The Land I Will Show You, sec. 7, chapter 6
Knowledge of Hashem in the Land
(For the previous chapter of “The Land I Will Show You,” click here. For the ToC, click here.)
6: Knowledge of Hashem in the Land
The tsaddik who constantly seeks to see the good and the evil in the eyes of Hashem will merit a heavenly response. Divine Providence will guide him to success in his personal path and in the dissemination of his teaching among the masses, in accord with the system described in the passage of “And it shall be, if you indeed heed,” as explained in the previous chapter. Not only that, but the heavenly response will align with the understanding of the righteous man. Divine justice and divine judgment will be executed according to the perceptions of the tsaddik who seeks them: What he deems just will occur, and what he deems unjust will not occur. This can be derived from the passage of the destruction of Sodom and Abraham’s prayer for it, all of which is based on the gift of the Land, as will be explained.
Abraham approached Hashem and prayed regarding justice. He argued with his Creator about His righteous ways and said: “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?... Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:23–25). It is not right to kill the righteous with the wicked, Abraham claimed. Hashem agreed to all his arguments, saying: “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten” (ibid 32); but the two angels came to Sodom and did not find even ten righteous people in the city, but rather all the men of Sodom surrounded the house to harm them, “from the youngest to the oldest, all the people to the last man” (ibid 19:4).
From where did Abraham get the right to approach God and argue against His ways? And why did Hashem agree with him – were His ways not justified until mortal man taught Him the way of justice?!
The secret lies in the verse that describes why Hashem revealed His plan to Abraham:
And Hashem said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation... For I have known him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of Hashem by doing righteousness and justice” (ibid 18:17–19)
Abraham needed to know the deeds of Hashem and His plan because he was the one who would teach the way of Hashem to the world. If Abraham did not know the way of Hashem, how could he teach it? Therefore, Hashem revealed His plan to Abraham, so that he could learn from it and teach it to his children and his household after him.
But it wasn’t sufficient for Abraham to know Hashem’s plan without understanding it. If he wouldn’t understand the way of Hashem, if he wouldn’t see how His deeds were indeed acts of righteousness and justice, how would he learn from them how to behave himself? In light of this consideration, the message to Abraham was more than just a message – it was an invitation. He was invited to understand the ways of Hashem, and if he doesn’t understand – to approach and speak up!
The relationship between the tsaddik and his God requires that God adjust divine fairness and justice to human perception and apply them on a human scale. On this scale, a widespread judgment that destroys the righteous people along with the wicked is not perceived as just. Therefore, in response to the tsaddik who seeks His closeness and knowledge of His ways, Hashem will limit the scope of His actions and confine them to the domain of the individual human, within which domain fairness and justice will be made manifest. Hashem revealed His secret to His servant in order to hear his opinion, to hear if he understands, because only then could the tsaddik learn from His action and emulate Him.1
All this is based on the gift of the Land, as the Sages said about Hashem revealing His plan to Abraham:
Thus said Hashem: “I have already given the Land as a gift to Abraham... and these five cities are within his domain” ... and he consulted with him.2
Abraham’s right to know the ways of Hashem in His dealings with the people of the Land and to express his opinion on them stems from the gift of the Land. This because the signification of the gift of the Land is an invitation to Abraham to see through the eyes of Hashem, to think about what is good and the evil in His eyes and act accordingly, establishing a land characterized by this vision. Therefore, he must understand what Hashem is doing in the Land. In this way, the connection between divine goodness and human goodness is strengthened, as people, with the tsaddik at their lead teaching them, see with their own eyes and understand the link between their good and Hashem’s good. When they engage in His good, they receive good, and if, God forbid, the opposite, then they receive evil, in a way understandable to human intellect. This is the gift of the Land.
In another teaching, Chazal defined the gift as very general – as giving the whole world to Abraham! – this also based on the parashah of Sodom. This is their language:
God gave Abraham the world, as it is said: “And Hashem said, Shall I hide from Abraham.”3
At first glance, this seems to be a contradiction: What did Hashem give Abraham such that He revealed His action to him – the land of Canaan or the whole world? And wherever do we find that God gave Abraham the world?
