Q&A: Deuteronomy 7:22 – God’s Limitation
Deuteronomy 7:22 – God’s Limitation
Question
Hello,
I’m wondering whether the verse in the title (“And the Lord your God will cast out those nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, lest the beasts of the field multiply against you”) can be understood to mean that even God has limitations and is not omnipotent. The verses before this one in the same chapter encourage the people not to fear conquering the land and mention how great and awesome God is, the great miracles that were done in Egypt, and additional miracles that will be done (sending the hornet), etc. In contrast to those verses, verse 22 is very rationalistic (and clearly not miraculous) — the conquest will be slow lest the land become desolate. But can’t an omnipotent God ensure both the land’s rapid conquest and also prevent its becoming desolate?
Answer
I’ll answer you with what I’ve written here more than once. You can learn almost nothing from verses in the Torah.
Specifically here, this could also just be a policy of the Holy One, blessed be He, and not necessarily any lack in His omnipotence. In short, He can ensure it, but doesn’t want to, for His own reasons. Especially here, where we’re not even talking about a great miracle. If He can create the entire universe and humanity, then He can’t destroy some part of it? For that you don’t even need to be omnipotent. It’s enough to equip yourself with an atomic bomb or a few heavy conventional bombs.
Discussion on Answer
Reasoning, tradition, or that it simply cannot be learned. That difficulty doesn’t touch my claim, because if in practice it cannot be learned, then that remains true even if you have objections to it. To reject the claim, you have to show that it can be learned. This has been discussed in many places here on the site.
I would note that the difficulty raised by the questioner still stands, for the following reason: anyone who engages even a little in “Torah” necessarily learns something from it. Even if it’s very little, even if he tells himself and others that he learns nothing. I gave simple examples in the past and there’s no need to repeat them. So Michi’s claim is thereby easily refuted.
If you can learn almost nothing from verses in the Torah, then where are we supposed to learn from?