Introduction
Massorite Talmidaism does not adhere to the view of “Absolute Theism”, where God controls every human being, every single thing that happens, and is the cause of every single misery and suffering. That is not Talmidaism. Nor does it adhere to the viewpoint of classical “Deism”, where God has no involvement in God’s creation. That is not Talmidaism either.
Massorite Talmidaism has a distinctive understanding of the relationship between YHVH and the world. YHVH is Sovereign over creation, but sovereignty does not imply that every event occurring in the Universe is individually orchestrated or initiated by YHVH. Human beings possess genuine freedom, and that freedom is real enough for people to choose actions that YHVH does not desire – YHVH does not control our ability to choose between right and wrong. The natural world likewise operates according to the order established by YHVH – since YHVH is the Author of all the natural, physical laws of Universe – and the existence of an ordered natural world means that events can occur without each individual event having been directly caused or micro-managed by YHVH; that would go against the freedom that YHVH has given to both humanity and to the Universe.
This understanding has important consequences for the way Massorites understand suffering, particularly the suffering of innocent and good people, and the suffering of an entire people. It also provides a distinctive way of reading the various theological traditions found throughout the Miqra (the Hebrew Bible).
The Talmidi position did not arise from a later philosophical doctrine and then get imposed upon the Miqra. Talmidaism arrived independently at its own understanding of divine sovereignty through our reading of the Hebrew Scriptures and its understanding of YHVH. The fact that this understanding happens to resemble positions subsequently developed within other theological traditions does not mean that it evolved from them. The Talmidi approach stands on its own Hebraic and Yahwist foundations.
YHVH’s Sovereignty Does Not Mean Constant Control
For Talmidis, YHVH is the Creator and Sovereign of the Universe. Nothing exists independently of YHVH’s creative act, and nothing can ultimately frustrate the Divine purpose. Massorites believe that this does not mean that YHVH controls every movement, decision and event within creation.
YHVH does not need to control every thought of every dictator in order to remain sovereign; or initiate every act of violence in order to remain sovereign, or cause every earthquake, storm or drought in order to remain sovereign, or suspend human freedom whenever human beings choose evil.
To imagine sovereignty in this way would be to make YHVH resemble an absolute earthly despot, who feels the need to personally control every action of every one of his or her subjects; YHVH’s sovereignty is not the sovereignty of an authoritarian puppet-master. It is the sovereignty of the gracious Creator over a creation in which genuine freedom and genuine causality have been established as eternal constants.
Human freedom is therefore not an embarrassment to Divine Sovereignty; it is an intentional part of the created order by design.
A human being can decide to act unjustly, and YHVH does not thereby cease to be sovereign. A psychopathic ruler can decide to persecute innocent people, and the persecution does not have to be understood as something YHVH deliberately caused. A nation can choose unjust and unprovoked aggression against another nation, and that aggression does not have to originate in a supernatural power opposing YHVH.
The existence of evil actions therefore does not require the existence of an independent demonic evil power.
The Miqra Does Not Teach That Everything That Happens Is Directly Caused by YHVH
The distinction between what YHVH causes and what YHVH permits, or subsequently makes use of, can be seen throughout the Miqra.
Joseph’s brothers deliberately act against him, yet Joseph eventually recognises that YHVH has brought good from what they intended for evil (Genesis 50:20). The significance of the passage lies precisely in the distinction between the brothers’ human intention, and the outcome that YHVH brings about from it. YHVH didn’t cause the evil that the brothers committed, but YHVH did turn the evil around and brought forth good.
The brothers intend one thing; YHVH accomplishes another.
This pattern appears again in Isaiah’s treatment of Assyria. Assyria becomes an instrument within YHVH’s purposes, but Assyria itself acts from its own arrogance and is subsequently held accountable for its actions (Isaiah 10:5–15). YHVH can therefore use the actions of a wicked nation, without being the instigator or driver of that nation’s wickedness.
