2.2.3 Anthropopathism in Tanakh
According to Tanakh, does God even have the emotions of a man? Numbers 23:19 said “God is not man to be capricious, Or mortal to change His mind. Would He speak and not act, Promise and not fulfill?” and 1 Samuel 1 15:28 said “The Glory of Israel does not deceive or change His mind, for He is not human that He should change His mind.” These both imply that God does not have the flawed emotions or motives that we have.
But yet again, there are contradictions, such as Genesis 6:6, when “The Lord regretted that He had made man on earth, and His heart was saddened.” , and Exodus 20:4 “You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am an impassioned God.” (or, in some translations “a jealous God”). These both point to the assumption that God does have human emotions, and that they are not flawless.
On this subject, Maimonides writes: “We have seen that the sacred literature of Judaism often describes God in physical terms, and that such descriptions cannot be taken in a literal way. […] “The Hebrew verb Shema typically means “to hear” but it can also mean such things as “to obey” and “to know.” [I, 45] We see this, for example, in Exodus 6:9 […] [which says]: “they did not listen to Moses.” They heard him just fine, they just didn’t obey. In these and similar verses, body parts and the actions attributed to them are used metaphorically even when speaking of humans. It is this secondary, metaphorical use of such words that is always intended when speaking of God.” Then Maimonides discusses the topic of God’s speech, a fundamentally anthropopathic concept. Referring to Genesis 1:3 “Let there be light, and there was light,“ Maimonides writes: ““This is to be understood of the will [of God], not the speech.” Maimonides’ disciple and propagandist, Shemtov Falquera, confirms and writes, probably discussing Maimonides’ Guide to the Perplex: “Anthropomorphism and anthropopathism are worse than idolatry.”
Born left-handed 