The problem of evil is a central point of interest in theology. It is a philosophically a problem of interest especially in religions with an omnipotent and omniscient deity like. The problem of evil has produced paradoxes such as the Epicurean paradox. The story of Job in the Torah presents an interesting perspective of evil that is not to be seen anywhere. Job can be thought of like a pawn on a cosmic chess board. In what appears to be an annual assembly, God and the Devil are having a rather casual conversation. God enquiries of Satan’s recent activities, whereupon Satan replies that he has just been wandering the earth. It appears that God is boasting of one man’s righteousness and devoutness, and Satan rebukes this, saying that the man is only so because God has “sheltered him” and given him a good life. Satan says that if God was to take away what he has given him, he would surely become bitter and blaspheme against God. God then gives Satan the permission to do anything to him to try to make him bitter and blaspheme, save from wounding him physically. Satan kills all of Job’s children and animals, and most of his servants. The death of potentially innocent parties is disregarded. After much suffering, it is revealed that Job remains devout and righteous to the end, and in his wisdom, reasons that since he came to the earth naked and without anything, so will he depart. God appears to be in control of everything, and indeed Satan does appear to be in his service. In the story of Job, God appears to orchestrate both good and evil. According to Judaism, everything happens because of a reason, both good and evil, and God orchestrating good and evil is in line with Judaic philosophy. God says, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a whole-hearted and an upright man, one that feareth God, and shunneth evil?” It is not obvious what evil means when uttered by God himself. Perhaps he says this in Job’s perspective, in which case evil is simply sin: excessive debauchery, coveting, murder, idolatry, .etc. Evil is defined by God. Evil is perceived primarily in two ways: Evil as a power and evil as a nonentity. The perspective of evil as a power usually attributes the source of evil to Satan. Stated differently, it is the perspective evil as caused by of cosmic powers versus that of human responsibility and causality. In the cosmic model, God and Satan are antitheses: one purely good and benevolent and the other purely malevolent and evil. The story of Job is not enough to provide a concrete juxtaposition of the two perspectives in Judaism, but it offers some insights. The story of Job seems to affirm both perspectives, since cosmic forces are at work (God and Satan), while Job has the free will to resist evil and choose good over evil. In the Jataka tales, the emphasis is not on good versus evil but on contentedness, thoughtfulness, virtue and wisdom. In one tale, “Demons in the Desert”, two merchants about to embark on a journey consider the fact that they have to travel on the same road. One chooses to go first, so his mules can have better grass to eat and they will find better fruit and vegetables. The other chooses to go second, reasoning his mules will walk on a ground leveled by the other’s carts, and the grass will have sprouted afresh and better. On their way, they are warned by locals of demons disguised as people that fool people in the desert. The first merchant is fooled into dumping his water by demons, telling him that there is an oasis ahead and that he is tiring his mules in vain by carrying water. The demons feed on him and his animals and crew when they succumb to dehydration. The second one wisely chooses not to dump his water, recognizing the disguised demons. His caravan passes by the other’s, where he muses on the foolishness of the deceased and salvages what is valuable from the abandoned carts. Although less elaborate than the Judaistic the good and evil duality, the Jataka tales offer a comparable perspective of evil. The cosmic elements of evil are present in both perspectives, and both show that humans have a responsibility in the events and ultimately determine their fate. In another Jataka tale, a poor man saves a wicked and cruel drowning prince and three other animals: a snake, a rat and a parrot. Each promises the poor man a gift for his kindness. The poor man seeks out the animals, and they all fulfill their promises. However, the prince, who was now a King, commands that a man be beaten and decapitated, in an attempt to save his overblown pride. The elders and people of the city become angered on hearing the poor man’s story, and they rush out and kill the wicked King, and put the poor man in his place. This story, unlike the previous one, does not include any cosmic forces and achieves its goal rather by espousing human responsibility. Buddhism is not, unlike other prominent religions, based on the concept of good versus evil, and is more of a philosophical doctrine than a religion. The story of Prince