Reward and Punishment - Part of the natural course of events.

ד הַצּוּר תָּמִים פָּעֳלוֹ, {ס} כִּי כָל-דְּרָכָיו מִשְׁפָּט: {ר} אֵל אֱמוּנָה וְאֵין עָוֶל, {ס} צַדִּיק וְיָשָׁר הוּא.
4 The Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice; a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is He.

This verse, Devarim 32:4, is addressed nine times in the Moreh. Rambam understanding of this verse gives us an interesting insight into his views on the meaning of reward and punishment and ultimately providence. I will trace the references that I think are pertinent and what I learned from them.

The word Tzur is addressed in MN 1:16. Rambam sees it as a synonym for First Cause. It refers to God when we see Him as the source for everything.

“It is in the latter sense that the Almighty is called" rock," He being the origin and the Efficient Cause of all things besides Himself. Thus we read," He is the Rock, His work is perfect" (Deut. xxxii. 4.”

The next words, “Tamim Pe’alo”, are addressed in 2:28 where Rambam argues that the world is eternal “a parte post”, from the time it was created onwards. God’s creation is perfect and therefore will continue to exist eternally without any need for interference on His part.

“The fact that the works of God are perfect, admitting of no addition or diminution, has already been mentioned by Moses, the wisest of all men, in the words:" The rock, His work is perfect" (Deut. xxxii. 14). All His works or creations are most perfect, containing no defect whatever, nothing superfluous, nor anything unnecessary”.

God created a world with a system that can sustain itself without any needs for adjustments on His part. And now Rambam ties the first part of the verse with the next;

“Similarly all that is being accomplished for and by the created things is absolute justice and is the result of His wisdom, as will be explained in some chapters of this treatise.”

Justice is reward and punishment. Just as nature is preset and does not require God adjust, interfere or micro manage, reward and punishment similarly is the result of the same wisdom, “Chochma” that does not require His interference. One might argue that the comparison is only as to wisdom, but not how He acts when being a judge, so read on.

In 3:12 Rambam discusses “good and bad” as it relates to people. At the end of an interesting and telling discussion which I will address in a separate post, Rambam sums up:

“In these two ways you will see the mercy of God toward His creatures, how He has provided that which is required, in proper proportions, and treated all individual beings of the same species with perfect equality. In accordance with this correct reflection the chief of the wise men says," All his ways are judgment" (Deut. xxxii. 4) … for it is an act of great and perfect goodness that He gave us existence: and the creation of the controlling faculty in the living beings is a proof of His mercy towards them, as has been shown by us.”

The fact that nature provides and that men have the faculties to make good or bad use of them is justice. Rambam, as I read it, sees justice, reward and punishment, as the natural result of how the world functions. The words “for all His ways are justice” refer to reward and punishment. God created the universe and as part of that creation He also made living things that operate according to their will. That is nature and “perfect goodness”, which means they have longevity (see MN 2:30 “When the creation of any part of the Universe is described that is permanent, regular, and in a settled order, the phrase" that it is good" is used”). For the universe to exist eternally, perfectly, it needs living organisms that operate according to their free will. It is the combination of what we call unchanging, natural events, and living things that interact with that unchanging element that allow for its longevity.

In 3:49 when discussing the rationale for the punishment the Torah metes out to a person that falsely accuses his wife of adultery, Rambam summarizes:

“See how, according to the Law, the slanderer of his wife, who only intended to withhold from her what he is bound to give her, is treated in the same manner as a thief who has stolen the property of his neighbor; and the false witness who schemes to injure, although the injury was in reality not inflicted, is punished like those who have actually caused injury and wrong, like the thief and the slanderer. The three kinds of sinners are tried and judged by the same law. See how wonderful the divine laws are, and admire His wonderful deeds. Scripture says:" The Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are judgment" (Deut. xxxii. 4), i.e., as His works are most perfect, so are His laws most equitable; but our mind is too limited to comprehend the perfection of all His works, or the equity of all His laws: and as we are able to comprehend some of His wonderful works in the organs of living beings and the motions of the spheres, so we understand also the equity of some of His laws; that which is unknown to us of both of them is far more than that which is known to us.”

Even the laws that man implements using his own judgment, ultimately it is the judge who decides whether this act is punishable, are seen as God’s justice. He set the rules when He gave the Torah just as He set the rules of nature at Creation. Punishment again is seen as a natural event in the course of human existence. The individual decisions that bring about consequences are not directly controlled by God but are the normal course of events.

Finally in MN 3:53 where Rambam discusses the word מִשְׁפָּט:

“The noun Mishpat," judgment," denotes the act of deciding upon a certain action in accordance with justice which may demand either mercy or punishment.

We have thus shown that Chesed denotes pure charity; Tzedakah kindness, prompted by a certain moral conscience in man, and being a means of attaining perfection for his soul, whilst Mishpat may in some cases find expression in revenge, in other cases in mercy.

In discussing the impropriety of admitting attributes of God, we stated that the divine attributes which occur in Scripture are attributes of His actions; thus He is called Hassid," kind," because He created the Universe; Tzaddik," righteous," on account of His mercy with the weak, in providing for every living being according to its powers; and Shofet," judge," on account of the relative good and the great relative evils that are decreed by God's justice as directed by His wisdom. These three names occur in the Pentateuch:" Shall not the judge (Shofet) of all the earth," etc. (Gen. Xviii. 25):" Righteous (Tzaddik) and upright is he" (Dent. xxxii. 4):" Abundant in loving-kindness" (Chesed), (Exod. xxxiv. 6).”

Note how Rambam refers to reward as “relative good” and to punishment as “relative bad”. When we discuss good and bad we will see that it is a value judgment based on the personal assessment of the person that experiences an event. (See note 14 in the R. Kafih edition of the Moreh). Again we see Rambam describing Justice as another component of natural events.
The implications of this understanding are far reaching. There are many more indications that Rambam holds this position throughout. I will be addressing them and also the implications as I discuss these issues in future posts.