{"id":81676,"date":"2020-10-18T15:56:39","date_gmt":"2020-10-18T12:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=81676"},"modified":"2020-10-18T15:56:39","modified_gmt":"2020-10-18T12:56:39","slug":"the-secret-of-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-secret-of-the-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Of The Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our psalm, a prayer for divine guidance and deliverance, is recited on various liturgical occasions (<\/span>Psalm 25 in Liturgy<\/span><\/a>). In commenting on \u201cThe secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him\u201d (<\/span>verse 14<\/span><\/a>; JPS has \u201ccounsel\u201d for <\/span>sod<\/span><\/em>), British Chief Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz adds that \u201cSecret\u201d (<\/span>sod<\/span><\/em>) refers to \u201cthe close and intimate communion in which God makes Himself known to the soul; that higher intimacy with the Eternal Spirit that reveals the meaning of His providential dealings with the children of men\u201d (<\/span>Authorized Daily Prayer Book,<\/span><\/em> 1948, pp. 322-323).<\/span><\/p>\n

Mishnah Yadayim 4.3<\/span><\/a> relates that when asked to confirm a halakhic decision determined by a majority vote of the Sages, Rabbi Eliezer answered, weeping: \u201c\u2018The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him; to them He makes known His covenant.\u2019 Go and tell them: \u2018Don’t worry about having determined this <\/span>halakhah<\/em> <\/span>by majority opinion. For, I received it as tradition from my teacher, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, who heard it from his teacher, and his teacher from his teacher, and so back to a halakhah <\/em>given to Moses from Sinai.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The word \u201ccovenant\u201d (<\/span>brit<\/span><\/em>), cited in the Mishnah, is perhaps what led to the identification of \u201cthe secret of the Lord\u201d with the \u201ccovenant<\/span> of circumcision \u201c(<\/span>brit milah<\/span><\/em>).<\/span> Tanhuma Lekh Lekhah 19<\/span><\/a>, relates that God revealed first to Abraham the \u201c<\/span>mistorin shel milah<\/em> <\/span>— mystery of circumcision\u201d (see<\/span> Gen. 17:1-14<\/span><\/a>). For: \u201cThe secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him\u201d refers to Abraham to whom God said: \u201cFor now I know that you fear God\u201d (<\/span>Gen. 22:11<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This Midrash goes on to interpret the Hebrew word\u00a0<\/span>sod,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>\u201csecret\u201d numerically. The letter <\/span>samekh<\/em> <\/span>represents the number 60, <\/span>vav<\/em> <\/span>6 and <\/span>dalet<\/span><\/em> 4, altogether 70. God told Abraham that 70 of his descendants would go down to Egypt (see<\/span> Gen. 15:13<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> Deut. 10:22<\/span><\/a>), but that He would raise from among them 70 Elders (see<\/span> Num. 11:16<\/span><\/a>). And I [God] will also cause Moses to descend from you [Abraham]. And Moses will explain the Torah in seventy languages. All this is suggested by: \u201c\u201cThe secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him; to them He makes known His covenant\u201d (<\/span>verse 14<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps, even more surprisingly,<\/span> Tanhuma Buber Vayera 6<\/span><\/a> interprets \u201cthe Secret of the Lord\u201d as the \u201cMishnah\u201d (i.e. the entire Oral Torah), for God reveals his <\/span>mistorin<\/span><\/em> (Greek \u201cMystery\u201d) only to \u201cthose who fear Him\u201d. This \u201csecret teaching\u201d, originally transmitted only\u00a0 orally from Rabbi to disciple, was reserved for Jews and specifically denied to Christians in Rabbinic times.*<\/span><\/p>\n

*(For more on this see Marc Bregman,<\/span> Mishnah as Mystery — Byzantine Jewish-Christian Polemic<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0 and his “Mishnah, Mystery and the LXX”, in <\/span>Continuity and Renewal: Judaism in Eretz Israel During the Byzantine-Christian Era<\/span><\/em>, edited by Israel Levine (Dinur and JTS, Jerusalem, 2004), pp. 333-342).<\/span><\/p>\n

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