Many of the adherents of our Law have thought that Solomon, peace be on him, believed in the eternity of the world. It is amazing that it should be imagined that a man belonging to the adherents of the Law of Moses our Master believed in the eternity of the world. If, however, someone deems — may God protect us! — that in this he abandoned the opinions of the Law, how was it that all the prophets and the Sages accepted this from him and did not attack him on this point or blame him after his death, as had to be done in connection with the alien women and on other counts? This vain imagining was occasioned by the statement of the Sages, may their memory be blessed; [People] wanted to suppress the book of Ecclesiastes because its words incline to those of the heretics.1 This is undoubtedly so; I mean to say, in this book, taken in its external sense, there are passages that incline to opinions foreign to those of the Law and that need a figurative interpretation. However, the affirmation of the eternity of the world does not belong to them. There is no text in it indicating this, and no text whatever is to be found in it that states explicitly that the world is eternal a parte ante. However, some texts in it indicate that it is eternal a parte post, which is true. When people saw texts indicating that the world is eternal a parte post, they thought that he [Solomon] believed that the world was not created in time. This is not so.
The text in the book regarding the eternity a parte post of the world reads: And the earth abideth for ever [leʿolam].2 But those who were not aware of this subtlety resorted to the explanation: during the time predetermined for it. And they explain similarly His words, may He be exalted, Yet all the days of the earth,3 as referring to the [58b] predetermined length of its life. Would that I knew what is said with regard to David’s words: Who didst establish the earth upon its foundations, that it should not be moved for ever and ever [ʿolam vaʿed].4 For if the words, ʿolam vaʿed,5 do not point to eternity a parte post, this would mean that the deity has a certain duration. For the scriptural text says with reference to His eternity a parte post, may He be exalted: The Lord shall reign for ever and ever [le ʿolam vaʿed].6 You know that the word ʿolam does not signify eternity a parte post unless it be conjoined with the word ʿad, which may come either after it — as in the scriptural expression: ʿolam vaʿed — or before it — as in the scriptural expression: ʿad ʿolam. Consequently Solomon’s statement:7 abideth for ever [le ʿolam], means less than David’s statement:8 that it should not be moved for ever and ever [ʿolam vaʿed].9 David, peace be on him, likewise makes clear and manifest the eternity a parte post of the heavens and the permanence in an immutable state of their statutes and of all that is in them. For he says: Praise ye the Lord from the heavens, and so on. For He commanded and they were created. He hath established them for ever and ever; He hath made a statute, which shall not be transgressed.10 He means by this that the statutes, which He has laid down, will never be changed. For the word statute alludes to the statutes of heaven and earth,11 which have been mentioned previously. However, he makes it clear that they are created, saying: For He commanded, and they were created. And Jeremiah, peace be on him, says: Who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the statutes of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, and so on. If these statutes depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation.12 Thus he has likewise clearly stated that they — I mean these statutes — even though created, shall not depart.
Thus if this matter is pursued, this doctrine will be found not only in Solomon’s words. On the other hand, Solomon himself has likewise stated that these works of the deity — I mean the world and what is in it — even though they are made, are permanently established according to their nature for ever. For he says: That whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor any thing taken from it.13 Thus he imparts in [59a] this verse the information that the world is a work of the deity and that it is eternal a parte post. He also states the cause of its being eternal a parte post; namely, in his words: nothing can be added to it, nor any thing taken from it. For this is the cause of its being for ever. It is as if he said that the thing that is changed, is changed because of a deficiency in it that should be made good or because of some excess that is not needed and should be got rid of. Now the works of the deity are most perfect, and with regard to them there is no possibility of an excess or a deficiency. Accordingly they are of necessity permanently established as they are, for there is no possibility of something calling for a change in them. He has also, as it were, stated an end for what has come to exist or given an excuse for what changes, saying in the final part of the verse: And God hath so made it, that they should fear before Him14 — he refers to the production in time of miracles. In saying after that, That which hath been is now, and that which is to be hath already been; and God seeketh that which is pursued,15 the author states that He, may He be exalted, desires that that which exists should continue and that its various parts should be consecutive to one another. As for his mention of the perfection of the acts of the deity and of its being impossible to add or to take away from them, the Master of those who know had already clearly stated this, saying: The Rock, His work is perfect.16 He means that all His works — I mean to say His creatures — are most perfect, that no deficiency at all is commingled with them, that there is no superfluity in them and nothing that is not needed. Similarly all that is being accomplished for and by the created things is absolute justice and follows from the requirement of wisdom, as shall be made clear in some of the chapters of this Treatise. [59b]