[Avodah] God who knows the future

[David Riceman]

RAM:

<<I have total free will to go right or to go left, and when I make that 
choice, that's when Hashem's foreknowledge will be determined. Until 
then, the contents of the newspaper will be indeterminate.
<snip>
While it is true that Hashem *does* know what gender the child will end 
up being, He has not yet - so to speak - made this decision. There is 
still time to pray and influence this future choice of His. At some 
point in the pregnancy (40 days, IIRC) He will make that decision>>

You have left me more confused than before.  I had thought you agreed 
with RMB, who holds that one cannot predicate time of God, that all the 
details of history form a deterministic process, and God knows them 
"outside" of time.

The problem for RMB is why a prayer before pregnancy is different from a 
prayer after pregnancy.

You, however, are introducing a distinction between God's "knowledge" 
and God's "foreknowledge".  This is hard to harmonize with God's 
simplicity.  If I understand you correctly God makes his decree at some 
particular point, and it can't be changed by any event after that time, 
even though it won't be known for quite some time after that time 
(remember the gemara is before ultrasound or DNA testing).

Can you motivate why this would be? It seems arbitrary.  Can you cite a 
source? I have seen something like this with respect to actual 
prophecies (H.Yesodei HaTorah 10:4), but never with respect to natural 
phenomena like pregnancy.

David Riceman


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