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Thomas LaRock and Enrico van de Laar

Pro SQL Server 2022 Wait Statistics

A Practical Guide to Analyzing Performance in SQL
Server and Azure SQL Database
3rd ed.
Thomas LaRock
East Longmeadow, MA, USA

Enrico van de Laar

Drachten, The Netherlands

ISBN 978-1-4842-8770-5 e-ISBN 978-1-4842-8771-2

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8771-2

© Thomas LaRock, Enrico van de Laar 2015, 2019, 2023

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively
licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is
concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in
any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks,

service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the
absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the
relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general
use.

The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the
advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate
at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Apress imprint is published by the registered company APress
Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY
10004, U.S.A.
This book is dedicated to all the accidental database administrators,
developers, and anyone who has written a database query and wondered
“what the hell is taking so long?”
Also, for Roy, Moss, and anyone else who decided to turn it off and back on
again.
Introduction
“Write the book you wish someone else would have written and handed
to you when you were starting as a DBA.”
Those words were spoken to me by my friend and mentor, Kevin
Kline, roughly 13 years ago. At the time I was writing my first book,
DBA Survivor, and I asked Kevin for advice on how to approach the
project. His answer gave me clarity, and I’ve used the same approach for
this book you are now reading.
At the time I started as a junior DBA, Tom Davidson’s well-known
SQL Server 2005 Waits and Queues whitepaper was years away from
publication. What I knew about waits I would find using DBCC
statements against (the artist formally known as) Sybase ASE and SQL
Server 2000 instances.
In other words, I didn’t know much.
With the release of SQL Server 2005 and the publication of the
Davidson whitepaper, wait statistics became a viable tuning
methodology. Administrators and developers could now use waits and
queues to understand exactly why a query was running longer than
expected. Overnight our team transitioned from reacting to query
performance issues to being proactive in understanding which
resources the overall database workload needed most.
Every request sent to a database server has the same constraints:
memory, processing, disk, network, and locking/blocking. It doesn’t
matter if you want to rely solely on execution plans for query tuning;
the physical and logical constraints for the query remain the same: they
are just presented differently in an execution plan. The waits and
queue tuning methodology reduces the complexity and time
necessary for query performance tuning by an order of magnitude.
Once you understand how the database engine processes requests,
how waits happen, and how to track them, you are well on your way to
being an expert in query performance tuning.
And that’s the goal of this book. When you are done reading, I want
you to have all the skills necessary to be an expert in query
performance tuning. That’s the book I wish someone would have
written and handed to me when I was first starting as a DBA.
 To reach the goal, this book has been split into two unequal parts.
Part I, “Foundations of Wait Statistics Analysis,” provides details on how
the database engine processes a query (officially called a request, which
is sent by a session, after a connection to the instance is established)
followed by information on how to query wait statistics information
through various SQL Server dynamic management views (DMVs). Part I
finishes with an overview of the Query Store feature and guidance on
how to create and gather metrics to build your own baselines.
Part II, “Wait Types,” dives into specific waits, the causes, some
examples, and possible resolutions. The chapters are divided by wait
categories, which is a bit tricky as some waits (such as PAGEIOLATCH)
have overlap between more than one possible constraint (memory and
disk). Therefore, the chapters break down specific waits into categories
by CPU, IO, backups, locks, latches, high-availability and disaster-
