Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Excerpts from Books 2, 3, and 4 of “The Wars of the Lord” by Levi ben Gershom (Gersonides) (d. 1344)

  

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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