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Among what the All-Wise has ordained in this domain is that He recompenses some servants in this world for a small portion of their deeds, so that the greater portion remains for them for the world to come —
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since it is not possible to transfer people in the world to come from one rank to another, for each group among those recompensed is eternal in its station — as He said: 'These to eternal life, and these to everlasting shame and contempt' (Dan 12:2);
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so He made the recompense for the lesser portion take place in this world, and as was explained, the bulk of the merits is for the distant time while only a small portion of merits applies in this world.
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as He said: 'Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for those who love Him... but repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them' (Deut 7:9–10).
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Among the instances of this principle is that the two masters Moses and Aaron committed a minor transgression and were therefore recompensed for it in this world —
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as He said: 'Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the sight of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them' (Num 20:12).
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And Abijah son of Jeroboam performed one good deed and was recompensed for it in this world — as He said: 'He alone will come to a burial of Jeroboam, because in him was found something good' (1 Kgs 14:13).
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According to this principle, the righteous person may have many minor lapses for which he deserves to be in distress for most of his time,
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and the wicked person may have many good deeds for which he deserves to be in ease for most of his time.
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As the rabbinic tradition says: 'Anyone whose sins outnumber his merits — they treat him well, as though he had fulfilled the entire Torah,
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and anyone whose merits outnumber his sins — they treat him harshly, as though he had burned the entire Torah.'
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This principle applies to one who does both merits and sins — while doing the meritorious deed he has not repented of the sin, and while doing the sinful deed he has not repented of the merit.
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As for one who performed many good deeds and then repented of them, he forfeits them all through his repudiation — as it says of him: 'When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity... none of the righteous deeds he has done shall be remembered' (Ezek 18:24).
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And one who did many sins and then repented of them and fulfilled the conditions of repentance — he has removed them from himself,
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as it says of him: 'When a wicked person turns away from his wickedness that he has done and does what is just and right, he shall save his soul alive' (Ezek 18:27) — and then: 'None of the transgressions he has committed shall be remembered against him' (Ezek 18:22).
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According to this principle, a righteous servant whose merits were destined for the world to come may repent of them, in which case they fall away from being applied to the world to come and he is recompensed for some of them in this world —
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and people see him — as he has begun to deny his faith — enjoying prosperity, and they are misled by that,
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yet that prosperity is not a reward for his new course of denial — it is rather the reward that had been set aside for him, now paid out and done with.
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Let no one say that a single sin destroys many merits — it does so only when repentance accompanies it, since it is the repentance that does this, not the sin in itself;
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nor should one say that a single merit repairs many sins — it does so only in combination with repentance, because of the repentance, not the merit in itself.
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The need for this explanation arose because I found people who distort the argument and say: if a single act of denial can cancel much of one's faith, then a single act of faith cannot eliminate much of one's denial —
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and if a single act of faith has the power to eliminate much denial, then a single act of denial cannot have the power to eliminate much faith — thereby confusing the believers.
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Section 3. I further say: I find that the affliction of the righteous in this world takes two forms. The first is for their minor lapses, as I have already explained.
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The second is an initiatory trial with which God tests them when He knows they will persevere — and then He recompenses them for it with good things — as He said: 'The Lord is righteous; He examines the righteous, but the wicked and the lover of violence His soul hates' (Ps 11:5).