תהלים, פרק י׳, פסוק י״א

Hidden thoughts of the heart often serve as the true motivation behind open acts of cruelty or profound despair. The worldview captured here rejects the concept of divine providence, creating a dangerous mindset where a person feels free to act as they please without any fear of ultimate accountability.

The primary approach among commentators is that these thoughts belong to a wicked individual who justifies his behavior by convincing himself that God pays no attention to him [ביאור שטיינזלץ, מצודת דוד]. However, a striking alternative suggests that these are actually the thoughts of a poor, oppressed victim. Crushed by suffering and watching his abusers succeed, the victim breaks down in despair and questions God, feeling completely abandoned to his fate [אלשיך].

In either case, the individual acknowledges that God exists but firmly denies His involvement in human affairs [אבן עזרא]. The assumption is that God is either entirely unaware of earthly events, or He knows about them but deliberately chooses to look the other way [רד״ק]. Some explain this mindset as the belief that God created the physical world but then abandoned it to the blind laws of nature, or simply gave up on His people entirely [מאירי]. Another perspective views this through a historical lens, suggesting the belief that God did watch over the world in the past, but following the destruction of the Temple, He removed His presence and handed control over to astrological forces [אלשיך]. The repeated assertions of God being unaware of human actions serve to heavily emphasize this perceived lack of divine oversight [אבן עזרא].

This rejection of providence can also be understood as a gradual spiritual decline over the course of a wicked person's life. Initially, the individual assumes God sees his actions but simply delays or forgets to deliver immediate punishment. As time passes without consequence, this attitude hardens into the belief that God actively hides His presence, assuming the Creator is far too elevated to concern Himself with the lowly, physical world. Ultimately, this downward spiral ends in absolute heresy, culminating in the conviction that it is fundamentally impossible for God to see or know anything that occurs in the earthly realm [מלבי״ם].