DEVELOPING a CORRECT CONCEPT of the CREATOR
by
Jack E. Saunders
THE PROBLEM
The most difficult task that has ever faced
humanity since its inception has been to acquire
a correct concept of the Creator, and then to maintain
that concept down through the ages. We failed in this very early in the
history of humanity, when Enosh the son of Seth
the son of Adam began to “profane the
Name”[1] or the true concept of G-d. It is
difficult to believe, but it took only two
generations from the first human being, Adam,
who knew the Creator personally, for humankind to distort the correct
concept of G-d.
Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, commonly
refered to as Maimonides, or Rambam, states in one of his great
works [2]:
“During the times of Enosh, mankind made
a great mistake, and the wise men of that
generation gave thoughtless counsel. Enosh
himself was one of those who erred. Their
mistake was as follows: They said G-d
created stars and spheres with which to
control the world. He placed them on high
and treated them with honor, making them
servants who minister before Him. Accordingly, it is fitting to praise and glorify
them and to treat them with honor. [They
perceived] this to be the will of G-d, blessed
be He, that they magnify and honor those
whom He magnified and honored, just as a king desires that the servants who stand
before him be honored. Indeed, doing so is
an expression of honor to the king.
After conceiving of this notion, they began
to construct temples to the stars and offer
sacrifices to them. They would praise and
glorify them with words, and prostrate
themselves before them, because by doing so,
they would - according to their evil
conception - be fulfilling the will of G-d.
This was the essence of the worship of false
gods, and this was the rationale of those who
worshipped them. They would not say that
there is no other G-d, except for this star.
This message was conveyed by Jeremiah,
who declared (10:7-8): 'Who will not fear
You, King of the nations, for to You it is
fitting. Among all the wise men of the nations
and in all their kingdoms, there is none like
You. They have one foolish and senseless
notion; that which they are punished, is
[mere] wood.' i.e., all know that You alone
are G-d. Their error and their stupidity consists of conceiving of this emptiness as
Your will.”
I would now like to point out a couple of
statements in Rambam's assessment of this phenomenon,
which eventually led
humankind to the practice of idolatry:
1. He states in the very first paragraph that:“the wise men of that generation gave
thoughtless counsel.”
Thus Rambam makes it clear that this
was not a mistake of the ignorant but of the
wise men of the generation of Enosh, and even
of Enosh himself. And that their
thoughtless or careless council led men away
from the worship of the Creator - to the worship
of the created.
Also in the second paragraph: “[They
perceived] this to be the will of G-d.”
“Their”(the wise men’s) next mistake was
their instance that by paying homage and honor
to the various created things, one was actually
doing the will of the Creator.
Now we can begin to see the development of
idolatry, and the means by which it came
about. It was through carelessness and the self-perceived ideas of the wise. But their self-perceived
ideas concerning the will of G-d and
their lack of concern for imparting the correct
notion of the Creator only led mankind down
the dark path of idolatry.
The age in which we live has not changed so
much from the time in which Enosh and the
wise of his generation lived. Many of the so-called
wise men of our generation have fallen
into the same trap as those in the days of Enosh.
They continue to proclaim their self-perceived
ideas concerning the correct notion and will of
G-d and thereby continue to mislead people, to lead people down the long dark path of idolatry.
THE PERFECTION
The way to leave this dark path, of course, is
to turn aside from our self-perceived ideas of
G-d. Next, rather than being careless when it
comes to developing a correct concept of our
Creator, we should fully concentrate our efforts
to the limits of our G-d-given ability to discover
the correct idea of our Creator.
Now, how do we approach the seemingly
impossible task of beginning to acquire a
correct concept of the Creator? It is quite clear that we cannot depend upon
our own rational faculties alone to discover the true concept
of G-d. As Rambam states[3], “and this was
the rationale of those who worshipped them.”
If the rationale of the wise of the generation
failed to discover and maintain the true concept
of G-d, what makes us think today that we may
discover by the same means what they
failed to discover without
succumbing to the same error? What makes us better
then they? Are we so much wiser?
As far as we know, at least in the recorded
history of the generations of Adam, there has
been only one man that has ever arrived at the
true concept of the Creator through his own
rational faculties and intellect - Abraham. It is no
wonder that three different world religions lay
claim to this man as their founder.
But we all cannot be Abraham. How can we
begin to arrive at a correct concept of the
Creator? Where are we to start?
I would suggest that His creation itself is
enough to inform all peoples in all languages
that there is indeed a Creator[4]. But where do
we turn in order to learn to do His will and
discover a true concept of Him? According to
King David[5], “The Torah of HaShem is
perfect and able to restore the soul.” Although
creation may silently declare that a Creator
exists, the Torah, Tenach, and the Sages of
Israel provide us with much more insight than
the creation alone.
According to the Prophet Isaiah it is
impossible to physically equate Him or to
intellectually compare Him to anyone or
anything. “To whom then will you liken Me, or
shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.” [6]
When you have a One-of-a-kind Being how
can anyone even attempt to make a comparison?
