by Shlomo Moshe Scheinman
One of the fundamental beliefs of Judaism is that G-d does not have a body. According to Rambam (Maimonides) one who denies this belief has no portion in the World to Come (Hilchot Teshuva, chapter 3). Raavad agrees with Rambam that G-d has no body, but comments (to Hilchot Teshuva 3:7) that in his opinion, people who wrongly interpret Scripture and therefore believe that G-d has a body, will not lose their portion in the World to Come over this error.
Sometimes the Bible Prefers to Present the Subjective Outlook of Man Rather Than the Absolute Objective Reality
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, known popularly as the Chafetz Chaim (in Sefer Mitzvot Hakatzar, Mitzvah 2:} sums up the Jewish view about G-d in the following way.
“It is a positive precept to attribute to the G-d, may he be blessed, an absolute state of being one; to believe with complete faith that he is one without any partner…
One must believe with complete faith that he is simple with the utmost state of being one and an absolute unity and has no body, nor will the factors that affect the body affect him, nor will occurrences of the body occur to him, and there is no second to him and outside of him, there is no L-rd; and we are obligated to believe this principle of faith at all times and at all moments and the commandment is a requirement both for males and females”.
Given this strong Jewish belief that G-d has no body and factors that affect the body do not affect him, nor do occurrences of the body occur to him, it is surprising that many verses of the Bible if interpreted literally imply otherwise.
Maharal of Prague, in his book, Tifferet Yisrael chapter 33, solves this difficulty in such a way that will also begin to remove our “Scientific Problems” with the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible). Regarding the verse, “And G-d descended on Mount Sinai” (Shmot/Exodus 19:20), and similar verses he explains, that this is talking from the perspective of a person, for thus was G-d subjectively perceived through man’s perspective as though he was descending from Heaven upon the Mountain. And therefore since since man thus perceived him, even though by objective reality, this was not indeed true, scripture will ascribe G-d as descending on the mountain. In other words Maharal is saying that although G-d did not really move from one position to another, Scripture ascribed movement to G-d at Sinai because that’s how things looked from a man’s perspective, who was experiencing the revelation.
Maharal in the same chapter of Tifferet Yisrael provides other examples, where G-d is described not by his true objective essence in the Bible, but rather by the way man perceives him. He brings what the Talmud (Sotah 48a) comments on the Biblical verse where the Psalmist asks of G-d, “Awake, why do you sleep?” (Tehillim/Psalms 44:24). The Talmud poses a rhetorical question, “and is there sleep before the Holy One Blessed be He? Rather in the hour that Israel is not doing the will of the Omnipresent it appears to be as if, there is sleep associated with him (lit. before him). Behold it is called sleep, from the perspective of those experiencing G-d’s involvement (or seemingly lack of involvement) with the world at that period of time.
Other examples brought by Maharal are from the Midrash (Yalkut Yitro 286): “Rabbi Chiya Bar Ami said, according to each activity and each word did he appear to them. On the Red (or Reed) Sea, he appeared as a warrior engaged in battle and at Sinai, as a scribe who is teaching Torah and in the days of Shlomo (Solomon) according to their actions, his appearance was like Levanon (the name of a high quality forest area), excellent as Cedar Trees; while he appeared to them in the days of Daniel as an old man that was teaching Torah”. Behold it has become clarified to you that G-d, may he be blessed, is present (subjectively) in accordance to those that receive him and therefore when those present are due to obtain some great loss, such as what took place in the generation of the flood, it was stated, “and it grieved him at his heart” (Bereshit/Genesis 6:6). Or in the opposite way, when those that are present obtain perfection, G-d appears to them as happy, as it is stated, “Let G-d rejoice in his works” (Tehillim/Psalms 104:31).
Not just when describing G-d, does the Bible often prefer to present a subjective human view of events instead of the objective reality. The Talmud (Tamid 29a) specifically points to 2 Biblical verses that portray an exaggerated, subjective human view of reality, rather than an objective view. Namely, Dvarim/Deuteronomy 1:28, which states: “the cities are great and fortified up to heaven” and Melachim/Kings 1:40 which states: “so that the earth was split with the sound of them”. And for those that need a more explicit source of my explanation for the Talmud see Rashi’s commentary to Melachim/Kings 1:40 where he makes a similar claim to the one I raised above.
Similarly, when G-d started the Biblical flood in Breishit/Genesis 7:11, “the windows of heaven were opened”. Ibn Ezra, notes this term was also used by a man, who was skeptical of the prophet’s prediction of the complete end of a situation of starvation within the next day in II Melachim/Kings 7:2 and Ibn Ezra understood that both verses are not describing objective reality, but rather the subjective terminology that people use to describe the event.
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From 60 Ribo, here.
