Saturday, May 5, 2012

A Jewish Perspective on What God Does All Day

A while back, I wrote a post that touched on the issue of what God does all day.  According to Plato, God contemplates the forms, which are ideals in heaven of which earthly things and principles are imperfect representations.  Examples of forms include the concepts of justice, courage, i.e.

Today, in my reading of Brad Young's Jesus and His Jewish Parables (my write-ups of which will appear in the future), Young refers to a Jewish perspective about what God does all day.  Young is discussing Seder Eliyahu Rabbah Chapter 14, and he states on page 96:

"For one third of the day God recites Mishnah and reads scripture, the second third he pronounces judgment and during the final third he takes care of his creations by feeding them and by supplying their needs."

So, in this view, God in a sense does meditate on the forms, in that God focuses on the principles of justice, mercy, righteousness, and love in Scripture and the Mishnah.  But God does not only study, for God carries those principles into the realm of action.  Or he does, on some level.  Plenty of people wonder why God doesn't appear to be more active in the world, supplying people's needs, punishing the wicked, etc.