Home -- Content: Series 7 (Laws) -- Translation: English -- Book: 1 (Tora) -- Part: 1 (Positive) -- Command: 4 -- Text
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The Sharia of Moses in the TORA
Part 1 - The 248 Positive Commandments of the Tora
4 - FEAR OF GOD
The doctrine of Reward and Punishment is an integral part of the faith of Israel. Maimonides included it among the Thirteen Basic Principles of Faith.
“What is the way of acquiring the Love and Fear (of the Lord)? If one considers His infinite Powers and the entire range of created Beings that are both wondrous and great – perceiving through them how that His wisdom has neither measure nor end – he cannot but love, praise, and glorify Him, becoming possessed of a great longing to know the Great Name, as David says, (My soul thirsts for God, for the living God) (Psalms 42: 2). Meditating upon these things thus, he will immediately be taken aback, being overcome by fear and dread, and realizing that he is a minute creature, utterly humble, and immersed in darkness, conscious of the feebleness of his own mind in the presence of Him who is possessed of perfect knowledge, as David says: (When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him?) (Psalms 8: 3- 4). Accordingly I shall explain some of the profound phenomena in the world that the Lord of the Universe has created, to the end that they may serve to induct those of understanding into the Love of God, even as the Sages have declared in connection with the Love of God that through this you come to discern Him who has called the universe into existence.”*