In the Midrash of Philo, we find a fascinating take on fate, divine justice, and the reasons behind catastrophic events like, say, the Flood.
Philo addresses those who argue against divine intervention, pointing to seemingly random disasters—collapsing buildings, shipwrecks, wars, plagues—as evidence that fate is a cruel, indiscriminate master. They might say, "Look at all this chaos! Where's God in all of this?"
Philo's response, drawn from the prophetic tradition, is layered and thought-provoking. He focuses on the verse, "All the time of man has come against me," (Genesis 6:13) suggesting it carries a profound meaning related to the Flood.
First, he acknowledges the idea of a pre-determined lifespan. But then, he flips it. If God brings about a universal deluge, effectively ending all lives at once, then the pre-ordained fate of each individual is superseded. It’s as if, Philo muses, the cosmos itself, through some “harmony and periodical revolution of the stars,” has brought about a simultaneous end.
But hold on, there's more. Philo dives deeper, challenging the very notion of time as a ruling force. He argues that wicked people deify time ("Chronos" or "Saturn"), losing sight of the one true God. In essence, they're elevating a human construct to divine status. He references scripture that says, "Time has departed to a distance from them, but the Lord is in Us," implying that while the wicked see time as the ultimate cause, the wise recognize God as the source of all times and seasons.
The Midrash of Philo here draws a sharp distinction: God is the source of good. He isn't the cause of wickedness. This is a critical point. It safeguards the idea of God's inherent goodness.
And then, Philo gets to the heart of the matter: the overwhelming prevalence of evil. When God says, "The time of all mankind has arrived," it signifies a universal embrace of wickedness. The earth is filled with iniquity, leaving no room for righteousness. The phrase "against me" underscores the divine rejection of this pervasive sin. It’s God’s judgment against a world that has turned away from Him.
So, what does this all mean? It’s a reminder that while we may grapple with the seeming randomness of the world, and the role of fate, the tradition suggests that our choices matter. The prevalence of wickedness has consequences. It's a potent message about human responsibility, and a challenge to consider whether we are contributing to a world filled with "iniquity," or one striving for righteousness.
It also pushes us to think about what we deify. Do we put our faith in fleeting things, like time or material possessions? Or do we orient ourselves towards something more enduring, a force of goodness and justice?
It’s a question worth pondering, isn’t it?
Those who resist the order of fate proceed upon these and many other arguments, especially in that of sudden death, which oftentimes produces great slaughter in a short period of time; as, for instance, in the overthrow of houses, in conflagrations, in shipwrecks, in civil tumults, in battles of cavalry, in wars by land and in wars by sea, and in pestilences. To all those who advance arguments of this kind we repeat the same assertions which are here made by the prophet, on the principle which is derived from himself. If indeed that expression, "All the time of man has come against me," has a meaning of this kind, the term which has been determined as the period of living for all mankind, behold it is now brought to one point and terminated at once by the deluge; and since this is the case, they will not live any longer according to the principle of fate which has been fixed; so that the time of each separate individual is now reduced to one, and has received its destined termination at the same time, by I know not what harmony and periodical revolution of the stars, by which bodies the whole race of mankind is continually preserved or destroyed. Let those, therefore, all receive these things in any manner in which they choose who study these things, and those too who argue against them. Nevertheless we must first of all make this statement, that nothing can be found so contrary to, so opposite to, so wholly repugnant to, the wonderful virtue of the Deity as iniquity; therefore, after he said, "All the time of all mankind has come up against me," he adds also the reason of its contrariety to him, that the earth is filled with iniquity. In the second place, Time, under the name of Chronos or Saturn, is looked upon as a god by the wickedest of men, who are desirous to lose sight of the one essential Being, on which account he says, "The time of all mankind has come up against me," because in fact the heathen make human time into a god, and oppose him to the real true God. But, however, it is now insinuated, in other passages also of scripture, which run thus, "Time has departed to a distance from them, but the Lord is in Us:" just as if he were to say, time is looked upon by wicked men as the cause of the world, but by wise men and virtuous men time is not looked upon in this light, but God only, from whom all times and seasons do proceed. Again, God is the cause, not of all things, but only of good things and good men, and of those men and things which are in accordance with virtue; for as he is free from all wickedness, so likewise he cannot be the cause of it. In the third place, by that expression which he uses in this manner, he indicates the excess of impiety, saying, "that the time of all mankind has arrived," that is to say, that all men, in every part of the world, have agreed together, with one mind, to work wickedness; but the other assertion which is here made, that the whole earth is filled with iniquity, amounts to this, that there is no part of it whatever free from wickedness, and which is also to receive and to bear righteousness. And the expression, "against me," establishes the proof of what has been said, inasmuch as it is only the judgment of divine election which is altogether firm and lasting.
