Sefer HaIkkarim, Maamar 4

An answer to the complaint of the adversity of the righteous.

Sometimes men know that their sins are the causes of their sufferings, and yet they complain and grumble against the ways of God. It is like a man whose eye-sight is injured as a result of excessive sexual indulgence, or a sick man who knows that his bad habits are responsible for his illness, and yet he is irritated and complains because of his illness. Solomon had such cases in mind when he said: “The foolishness of man perverteth his way; and his heart fretteth against the Lord.” Joseph’s brothers are a case in point: “What is this that God hath done unto us?” they exclaimed, though in the same breath they said: “We are verily guilty concerning our brother.” There is no need of expatiating on this class of cases.

Sometimes God in His mercy waits a long time for the sinner to repent, until the sinner forgets his sin. And then when God brings misfortune upon him for his sin in order to rouse him to repentance, he complains. He has forgotten his sin and thinks that God has forgotten it also, hence he complains that the misfortune came upon him without cause. Men who do not know or remember their sins, wrongly misjudge God. It is like the case of a man who lends his neighbor one thousand zuz. The creditor is kind to the debtor and extends the time of the loan. A long time passes and the debtor forgets the debt. When finally the creditor demands his debt from the debtor, the latter denies it and complains that the creditor is pressing him without cause. The other people, who do not know of the debt, exculpate the debtor, saying that if the debtor owed the money, why did not the creditor demand it before this. The debtor, on the other hand, when he recalls the debt still complains, desiring further extension as before. But this is foolishness, for then God would never collect His debt at all.

The Rabbis had this in mind when they said: “If any one says that God yeilds easily, may there be a yielding of his bowels. God is long-suffering, but He exacts His penalty in the end.” The prophet thought of this when he said: “Behold, it is written before Me; I will not keep silence, except I have requited.” The meaning is, you must not think that because you have forgotten your sins, I have forgotten them also. No, they are written before Me, and I will not keep silence, but will requite the iniquities of the sinners. We are not concerned either with those who forget their sins or with those who are well aware of them and nevertheless complain by reason of their simplicity and folly. Eliphaz says: “For anger killeth the foolish man.”

There are also many people who complain and find fault with God and His ways without any rhyme or reason, though they are supplied with sufficiency for a livelihood. They complain because they have not a great abundance of wealth to enable them to fill their bellies and get drunk with strong wine, and because they have not enough health and strength to be able to indulge freely in eating and drinking and sexual intercourse without discomfort, and live the life of a pig and an ass, complaining that others have more money than they.

Maimonides has already answered these people at length in the twelfth chapter of the third Part of the Guide of the Perplexed. It is clear that complaints of this sort have no justification at all. The general answer to all of them is denial of the subject or the predicate. The person they think to be righteous is not righteous. A fool and a simpleton who forgets himself, or a glutton and a drunkard, or a greedy person who is never satisfied with the money that he has, can not be called a righteous man. For the reality is not as man sees it. Man sees the surface, but God sees into the heart. We can also deny the predicate. What is thought to be evil is not evil. Sometimes a small evil comes to a man so as to save him from a great one, as the Rabbis say, by way of comment on the verse: “I will give thanks unto Thee, O Lord; for Thou wast angry with me …”, which we mentioned above. Elihu says the same thing: “He delivereth the afflicted by His affliction.” We also find often people complaining of a small evil which leads to a great good. This the prophet had in mind when he said: “Though I have trained and strengthened their arms, yet do they devise evil against Me.” In short all such cases can be answered by denying the predicate or the subject.

But even if we assume that the man is really righteous and the evil that befalls him is real evil, there still are instances of evil befalling the righteous, and the reasons are four, similar to the four which we mentioned in discussing the prosperity of the wicked.

1. One reason is general nature, the nature of generation and destruction. Thus the rain floods the righteous as well as the wicked, unless the righteous man stands so high that Providence delivers him from such evil. Or general nature as shown by the stars, if the man is not so meritorious that the prognosis of the stars is overruled. Or it may be that a person is of weak constitution and is always sick. Or he is a member of a low race, or an inhabitant of a country concerning which a certain decree has been declared and the righteous man is involved in the decree and suffers accordingly. For the general decrees of fate which concern a nation come upon the individuals not per se, but by virtue of their being part of the nation in question. And therefore the evils come upon them whether they deserve them or not, as Daniel and his companions were exiled in the captivity of king Jehoiachin, and Jeremiah went into exile in the captivity of Zedekiah. They did not deserve to be exiled personally, but were involved in the decree which was made concerning Jerusalem or the nation.