wicked and the grateful animals exemplifies the nature of Buddhism. The story does not include any divine laws or the concept of sin. Divine laws are instead replaced with the natural order. One achieves enlightenment by being in harmony with the natural order. The Torah, on the other hand, is heavily based on the concept of divine law and sin, and good and evil are central to its philosophy. In the philosophy of Buddhism, good and evil are innate, almost indistinguishable aspects of life, since a person can do either. Unlike Buddhism, Judaism espouses a concept of good and evil that is mutually exclusive: God is purely good, and Satan is purely evil. In Buddhism good and evil are mutually exclusive antithesis forces-evil is simply the negation of enlightenment. The concept of good and evil in Judaism is also meant to inspire fear, unlike in Buddhism. In Judaism, good and evil are centralized in the single entities, God and Satan respectively. Good and evil are not centralized on single entities in Buddhism. The perspective that emphasizes human responsibility in events rather than cosmic powers is more philosophical (Katz and Biderman). Evil can be argued to be a personal struggle and product of imagination in the perspective of evil as a nonentity (Katz and Biderman). The source and cause of evil are thus primarily ignorance and wrong thinking and logic. The privation of knowledge is thus the cause of all evil, rather than the source. In the evil-as-nonentity perspective, there is no “source” of evil, unlike in the mythic and cosmic perspective of evil. In the case of the Holocaust, it is argued that the acts committed in the Holocaust were committed by human beings against other human beings, and could have been prevented by humans. No cosmic forces cause evil, but rather human desires, irrationality and the privation of knowledge. The perspective of evil as a human cause in Judaism is similar to that in the Jataka tales. Humans are responsible for their actions against each other, and their decisions are entirely dependent on their reasoning. The need to attribute evil to cosmic forces is escapist and only leads to people not taking responsibility for their action or inaction. If the Holocaust is to be thought of as being instigated by cosmic forces, then there is nothing humans could have done. On the other hand, if the Holocaust is seen in terms of human responsibility, it was preventable, and humans are wholly responsible for the atrocity they commit against one another. In the perspective of evil as a nonentity, Satan is merely a metaphor and not a real entity (Katz and Biderman). Satan is a the manifestation of human’s desires, and not an external entity. According to Maimonides, Satan is the cause of hallucinations, delusions, irrational desires and thoughts. It is not clear whether Satan is metaphorical or an entity, but Maimonides says that the problem of evil is triviality-human politics at best and not a real metaphysical problem (Katz and Biderman). While one perspective offers comfort in escapism and myth, the other tries to prevent evil through reason. According to the Torah, evil is necessary to bring about salvation. Man is, according to the Torah, inclined to evil “from his youth”. Interpretations of the good and evil dualism in Judaism are of two kinds: metaphysical and psychological. The metaphysical interpretation views the dualism as cosmic forces while the psychological interpretation views the dualism as behavioral tendencies in man (Kasher). The inclination to evil is thought to have arisen as a result of man’s new-discovered intellect (his understanding, in the image of God), according to Maimonides. The evil inclination serves the purpose of introspection-it makes humans review and thinks about their own actions, giving them the freedom to choose between good and evil. The first manifestation of evil in the Torah, the deception of Eve by the snake, does not positively identify Satan as responsible (Kasher). This way the serpent gains the symbol of man’s tempter. The main difference between the Torah and the Jataka tales is that while the Torah lends itself to both interpretations of the good and evil dualism in Judaism, the Jataka tales are clear on the emphasis of human responsibility in evil. Evil is also less acutely defined in the Jataka tales and emphasis is instead placed on virtue. The absence of divine law in the Jataka tales is also a defining feature of Budhism. The Jataka tales seek to offer practical wisdom, and hence dispense with the myth.
Works Cited
Kasher, Hannah. Inclination, Good and Evil. 15 June 2008. 18 November 2014. <www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0009_0_09520.html>.
Katz, Stephen D. and Schlomo Biderman. "Two Jewish approaches to Evil in History." Katz, Stephen D. and Schlomo Biderman. Wrestling with God : Jewish Theological Responses during and after the Holocaust: Jewish Theological Responses during and after the Holocaust. Oxford: Oxfor University Press, 2006. 327-330.