This distinction is fundamental to the Massorite Talmidi understanding of Divine sovereignty. YHVH can work through natural or human-driven events, without having initiated every event. YHVH can transform consequences without having caused their original circumstances. YHVH can bring good from human evil without making the evil itself good.
The Traditional Retribution Principle Is Not the Entirety of the Hebrew Bible
The Torah certainly contains a strong connection between obedience and blessing, and between rebellion and calamity. Deuteronomy 28 is perhaps the clearest expression of this covenantal principle.
However, the Miqra itself does not allow this principle to become the sole explanation for every instance of suffering. The Book of Job is the most obvious corrective of such a narrow view.
Job is explicitly presented as a righteous man (Job 1:1, 8; 2:3), yet he suffers terribly. His friends cannot accept that this can happen without some corresponding wrongdoing. They repeatedly attempt to persuade him that his suffering must have a moral explanation (Job 4:7–8; 8:3–6; 11:13–15; 22:4–5).
However, Job refuses to accept their argument – and what’s more – YHVH ultimately rebukes the friends for what they have said (Job 42:7–8).
The message is therefore much more profound than simply saying that Job was eventually rewarded.
The Miqra is telling its readers that suffering cannot always be interpreted as evidence of guilt.
That single principle has enormous significance for Massorite theology. If a righteous individual can suffer without having deserved the suffering – that they are blameless – then a righteous community can also suffer, without that suffering proving that the community has been rejected by YHVH, or has done anything wrong.
Job and the Limits of Human Knowledge
Job offers another lesson that is particularly important to Massorite theology: human beings do not necessarily know why particular events happen. When YHVH answers Job, the answer does not consist of a simple explanation of the chain of events that brought about his suffering. Instead, Job is confronted with the extraordinary complexity of creation (Job 38–41). Human understanding is therefore shown to be limited.
This provides an important alternative to the assumption that every unexplained event must have an identifiable supernatural cause. Sometimes the honest answer is that we do not know.
A faithful person can therefore say, “I do not understand why this has happened,” without having to conclude that YHVH caused it as a punishment, or that an evil cosmic power caused it as an attack against righteous people. We believe there is intellectual and theological integrity in acknowledging the limits of human knowledge.
Ecclesiastes and the Unpredictability of Life
Ecclesiastes develops a related understanding from another direction.
The Teacher (Qohéleth) observes that life does not always distribute success according to merit. The righteous may perish despite their righteousness, while the wicked may continue to prosper (Ecclesiastes 7:15; 8:10–14). The race does not necessarily go to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, because time and circumstance affect everyone (Ecclesiastes 9:11–12). This is a remarkably realistic observation.
The Talmidi understanding of Divine sovereignty is therefore compatible with the reality described by Ecclesiastes. Human beings live within a world containing circumstances, natural consequences, chance from the human perspective, natural processes and the decisions of other people. Not everything that happens is a direct Divine intervention. However, this does not make the world godless. It means that creation is genuinely creation: it is a world established with its own natural order, and allowed by God to function according to that order.
Proverbs and the Wisdom of Consequences
Proverbs provides another important dimension. The Wisdom literature frequently describes a real relationship between conduct and consequence. Wisdom generally leads towards life, stability and flourishing, while folly leads towards destruction (Proverbs 1:20–33; 3:1–12; 10:1–32; 11:1–31; 12:1–28).
However, Proverbs is wisdom teaching, not a mechanical guarantee that every righteous person will prosper in life, or that every wicked person will suffer.
Indeed, Proverbs itself contains recognition that appearances can be deceptive, and that justice is not always immediately visible. The righteous person must therefore acquire wisdom, rather than assuming that every circumstance can be interpreted simply from what is happening on the surface (Proverbs 14:12; 16:2; 21:2).
The wisdom tradition consequently provides a balanced understanding. There are genuine moral consequences to human behaviour, but the existence of those consequences does not mean that every individual event can be read as a direct judgement from YHVH.
Wisdom teaches people how to live well within creation; it does not give them the ability to decode every event that occurs within it, or find an explanation for everything thing that happens to us.
The Psalms: Faithfulness in the Midst of Unexplained Suffering
The Psalms are especially important, because they preserve the prayers of people who believe deeply in YHVH, while nevertheless experiencing suffering that they cannot reconcile with their circumstances.
Psalm 44 is particularly striking. The community remembers YHVH’s past faithfulness and maintains its relationship with YHVH, yet it finds itself suffering defeat and humiliation (Psalm 44:1–22). The Psalm does not simply conclude that the people must secretly have become unfaithful. Instead, the community brings its bewilderment directly before YHVH.
Psalm 74 similarly describes national devastation while continuing to appeal to YHVH (Psalm 74:1–23). Psalm 79 does likewise (Psalm 79:1–13), while Psalm 80 cries out for restoration. This is a profoundly important biblical response to suffering – the answer to suffering is not always an explanation.
Sometimes the answer is prayer; sometimes it is lament; sometimes it is the continued relationship between the sufferer and YHVH, despite the absence of an immediate explanation.
The Psalms therefore demonstrate that a faithful person can simultaneously affirm YHVH’s goodness, while at the same time acknowledging that the world does not currently appear to reflect that goodness perfectly.
Habakkuk: Faithfulness Without Complete Understanding
Habakkuk takes this struggle even further. The prophet sees violence and injustice and asks why YHVH permits it (Habakkuk 1:2–4). The answer appears to make the problem even more difficult, because the Babylonians are themselves a violent and ruthless people (Habakkuk 1:12–17). Habakkuk therefore confronts a situation in which the conventional expectation of immediate justice does not correspond with what he sees.
Yet he does not conclude that another cosmic power must be responsible. He waits for YHVH’s answer (Habakkuk 2:1). He receives a renewed assurance concerning justice (Habakkuk 2:2–4), and eventually reaches a position of trust, even while circumstances remain difficult (Habakkuk 3:17–19). This is an important model for Massorite Talmidaism.
Faith does not require us to possess an explanation for every event. Faith can mean trusting YHVH, while acknowledging that our understanding of history is incomplete. The righteous person does not have to understand every reason before continuing to live according to the Way of YHVH.
The Prophets and the Reality of Human Opposition
The Prophets provide yet another dimension to the Massorite Talmidi understanding of national suffering. Faithful people can suffer because other people oppose righteousness.
Jeremiah’s own experience makes this particularly clear. His faithfulness does not protect him from persecution. His message brings him into direct conflict with powerful people, and he experiences imprisonment, beating, threats and rejection (Jeremiah 20:1–2; 26:7–24; 37:11–21; 38:1–13).
Amos likewise encounters opposition from the royal establishment because his prophetic message challenges the existing order (Amos 7:10–17). This is not difficult to understand in purely human terms. People who benefit from injustice may resist those who challenge injustice; rulers who desire power may suppress those who speak against them. And a society that has become accustomed to wrongdoing may reject those who call it back to righteousness.
There is no need to introduce a supernatural, demonic explanation between the wrongdoing and the persecution. The Miqra already knows that human beings can oppose YHVH’s purposes through their own decisions.
Non-Jews sometimes think that if Jewish history is replete with stories of being persecuted, then the Jewish people must therefore have something wrong with them. However, that is not what happened. When a just and righteous people live in a society which does not hsare those values, or worse, when those values go directly against the will of a despotic, tyrannical ruler, it is to be expected that the tyrant will persecute the people who oppose injustice.
The Prophets Also Show That YHVH Can Work Through Historical Events
At the same time, the Prophets do not portray history as meaningless. YHVH can work through historical circumstances even when the people responsible for those circumstances do not share YHVH’s purposes or vallues.
Isaiah’s view of Assyria is an important example. Assyria is used within YHVH’s purposes, but Assyria’s own arrogance and violence are not thereby approved (Isaiah 10:5–15). This distinction allows Talmidaism to affirm both human freedom and Divine providence.