Sometimes also a righteous man is afflicted with misfortune on account of the nation as a whole, as a punishment for his sin of omission in not asking for mercy for his fellow men, as the Rabbis say that Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion, the greatest men in their generation, were punished because they did not carry out their duty of praying for mercy for their contemporaries. The reason is because the righteous man ought to follow in the ways of God and desire the continuance of the world as God desires its continuance: “For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, but rather that he should return from his ways and live.” And if the righteous man does not act in accordance with such desire he is punished.

Sometimes again misfortune comes upon the righteous on account of the nation as a whole, not, however, by way of punishment, but in order to atone for the nation as a whole. God desires the world to continue, and He knows at the same time that the righteous man will accept his sufferings gracefully without grumbling against God’s methods. Therefore God inflicts sufferings upon the righteous as ransom and atonement for the calamity which was destined to come upon the whole nation. Hence the Rabbis say that the death of the righteous is an atonement. We find this idea clearly expressed in the Bible also. God said to Ezekiel: “Moreover lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity … and again, when thou hast accomplished these, thou shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah …” The same idea is expressed in the fifty-second chapter of Isaiah, in which Israel is called “My servant:” “Behold, My servant shall prosper;” “Fear not, O Jacob, My servant;” “But thou, Israel, My servant;” “Surely our diseases he did bear, and our pains he carried; whereas we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.” The meaning is that if we see misfortune coming upon the righteous we think that they are due to some guilt of their own, and we wonder; whereas it is not so, the sufferings are not due to their own sins, but are inflicted upon them as an atonement for the whole world or nation or country.

2. Sometimes misfortunes come to the righteous through individual Providence. There is no man in the world so righteous that he does good and never sins. Hence it is possible that he committed certain wrongful acts, with intention at the beginning or the end of the act, and did not think of repenting, or there was no real regret. God now desires to wipe out those transgressions of his with a little suffering in his lifetime, so that he may be free from all sin and may merit the future life. Just as God recompenses the wicked man for his good deeds in this world in order to punish him with eternal destruction, so the righteous man is punished here for the few transgressions of which he is guilty in order that he may enjoy eternal delight. So our Rabbis say: If one has many merits and few demerits, he pays for the few light transgressions in this world, so that he may get his reward in full in the next world.

Sometimes also sufferings come to the righteous through individual Providence in order to protect him from a sin in which he is about to be entangled or which he is ready to commit on account of prosperity: “Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked,” Our Rabbis say in this connection: “Poverty is as becoming to Israel as a red strap to a white horse.” If they have it too good they may kick, as the prophet says: “And multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.”

3. Sometimes the righteous suffer on account of the wicked, as the wicked are sometimes well treated for the sake of the righteous, as we have seen, and this in a variety of ways. Their ancestors may have been wicked and punishment was decreed upon them and their descendants. The punishment must therefore necessarily come upon their descendants whether the latter be wicked or righteous, as all the seed of Eli were punished for the sin of their ancestors, and the result was the death of Ahimelekh and the priests of Nob. The punishment for the sin of Adam continues to be inflicted upon all his descendants, whether they be righteous or wicked, as our Rabbis say: “Four persons died through the instigation of the serpent.” This means that they were not personally guilty of any sin for which they deserved death, outside of the original sin which Adam committed on the advice of the serpent.

Or it may be that the punishment was decreed for the fathers only, and yet it befalls the children also per accidens, even if they are righteous. The father may have been a rich man who lost his wealth by reason of his sins. The result is that the children are poor, though righteous, by reason of the sin of the father. Or it may be the fathers were exiled for their sins, and the children remain in exile because of their fathers’ sin. This is the meaning of the biblical expression: “Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.” If the fathers had not sinned, they would not have lost their money, or would not have gone into exile. Their sons would then have remained in their own land, or they would have inherited their fathers’ wealth, provided the sons themselves were not wicked men deserving exile or loss of possessions. They might not have been so righteous as to merit restoration to their own land or acquisition of wealth on their own account, nevertheless if they had been in their own land in the first place they would not have been exiled, and if they had inherited their fathers’ wealth, they would not have lost it. We see, therefore, that the exile or poverty which comes to the fathers for their sins is borne by the children, not that the son suffers for the iniquity of the father, for this would be injustice in God. Ezekiel made this clear when he said: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die; the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father with him, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son with him,” unless the sin involves the profanation of the holy name, and is such as might influence for evil the masses who witness it. In that case the punishment follows the children also, as in the case of Eli.

