…And when you look up to the sky
Rabbanit Dr. Michal Tikochinsky
Deuteronomio 4, 19
Parashat Va’ethanan includes a warning to Moshe, reminding him of
the essential need to believe in a single God. The main concern
expressed is that the people will be enticed by the idols of the native
Canaanite population, but there is also the fear of turning to celestial
bodies as godly beings:
“And when you look up to the sky and behold the sun and the moon
and the stars, the whole heavenly host, you must not be lured into
bowing down to them or serving them. These the LORD your God
allotted to other peoples everywhere under heaven (Devarim 4:19).”
The commentaries turned their attention to both parts of this pasuk,
both to the concern lest celestial bodies be perceived as gods and to
the meaning of the words: “These the LORD your God allotted to
other peoples everywhere under heaven.”
The midrash aggadah on Parashat Va’ethanan, for example,
discusses the context and timing of this commandment. Why is it
just now – when the Israelites are about to enter the Land of Israel –
that there is specific concern expressed that they will turn to the sun
and the moon as gods? The midrash explains:
“And when you look up to the sky and behold the sun and the moon
and the stars,”
For the Heavenly cloud that enveloped them hid the sun and the
moon from them.
Moshe said to them: In the future you will see the sun and the moon,
but you must not think them to be gods, for it is the Holy One,
blessed be He who created them to shine on the earth.
The midrash explains that in the course of their travels in the desert,
the clouds that directed the Israelites hid the sun and moon from
them. They would experience the sun and the moon in a manner
similar to that of a newborn baby who discovers that the warm
environment in which he was enveloped, the muffled sounds that he
heard, were all part of a much greater world that had remained
unknown to him prior to his birth. Just as the baby develops a
language that allows him to relate to this new, unknown existence,
discovering, for example the concept of “mother” as an independent
entity upon whom he is fully dependent, so the nation of Israel will
be exposed to a world that operates very differently than the
“Garden of Eden” existence that they experienced in the desert. No
longer enjoying the protective Clouds of Glory or the thirstquenching Wellspring of Miriam, they will need to understand the
workings of the new world that they are entering. The sun and the
moon, heat and light, darkness and daylight – Moshe explains that
all these are but a reflection of that closed and secret world that the
people inhabited in the desert. The sun and moon are not a more
accurate picture of things; they are not the ultimate reality that can
be seen now that the screen is removed. On the contrary, the celestial
bodies and the physical reality are all external expressions of the
same inner world they knew previously. The physical world acts as a
screen that hides God, not the other way around.
The Midrash continues and explains the second part of the pasuk:
This is the meaning of the words: These the LORD your God
allotted to other peoples everywhere under heaven.
That they serve them, and you see that the Holy One blessed be He
does not wreak vengeance upon them and does not destroy them.
…rather He allows them their beliefs that they have the power to
save them,
So that they do not refrain from worshipping them, so that they will
find their iniquity and there will be reason to hate them.
Midrash Aggadah, Va’ethanan 19)
According to the midrash, God offered the power of physical reality
to the nations of the world, who are unable to understand existence
beyond the physical. He is effectively fooling them by ensuring that
the physical world continues without collapsing on them. While this
may fool the nations of the world, the nation of Israel must
understand that a deeper reality exists, that a Higher Power controls
everything.
The pasuk appears differently in the Septuagint, with one additional
word – shine – so that it now reads: “These the LORD your God
allotted to shine on all peoples everywhere under heaven.”
Apparently, the intention was to ensure that it should not sound as if
the Torah was mocking those nations who are blind to the existence
of a true, deeper reality of existence. In order to show that we are not
celebrating a deliberate deception, the second half of the verse was
changed so that it simply presents a possible reason that the nation
of Israel may mistakenly follow the idolatry connected with the sun
and the moon. The celestial bodies have great power and the world
is fully dependent on them. There can be no doubt that their position
in heaven and their ability to determine the destiny of humanity is
great – even greater than that of God. Whether because His power is
hidden or because His power is limited, the Israelite God is the God
of Abraham Isaac and Jacob; He is not the God of all peoples.