recovery, preemptive, background and miscellaneous, and In-Memory
OLTP.
Yes, waits for background and miscellaneous are included, despite
their being benign for query performance. It’s important for you to
know why (and when) these waits happen and when they are safe to
ignore (they usually are, but not always).
One thing to note, the examples in this book use a database named
GalacticWorks. This is a modified version of AdventureWorks I use for a
variety of demos when teaching my classes. The examples in the book
will work with AdventureWorks, so don’t panic about not having
GalacticWorks; you’ll be fine with most versions of AdventureWorks.
When you finish this book, I want you to have the confidence to
tackle any query performance tuning problem. You’ll have the details,
information, and knowledge necessary to be an expert. And maybe
soon enough, you’ll be teaching others and maybe someday write your
own book, too.
Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the
author in this book is available to readers on GitHub
(https://github.com/Apress). For more detailed information, please
visit http://www.apress.com/source-code.
Acknowledgments
There are many people to acknowledge and thank for helping me with
this book. I’ll do my best to include as many as I can, but please don’t be
offended if I forget you; it’s not on purpose.
I’ll start with my wife, Suzanne, for her patience as I spent many off-
hours completing this book. Oh, and for all the time I’ve spent away
from home for the past 15 years.
Thanks to Bob Ward of Microsoft for helping uncover new SQL 2022
features, as well as your willingness to share your knowledge on SQL
Server for the past 25 years. And thanks for your time in Barcelona in
2006 when you inspired me to want to learn more about SQL Server.
Thanks to my partner in #TeamData, Karen Lopez, for your help,
support, and friendship for many years. I became a better technical
writer and presenter by learning from you.
Thanks to Kevin Kline for your guidance and support as I left my
career as a production DBA to become a Technical Advocate and for
providing an example of what proper community leadership looks like.
To Buck Woody, for your support in helping me understand my
strengths and your guidance in career opportunities through the years.
To Craig and Vinny, for giving me the opportunity to fail as a DBA,
and to Frank and Lori for not letting it happen as much as it should
have.
To Rie, Betsy, Rochelle, and everyone on the Microsoft Community
team for awarding me the Microsoft MVP status all these years.
Finally, to Jonathan, for thinking of me when it came time to update
this book for SQL 2022. Thank you for the opportunity to write another
book for you, 12 years later.
Table of Contents
Part I: Foundations of Wait Statistics Analysis
Chapter 1:​Wait Statistics Internals
A Brief History of Wait Statistics
The SQLOS
Schedulers, Tasks, and Worker Threads
Sessions
Requests
Tasks
Worker Threads
Schedulers
Putting It All Together
Wait Statistics
Summary
Chapter 2:​Querying SQL Server Wait Statistics
sys.​dm_​os_​wait_​stats
sys.​dm_​os_​waiting_​tasks
Understanding sys.​dm_​os_​waiting_​tasks
Querying sys.​dm_​os_​waiting_​tasks
sys.​dm_​exec_​requests
Understanding sys.​dm_​exec_​requests
Querying sys.​dm_​exec_​requests
sys.​dm_​exec_​session_​wait_​stats
Combining DMVs to Detect Waits Happening Now
Viewing Wait Statistics Using Perfmon
Capturing Wait Statistics Using Extended Events
 Capture Wait Statistics Information for a Specific Query
Analyzing Wait Statistics on a Per-Query Basis Using Execution
Plans
Summary
Chapter 3:​The Query Store
What Is the Query Store?​
Enabling the Query Store
Enable the Query Store Using SSMS
Enable the Query Store Using T-SQL
Query Store Architecture
How Wait Statistics Are Processed in the Query Store
Accessing Wait Statistics Through Query Store Reports
Accessing Wait Statistics Through Query Store DMVs
Summary
Chapter 4:​Building a Solid Baseline
What Are Baselines?​
Visualizing Your Baselines
Baseline Types and Statistics
Baseline Pitfalls
Too Much Information
Know Your Metrics
Find the Big Measurement Changes
Use Fixed Intervals
Building a Baseline for Wait Statistics Analysis
Reset Capture Method
Delta Capture Method
 Using SQL Server Agent to Schedule Measurements
Wait Statistics Baseline Analysis
Summary
Part II: Wait Types
Chapter 5:​CPU-Related Wait Types
CXPACKET
What Is the CXPACKET Wait Type?​