A wicked ruler may act from wicked motives, while YHVH may nevertheless bring an unforeseen good from the consequences. A nation may persecute another nation, while YHVH may use the experience to strengthen the persecuted community’s compassion, solidarity, wisdom or faithfulness. An individual may cause harm, while YHVH may subsequently transform the circumstances for good.
The fact that YHVH can use or transform something, does not mean that YHVH caused it.
National Suffering Does Not Necessarily Mean National Unfaithfulness
This becomes especially important when considering Israel’s historical suffering. The covenantal warnings of Deuteronomy remain part of the Miqra, and Talmidaism does not need to deny that national wrongdoing can have national consequences. However, it is equally important not to turn this into an absolute, hard-and-fast rule.
The Miqra itself contains numerous examples of righteous individuals suffering under wicked rulers, faithful prophets being persecuted, innocent people experiencing consequences brought on by others, and communities suffering circumstances that cannot be reduced to the personal sins of every individual within those communities.
Israel could therefore experience national suffering for many reasons. A foreign ruler might pursue imperial ambitions. A corrupt king might make disastrous decisions. Previous generations might leave historical consequences behind. Other nations might act violently. Natural circumstances might produce hardship. Human freedom might generate consequences that YHVH did not directly initiate.
Faithfulness does not place a nation inside a protective bubble, in which the actions of everyone else cease to affect it.
The Massorite Talmidi Understanding of Evil
This also explains why Massorite Talmidaism does not need to posit an evil, demonic cosmic power equal and opposite to YHVH.
Evil is real. Human cruelty is real. Injustice is real. Corruption is real. But the reality of evil does not require the existence of an independent demonic sovereign over all evil.
A dictator can be evil without being controlled by a supernatural power. A violent society can become corrupt through the accumulated decisions of human beings. An unjust system can persist because people continue to participate in it. A person can choose cruelty because human freedom includes the terrible possibility of choosing what is wrong.
The existence of evil therefore tells us something profound about the misuse of freedom, rather than necessarily revealing the existence of a second kingdom competing with YHVH for control over creation – remember, in Yahwist theology, YHVH is Supreme Sovereign over all creation; there is none else.
Divine Providence Without Divine Micro-management
The Massorite understanding can therefore hold together two truths that are sometimes treated as opposites:
YHVH is Sovereign; Human beings are genuinely free.
These statements do not contradict one another. YHVH created a world in which human beings can make meaningful choices. Those choices can have real consequences. YHVH can intervene when YHVH chooses to intervene, but the absence of intervention does not mean that YHVH has ceased to be sovereign.
Indeed, a world in which every human choice was secretly controlled by YHVH would make meaningful human responsibility difficult to understand.
The Miqra’s repeated commands to choose, obey, repent, act justly and turn away from evil make much more sense if human choices are genuinely significant (Deuteronomy 30:15–20; Joshua 24:14–15; Proverbs 1:29–31; Isaiah 1:16–20). The human being is addressed as a responsible agent.
That responsibility is real.
What This Means for Understanding Suffering
The Talmidi approach therefore begins from a different premise when confronted with suffering. The question is not necessarily, “Which supernatural power caused this?”
Nor is the answer necessarily, “The sufferers must have done something to deserve it.”
Instead, we first recognise the complexity of the world YHVH has created.
Human beings possess freedom. Nations possess agency. Rulers make decisions. Natural processes operate. Historical consequences snowball and accumulate. The innocent can be affected by the actions of the guilty. Righteous people can be persecuted precisely because they are righteous. And there are circumstances whose causes are simply beyond human knowledge.
Within all of this, YHVH remains present. YHVH can guide, intervene, inspire people to do good, restrain evil, transform circumstances, and bring forth good from events that human beings intended for evil. YHVH can ultimately establish justice.
The fact that YHVH does not prevent every single evil event does not mean that YHVH is absent from the world. YHVH is supremely present with those who suffer, and does not abandon us in our times of suffering – this is an important Massorite teaching.
The Massorite Talmidi Understanding of Faith
This gives Massorite Talmidaism a particular understanding of what faithfulness means.