It is entirely possible that the Septuagint added the word “shine” for
a much more innocuous reason – because that was the original
intention of the pasuk. It did not mean to suggest that God revealed
Himself only to us, leaving false gods for the other nations, rather it
simply explained how the celestial bodies are enticing because of
their power in controlling the world. Indeed, Rashi presents both
approaches as possible interpretations of the verse:
“These the LORD your God allotted to other peoples:
To give light to them.
Another explanation: Which God assigned to them as deities; He did
not prevent them from going astray after them, but He allowed them
to err (to slip) through vain speculations, in order to drive them out
from the world.”
Each of these two approaches raise difficult questions. On the one
hand, there is the theological question of how and whether it is
possible that our Torah suggests that God fools the other nations of
the world – that He acts only as our God and not as the God of all
humankind – together with the question of “free will” that is
connected to this question. On the other hand, our modern
sensibilities make it difficult for us to relate to this commandment,
for it is hard for us to imagine anyone seriously believing that the
celestial bodies are gods that have power and control over our lives.
We recognize that they are part of the natural order of things and that
they have no independent power or decision-making ability of any
sort. The world we live in does not identify forces of nature as
having godly power – the contemporary challenge is one of heresy,
of the denial of all godly powers in the world. Ultimately, this is also
a theological question, since the Torah is eternal and must have
meaning for us in the modern world.
The Tosefta in Massekhet Avodah Zara responds to the first
question:
“The philosophers asked the sages the following question in Rome:
If He does not desire idolatry, why does He not destroy it?
They responded: Indeed, if idolatry was something that was not
necessary, He would destroy it, but they worship the sun, the moon
and the stars. Should He destroy His world because of the fools?
Rather He allows the world to continue according to its natural path,
and the fools who disobey will be brought to justice. When someone
steals seeds to plant, will they not grow? If someone engages in
relations with a married woman, will she not conceive? Rather He
allows the world to continue according to its natural path, and the
fools who disobey will be brought to justice.”
The world is deceptive. Human passion and cognitive dissonance
cause us to err. The world is built so that there is room for mistakes.
God does not reveal Himself every time a person sins; the world
does not come to a halt when someone desecrates Shabbat. When
someone kills, his fellow is murdered even if what is done is a
terrible injustice. God's leadership in the world is hidden leadership.
It is impossible to hide the sun from the nations of the world. One
can only hope that there will be no idol worship in the world.
Perhaps this suggests a slightly refined approach – that the very fact
that God shared the world with all peoples brings about mistakes.
This does not mean that obstacles to understanding were put in their
way, rather that they fail to understand the world correctly because
of its very character. The Lord gave them the sun and the moon to
shine on them, but they mistook them to be deities.
This brings us to the second question – that the pasuk does not
resonate with the contemporary reader. In fact, as Joseph Dan
explains, this verse has a historical, theological context:
“Theologically, in antiquity, there was no internal contradiction
between belief in magic and monotheistic belief.
There was no difference between the individual who watched the
flow of the river and believed that it was driven by the Holy One
blessed be He, and the one who believed it was driven by the god of
the rivers.
Exploring the river's flow or using it to drive millstones was the
same whether the individual believed in Zeus or in the God of Israel.
... The people of the ancient world did not recognize such
differences and in their eyes the validity of a magical activity was
identical to that of the river's current.”
(History of Jewish Mysticism and Esotericism II, pp. 481-482)
Therefore, the point being made by this pasuk is that common,
universal views can lead to error, but that they can also bring one to
the recognition of God. Today, science can explain the universe
without acknowledging the reality of God. In contemporary times,
gazing upon the celestial bodies serves as an example of how one
can look at reality and understand it as the product of automatic,
arbitrary, random processes driven by the forces of nature. Faith in
celestial bodies appears different today, but it is still mired in the
same ancient error.