4. Sometimes the righteous man is afflicted with misfortune for his own good. These are called sufferings for love, they are also called trials. They may be of three kinds.

A. First are those sufferings which come upon an absolutely righteous man, who serves God from pure love. To such a man God in His love for him brings suffering to wipe out some impurity or sinful stain in his soul. For a person can not help committing a light sin sometimes, such as does not oblige him to bring an offering, or neglecting the performance of some duty. And even the really righteous man may not think of doing penitence in these cases. Now though these things are not so serious as to require an offering or to deserve punishment, nevertheless they put a stain of impurity upon the soul and lower its degree in the future world. This is the reason why the violation of a law, without intention either at the beginning or at the end, requires atonement, though it does not deserve punishment, as is mentioned in the first chapter of the treatise Shebu‘ot. In such a case God in His love for the righteous man inflicts suffering upon him to wipe out the stain of impurity in the soul in order that she may attain the degree which she deserves through her good deeds, without being hindered by anything.

These sufferings are in reality for the purpose of wiping out sins, neverthless, since no one knows why they come when they do come, they are called trials and also sufferings of love. This is in accordance with the opinion of Nahmanides in his treatise on Reward and Punishment. Quoting the words of Rabbi Ammi, who said, “There is no death without sin, and no suffering without iniquity,” he agrees with him in part and holds that the refutation of R. Ammi’s view applies only to the first part, that there is no death without sin, but not to the second. Hence he holds that sufferings never befall any person unless he is guilty of sin. But when they are such as I have described, they are called sufferings of love; because they are due to God’s love of the person, for He desires that no stain of any slight and unconscious sin should prevent his soul from attaining the degree which it deserves in accordance with its conduct.

B. The second species of punishment under cause number four is explained according to an old opinion well known among us, the opinion held by the Geonim, who say that a person may suffer for no sin at all. Such sufferings are called sufferings of love, because they are not due to sin, and they are also called trial. For God sometimes brings sufferings upon a righteous person to try him in order to see whether he serves God from pure love, as we find in the Bible: “For the Lord your God putteth you to proof, to know whether ye do love the Lord your God …,” or whether he serves God from love of reward and fear of punishment.

Not every man who is sincere and serves God out of pure love in times of tranquillity and prosperity has enough strength of character and will to endure hardship and trouble for the love of God and to serve God in poverty and affliction as he served Him in quiet and tranquillity, without complaining and finding fault with God when trouble comes upon him. Therefore God brings sufferings upon the righteous to find out whether his good deeds coincide with his good intentions. Thus Job was “whole-hearted and upright and one that feared God and shunned evil.” His thoughts and intentions were good, and yet he could not bear actual hardship and trouble for the love of God. When sufferings came upon him he found fault with God, and thus verified the words of Satan who said: “Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not Thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath?” It thus became known that his service of God was motivated by love of reward and fear of punishment, and not by perfect love. Hence when God brings sufferings of this kind upon a righteous man they are called sufferings of love, because in this way those persons who say that the righteous men who are prosperous do not serve God from love will be convinced when they see that those righteous men serve God in time of suffering as they did in times of tranquillity.

This is what the Rabbis have in mind when they say: “If a person sees suffering coming upon him, he should search his conduct, as is said: ‘Let us search and try our ways.’ If after searching he finds something wrong, he should repent, as it says, ‘and return.’ If, however, he has not found any wrong in his conduct, he should charge his suffering to neglect of the study of the Torah, as is said: ‘Happy is the man whom Thou instructest, O Lord, and teachest out of Thy law.’ If he can not find that he is guilty of neglect of the study of the Law, then it is certain that they are sufferings of love, as is said: ‘For whom the Lord loveth, He correcteth.’ And what is his reward if he accepts his sufferings with love? ‘He will see his seed, prolong his days.’ And not only this, but he will retain all that he has learned, as is said: ‘And the purpose of the Lord will prosper by his hand’.”

