There was a time, a very dark time, when God Himself considered doing just that.

Imagine the scene: The Temple in Jerusalem lies in ruins. The people of Israel are in exile, weeping by the rivers of Babylon. Their cries, filled with anguish and despair, rise to the heavens, reaching the very Throne of Glory. And what does God do? According to this rather shocking myth, He contemplates ending everything.

As Tree of Souls (Schwartz) tells us, God felt so deeply the suffering of His people that He yearned to return all of existence to tohu vavohu – to the chaos and desolation that existed before creation. "The world I created, I created with My two hands alone," God declares. "Now I shall return it to chaos." He even threatens to bring heaven and earth crashing together, destroying not just the earth, but the heavens as well. As Ezekiel 21:22 puts it, "I, too, will strike hand against hand and will satisfy My fury upon you."

Talk about a low point.

The angels, horrified, understand the gravity of the situation. According to Pesikta Rabbati and Midrash Tehillim, they rush before God, pleading, "Master of the Universe, is it not enough for You that You have already destroyed the Temple, Your dwelling place on earth? Will You also destroy Your dwelling place in heaven?" They’re basically saying, "Haven't you done enough?!"

God's response? Not exactly comforting. "Do I need comforting?" He retorts. "If I kindle but one spark, I can make the world, which I created, perish. I existed before the world was created, and I existed when the world was created, and I will continue to exist, whatever the fate of the world. Verily, I know the beginning and I know the end. Leave My presence." Ouch.

This dark myth, found in sources like Midrash Konen and the Zohar, the central text of Kabbalah, presents a God who seems almost… human. Overwhelmed by grief and anger, contemplating an act of cosmic destruction. It's a far cry from the serene, detached deity we might often imagine. The myth suggests that since God created the world for the sake of Israel, their suffering during the Babylonian exile brought the very purpose of creation into question.

But there’s more to it than divine despair. God's response to the angels, while harsh, also hints at a deeper understanding. "I know the beginning and I know the end," He says. This, according to Eliyahu Rabbah, means that God "can tell from the beginning what the end of anything will be like, long, long before it comes to be."

So, while God is clearly experiencing intense emotion, He also possesses a knowledge that transcends our understanding of time and causality. He isn’t acting purely on impulse. He remembers, perhaps, the original plan for creation.

Rabbi Hayim of Volozhin, in Nefesh ha-Hayim, makes it clear: "The entire universe owes its continued existence to the will of God. If God were to rescind His will to maintain the world, it would instantly revert to nothingness." Think about that for a moment. Our very existence, the existence of everything, hangs in the balance, dependent on God's ongoing will.

This myth, though unsettling, offers a profound glimpse into the nature of God, and the relationship between God and creation. It reminds us that even in the darkest of times, even when it seems like all hope is lost, there is a divine plan unfolding, a plan that encompasses both suffering and redemption. And while we may not always understand it, we can trust that God, who knows the beginning and the end, ultimately has a purpose for it all. A purpose that, hopefully, doesn't involve hitting that cosmic reset button.