Yeshaya Hanavi Ch. 40: “Why does Yaakov say, ‘My path is concealed from Hashem, and my judgment eludes Him”? This desperate plea is based on the tight control the nations exercise over the Jewish people during their seemingly endless years of exile. They exclaim in bewilderment, “If Hashem really cares, how could He allow the world to continue on its present course!? Where is the Jewish nation’s reward for their perseverance throughout the ages? Why doesn’t Hashem respond to the nations’ cruelty and deliver to them their well-deserved catastrophic blows?” These emphatic cries reflect the Jewish people’s deep-seated feelings of pain and anguish during their difficult moments in exile.
Yet, this similar perspective is shared by the mighty powers of the world who perceive themselves in total control. They see Hashem as aloof from His world and incapable – Heaven forbid – of interfering with their vicious hatred towards His devout children. Hashem responds to the Jewish nation’s plea and calls the world’s mighty powers to task. Through Yeshaya Hanavi, Hashem engages them in a fierce dialogue and invites them to defend their audacious position about Him.
Hashem says, “Be silent, distant nations and mighty powers recharge you. Draw near and speak; come together for judgment. Who inspired the (dweller) of the east to proclaim my righteousness with his every step; delivered nations into his hands and gave him the control over the kings? Who transformed dirt into his sword and chaff into his bow? ... It is I, Hashem, who declares the generations from the beginning. I am the first and I will remain with the final ones.” (41: 1,2,4)
Has anything really changed in the past 3000 or 4000 years? The nations of the world seem to have the upper hand and always at the last moment Hashem saves us. It is from the beginning of time that we experience this confusion; we don’t see Hashem in our everyday lives and people claim that He is not there.
What gives us chizuk are events and stories of hashgacha pratit illustrating how things work out for the best. We believe Hashem allows certain things to happen because it is all part of the greater picture. When Moshe Rabeinu asked Hashem to reveal His face, Hashem said “You can see me from behind and not from the front.” If a man would see Hashem from the front, he would surely die. To see Hashem from behind means that after the events have passed and all the dust has settled, only then can we understand why and how Hashem had planned things. Only then can it make sense to us. May we be zoche to see Hashem’s hand in the world with clarity. Amen.
