Q&A: God’s Intervention in the World in the Eyes of the Prophets
God’s Intervention in the World in the Eyes of the Prophets
Question
Hello Rabbi!
In the Prophets, there is a recurring motif that they say the evil that happened in the land is because of sins, for example Isaiah chapters 1 through 5, or the entire book of Joel, or the book of Habakkuk, and so on.
What interests me is: if the Holy One, blessed be He, does not intervene in the world at all, then what are the prophets saying? Heaven forbid, are they lying?
And if you say that once God did intervene, but today He does not, then what relevance do the prophets have for us? Is it just a history book and nothing more? It isn’t even really historical; it’s simply what the prophet saw…
Thank you very much! And best wishes for a kosher and joyful Passover!
Answer
I explained this where I wrote my thesis on non-involvement. Indeed, in the past He was involved, and He is gradually withdrawing. The books of the Prophets are not relevant to us, because I do not see anything that can be learned from them (I have elaborated on this at great length in several places). But even if you think that the Holy One, blessed be He, does intervene in the world, still, what could you learn from all the books of the Prophets?