Psychologically speaking, the human mind
works from the basics of comparisons. When
we fail to have anyone or anything to compare
someone or something to, we are at a
loss to describe the thing, whether it is inanimate
or animate. The prophets often had no
words to describe the
visions they received from G-d. In many
instances they relied upon the use of similes to
convey what they had seen. Similes are often
used to point out similarities in two objects that
seem to have very little in common. Such as:“And their feet were straight feet; and the sole
of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot:
and they sparkled like the colour of burnished
brass.” [7] Ezekiel, upon having his vision of
the Hayyoth, attempts to explain to those who
have never seen such spiritual beings before by using similes, the only way he can. He does so by comparing
these spiritual beings to physical ones that most
people have come into contact with, so the people would
have some rudimentary idea of what they looked like
by comparing them to two
completely different types of objects. He
thereby informs us of what they look like, but
the likeness is never exact, only a similarity in
likeness.
The same applies in our everyday lives. We
are constantly using comparisons to convey
ideas to those to whom we speak. For
example: If I say table, a certain type of table
appears in your mind - but in truth it may not be
the same type of table that I am about to
describe to you. But we all have the
basic idea of a table, i.e., an object that has either
a small or large flat surface supported by legs or
a center post. Thus, we all may speak of a table,
even though we may be speaking of something different from what one supposes in actual
composition or design.
Based on the proclamation by Isaiah and our
own inadequacy all that we can ever know of
the Creator is that which He chooses to reveal
to us in His Torah.
Our Creator, through the words of Balaam, which were stamped with the approval of Moshe Rebbanu, who recorded his words, uses the same type of
language[8] to inform us of certain incorrect
ideas that men may attribute to Him. Such as
when Balaam says, “G-d is not a man that He
should lie; neither the son of man that He
should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do
it? Or hath He spoken, and shall it not make it
good?” [9]
The words of the Torah declare that G-d is not
a man - “Ish” - and neither is He a “ben Adam.” The
Prophets also make the same declaration. “And
also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor
repent: for He is not a man that He should
repent.”[10]
Some will look at these texts and dismiss the
fact that these texts do not actually negate the
possibility of the Creator existing as a mortal or corporeal being. These words only describe the
fact that, as the Creator, He is not lacking in
power and has no need to lie or repent. And
indeed they may accurately ascribe such qualities to Him. However, the
words clearly state, “G-d is not a man” which
negates the possibility of Him being manlike.
1. One may look at these texts and miss altogether that they describe the incorporeality of
G-d.
2. Another person might read the same passages and,
because of a lack of background knowledge, not be able to determine if it denies the incorporeality of G-d.
3. Lastly, another individual perceives that
one of the truths to be found in these words is
indeed the clear denial of any possibility of the
Creator having a body, whereupon this individual sets out to clearly prove this to be so.
The question now is which one of these
individuals is closer to a true concept of the
Creator? [11]
From these texts and from others that are like
it we may discover a great secret, and that great
secret is that what we can truly know of the
Creator is always found in the negation of a
quality that is attributed to the Creator. The
Tenach in several places declares what the
Creator is not. It is through these negations
that we may begin to arrive at a correct concept
of the Creator. Generally speaking, we can never
know exactly what He is, but it is certain that we can
eliminate all that he is not, to arrive at a
complete understanding of what He is not.
Rambam in one of his works states: “...I shall
show you that we cannot describe the Creator
by any means except by negative attributes.”
[12]
“Once we comprehend that ‘we cannot
comprehend the Incomprehenisible One,’ then for
the very first time we have truly comprehended
and formulated a correct concept of the
Creator.” [13] This can be arrived at only
through the negation of qualities that are
attributed to Him.
THE PURPOSE
Why should we put so much effort into this
discovery?
Rambam also states[14], “The true worship of
G-d is only possible when correct notions have
previously been conceived. When you have
arrived by way of intellectual research at a
knowledge of G-d and His works, then
commence to devote yourselves to Him, try to
approach Him and strengthen the intellect,
which is the link that joins you to Him.”
Since our worship and approach to G-d is
limited by our incorrect notions of Him, it behooves us to constantly seek to Formulate a
correct concept of our Creator to the best of
our G-d-given abilities.
[1] See Rashi's comments on Genesis 4:26, "It
was then that they called profanely upon the
Name of G-d."
[2] Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Avodat Kochavim
v' Chukkoteihem, Moznaim Publishing
Corporation 1990, Chapter One pp. 14-16.
[3] Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Avodat Kochavim
v' Chukkoteihem, Chapter One, p. 16
[4] Psalms 19:1-6
[5] Psalms 19:7f.
[6] Isaiah 40:25
[7] Ezekiel 1:7
[8] For G-d to state that He is not a man
suggests that He needed to do so in order to correct a false idea that people held of Him.
[9] Numbers 23:19
[10] I Samuel 15:29
[11] See, The Guide for the Perplexed, Dover
Publishing, 1956, p. 84
[12] The Guide for the Perplexed, p. 81
[13] My comment after reading The Guide for
the Perplexed for the first time.
[14] The Guide for the Perplexed, Dover
Publishing, p. 385
See article in the Jewish Times