We continue with the theme from the Hovot HaLevavot, that the only way to truly change things is by connecting to Hashem, who is the source of everything. Trying to change the siba is like trying to change something after the program has already been set.
The Ralbag (Rabbenu Levi Ben Gershom), a Rishon, brings this point out in connection with the sale of Yosef. The brothers, the Shevatim, great people, felt threatened by their brother Yosef. In order to to avert this threat, they sold him into slavery. The Ralbag says we learn from this story the following:
אין ראוי לאדם שישתדל לבטל מה שנגזר מה׳
Don’t try to undo G-d’s decree.
Yosef’s bothers tried this and it backfired. They thought that they were distancing Yosef from being their leader by selling him into slavery, when actually, the sale was the utensil by which he became their leader.
The Ralbag says this happens quite often when people try to avoid Hashem’s decrees without getting to the source. The only way to really change a decree is to:
שידבק בה׳ יתעלה לפי היכולת, והוא ישגיח בו ויצילהו ממנו,
Connect yourself to G-d according to your ability. He will supervise over you.
It’s the only way to avoid a problem. Reconnect with G-d and he will change it. That’s changing it at the source.
He brings a story mentioned in a Midrash about the origins of the Roman Empire.
There was a man who had twin sons, Remus and Romimus. On the night of their birth, the man dreamt that two streams of fire came out of his nostrils and burned his city. With the aid of his stargazers, the man determined that the two fires in his dream represented his twin sons, and that they would eventually overturn his rule. Rather than kill them outright, he banished them to the forest and left them for dead.
They ended up being nursed and raised by wolves in the forest, and grew up fierce and strong. They ultimately overturned their father’s kingdom, never realizing that he was their father. This is example of how things can backfire, says the Ralbag.
The Bet Halevi quotes a pasuk in Iyov that says:
לֹכֵד חֲכָמִים בְּעָרְמָם
Hashem traps the wise with their cunning.
Their cunning backfires.
He cites a story from the Gemarah in Masachet Sukkah, that illustrates this point, involving a meeting between Shelomo and the Malach Hamavet. The Angel of Death was upset, complaining that he couldn’t seem to get two men, slaves of Shelomo HaMelech, who were on his list. Shelomo, in an effort to save the men, sent them to the city of Luz, which was known to be a safe haven from death. On their way, at the very doorstep of the city, they died.
Shelomo HaMelech saw the angel of Death the following day, and asked why he was smiling now. What happened? The Angel answered that every person has a time and place of death decreed from Heaven. The two men had been destined to die outside the city of Luz, but he couldn’t seem get them there. And then Shelomo HaMelech came along and sent them to that very spot!
Rather than connecting to G-d to change the decree, Shelomo HaMelech used his wisdom to try to outsmart G-d. It didn’t work.
Another Midrash describes what happened when Shelomo HaMelech learned that his daughter was destined to marry a very simple man, well beneath her stature. In order to thwart that decree, he placed her in the tower of castle, on a remote island, where she was raised only by women. One night, this fellow, a poor man, was walking in the cold. To seek shelter, he lay down in the carcass of an animal and fell asleep. Vultures came and unbeknownst to him, picked up the carcass and flew off somewhere to eat it. The man woke up mid-flight, fell and landed at the doorstep of the castle. Needless to say, he met the princess and they decided to wed. Shelomo HaMelech had no choice but to agree with G-d’s plans, and they married. The very plan Shelomo laid out to save her was what brought the man straight to her.
You can’t avoid G-d’s will. The only way to change G-d’s will is to change yourself. And then G-d changes the decree and everything turns around.