BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

On miracles
This is why the Jews and all who adopted their notion of God’s providence
only from the varying condition of human a¡airs and men’s unequal fortunes,
persuaded themselves that the Israelites were dearer to God than
other men, even though they did not surpass other men in human perfection,
as we showed above in chapter 3.
[12] (3) I now turn to my third point: I will show from Scripture that the 89
edicts and commands of God, and hence of providence, are nothing other
than the order of nature.That is, when the Bible says that this or that was
done by God or by the will of God, it simply means that it was done
according to the laws and order of nature, and not, as most people think,
that nature ceased to operate for a time or that its order was brie£y interrupted.
But the Bible does not directly teach things which do not concern
its doctrine; nor is it its intention (as we have already shown with regard to
divine law) to explain things by natural causes or teach purely philosophical
things. Consequently our point has to be derived by inference from
certain narratives in Scripture which, as it happens, are given at some
length and in considerable detail. I will cite some of them.
[13] 1 Samuel 9.15^16 tells us that God revealed to Samuel that he would
send Saul to him. But God did not send Saul to him as human beings are
accustomed to send one man to another; this sending by God occurred
simply according to the order of nature. Saul was searching (as is mentioned
in the previous chapter) for the asses he had lost, and at last, as he
was wondering whether to return home without them, his servant advised
him to approach the prophet Samuel, so as to learn from him where he
could ¢nd them. Nowhere in the story is it evident that Saul received any
other command from God apart from this natural procedure of
approaching Samuel. In Psalm 105.24 it is stated that God turned the
hearts of the Egyptians to hate the Israelites; this too was a natural
change, as emerges from the ¢rst chapter of Exodus which reports the
urgent reason that motivated the Egyptians to reduce the Israelites to
slavery. At Genesis 9.13 God informs Noah that he will put a rainbow in
the clouds. This action of God’s is assuredly no other than the refraction
and re£ection a¡ecting sun rays seen through drops of water. At Psalm
147.18 the natural action and heat of the wind by which frost and snow
are melted is termed the word of God, and in verse 15 wind and cold are
called the utterance and word of God. In Psalm 104.4 wind and ¢re are
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