Q&A: Providence
Providence
Question
Hello,
Do you think the 10/7 attack was under individual divine providence from the Holy One, blessed be He,
or was it human choice?
On the one hand, they say, “The heart of kings and rulers is in the hand of God.”
On the other hand, Pharaoh was punished because he did things of his own accord.
And does this apply to all decision-makers?
Thank you.
Answer
Apparently you’re not a veteran here. My view is that nothing in the world is done with divine involvement (except perhaps a few sporadic things, and no one can know whether they exist or what they are).
Discussion on Answer
If so, I assume you also know my view about learning things from verses in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh).
What does that have to do with it? Some things are explicitly stated. Like the verse, “The heart of kings and rulers is in the hand of God.” How can one not relate to the fact that the verse shows that God intervenes in / controls the minds of kings and rulers?
I’m asking in order to know.
I’d be glad if the Rabbi could address this.
I haven’t really seen what your view is about learning from verses.
I understand that verses can be interpreted however each person wants.
But what did they mean by, “A verse never departs from its plain meaning”?
Anyone who’s interested can search the site for “Learning from the Hebrew Bible” or something like that.
“A verse never departs from its plain meaning” is a rule of interpretation. It seems to me that it applies mainly in the legal parts of the Hebrew Bible.
The question about my position is not part of that, but rather of everything everyone does when they learn from the Hebrew Bible. I won’t elaborate further here.
I know, but I wanted to understand whether there are nevertheless clear boundaries.
There is a verse in Proverbs: “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord” (21:1). From there comes the saying, “The heart of kings and rulers is in the hand of God.”
Here, seemingly, there is a statement that they are not given free choice.
What do you think?