Faithfulness is not a transaction in which human beings obey YHVH and thereby acquire immunity from suffering. Faithfulness is living according to the Way of YHVH because the Way of YHVH is good.
A person does not practise justice merely because justice guarantees personal prosperity; a person does not show compassion merely because compassion guarantees safety; a person does not speak truth merely because truth guarantees that others will listen. The righteous person lives according to the values, teachings, judgements and commandments of YHVH because those things reflect what is good.
Sometimes faithfulness brings blessing, sometimes faithfulness brings opposition; sometimes it brings suffering. However, suffering does not invalidate the goodness of faithfulness. This is one of the great lessons of Job, the Psalms, Habakkuk and the Prophets.
Talmidaism and the Problem of Righteous Suffering
The Massorite Talmidi approach therefore sees no necessity to move directly from the recognition of righteous suffering, to the conclusion that a cosmic battle between heavenly and demonic forces must be taking place. The Miqra itself provides other possibilities.
Job teaches us that the righteous can suffer without deserving their suffering. Ecclesiastes teaches that worldly circumstances are not distributed according to a simple moral calculus. Proverbs teaches that actions have genuine consequences, while also teaching the wisdom necessary to recognise that appearances do not explain everything. The Psalms teach the faithful to bring unexplained suffering directly before YHVH. And Habakkuk teaches that faith can survive without possessing a complete explanation of history.
The Prophets demonstrate that righteous people can suffer because wicked human beings oppose them, while also showing that YHVH can work through historical circumstances without endorsing the evil motives of those involved.
Together, these traditions provide a coherent Massorite Talmidi understanding of a world in which YHVH is Sovereign, human beings are genuinely free, suffering is real, evil is real, and yet the existence of evil does not require an independent cosmic power competing with YHVH.
A Different Understanding of Sovereignty
Talmidaism therefore understands Divine sovereignty in a way that does not depend upon constant control. YHVH is sovereign because YHVH is the Creator, because creation ultimately belongs to YHVH, because the Divine purpose cannot finally be defeated, and because YHVH remains capable of acting within creation. However, YHVH does not have to manipulate every single event in order to remain sovereign.
The freedom granted to humanity is real. The natural order established within creation is real. The consequences of human choices are real. History is real. And because these things are real, events can occur that YHVH did not individually choose to cause.
Yet YHVH remains capable of bringing purpose, justice, wisdom and goodness into the midst of them. That is not a diminished view of YHVH. It is a different understanding of what Divine Sovereignty means.
The Massorite Talmidi Vision of Reality
The Massorite approach ultimately allows us to see the world as neither a perfectly controlled mechanism, nor a battlefield between two competing gods or cosmic powers.
It is YHVH’s creation; that means it contains genuine freedom. It contains an ordered natural world. It contains human beings capable of extraordinary goodness and terrible wrongdoing. It contains consequences that cannot always be predicted, and suffering whose causes we sometimes understand, and suffering whose causes remain hidden.
And within this world, YHVH continues to call humanity towards the Way.
The proper response to suffering is therefore not necessarily to search for an invisible, demonic enemy behind every mishap and every tragic event. Sometimes we must recognise human wrongdoing and human agency for what it is. Sometimes we must recognise the operation of the natural world. Sometimes we must recognise historical consequences, and acknowledge that we simply do not know why something has happened.
And sometimes we must do what Job, the Psalmists, Habakkuk and the Prophets did: bring our questions before YHVH, remain faithful, and trust that our limited human understanding does not define the limits of Divine Wisdom.
The Massorite understanding of YHVH therefore leaves room for mystery without requiring cosmic dualism, freedom without denying sovereignty, suffering of the righteous without assuming guilt, and Divine providence without turning YHVH into a cosmic puppet-master.
YHVH is Sovereign. Humanity is free. Creation has its own natural order. Evil often has human origins. Suffering is real. And yet none of these truths diminishes the ultimate sovereignty, goodness and wisdom of YHVH.