Lowering CXPACKET Wait Time by Tuning the Parallelism
Configuration Options
Lowering CXPACKET Wait Time by Resolving Skewed
Workloads
Introduction of the CXCONSUMER Wait Type
CXPACKET Summary
SOS_​SCHEDULER_​YIELD
What Is the SOS_​SCHEDULER_​YIELD Wait Type?​
Lowering SOS_​SCHEDULER_​YIELD Waits
SOS_​SCHEDULER_​YIELD Summary
THREADPOOL
What Is the THREADPOOL Wait Type?​
THREADPOOL Example
Gaining Access to Our SQL Server During THREADPOOL
Waits
Lowering THREADPOOL Waits Caused by Parallelism
Lowering THREADPOOL Waits Caused by User Connections
THREADPOOL Summary
Chapter 6:​IO-Related Wait Types
ASYNC_​IO_​COMPLETION
 What Is the ASYNC_​IO_​COMPLETION Wait Type?​
ASYNC_​IO_​COMPLETION Example
Lowering ASYNC_​IO_​COMPLETION Waits
ASYNC_​IO_​COMPLETION Summary
ASYNC_​NETWORK_​IO
What Is the ASYNC_​NETWORK_​IO Wait Type?​
ASYNC_​NETWORK_​IO Example
Lowering ASYNC_​NETWORK_​IO Waits
ASYNC_​NETWORK_​IO Summary
CMEMTHREAD
What Is the CMEMTHREAD Wait Type?​
Lowering CMEMTHREAD Waits
CMEMTHREAD Summary
IO_​COMPLETION
What Is the IO_​COMPLETION Wait Type?​
IO_​COMPLETION Example
Lowering IO_​COMPLETION Waits
IO_​COMPLETION Summary
LOGBUFFER and WRITELOG
What Are the LOGBUFFER and WRITELOG Wait Types?​
LOGBUFFER and WRITELOG Example
Lowering LOGBUFFER and WRITELOG Waits
LOGBUFFER and WRITELOG Summary
RESOURCE_​SEMAPHORE
What Is the RESOURCE_​SEMAPHORE Wait Type?​
RESOURCE_​SEMAPHORE Example
 Lowering RESOURCE_​SEMAPHORE Waits
RESOURCE_​SEMAPHORE Summary
RESOURCE_​SEMAPHORE_​QUERY_​COMPILE
What Is the RESOURCE_​SEMAPHORE_​QUERY_​COMPILE Wait
Type?​
RESOURCE_​SEMAPHORE_​QUERY_​COMPILE Example
Lowering RESOURCE_​SEMAPHORE_​QUERY_​COMPILE Waits
RESOURCE_​SEMAPHORE_​QUERY_​COMPILE Summary
SLEEP_​BPOOL_​FLUSH
What Is the SLEEP_​BPOOL_​FLUSH Wait Type?​
SLEEP_​BPOOL_​FLUSH Example
Lowering SLEEP_​BPOOL_​FLUSH Waits
SLEEP_​BPOOL_​FLUSH Summary
WRITE_​COMPLETION
What Is the WRITE_​COMPLETION Wait Type?​
WRITE_​COMPLETION Example
Lowering WRITE_​COMPLETION Waits
WRITE_​COMPLETION Summary
Chapter 7:​Backup-Related Wait Types
BACKUPBUFFER
What Is the BACKUPBUFFER Wait Type?​
BACKUPBUFFER Example
Lowering BACKUPBUFFER Waits
BACKUPBUFFER Summary
BACKUPIO
What Is the BACKUPIO Wait Type?​
 BACKUPIO Example
Lowering BACKUPIO Waits
BACKUPIO Summary
BACKUPTHREAD
What Is the BACKUPTHREAD Wait Type?​
BACKUPTHREAD Example
Lowering BACKUPTHREAD Waits
BACKUPTHREAD Summary
Chapter 8:​Lock-Related Wait Types
Introduction to Locking and Blocking
Lock Modes and Compatibility
Locking Hierarchy
Isolation Levels
Querying Lock Information
LCK_​M_​S
What Is the LCK_​M_​S Wait Type?​
LCK_​M_​S Example
Lowering LCK_​M_​S Waits
LCK_​M_​S Summary
LCK_​M_​U
What Is the LCK_​M_​U Wait Type?​
LCK_​M_​U Example
Lowering LCK_​M_​U Waits
LCK_​M_​U Summary
LCK_​M_​X
What Is the LCK_​M_​X Wait Type?​
Discovering Diverse Content Through
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people according to their capacity, and the more gifted according to
their abilities. Certain fundamental truths are therefore set forth in the
Law and the Prophets in an authoritative, poetical, or dialectical
style; but the higher order of intellects are encouraged to search for
proper proofs. Thus the whole nation is addressed by Isaiah: ‘Lift up
your eyes on high and see who hath created these,’ and the like.
Also the chief of the Prophets tells the Israelites: ‘Hear, O Israel, the
Lord is our God; the Lord is One.’ Those who are more highly
endowed than their fellow-men are exhorted, either directly or
indirectly, to follow the course which is suitable to them. The direct
exhortation to philosophical research is contained in the words:
‘Know then this day, and take it to thy heart, that the Lord He is God,’
&c.; and indirectly it is contained in the commandment [16]to love and
to fear God, as has been explained by R. Moses Maimonides.—The
study of science will certainly be of use to the scholar; it leads to a
knowledge of the created things, and through these to a knowledge
of the Creator. Such study may even be considered as necessary to
the Jewish scholar, though not to the ordinary Jew. The scholar
must, however, not entirely rely on his research, but on that which is
taught in the Law. In this the scholar and the ordinary man are equal,
that both accept the teaching of the Torah as infallible; only with this
difference, that the scholar can in addition satisfy his thirst for
knowledge and confirm by scientific proof what he has already
accepted as true on the authority of the Bible.”

