what does God pray for?
Jan. 6th, 2004 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellio(Because someone asked:)
According to the talmud (B'rachot 7a), God prays. The qeustion of "to whom?" does not appear to be addressed (at least here). As for "what", the gemara says that God prays for mercy over judgement: "May it be My will that My mercy conquer My anger, and that My mercy overcome My [sterner] attributes, and that I behave toward My children with the attribute of mercy, and that for their sake I go beyond the boundary of judgement".
(In a baraita [1], God is said to have also asked a certain rabbi for a blessing.)
Because God is omnipotent, clearly he can apply mercy over judgement at will. So I guess he's explicitly asking himself to will it? (I know we're going to discuss this more when we next meet in two weeks.)
[1] A baraita is a teaching contemporary with the mishna that was not written down as part of the mishna.
According to the talmud (B'rachot 7a), God prays. The qeustion of "to whom?" does not appear to be addressed (at least here). As for "what", the gemara says that God prays for mercy over judgement: "May it be My will that My mercy conquer My anger, and that My mercy overcome My [sterner] attributes, and that I behave toward My children with the attribute of mercy, and that for their sake I go beyond the boundary of judgement".
(In a baraita [1], God is said to have also asked a certain rabbi for a blessing.)
Because God is omnipotent, clearly he can apply mercy over judgement at will. So I guess he's explicitly asking himself to will it? (I know we're going to discuss this more when we next meet in two weeks.)
[1] A baraita is a teaching contemporary with the mishna that was not written down as part of the mishna.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-07 10:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-07 07:02 pm (UTC)I suppose you don't have to consider one attribute baser than another; I believe tradition holds that God has judgement and mercy in equal quantities, and it's just a question of which should dominate when. But it's a little troubling to consider that justice comes naturally but mercy requires extra help.
Does God have regrets?
An excellent question. If God is outside of time, then it's hard to argue that God can be surprised, let alone have regrets. I still hold to the possibly-misguided notion that we can surprise God, though -- that omniscience means knowing all possible outcomes, maybe along with their probabilities, but that by giving us free will he has voluntarily given up knowing how everything's going to turn out. I don't know if we can extend that idea to God's own actions, though.
Does God regret the Mabul (flood)? The plain reading of the text suggests that he does (or did at the time), but I haven't chased commentaries on this point yet. An interesting question warranting further research...