There is an old allegory in the Talmud (Gen. R. 8:5, etc.). It tells that before creating man, God called the angels together and asked their opinion on what He had in mind. “Shall I create man?” He asked them. “Create him not!” said the angel of Justice. “He will be unjust towards his brother man; he will injure the weak and exploit the vulnerable!” “Create him not!” said the angel of Peace, “He will stain the earth with the blood of his brothers; he will spread mischief and discord wherever he goes!” “Create him not!” said the angel of Truth, “Though You create him in Your image and stamp the impress of truth on his brow, yet will be desecrate Your creation with falsehood and dishonesty!” They would have said still more, but Mercy, the youngest and dearest of them all, stepped up to the Divine Throne and said, “Father, create him! Make him in Your image, as the crowning glory of Creation. When others forsake him, I will be with him. I will touch his heart with pity and make him kind to others weaker than himself. When he goes astray, turning from the ways of justice, peace and truth, I will gently direct him back again to the upright path, and he will be a brother again to his fellow man!” The Father of Mercy, relates the tradition, listened to the voice of Mercy, and with Mercy’s support He created man. Might one not be right in suspecting that there were times, possibly quite frequently, when the Almighty was tempted to regret His decision? When Justice was slighted, and the other fellow did not get a fair go; when people gave in to blackmail and bribery; when you were decent to others, provided they belonged to your side, but the rights of others could be trampled on with impunity… When Peace was brushed aside, and even when there was no outright war there was no concern for each other, no understanding of each other, no goodwill and generosity of thought and deed… When Truth was disdained, and the world grew full of broken promises, ambiguous half-truths and hypocritical double-talk… And yet the angel of Mercy suggested there was a fundamental decency in human beings which would, with her help, at last rouse itself.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 00:30:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015