Q&A: Love of God and Fear of Him
Love of God and Fear of Him
Question
Hello and blessings. There are several questions I’ve wanted for a long time to get an answer to: A. Regarding the commandment to love God—how can it be that God commands love of Him? Does it sound logical that a father would command his children to love him? B. In addition, how can one love someone who says that if we do not do what He says, the result will be punishment? Usually people compare this to parents who want the child’s good and therefore also forbid certain things to him, alongside various expressions of love. But here it is different: God could have expressed love toward us and given us His commandments—why the need for punishments? God could have refrained from that, and it would be our choice whether to merit good or not merit it (but certainly not to be punished for it). C. What is the precise definition of awe of exaltedness? The common definition is fear arising from God’s greatness and exaltedness. But why is there such fear if not because of the thought, “God is so great that He can do me harm”? D. Is it possible to manage with awe of exaltedness alone, without fear of punishment? E. After all, how can one also love someone of whom I stand in awe with awe of exaltedness?
Answer
Hello,
A. With parents, whom we can see, it is easier to arrive at natural love. But with God, who is abstract, it is hard to arrive at love of Him naturally, and therefore a command is required. Beyond that, love of God has halakhic implications, and it may be that we are commanded about those and not about the love itself. See here: https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%90%D7%A4%D7%9C%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%9C%D7%A8%D7%92%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%94/
B. If the command is not about the feeling but about its implications (see the link above), then the question does not arise. Beyond that, there is no punishment for not loving God. The fact that He punishes me for other things does not prevent love. Parents also punish us, and nevertheless they expect love and also receive it.
The question of why punishments are needed is not connected to this. Apparently, without that, some of us would not come to serving God. Indeed, Maimonides writes in chapter 10 of the laws of repentance that this is intended for women (!?) and children, that is, for those who do not understand. The true servant does not serve because of punishment. The matter of women should be taken in its historical context. I think that today that is certainly no longer the case.
C. Awe of exaltedness is standing before someone important and sublime. For example, a very great sage. It is not fear, but a more abstract kind of awe. I do not see a problem with this definition, and it can be felt even toward people: deep appreciation that involves a kind of awe or sense of exaltedness.
D. There are those who can, but fear of punishment was given for those who cannot (like women and children in the above-mentioned Maimonides).
E. Why not? For example, when there are great Torah scholars and righteous people, people certainly feel both of these emotions toward them. More than that, in my opinion one can even love someone of whom I am truly afraid. A human being is a complex creature, and in my view that too is possible. See in the article I linked to above the discussion about love and hate from different perspectives.
A suggested answer to question no. 1: how can it be that God commands us to love Him:
It may be that the command is to love the source of moral values; the command to love God is essentially a command to love the good, and since God is the source of values, one must love “Him.”
So it may be that this is the reason that the Lord demands that we love Him: to love Him means to love values.
After all, if someone were to love God the way he loves life, that would have no value; it would just be a psychological need, exactly like an appetite for food and honor.
Seemingly, this can be seen by reflecting on the passage of the commandment of love. It says there in that passage that from love one comes to fulfilling the commandments; that is to say, the purpose of love is nothing other than cleaving to the good.