Philosophy:Miracles/1
Miracles
Introduction
What is a Miracle?
Tanakh is replete with stories of Divine intervention into the lives of mankind. It speaks of talking serpents and donkeys, the Ten Plagues, the splitting of the Sea, and the stopping of the sun by Yehoshua. There are many less flashy miracles, as well, such as those performed by Eliyahu and Elisha, not for the nation, but for lay individuals. These include the retrieving of a lost ax, the curing of a bitter stew, and the nourishing of 100 men with but one loaf of bread. Other acts of Divine intervention might not even merit the name miracle at all, as Hashem aids the nation in battle or the like.
When does Hashem intervene in the world by suspending the natural order and when does He leave it intact? Are supernatural miracles inherently different than ones which employ the forces of nature?
Related Issues
Additional issues which affect this question include:
- Divine providence – How encompassing is Hashem's interaction with His world? Does everyone merit providence to the same degree? How often will Hashem actively intervene and perform miracles to either protect or punish?
- Mutability of nature – Once Hashem established the natural order, how fixed must it remain? Might the laws of nature change and evolve, or would that undermine the entire order of the world?
- Purpose of miracles – What is the purpose of miracles? What prompts Hashem to intervene and override the natural order? Is He always responding to a human need? Must that need be a physical one, or might the goal of the intervention be simply recognition of Hashem's powers?
- Human agency – The vast majority of miracles in Tanakh are brought via the agency of a prophet. Why does Hashem not simply perform the miracles on His own? What role does the prophet play? At times, a prophet even declares a miracle on his own, apparently expecting nature to be overturned at their word.1 What does this suggest about the nature of miracles?
- Miracles and Magic
