Spiritual and Ethical Issues in the Historical Books of Tanach; JOSHUA, JUDGES, SAMUEL, KINGS (Nevi’im Rishonim)
by Dr. Meir Tamari

These four books ostensibly are merely the history of Israel from the entry into the Promised Land until the destruction of the Temple and the temporary loss of independent statehood. In fact they are actually, in a specifically Jewish sense, the most deeply religious and spiritual books of the Bible. One does not have to be specifically Jewish to see or feel the religion and spirituality in the revelations of the prophetic writings or in the words of the Tehillim. They speak to all people, as evidenced by the fact that the Bible is still the world's bestseller and there are millions of non-Jews who regularly recite the Psalms. However, it is specifically and intrinsically Jewish to understand that G-d is revealed in the prosaic material, in the political, social and military events in the lives of ordinary men and women, kings and leaders that are described in the Nevim Rishonim. Here are described the ideology and religious thoughts in Judaism, while in Chronicles we have the purely historical.

Free Will, Divine Punishment and Divine Mercy
The very first encounter between Hashem and Man centers on the commandment not to eat of the tree of Knowledge. It appears throughout Western culture, featuring as a dominant motive in theological literature, art, folklore and idiomatic speech. The Garden of Eden prior to Man's Fall, innocent Man and Woman, Forbidden Fruit, Eve the Temptress, and the Serpent the evil seducer, G-d's anger, Paradise Lost; all are questions about the cause of sin, human depravity and the lack of harmony within the individual's themselves, between one and another, and between them and the rest of nature. Irrespective of some similarities in the questions and in the answers between those of other faiths and philosophies and Torah, Judaism has both questions and answers that are specific to it and different from all of them.

The Tree of Knowledge according to our Sages was either the Grape, the fruit of which brings happiness [good] and drunkenness [evil], or the Fig from which they made themselves clothes to hide the new knowledge that they had after eating of it, or the Wheat that is the symbol of knowledge since a child is considered able to study at 3 years old when he is able to taste wheaten food. It is unclear where the idea held so widely in non-Jewish lore, of the Apple as that fruit came from. Irrespective of what tree was involved, all our sources agree that Adam and Chava had knowledge of good and evil. To assume differently would make punishment for their disobedience, unjust.

We can distinguish 4 major Jewish approaches to their change in knowledge:

[1] Their knowledge of good and evil was clear and distinct, before they ate of the fruit, whereas now the differences between them were confused and blurred.

[2] Their innate being was good and perfect without a Yetzer HaRa before eating from the tree, so that this Yetzer could only have been brought to them by an external factor, the Nachash.

[3] "And G-d saw all that He had made and behold it was very good" (B'reishit 1:31). Chazal taught that very good included the Yetzer HaRa (Chizkuni). Yetzer HaRa is the ability to choose evil (S.R.Hirsch). So even before they ate, they had the choice between good and evil. In this they were radically different from animal wisdom, represented by the serpent, that has instinct, a G-d given knowledge of good and bad that does not allow them to do evil. This instinct tells them what is good for them - what to eat, when to mate, when to hibernate or to migrate to protect themselves from danger or from the seasons.- and what is evil - the opposite of their instincts. For Adam and Eve there was the superior knowledge of Free Will guided by Divine Wisdom. Hashem had told them not to eat of this tree and His Word should have sufficed for them to distinguish between good and evil. Despite this, they elevated the distinction taught by their knowledge over His, and arrogantly chose to eat (Rabbi S.R.Hirsch). Chava knew that the fruit of the tree was good for eating, that it was a delight to the eyes and desirable as a means to wisdom. When she saw the snake, guided by his legitimate instinct, eating of the fruit she said to herself that if the snake could eat and not die so she could chose to also eat of it, and would not die despite G-d's command (Abarbanel). Parallel to these views, we can understand the Midrash that Adam and Chava's sin was that of theft, defined as taking anything that does not belong to them; the fruit that belonged to G-d.

[4] "Man was created to use his Free Will to elevate the animal instincts in him and thereby become a partner with Hashem in Creation. Now the Midrash tells us that Kayin and Hevel were born before the first Shabbat. Had Adam and Chava waited for that Shabbat, they would have succeeded in transforming their relationship from something akin to the animal instinct into Kiddushin (sanctified marriage). The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, blurring the difference between god and evil prevented that" (Shem Mi Shmuel).

The reverse side of the coin to Man's Free Will is the consequences of that choice - reward or punishment for obeying or disregarding His Will. So the three participants were punished each according to their misdeeds. "To the serpent He said, 'You shall eat of the dust of the earth'. Take your livelihood of dust that is plentiful and get out of My sight" (The Admor of Kotsk). A livelihood is assured to him, but without any need or help from G-d, in contrast to the whole of Creation that looks to G-d for its sustenance and receives it, so that a connection exists between them and Hashem. "The difficulties and pain of childbirth are not the punishment, as they simply flow from the physical structure of a woman. However, Chava had used her sexuality to influence Adam and thereby rule him, so she was told, 'Your lust shall be to him, and he will rule you'" (Abarbanel). "Adam had negated his subjection to G-d's Will and thereby violated the world's harmony that exists by virtue of that Will. Being out of harmony with His Creation means a constant struggle with other people and with the natural world to earn and safeguard his that his livelihood and his wealth" (S.R.Hirsch).

The non-Jewish world speaks about the Old Testament, G-d of stern Justice without Mercy; there are Jews whose reading of history is basically the same. Yet Tanach is replete with examples that this not so, rather that always Hashem's Justice is tempered with Chesed and Rachamim. The Torah tells us of the generation of the Flood 'Vayigva kol basar', vayigva is not used to describe death through suffering and pain but through the kiss of G-d. When Noah goes into the Ark, Hashem Himself closes the Ark. At the end of the Torah, Hashem does Chesed Shel Emet and buries the dead. When Adam and Chava hide because of their nakedness, showing that they retain their embarrassment and shame at their wrongdoing, Hashem made clothes of skins to clothe the naked.

"In the Torah of Rabbi Meir it is written, 'He made them clothes of light (spirituality)'; 'BIGDEI OR' - 'or' written with an Alef-light, rather that with an Ayin-leather" (Midrash).

This is the 87th installment in Dr. Tamari’s series on “Tanach and its messages for our times”

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