In this passage the Rabbis included all kinds of sufferings which come to a person. They say, “If one sees that sufferings come upon him,” i. e. upon him specially, that is if he sees that they are not determined by general nature, as discussed under the first head, but that he is singled out specially and not as coming under the general rule, then he should search his conduct, to see if they belong to the species discussed under the second head, namely punishment for intentional transgression. He must therefore examine his conduct, and if he finds anything, he must repent and return to God, who will have mercy upon him. If after searching he does not find, i. e. he does not find that the suffering can come under the second head, he must charge it to neglect of the Torah, i. e. to ignorance and unintentional wrong. He may have failed to recognize his sin because he was not sufficiently familiar with the Torah and its commandments, as the Rabbis say, “An ignoramus can not be a pious man.” Or he can not understand in what way suffering may come upon him, though he is not guilty of sin. This comes under the third head in our discussion. “But if he can not charge it to this either, then they must be sufferings of love, as is said: ‘Whom the Lord loveth, He correcteth,’ ” The meaning is, If he is a wise and absolutely righteous person, and can not charge his sufferings either to the second or to the third cause, i. e. to lack of knowledge as to certain sins, then his sufferings must surely be those of love. That is, they come under the fourth head which we are now considering. It may be the first class under this head, viz. that they are due to God’s love, whose purpose is to wipe out any light sin which requires atonement, so as to cleanse the stain and uncleanness of the soul, in order that it may attain to the degree it deserves, as a father chastises the son whom he loves, not in order to have the satisfaction of punishing him, but in order to purify him of his impurity for his own good, so that he may attain a high station, as we read: “Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” Or it may be the second class, to try him, so as to see whether he can endure hardship and trouble for the love of God without finding fault with His treatment. Hence the statement of the Rabbis, “And what is his reward if he accepts them with love, etc.?” For if a person accepts suffering with good grace, his reward is increased. For all people realize through his example how far the love of God can go, and are thus inspired to serve God from pure love.

C. The third kind of suffering is called suffering of love in the true sense. These are sufferings which come upon a person not to wipe out any sin he has committed, for he is not guilty of any sin, having had his stain wiped out; nor in order to put him to the proof, for he has already been put to the proof. But God in His loving kindness brings suffering upon him, not merely such as everybody can see, but also such as nobody knows, like the sacrifice of Isaac, which took place on one of the mountains, where nobody saw but God. This is in order to increase his reward, that he may deserve the reward for good deeds and not merely for good intentions.

One may object against the second and third kinds by saying that since God knows whether the person will stand the test or not and, in the third case, that he serves God from pure love with all his heart and soul and might, as is shown by the test, why the need of suffering? The answer is that the reward of him who actually endured pain and trouble for the love of God can not be the same as that of him who has not actually endured. This is what the king had in mind when he said: “Let not him that girdeth on his armour boast himself as he that putteth it off.” The meaning is, Let not him who has not actually shown bravery, though he is armed and ready to show it, boast himself as much as he who has actually shown it and is now taking off his armor.

For this reason God often brings punishment upon a righteous man to habituate him to combine good intentions with good deeds, so that he may earn greater reward, for practice will strengthen his heart in the love of God. For an act makes a greater impression upon the soul than intention without act, and hence the person earns the reward for deed and intention instead of the reward of intention alone.

Habituation in God’s service is called trial, as Maimonides writes. The biblical expression, “That He might afflict thee, to prove thee,” Maimonides interprets: “To habituate thee to endure actually hardship and trouble for the love of God.” He interprets in the same way the verse in Exodus: “For God is come to prove you.” God, he says, came with awful thunders and fearful lightnings for two reasons. One is to habituate you to endure actually hardship and trouble and pain for the love of God, for practice makes a strong impress on the soul, inspiring it with the love of God. And when your good intention and good word—“We will do and obey”— are realized in act, you will have the reward due to the one who is habituated to do good deeds, and not merely the reward of good intention. The second reason is to call your attention to the greatness of the punishment which is inflicted upon him who transgresses the words of God, hence the words, “And that His fear may be before you.”

