And Abraham Approached, pt. 3
The Logic of Prayer: Understanding How Man's Thoughts Shape Divine Action
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The Problematic Premises:
In the previous segment of “And Abraham Approached,” we learned that the notion of prayer is based on two fundamental premises:
He who knows Hashem can assert what He should do. If you are familiar with Hashem and His ways, you will have an opinion about what He should do, which means what should happen in the future, or, in other words – what is morally right.
This assertion affects what Hashem does. What man thinks should happen affects what does happen.
Upon closer examination, these premises seem problematic, their logical underpinnings deeply flawed.
Firstly, how could anyone hold a confident opinion about what is right to happen in the future, given the knowledge that the opposite of his opinion is likely to happen? Our thoughts about what should occur are clearly very often wrong. If Hashem is good, then nothing occurs that shouldn’t, and yet things do occur that we think should not. There is much that seems unjust to us in this imperfect world, which proves that our opinions about what is morally right are often simply erroneous. That we are right and God is wrong is inconceivable; how, then, is it reasonable to truly hold an opinion on what is morally right for God? We obviously don’t understand God well enough to know how He should act: The first criterion of prayer seems impossible to fulfill.
It bears stating that this poses no problem according to the common conception of prayer as a request from God, wherein the petitioner speaks his desires in the ears of a loving deity Who might kindly grant his wish. According to this conception, when we pray, we are not asserting what God should do, but rather only what we wish for Him to do. If you still conceive of prayer in this way, I recommend that you revisit the previous segments of this course to see why I consider that viewpoint inadequate and naïve and instead understand prayer as a declaration of the ultimate and highest knowledge. From that perspective, we question how man could ever have an opinion about what God should do, given that He follows His own perfect but unfathomable rules.
There is a second, related problem: Why would mortal man’s opinion matter to God? God doesn’t require man’s counsel to guide Him in the right path. Any advice proffered by man, if different from what God would have done anyway, must be imperfect; why would misguided and incorrect counsel affect God’s behavior?
Actually, the second problem is fundamentally the same as the first, only deeper: Man’s thoughts and God’s thoughts are different from each other, so how could man think on behalf of God and how could this affect God’s actions? This is the essence of the seemingly insoluble objection to the notion of prayer.
Rethinking Prayer:
To solve these problems, we must reconsider the relationship between man and God; understand that relationship properly, and you will understand the secret of prayer.
The fallacy that makes the problems seem insoluble is to view the thoughts of God and man separately, as if they inhabit distinct realms, side-by-side. Man has his own thoughts and ideas about the universe, we think, and God has His – how and why would the two interact? However, this perspective is incorrect, for man and his ideas are components of the system of God’s behavior, a part of His universal plan. It is wrong to consider what God would do absent of man’s opinion of what He should do. There is no such reality. Man does, in fact, have an opinion about what would seem right for God to do, and according to the doctrine of prayer, this very opinion is determinative for God’s behavior, for God cares, so to speak, what man thinks about His actions and desires that man understand Him.
The secret of prayer is this: While we don’t understand Hashem well enough to know how He should act, we can know how He would act if He wanted us to understand His action. Man cannot have an opinion what Hashem should do absent man’s opinion of what He should do, but he can have an opinion what Hashem should do if He wants man to have a positive opinion of His action. To pray is simply to consider what is right for Hashem in light of the fact that humans consider Him, and He them.
The opinions expressed in prayer are about how Hashem would act in a world wherein man would understand the righteousness of Hashem’s actions. Prayer is an expression of a contingent opinion, not an absolute opinion, and thus, it provides a basis for a possible relationship between Man and God. “If You would have me understand the justness of Your ways,” says the supplicant, “You would do thus-and-thus.” Through articulating a vision of an understandably just future, man lays the groundwork for a world wherein man and God are in mutual understanding, and thereby affects God’s very plan; for when He wishes for man to comprehend His ways, He acts in ways that are consistent with man’s mortal understanding.
The fundamental premises that form the basis of the notion of prayer can be restated more precisely, thus:
The universe is so constituted as to conform with human morality.
The contours of this conformation are mapped out through the prayers of the righteous.
Abraham’s Influence:
The great prayer-narrative in the Torah that tells of Abraham arguing with Hashem about divine justice reflects the above ideas. After Hashem informed Abraham of His intention to destroy the wicked city of Sodom, Abraham approached Him and argued that it would be unjust for Hashem to destroy the whole city if it contained even merely ten righteous people. Hashem accepted this argument and destroyed Sodom only after His angels reviewed the behavior of its residents and found no ten righteous people. Only after the whole populace demonstrated their depravity – “from youth to elder, every last man of them” (Genesis 19:4), did the angels commence to destroy Sodom.
The reason why Abraham was invited to express his opinion about Hashem’s plan is stated plainly:
Hashem said, “Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am about to do? … For I have known him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of Hashem to do righteousness and justice, so that Hashem may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken concerning him.” (ibid., 18:17-19)
Hashem revealed His way to Abraham because Abraham would “keep the way of Hashem,” learning from it how to be just and righteous himself, and Abraham could not keep the way of Hashem unless it was made understandable to him. In that spirit, Abraham said: “Considering that You desire for me to understand Your ways, this is what You should do…”
The thoughts and opinions of those who walk on the way of Hashem influence His actions, for His just and righteous ways would not inspire human justness and righteousness if they weren’t understood by humans. Prayer is not about Hashem’s ways taken in and of themselves, for of those, no man can ever speak; it is rather about Hashem’s ways as a model for those who walk in His ways and emulate Him. The great people who walk Hashem’s path together with Him can and must approach Him in prayer.
In the next segment, we will take a closer look at the narrative of Abraham’s argument to better understand how prayer forms the basis of and molds the relationship between man and Hashem.
A little confused about why this explanation doesn't fail like the ones its trying to answer. If G-d has a desire to align his representation with man's understanding, why does the articulation of that understanding have an impact?