The History of the Divine Service at Altars (121) – The Prohibition of Bamot (97)

And King Shelomo, whom God bestowed with wisdom and knowledge, had it all from the Torah, and from it did he learn, until he knew the secret of all things, even the powers of the plants, to the point that he even wrote about them a Book of Remedies. (Ramban, Introduction to his Commentary to Bereishit)

The Book of Remedies was a book containing a series of cures, the use of which would have been improper…. For example, that which the authors of talismans think that if they prepare a talisman in a certain order it helps for a particular illness, and the like of prohibited things. Its author wrote it only as part of a study of the nature of the world, and not to use anything included in it. This is permitted, as it has been explained to you, that things which God prohibited to do are permitted to be studied and to be known, because God said: "You must not learn to do," and it was learned by tradition, "but you may learn in order to understand and to issue rulings." But when people sinned, and healed themselves with it, it was hidden away.

It is possible that it was a book that described the preparation of harmful drugs, e.g., that a particular drug is prepared in a certain way, and people are made to drink it in a certain way, and it causes this illness or that, and its antidote is this or that, so that when a doctor sees those illnesses he will know that the person was given to drink a certain drug, and he will give him something to counteract it and save him. And when people sinned and would kill each other with it, it was hidden away.

I have gone on at length about this because I heard and it has been explained to me that Shelomo wrote this Book of Remedies, so that if a person ailed with a certain illness, he would turn to it and do what it says and he would be cured. And when Chizkiyahu saw that people would not trust in God regarding their illnesses, but rather on the Book of Remedies, he arose and hid it away.

And besides the nullity of this and its hallucinatory nature, they have attributed to Chizkiyahu and those who agreed with him inanity, the likes of which should be attributed only to the worst of the masses. According to their corrupt and stupid thinking, if a person was hungry and he turned to bread and ate it, which undoubtedly healed him from that great discomfort – should we say that he removed his trust from God? These people should be told: You are fools, for just as I thank God when I eat the food which He provided me to remove my hunger and to reinvigorate me and to sustain me, so I should thank Him for making available a cure that cures my illness when I use it. I would not have had to reject this deficient understanding were it not for its notoriety. (Rambam, Commentary to the Mishna, Pesachim 4:10)

Rabbi Levi adds that not only did [Chizkiyahu] strive for the moral good in accordance with the time in national matters, but also with regard to the state of people's personal lives he tried to make up for the fundamental deficiency of alienation from the knowledge of God in a manner that was inappropriate for permanent leadership. I refer to the fact that he hid the Book of Remedies, so that they would seek [God's] mercy, as explained by Rashi. This, despite the fact that the Rambam went on at length to reject this, [saying] that the practice of medicine does not attest to diminished trust [in God], but rather to added trust in and recognition of He who, in His wisdom and His lovingkindness, prepared the mind to investigate and make use of the foundations of medicine. However, when [Chizkiyahu] saw that the name of God was being forgotten because of the trespass of Achaz, he found that the people would gain more in their moral betterment by training themselves to ask for their needs, i.e., God's healing of disease through prayer, than what they would lose by not searching for natural cures. Therefore this is what is good in the eyes of God, and it accords well with his request to be healed by way of a supernatural miracle, so that it be a sign for Israel to repent and seek God, until their minds are uplifted to know God also in the ways of nature which are all the handiwork of God. Now, according to this, if we merit, the redemption could be natural, and it could come about through our efforts, though the miracles will in any event come for that part of humanity that is generally far from knowing God… or also to perfect us and bring us to a higher and more distinguished level. (Ein Aya, Berakhot 1, 143)

He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Ashera; and he broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moshe had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did offer to it; and it was called Nechushtan. He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Yehuda, nor among them that were before him. For he cleaved to the Lord, he departed not from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord commanded Moshe. (II Melakhim 18:4-6)

