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and the like. The servants at that time will need only a center and an encompassing atmosphere — which He will create for them as He wills.
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The interpretation of His saying כִּי כַאֲשֶׁר הַשָּׁמַיִם הַחֲדָשִׁים ["for as the new heavens..."] is not the same as the interpretation of His saying כִּי הִנְנִי בוֹרֵא שָׁמַיִם חֲדָשִׁים וְאֶרֶץ חֲדָשָׁה ["For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth"],
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because that second verse is at the time of salvation for His people — as though He were renewing the world for them in a figurative sense; especially since He follows it with כִּי הִנְנִי בוֹרֵא אֶת יְרוּשָׁלַם ["For I am about to create Jerusalem"],
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without meaning that He literally creates the Temple anew — rather, He renews their joy, to complete the phrase: כִּי אִם שִׂישׂוּ וְגִילוּ עֲדֵי עַד אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי בוֹרֵא כִּי הִנְנִי בוֹרֵא אֶת יְרוּשָׁלַם גִּילָה וְעַמָּהּ מָשׂוֹשׂ ["but be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy and its people as a delight"],
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as though He created them as a creation of joy.
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Whereas His saying כִּי כַאֲשֶׁר הַשָּׁמַיִם הַחֲדָשִׁים, since it concerns the World to Come, refers to a truly new place and atmosphere that He will create for the servants, replacing this center and this atmosphere,
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as was explained there: לְפָנִים הָאָרֶץ יָסַדְתָּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶיךָ שָׁמָיִם הֵמָּה יֹאבֵדוּ בְּנֵי עֲבָדֶיךָ יִשְׁכֹּנוּ ["In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands — they will perish, but the children of Your servants will dwell"],
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and His saying "they will dwell" after the perishing of heaven and earth requires the creation of a second place in which they dwell.
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Furthermore, it is established for us that this atmosphere between the two extremes [heaven and earth] draws from our bodies what requires to be replaced by food.
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Since people in the World to Come will not eat, the atmosphere there must necessarily differ from the nature of this atmosphere, so that they will not need food.
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And if the two extremes [heaven and earth] are unlike these present ones, it follows that the atmosphere between them will also differ and be unlike the nature of this air.
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As for how time will be — the answer to the fourth question — I say: it will be a time that is entirely light with no darkness; that is, there will be no alternating shifts of night and day,
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for night and day were wise arrangements for people dwelling on earth, occurring because of the sun's movement and rotation —
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their daytime for engaging in their livelihoods and travels, and their nighttime for rest, settlement, marital relations, private arrangements, and the like.
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But the World to Come, having none of these things, necessarily has no need of night and day —
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nor of the division into months and years, since those belong to this world for calculation, hire-periods, the growth of the earth, and the like.
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Unless it be some span of time without temporal markers, during which they have an act of worship as we shall explain.
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Chapter 7. As for the fifth and sixth questions — the necessity of the eternal nature of reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked — I address this by way of reason and say:
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When God made obedience to Him obligatory for humans, He was obliged to motivate them with the greatest possible incentive — for if He motivated them with only a partial incentive and they still did not obey, one could argue that had He offered more, they would have obeyed.
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But when He motivates with everything, no excuse remains. By way of illustration: had He set the duration of reward at a thousand years, one could argue that some people abstained because they deemed that period too short,
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and likewise two thousand, and likewise three thousand — for any finite amount the mind can conceive of a greater amount beyond it.
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But when He makes their reward without end and unceasing, and their bliss imperishable — no room remains for the one seeking an excuse to find one.
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One might say: I can accept this regarding reward, since it is grace, happiness, and beneficence — but regarding punishment and eternal fire, I see it as abandoning mercy and as cruelty unworthy of His character. Regarding this I also offer a decisive reply: