the man in fact does depart
from his evil path. Indeed, most of the information transmitted to man [through
prophecy] is for his perfection. This is not the case with divination or
dreams. (Levi Ben Gershom, The Wars of the Lord, Book 2, chapter 6, in The
Wars of the Lord, 3 vols [trans. Seymour Feldman; Jerusalem: The Jewish
Publication Society, 1987], 59-60)
It has been previously shown that these particulars are
ordered and determined in one sense, yet contingent in another sense.
Accordingly, it is evident that the sense in which God knows these particulars
in the sense in which they are ordered and determined, as is the case with the
Agent Intellect, according to the results previously established. For from this
aspect it is possible to have knowledge of them. On the other hand, the sense
in which God does not know particulars is the sense in which they are not
ordered, i.e., the sense in which they are contingent. For in the latter sense knowledge
of them is not possible. However, God does know from this aspect that these
events may not occur because of the choice, which HE has given man to compensate
for the deficiencies in the supervision coming from the heavenly bodies, as has
been explained in Book Two. But He does not know which of the contradictory
outcomes will be realized insofar as they are [genuinely] contingent affairs;
for if He did, there would not be any contingency at all. [Nevertheless,] the
fact that God does not have the knowledge of which possible outcomes will be
realized does not imply any defect in God (may He be blessed). For perfect
knowledge of something is the knowledge of what that things is in reality; when
the thing is not apprehended as it is, this is error, possible, for He knows
them insofar as they are ordered in a determinate and certain way, and He knows
in addition that these events are contingent, insofar as they fall within the domain
of human choice, [and as such knows them] truly as contingent. Thus, God (may
He be blessed), by means of the Prophets, commands men who are about to suffer
evil fortune that they mend their ways so that they will avert this punishment,
as is the case of King Zedekiah who was commanded to make peace with the King
of Babylonia. Now this indicates that what God knows of future events is known
by Him as not necessarily occurring; however, He knows these events in the
sense that they are part of the general order and also as possibly not
occurring insofar as they are contingent. (Levi Ben Gershom, The Wars of the
Lord, Book 3, chapter 4, in The Wars of the Lord, 3 vols [trans. Seymour
Feldman; Jerusalem: The Jewish Publication Society, 1987], 117-18)
[W]e do possess such knowledge insofar as such events are
ordered. Yet they remain contingent by virtue of the factor of choice. This is
the reason why this knowledge has been given to us, that we can recognize the
evil that has been prepared for us and take measures to avoid it, as has been
fully explained in the preceding Book. This can be understood if we examine the
practice of the Prophets (may they rest in peace), who warn us of some
[imminent] evil. For it is the case that they give advice on how to prevent
this evil from coming. Similarly, Joseph warns Pharaoh, by interpreting his
dream, about the famine and suggests a relief measure so that the famine will
not be as calamitous as it was originally predicted in the dream. Daniel, for
example, tells Nebuchadnezzar, by interpreting his dream, that he will lose his
reason and be like an animal for seven years, but he also suggests a way in
which this evil can be averted. Since we have claimed that God has knowledge of
these events insofar as they are ordered, it is not strange that they are still
contingent with respect to human choice. It this way, the difficulty that has
continually plagued men—i.e., how can God know future events without these
events being necessary—disappears; for these events exhibit two aspects [i.e.,
an ordered, or regular, pattern and a free, or voluntary, dimension], and not
just one aspect. (Levi Ben Gershom, The Wars of the Lord, Book 3, chapter 5, in
The Wars of the Lord, 3 vols [trans. Seymour Feldman; Jerusalem: The
Jewish Publication Society, 1987], 133-34)
The miraculous story about the hardening of Pharaoh’s
heart leading to additional troubles for Israel is also an instance of
providence, for in this way the people acquired a firm belief [in God]. For
when Pharaoh became liable for punishment—and since it was possible for some
good to accrue to Israel by means of this kind of punishment to him such that Israel
would become convinced of God’s existence and of His power by means of these
many miracles—God brought it about that Pharaoh [himself] hardened his heart,
so that HIs miracles would be multiplied and that the true belief would spread
throughout Israel. As it is said: “Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart
and the heart of his courtiers, in order that I might display these My signs
among them, and that you may recount in the hearing of your sons and of your
sons’ sons how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I displayed My signs
among them—in order that you may know that I am the Lord.” (Ex. 10:1-2) This
passage indicates that the hardness of heart [afflicted upon] Pharaoh was
[designed] for the purpose of increasing the wonders of God and that the latter
were designed to make known throughout Israel and the succeeding generations
that there is a God who does whatever He wishes. (Levi Ben Gershom, The Wars of
the Lord, Book 4, chapter 6, in The Wars of the Lord, 3 vols [trans. Seymour
Feldman; Jerusalem: The Jewish Publication Society, 1987], 203)
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