EE & R, 3_12: Between the Torah and the Prophets: Divine Design and the Role of Human Choice
(For the previous installment of "Exodus, Exile and Redemption," click here. For ToC, click here.)
We seek to penetrate deeper into the Torah’s mysteries to fully grasp the distinction between Moshe and the prophets: What precisely did the prophets know that Moshe could not?
Moshe’s entreaty to know Hashem was a desire to understand His good ways – the moral order underpinning all existence.1 In requesting, “Please show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18), Moshe, as the Midrash explains, desired “to comprehend the reward of the righteous and the tranquility of the wicked.”2 This suggests that to identify what was withheld from the master of all the prophets, we must turn not to the realm of abstract metaphysics but to that of ethical understanding.3
Indeed, the Midrash interprets Hashem’s response to Moshe, wherein He granted him a partial vision, in the same vein, through the lens of moral insight. It explains that “My face shall not be seen” (ibid 23) refers to the peace enjoyed by the wicked, which is called “face” in the verse “He will repay him to his face” (Deuteronomy 7:10), and that “You shall see My back” signifies that Hashem told Moshe, “I will show you the reward of the righteous that I am going to give them in the end of days.”
The vision granted to Moshe pertained to the end, Hashem’s “back,” while the vision of Hashem’s justice in the present was withheld. This distinction is clarified further in another source:
“Face” in this world, and “back” in the world to come… “Face” refers to the suffering of the righteous in this world and the tranquility of the wicked in this world; “back” refers to the reward of the righteous in the future and the retribution of the wicked in Gehinnom.4
“Face” represents Hashem’s righteous activity as it unfolds in the present, discernment of which proved elusive to Moshe, whereas “back” denotes the ultimate clarity of His ways, a vision of the end of days. To truly know Hashem’s goodness requires the longest perspective – a vision extending to the distant future, where the seemingly fragmented events of the present align into a unified moral order. Such a vision is considered an indirect seeing, not face to face, for it requires stepping beyond the immediate and the finite. Thus, all of Hashem’s goodness was made to pass before Moshe, yet he could not see it directly and live.5
Having examined the scriptural interpretations, let us now delve into the philosophical implications of perceiving Hashem’s goodness, striving to present this profound subject in simple terms. We ask:
What does it mean to see Hashem’s goodness?
Why does such a vision require seeing to the end of time?
Why is this vision considered indirect, inaccessible to those who remain alive?
To see Hashem’s goodness is to recognize goodness as an inherent quality of reality, for if being itself is intrinsically good, then its Maker is good. Yet this goodness is far from straightforward, as it hinges on man, the culmination and steward of Creation. If man is virtuous, then the totality of being reflects that virtue, for it is man who brings order to the world according to the goodness within him. But man is not inherently virtuous by nature; he becomes so only through the exercise of free will. Goodness, then, is not a given but a choice – a product of human effort and decision. This raises a profound challenge: If the moral quality of being depends on man’s choices, then goodness is not intrinsic to reality but something man creates. In recognizing virtue as his own creation, man sees no role for a good God. This is the paradox of perceiving Hashem’s goodness.
Let us probe deeper to consider the scope of free will and determine whether the goodness resulting from man’s choices is truly his or ultimately God’s. Any individual can choose evil, suggesting that when one does choose good, it is solely their creation. However, while the choices of individuals are unpredictable, humanity’s collective trajectory is not. Over time, it will eventually choose good. Since choosing evil leads to suffering and choosing good leads to flourishing, the lessons of history and experience are bound to lead humanity toward goodness. Man is free, but mankind is not, bound by the consequences of its collective choices, which steer it toward the good that aligns with God’s design. Humanity functions like a network of interconnected nodes: individual wills that, while fallible, collectively contribute to progress. Mistakes are not fatal; they serve as data points for reflection, repentance, and refinement, gradually leading humanity ever closer to perfection.
The trajectory of mankind toward the good reveals a deeper purpose embedded in creation. From the longest perspective, goodness emerges as the culmination of hidden guidance through the ages, shaped by dynamics inherent in the very fabric of reality. Yet, we must avoid the error of envisioning an ultimate endpoint – a fixed state of perfection that humanity will one day reach. New problems will continually arise, each more refined and complex than the last, ensuring that the pursuit of goodness remains ongoing. Humanity will always stand at a frontier, free to err and to improve through learning from its missteps. Ultimate perfection, then, is not a destination but a limit – an asymptote of goodness toward which humanity perpetually advances, ever closer yet never fully attained.
In light of the guiding forces inherent in reality, we conclude that from the infinite perspective of humanity as a whole, extending endlessly into the future, goodness is not man’s creation but God’s design. It is He who has shaped humanity to inevitably incline toward the good. From any finite perspective, the presence of evil remains a possibility within God’s perfect world, and to the extent that evil is overcome, the credit belongs to man; yet from the infinite perspective, all glory belongs to God. Evil cannot persist into infinity, but it will forever remain present in anything less.
We now understand why seeing the goodness of Hashem entails seeing to the end of time, i.e., to infinity. The infinite process of human improvement simultaneously conceals, by obscuring the whole within the fragmentary experience of the present, and reveals, by manifesting the greater arc of history, the true goodness of God – a vision accessible only at the horizon of eternity.
Such a vision is indirect and requires transcending the boundaries of individual life, for the arc of history is too vast and abstract to be fully grasped in any single moment. To truly know it, one must step beyond the temporal existence granted to any individual – their life – and view the world from the perspective of its infinitely completed story, a perspective no human can attain while remaining a member of the present, alive. Man may grasp the concept of perfect goodness intellectually, theoretically, but he can never experience it directly, for it resides in the realm of the infinite, while he dwells in the realm of the always imperfect finite.
The self, as it exists in the present, cannot hold the infinite perspective. It requires a leap beyond the confines of time-bound existence – a leap that no living individual can fully make. This is why such vision is considered indirect and why it is said, “no man shall see Me and live.”
It emerges that it is man himself who occludes his vision of the good God, for when he looks for goodness, he sees only himself. He cannot face Hashem while fully alive, bound by the immediacy of the here and now. To perceive a goodness beyond himself requires transcending the self – a kind of death.
This is Moshe’s teaching. The contrasting teaching of the prophets, who did see God’s face, will be elucidated in the coming chapter.