Divine intervention through advance preparation
Hello Rabbi
Regarding the Rabbi’s opinion, God does not intervene in creation since nature is deterministic.
Why can’t we say that God arranges events in advance so that a certain event will occur?
Even if we accept that God only created the world in its initial state, and that all subsequent states are a necessary consequence of a previous state, it is still possible that God, in creating the first state, acted based on His knowledge of what would happen in the future.
Similarly, Esther’s reign is considered a “preventive cure for the plague.” It is possible that God knew that the people of Israel would fast and wear sackcloth, and therefore made sure in advance to make Esther queen.
Discover more from הרב מיכאל אברהם
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Discover more from הרב מיכאל אברהם
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
1. I suggest that foreknowledge is the law of nature, but that it is affected retroactively by choice. For example, the flood that caused the flood was naturally foreknowledge because God knew that the generation of the flood would choose evil. In a universe where the generation of the flood would choose good, the flood would not have been created in advance.
I understand from the lines that it is impossible for the Rabbi to know because God does not know in advance what will be chosen. Did I understand correctly?
2. Regarding the Rambam’s evidence, it seems to me that the Rambam meant that the Torah was given in a way that was understandable to the people of the generation that received it. It is unlikely that he gave specific instructions regarding a Greek conquest, not because it is philosophically impossible, but because it is terribly strange.
1. Indeed true. I have elaborated on this in several places (see, for example, the series of columns on knowledge and choice).
2. This is what I meant when I said that the evidence should be rejected from there.
To complete the picture (on the face of it, not essential to any of the arguments), prior intervention within the laws of nature does not have to be by determining the laws of nature alone, but can also be by determining the initial conditions (such as where each particle/wave, etc., was located after the Big Bang).
Leave a Reply
Please login or Register to submit your answer