Responsum: On a Set Lifetime

Know—may God assist you—that this issue raises doubts, which can be cleared easily. As for what the prophet said: For you shall die and not live (Isaiah 38:1), he did not mention when he will die. And once we see that Hezekiah did not die of that illness, but was cured, we know that God did not announce that he would definitely die of that illness, because many of the announcements and promises and threats are conditional, and God explained this when He said: At one instant I may speak (Jeremiah 18:7). But we will make a stronger and bolder claim, and that is that God knows that a certain thing will happen if it unfolds in a certain way, or He knows that it won’t happen if it unfolds in another way. And it is not the case that He, may He be exalted and glorified, is uncertain about anything, but, rather, He knows how a thing that did not happen might have happened. To grasp this matter truly, one needs to practice, until it is understood that such a thing can be known, and it is not inconceivable. [ . . . ]

This is as subtle as you can get regarding this issue, as you have asked. All the conditional promises operate according to this principle, that God knows that if the matter unfolds in the way in which it was promised, then the promise will be fulfilled. But if it does not unfold that way, the promise will not be fulfilled. Furthermore, this is also the principle regarding promises of the world to come: if a man obeys, he will be compensated, and if he rebels, he will be punished, and He knows what will actually happen. And this is the meaning of the verse: The fear of the Lord prolongs days, while the years of the wicked will be shortened (Proverbs 10:27). This is not a promise to all those who fear the Lord, but the fear of the Lord might prolong life—and the years of the wicked might be shortened—and it might not.

Regarding the “destined period” [ajal] that you mentioned in your query, can this period be shortened or prolonged? We do not know what this “destined period” is that you mentioned. If you mean what God, may He be exalted, knows—His knowing it is not the cause of it. For as you can see, He also knows that the rebellious one will disobey. The most accurate thing to say is that He knows what will happen, and this is more precise than to say that what He knows happens. What is known about the “destined period” is what was said by others, not from Israel. And the kalām theologians [mutakallimūn] among them say that its meaning in Arabic is “time.” So, the time when a living creature dies is his destined time of death, and the period of time when that creature was alive is his destined period of life. But in our own language, in scripture, we lack such an expression.

As to what is said: The number of your days I will fulfill (Exodus 23:26), it is not impossible that its meaning concerns dying at an old age after a long life. As to the words of David: Or his day shall come to die (1 Samuel 26:10), this is the day on which God knows he will die from a natural cause.

The question remains, though, concerning one who was attacked by an enemy and killed: If that wicked one had not killed him at that time, do we say that he would have died anyway, or would he have lived? The answer is that we cannot know this, but God knows the answer. We retain both possibilities: he might have died at that time even had he not been killed, or it is possible that God knows that he would have stayed alive and lived up to a later point in time, according to the rules that we discussed earlier.