Who does God consider superior? A righteous Jew? Or a righteous Gentile?
Hebrew tradition states that both Job’s and Moses lifespans overlapped [so that, at a certain point, both were simultaneously alive]. As is written...
The spies said: “It is a land that consumes its inhabitants” (Numbers 13: 32). Rava taught: The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: I intended the land to appear to consume its inhabitants for their own good, but they considered this proof that the land was bad. I intended it for their good by causing many people to die there so that anywhere that the spies arrived, the most important of them died, so that the Canaanites would be preoccupied with mourning and would not inquire about them. And THERE ARE THOSE WHO SAY THAT GOD CAUSED JOB TO DIE AT THAT TIME, AND EVERYONE IN CANAAN WAS PREOCCUPIED WITH HIS EULOGY, AND DID NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THE SPIES (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 35a).
In addition, Scripture states that when God looked at the World he found that, as a whole, no one was greater than Job (a non Hebrew man living in the Land of Uz).
As is written: «There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil… And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the Earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? ”»- Job 1: 1& 8.
Yet, on the other hand, Scripture states that no man was greater than Moses. As is written: “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth… And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, In all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt…”- Numbers 12: 3, & Deut. 34: 10-11, King James Bible.
How do we solve this apparent contradiction? Who did God consider to be the greatest man on Earth? The Hebrew Moses? Or the Gentile Job? The answer is that, in the eyes of God, there are two parallel worlds; the World of the Hebrews, and the World of the Gentiles. In the Hebrew World, no one was greater than Moses; and in the Gentile World, no one was greater than Job.
Not only that, but we must also consider the possibility of the former being a moral paradigm– one pointing out to the idea that, for every righteous Hebrew believer (Jew, Samaritan, Karaite, etc), there will always be an equally righteous [or even more righteous! ] Gentile believer (Christian, Muslim, Zoroastrian, etc).
And the former seems to be confirmed by the following Jewish tale:
«Once, when our masters R. Eliezer, R. Joshua, and Rabban Gamaliel were in Rome, the imperial Senate issued a decree that after thirty days no Jew should remain in the entire [Roman] world. One senator, who [while not Jewish] feared heaven, came to Rabban Gamaliel and disclosed the decree to him. Our masters were greatly distressed, but the man who feared Heaven said to them: “Be not distressed. Within the next 30 days the God of the Jews will stand by them”.
After 25 days, he disclosed the decree to his wife, who said: “But twenty five days are already gone! He: “’Five days are still left”. His wife, even more righteous than he, said: “Have you no ring? Suck the poison concealed in it and die. Then the session of the Senate will be suspended for 30 days [in mourning for you] and the decree will not take effect [The Romans had a rule that, if the Senate made a decree, and before it was carried into effect one of the senators [or an important figure lile the Son of the King] died, the decree was annulled]”.
The Roman Senator heeded to what she had to say, sucked the ring, and died. When our masters heard of this, they came to his wife to express their sympathy…
At that, our masters applied to that Senator the verse, “They among the peoples who volunteered are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham; for unto God belong the shields of the Earth; he is highly exalted” (Psalm 47: 10). What is signified by “the shields of the Earth”? That God said: “To Abraham I became a shield of strength”. And the proof? The verse that goes on to say,
“I am thy shield” (Genesis 15: 1). But, to this Senator [God says]: “I will become many shields”. To Abraham God said: “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great” (Gen. 12: 2)– and only after that did Abraham have himself circumcised. But to this [Roman] Senator I made no such promise. What then is signified by “He is highly exalted”? That this Gentile Senator is so righteous that he is exalted even higher than Abraham! » (Deut. R. 2: 24).
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