{"id":84081,"date":"2020-11-25T15:29:58","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T13:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=84081"},"modified":"2020-11-25T15:29:58","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T13:29:58","slug":"god-looks-down-from-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/god-looks-down-from-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"God Looks Down From Heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"84081","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"620","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"By God\u2019s light do we see light\r\n\r\n","content":"

Our psalm is seen by <\/span>academic biblical scholarship <\/span><\/a>as an \u201cElohistic\u201d version of Psalms 14, because the Name of God (<\/span>Y-H-V-H<\/span><\/em> \u2013 \u201cthe Lord\u201d) in<\/span> Psalm 14<\/span><\/a> is changed to the noun \u201cGod\u201d (<\/span>Elohim<\/span><\/em>) in<\/span> Psalm 53<\/span><\/a>. Moreover, our Psalm has a more elaborate — and puzzling –superscription: \u201cFor the leader; on mahalath. A maskil of David\u201d. The JPS translation adds a note to the transcribed word <\/span>mahalath <\/span><\/em>— <\/span><\/i>\u201cMeaning of Heb. unknown\u201d. Indeed, this word is found elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible only in the even more elaborate superscription of<\/span> Psalm 88<\/span><\/a>: \u201cA song. A psalm of the Korahites. For the leader; on ma\u1e25alath leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite\u201d. <\/span>Mahalath<\/span><\/em> has generally been understood as referring to some kind of musical instrument (see for example,<\/span> Rashi on Psalms 53:1<\/span><\/a>), or possibly the name of a tune to which such Psalms were sung, or even <\/span>dancing (<\/span>meholot<\/span> <\/em><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi<\/span><\/a> comments that wherever the term <\/span>maskil<\/span><\/em> occurs, it indicates that what follows was spoken aloud by a <\/span>turgeman<\/span><\/em>, here meaning a \u201cspokesman\u201d (i.e. a kind of \u201cliving loud-speaker\u201d). The prophet would appoint such a <\/span>turgeman<\/span><\/em> and then the spirit of prophecy would come upon him and he would relate the prophecy to the <\/span>turgeman<\/span><\/em> who would then make his words known to those in attendance. This reflects the way the <\/span>darshan<\/span><\/em>, in Rabbinic times, would whisper his <\/span>drashah<\/span><\/em> to a <\/span>turgeman<\/span><\/em>, who would then proclaim it to the congregation (see<\/span> the Steinsaltz commentary on Pesachim 117a<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Our psalm (<\/span>verse 3<\/span><\/a>) includes a powerful image of God looking down from heaven to find a <\/span>maskil <\/span><\/em>— <\/span><\/i>\u201cman of understanding\u201d, who \u201c<\/span>doresh \u2018et ha-Elohim<\/span><\/em> — proclaims God\u201d.<\/span> Midrash Tanchuma Buber Vayera 24<\/span><\/a> identifies the Patriarch Abraham as having been just such a <\/span>maskil<\/span><\/em>. This rabbinic legend relates that those who constructed the Tower of Babel (<\/span>Genesis 11<\/span><\/a>) tried unsuccessfully to convince Abraham to join them in their rebellion against God. But, when \u201cThe Lord came down to look at the city and tower that man had built\u201d (<\/span>11:5<\/span><\/a>), God \u201clooked down from heaven on mankind to find a man of understanding who proclaims God\u201d (<\/span>Psalms 53:3<\/span><\/a>). This \u201cman of understanding\u201d was none other than Abraham who wisely refused to join in the building of the Tower of Babel. And so it says subsequently: \u201cAnd Abraham journeyed from there\u2026\u201d (<\/span>Genesis 20:1<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Maimonides, in his<\/span> Guide for the Perplexed<\/span><\/a> elaborates on the Biblical image of God looking down from Heaven. We perceive God by means of His light that He graciously sheds upon\u00a0 us, as it says: \u201cBy Your light do we see light\u201d (<\/span>Psalms 36:10<\/span><\/a>). And it is with this same divine light that God looks down upon us. Therefore, through this light, God is always with us, beholding us and watching over us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","image":{"ID":84082,"id":84082,"title":"ps53-divine light","filename":"ps53-divine-light.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/god-looks-down-from-heaven\/ps53-divine-light\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps53-divine-light","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":84081,"date":"2020-11-25 13:28:15","modified":"2021-02-20 20:58:05","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"God Looks Down From Heaven","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"By God\u2019s light do we see light","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":84082,"id":84082,"title":"ps53-divine light","filename":"ps53-divine-light.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/god-looks-down-from-heaven\/ps53-divine-light\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps53-divine-light","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":84081,"date":"2020-11-25 13:28:15","modified":"2021-02-20 20:58:05","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps53-divine-light-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84081"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84081"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84083,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84081\/revisions\/84083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}