But in truth, everything stems from the gift of the land of Canaan. Because the innovation inherent to the gift of the Land is not limited to the land of Canaan. Eretz Yisrael is destined to spread throughout the world;4 meaning that the method of “I will show you” is destined to be practiced everywhere, all the inhabitants of the world seeing through the eyes of Hashem and looking only at His goodness. The method can be practiced everywhere, in principle, only that Eretz Yisrael is its main and root place. The method began to be revealed and be formed there. There Abraham founded this path and there it took root for the entire people with the help of the sign of open providence described in the passage of “And it shall be, if you indeed heed.” But after its perfect achievement, the method will spread throughout the world. The notion of the sanctity of the land is not that a specific region of the earth can be sanctified, but that the earth as a whole can be sanctified, that the realm of human beings can become divine. The gift of the Land is essentially a trust that God places in righteous human beings that they can represent Him on earth, to see it as He sees it and understand what happens in it according to their understanding of the divine good, and then act accordingly and work to promote His true good. The gift of the land of Canaan to Abraham is essentially the gift of the whole world to him and to righteous people like him.
That is how we arrive at what is called “knowledge of Hashem,” a spiritual level regularly associated with the land. Knowledge of Hashem in the land means understanding the events of the land, the human domain, according to the general ideals, that is, divine kindness, justice and righteousness, along with managing the land in a way that is appropriate according to this understanding: that is, walking in His ways. The tsaddik who knows Hashem observes the divine principles and seeks to apply them in the land, being moved by their goodness and desiring to emulate his God. As it is written about Abraham’s command to his children and his household after him: “to keep the way of Hashem by doing righteousness and justice.” They keep His way by understanding it and recognizing it, because there is no greater inspiration than being aware of the divine good and experiencing it always. Thus, human knowledge transforms to become the knowledge of Hashem.
This is the spiritual level of “knowledge of Hashem” that the prophets constantly encourage, and in relation to the Land, the place of the revelation of His ways to humans. As it is written:
The one who boasts should boast in this: that he understands and knows Me – for I am Hashem, who acts with kindness, justice, and righteousness in the land (Jeremiah 9:23)
Hashem has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, no kindness, and no knowledge of God in the land (Hosea 4:1)
And I made myself known to them in Egypt and lifted my hand to them, saying, “I am Hashem your God.” On that day I lifted my hand to them to lead them out of Egypt into a land I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey (Ezekiel 20:5–6)
Other verses also mention this.5 This is the gift of the Land – to see the goodness of Hashem. To the extent that a person knows the good of Hashem, they will act in goodness, and therefore walking in the ways of Hashem is identical with knowing Him, as it is written: “He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was good for him. Is that not what it means to know Me? declares Hashem" (Jeremiah 22:15–16).
To learn from the righteous ways of Hashem and apply them, a land of our own is required, a special place for the establishment of a society founded on the understanding of Hashem’s conduct. In their own land, the tsaddikim, the leaders of the people, will act as Hashem does in His management of the world, and will conduct themselves in the likeness of the good traits: kindness, justice and righteousness. These traits are required for the conduct of a society in its land, not for an individual alone and isolated. Accordingly, it is written: “Would that I were in the wilderness, in a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go off from them; for they are all adulterers... It is not by faithfulness that they prevail in the land. They gave gone from evil to evil, and Me they have not known, declares Hashem” (ibid 9:1–2). The purpose of the gift of the land is the establishment of a society in the image of His righteous ways; if they are not observed, there is no benefit to the gift of the land.
The commandment of “Go for yourself... to the land I will show you” is to establish such a land that is managed in the model of God’s management of His world. Those who share in God’s vision also become partners in His conduct. He created His world to promote the good, and these righteous people are His representatives on earth to maintain that good and promote it further. Can you imagine that someone who understands this deeply in their soul would sin? Certainly not. He recognizes sin as the madness it is. Cultivating this consciousness serves as full protection from sin, and with its widespread adoption among the entire nation, the inhabitants of Eretz Ysrael will merit this wonderful description:
Blessed are the inhabitants of Eretz Ysrael who have neither sin nor iniquity, neither in life nor in death.6
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This matter is explained in detail in Oros Yaakov, essay “And Abraham Approached.”
See above, sec. 5 chapter 8, and there in footnote 4.
See Oros Yaakov, essay “Knowledge of Hashem,” sections 1-2.
Wonderful! After reading this, the social component of religious life is no longer as mystifying as it once was. Prophets must be visionary messengers not philosophers.