Similarly, in the Psalms:

"By the words of JHVH were the heavens made,

And all their host by the breath of his mouth." (P. B.) "For He spoke, and it was!

He commanded, and it stood forth!"' (P. B.)

Again and again do the Psalmists extol the untold beauties of nature, and the bounties she so lavishly bestows upon man:

"Thou causest springs to flow in the valleys,

Between mountains they glide away;

They give drink to every beast of the field,

Wild asses thereat quench their thirst;

Birds of the air build their nests on the banks,

And warble forth songs from the branches.

From Thine upper stories of clouds, Thou givest drink

to the mountains,

And the earth is sated with the fruit of Thy works.
Thou causest grass to grow for cattle,

And herbs for the service of man,

So that bread may come forth from the earth." 10 (P. B.)

Nature not only provides man with those things necessary to sustain his life, but she furnishes him with luxuries that cheer the heart and lighten the spirit:

"And wine to cheer man's heart,

Oil to make his skin to shine ""1 (P. B.)

In the eighth Psalm," which "is a lyric echo of the tradition committed to writing in the Elohistic account of creation," " we read:

12

8 Ps. 33:6 (480 B. C.)

Ps. 33:9.

10 Ps. 104:10-14.

11 Ps. 104:15.

11a Older than Job 7:17, later than Gen. I; cf. Wellhausen's

crit. notes on Ps. 8 in P. B. (Engl. transl.)

12 Cf. Delitzsch: Genesis, Edinb., 1888, vol. I, p. 65.

"When I see Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, The moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, What is man that Thou takest thought of him,

And a son of man that Thou heedest him." 18 (P. B.)

The Optimism which roots in the conception that God is the Creator is deepened by the belief that He, the Creator, rules over that which He has called into existence, and it is significant that He is always spoken of as a "Righteous Judge."

"JHVH has assumed the sovereignty, let the earth rejoice, Let the multitude of countries be glad!

Clouds and darkness are round about Him,

Righteousness and justice are the foundations of His throne."

"14

"For JHVH, the Host High, is to be feared,

A great King over all the earth."

'For King of the whole world is God."

"God has begun His reign over the heathen,

He has taken His seat on His holy throne." 15 (P. B.) "He loves righteousness and justice;

Of the goodness of JHVH the earth is full." 16 (P. B.)

Long before Leibnitz did the Talmudic doctors assert that this is the best possible world. For we read in Midrash Rabboth " that Rabbi Abahu of Cæsarea (about 300 C. E.) said: "How do we know, that God several

13 Ps. 8: 3, 4.

18

14 Ps. 97:1, 2 (c. 350 B. C.)

15 Ps. 47:2, 7a, 8 (c. 350 B. C.)

16 Ps. 33:5 (c. 480 B. C.); comp. Zeph. 3:5; Micah 7:9; Amos 5:24; Hosea 14:9; Jer. 11:20; Isa. 3:14, 15; Ps. 96: 10-13; 103:6; Dan. 9:14, 16; Eccl. 3:17; 8:12.

17 Midrash Rabboth is a collection of Midrashim on the Pentateuch and the five Megilloth. Bereshith Rabba was compiled during the sixth Christian century. Cf. Karpeles: Gesch. d. jüd. Lit., Berl., 1886, vol. I, p. 335.

18 Bereshith Rabba, chapt. 9.

times created worlds and then destroyed them until He created these worlds, for He said, these are good, and the others are not." In another place we read:

“All that God has wrought was for the good.""

כל דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד Talm, Berachoth 60b 19

CHAPTER III

ORIGIN AND VIEW OF EVIL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The Biblical accounts of creation imply that God created everything out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo). The opening sentence of the Priestly account of creation: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," expresses the negation of primary matter (Urstoff). This view is never contradicted in the Old Testament. During Post-biblical ages, too, it was the prevailing view. Those who differed from it were under the influence of Greek speculation. Thus Aristobulus (160 B. C.), who was the chief exponent of the JewishAlexandrian school of philosophy, held that God formed the world out of material previously existing. This view is also met with in the Wisdom of Solomon * and in

.(Creatio ex nihilo) בריאה יש מאין!

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ (Gen. 1:1) (P) 2

Cf. also Isa. 44:24 (550-545 B. C.):

"Thus says JHVH, thy Redeemer, and He who formed thee from the womb:

I am JHVH, who wrought everything,

Who stretched forth the heavens, alone, who spread forth the earth-who was with me " (P. B.); also Ps. 90:2; 33:5; Job 26:7.

Cf. Hamburger's Real Encycl. "Schöpfung aus Nichts," and "Religionsphilosophie."

a Cf. Ueberweg: Hist. of Phil., N. Y., 1896, vol. I, p. 223; Joel: Blicke in die Religionsgesch., Excursus I Aristobulus. * Cf. Wisdom of Sol. (150 B. C.), "For Thine Almighty hand, that made the world of matter without form" (11: 17a).