Zavdi ben Levi opened: "The kings of the earth believed not" (Eikha 4:12) – There were four kings, what the one requested, the other did not request, and they were as follows: David, Asa, Yehoshafat and Chizkiyahu. David said: "Let me pursue my enemies and overtake them" (Tehilim 18:38). The Holy One, blessed is He, said to him: I will do that. This is what is stated: "And David smote them from the twilight unto the evening of the next day [le-macharatam]" (I Shemuel 30:17). What is "le-makharatam"? R. Yehuda ben Levi said: For two nights and one day, the Holy One, blessed is He, would illuminate the night for him with shooting stars and lightning. As we have learned there in the Mishna: On witnessing shooting stars, earthquakes, and lightening…. This is what is stated: "For You light my lamp" (Tehilim 18:39). Asa stood up and said: I don't have the strength to kill them; rather I will pursue them and You do it. He said to him: I will do it, as it is stated: "And Asa… pursued… before the Lord, and before His host" (II Divrei ha-Yamim 14:12). It is not written here: "and before Asa," but rather "before the Lord, and before His host." Yehoshafat stood up and said: I don’t have the strength to kill or to pursue them. Rather, I will sing song and you do it. The Holy One, blessed is He, said to him: I will do it, as it is stated: "And when they began to sing and praise" (II Divrei ha-Yamim 20:22). Chizkiyahu stood up and said: I don't have the strength to kill, to pursue, or to sing song. Rather, I will sleep on my bed, and You do it. The Holy One, blessed is He, said: I will do it, as it is stated: "And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of Ashur" (II Melakhim 19:35). (Eikha Rabba Petichta 30)

David was watchful and completely cleansed of all these. He would, therefore, go out to battle with unwavering confidence, saying: "I will pursue my enemies and overtake them, and not turn back until they are consumed" (Tehilim 18:38). Yehoshafat, Asaf, and Chizkiya would not make suck requests, as they never attained such blamelessness. This is the sense of what he himself said in the same passage: "The Lord will reward me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands he will recompense me" (Tehillim 18:21). (Ramchal, Mesilat Yesharim 10)

King David always took extra care regarding such sins and, when he went to battle, he searched for them. He therefore was not afraid to wage war. Come and see: There were four kings, each of whom asked for a different thing. David said: "Let me pursue my enemies, and overtake them: neither let me turn back till they are consumed" (Tehilim 18:38). Why did he say that? Because he was careful about those sins [that people take lightly] and this gave no [spiritual] opening to his enemies to defeat him. He therefore pursued them continuously, and they couldn’t pursue him to catch him, and extract punishment for his sins. Asa [the king] was more fearful. Although he searched for his sins, he was not as King David [who actually killed his enemies]. (Zohar I, 198b)

The highest level of all is that which Chizkiyahu asked, for he said: I don't have the strength to kill, to pursue, or to pray. Rather, I will sleep on my bed, and You do it. And this is what God did, as it is written in II Melakhim: "And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went forth." And this is the level about which Moshe said: "And you shall remain silent." That is, you don't have the strength even for prayer. (Or ha-Chayyim, Shemot 14:4)

Now we can understand that in accordance with the moral state of Israel after the time of Achaz, which required great work because of his evil aspirations to cause the people to forget the name of God and His Torah, [Chizkiyahu] found that even with respect to the national effort which is praiseworthy in ordinary times, the time required that he institute that all trust be placed in God, as He will not abandon His people, so that the people once again feel the hand of God upon them. Therefore, at the time of the collapse of Sancheriv he said: I don't have the strength to kill, or to pursue. Rather, I will sleep on my bed, and You do it. And this refraining from exercising his strength was a moral act for Israel at that time, as he would only reach his objective through a manifest miracle with no human effort. So too the future redemption, it may begin with miracles and wonders, as in the days of the exodus from the land of Egypt, or it will have a natural beginning, as Chazal said in several places, that Israel's success will come little by little. According to what we have said, this will depend on Israel's spiritual state. For if we piously cling to the observance of the mitzvot and the study of Torah, thereby correcting our character traits and filling our hearts with faith and the knowledge of God, then it will be considered great perfection if we occupy ourselves in this mitzva of raising the horn of Israel. And it will certainly be great glory and national splendor for us if we occupy ourselves with the building of the house of Israel… If, however, the state of Israel is at a low point, they being far from Torah and the knowledge of God, it will not be possible to reach the objective through natural redemption, and the future good will have to come at first through miraculous redemption. Natural steps will not succeed in such a situation, lest they cause excessive destruction of the moral state which is the objective. (Ein Aya, Berakhot 1, 143)

Now joining redemption to prayer teaches us that our redemption will arrive only through the hand of God. And we must know this because the lofty knowledge of God that will come with the redemption is its ultimate objective. Therefore we must know that the redemption depends on prayer and finding God's favor. However, when we are at an elevated level of service and perfection, the redemption is joined in our minds to prayer, as it truly is, even when it arrives naturally and through our efforts. But when our state is low owing to our sins and our distance from perfect knowledge of God, then the redemption is joined to prayer in our judgment only when it arrives miraculously. Therefore Chizkiyahu strived to do what is good in the eyes of God, that is, that which leads to the moral objective, even if according to human understanding it is not good, namely that he joined redemption to prayer, for in his time this joining was necessary in order to reduce natural efforts totally, until he reached the supreme level of trust. (Ein Aya, Berakhot 1, 143)