Similarly the verse, “For the Lord your God putteth you to proof,” is explained by him to mean that God habituates you in the ways of His service in order that love of God may be firmly implanted in your hearts, and that you may also be rewarded for good deeds, when it becomes clearly known that you serve God from love and are not led astray by the words of a certain prophet or dreamer of dreams because of the imaginary advantage which you see in the worship of other gods, and the prosperity and wealth and honor derived from it—considerations which induce people to worship idols. Moses says: “For ye know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt … and ye have seen their detestable things … lest there should be among you man, or woman, … whose heart turneth away … from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations.” The meaning is, though you saw that their detestable things and idols are wood and stone, you at the same time saw the great quantities of silver and gold which those idolatrous nations had. Therefore I fear lest some of you may be enticed to follow them because of your desire for that prosperity. Hence the expression, “Lest there should be among you …” The same idea is expressed in the words, “For the Lord your God putteth you to proof.” The meaning is that if you will not be induced to follow after the prosperity in question, you will habituate yourselves to the quality of love, and your reward will be greater because of the hardship you will actually endure for love of Him, and it will be known that your service is motivated by pure love and not by the desire of reward and the fear of punishment. This is sufficient as an explanation of the sufferings which are inflicted for the second reason.

The meaning of the word trial, which is mentioned in the sacrifice of Isaac, belongs under the third division. God desired that the good intention in the mind of Abraham should be realized in actuality, so that he might be rewarded for good deed and good intention and not merely for good intention alone. Now inasmuch as the knowledge of a thing after it is realized is necessarily different from the knowledge of the thing before it is realized, the Bible says: “For now I know that thou art a God-fearing man,” though there was no new knowledge in God which He had not before. A similar expression is: “Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon.” The knowledge was not new, but the actual circumstance was new, which called attention to the truth of what was known before. So in the case of Isaac, God said, the circumstance has actually come to pass which shows that you are a God-fearing man, and that you serve Him from pure love.

As to such knowledge, we have explained in the third chapter of this Book that though it necessitates change in us it does not imply change in God. The Torah uses the expression, “I know,” a human form of speech, because it was not given to angels, and therefore has to use expressions which we can understand. This is the meaning of the word trial wherever it occurs in the Bible. The expression, “Now I know,” is used because it was then that the actual incident occurred which showed what He knew already, namely that Abraham was God-fearing and served God from love and not from the fear of punishment. For there can not be a greater punishment than to kill one’s only son, after he has reached the age of thirty-seven. Nevertheless Abraham did not hesitate to do this for the love of God. This is a conclusive proof that he served God from pure love. Hence the Bible describes him as a friend, “The seed of Abraham My friend.”

These are the real sufferings of love, of which the Geonim speak, i. e. such as God in His love brings upon a righteous man to increase his reward. In other words, the suffering is inflicted in order that the person may actually endure trouble and hardship for the love of God, and be rewarded for good deeds and not merely for good intentions. These are not the kind of sufferings which were inflicted upon Job, nor is it the same kind of trial as came to Hezekiah, concerning whom it is said: “Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that He might know all that was in his heart.” For Hezekiah failed to stand the test, as the Bible testifies: “But Hezekiah rendered not according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up …” These sufferings and trials belong to the second class only. But those sufferings which belong to the third class come only to absolutely righteous men, as our Rabbis say in Bereshit Rabbah. Commenting on the verse in the Psalms: “The Lord trieth the righteous,” they say, “When a potter examines his kiln, he does not use the weak jars which break as soon as he knocks on them; he uses the good jars, which do not break no matter how many times he knocks on them, hence we read: ‘God proved Abraham.’ ”

When such sufferings come upon the righteous, like Rabbi Akiba and his associates, they do not constitute injustice in God, on the contrary, they indicate mercy and kindness, because He desires to reward those who serve Him from love for good deeds and not merely for good intentions, for a person does not reach the degree of pure love until he actually endures trouble and hardship for the love of God.

This, then, is the answer to the objection which is raised against this third form of suffering, namely that since God knows that the righteous person in question is a devotee of long standing and will endure the test, why does He try him? The answer is as we have said. The reward destined for one who serves God in deed is not the same as the reward of him who serves in thought only. The objector might as well say, why did God command us to perform the commandments actually, is it not sufficient that we have the intention of performing them? The answer here is obvious, the reward for a good deed is given for doing it and not merely for thinking it. The Torah mentions it frequently: “And ye shall do them;” “Hear, therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it.” The same thing applies to the matter of trial. God desires that the person should have the actual experience and not merely the good intention.

Consider carefully what we have said under this fourth head concerning sufferings of love and trial, for our point of view is correct and nearer the truth than anything we have seen elsewhere.

To return to the subject of this chapter, we will say in a general way that the evils which the righteous suffer come upon them rightly and justly, though we may not know to which one of the four causes which we mentioned the sufferings are due.