Of modern scholars I only quote Moses Mendelssohn’s theory. He

accepts unconditionally the teaching of the Bible; all its truths are
absolute and perfect; no reasoning whatever can refute them; but
difficulties may sometimes present themselves to us in reconciling
the teaching of the Bible with that of our reason. What have we then
to do? The philosopher declares: “If I were to find my reason in
contradiction to the Word of God, I could command reason to be
silent; but the arguments, so long as they have not been refuted, will
nevertheless assert themselves in the innermost recesses of my
heart; the arguments will assume the form of disquieting doubts,
which will resolve themselves into childlike prayers, earnest
supplication for enlightenment. I should utter the words of the
Psalmist: ‘Lord, send me Thy light, Thy truth, that they may [17]guide
me, and bring me to Thy holy mount, to Thy dwelling-place!’ ”

The conception which Moses Mendelssohn had of Jewish belief and

its relation to reason we learn from the following passage:—“I
recognise no other eternal truths than those which are not only
comprehensible to the human mind, but also demonstrable by
human powers. This principle by no means brings me into conflict
with my own religion; on the contrary, I consider it an essential
element in Judaism, and the characteristic difference between
Judaism and Christianity. Judaism has no revealed religion in the
sense in which Christianity has. The Jews have a revealed
legislation which instructs them in the divinely ordained means by
which they may attain the eternal bliss. Laws and rules for conduct in
life were revealed to Moses in a supernatural way, but no doctrines,
no saving truth, and no general laws of logic. The latter the Eternal
reveals to us, as to all men, through nature and through the things
themselves; never through words and letters. The divine book
revealed to Moses, though a book of laws, includes an inexhaustible
treasure of truths and doctrines.… The more we study it the more we
wonder at the depth of the knowledge contained in it. But these
truths are taught, and not forced upon us as dogmas. Belief does not
allow itself to be commanded; it is based upon conviction. In the
Hebrew language, the very word which is generally translated ‘faith,’
viz., ‫‏אמונה‬‎denotes originally confidence, trust that the promise made
will also be fulfilled, and not what we understand by ‘religious faith.’ ”
[18]
These words of Mendelssohn show how greatly those err who quote
his opinions in support of the dictum that Judaism recognises no
dogmas. According to Mendelssohn, Judaism does not consist
entirely of laws; it teaches also certain truths. We have certain
dogmas without which the laws can have no meaning, yet there is no
precept, “Thou shalt believe.” Nowhere in our Law, whether written
or oral, is a solemn declaration of our creed demanded. In so far
Mendelssohn’s view is correct; but when he believes that all the
truths we are taught in Scripture can be made evident by logical
demonstration he is mistaken. As to the meaning of ‫‏אמונה‬‎comp.
supra, p. 4. [19]
[Contents]
THE THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES
OF
OUR CREED.
The main source of our creed is the Bible, and among the Biblical
books, chiefly the Pentateuch (‫‏תורה‬‎). In these books we find many
truths taught by God Himself, or by His inspired messengers, and
they form the substance of our creed. It matters little how we arrange
them, how we collect them into groups, and subdivide these again,
provided we believe in them implicitly. In the Bible they are not
arranged systematically; they are intermingled with, and are
contained implicitly in, the history and the laws that form the subject-
matter of the Scriptures; it is the observance of those laws which
constitutes the best evidence of the belief seated in the heart. No
declaration or recital of a creed is commanded in the Pentateuch; no
tribunal is appointed for inquiring whether the belief of a man is right
or wrong; no punishment is inflicted or threatened for want of belief.
It became, however, necessary to formulate the truths taught in the
Bible, when disputes arose as to their meaning and to their validity.
The Mishnah, therefore, declares certain opinions as un-Jewish and
contrary to the teaching of the Divine Word. Later on, when
controversies [20]multiplied between the various sections of the
Jewish nation, as well as between Jews and Christians and Jews
and Mohammedans, it was found most important to settle the form
and arrangement of our beliefs. Moses Maimonides, the great
religious philosopher, taught, in his Commentary on the Mishnah,
thirteen principles of faith, which found general acceptance among
the Jews, and are known as the Thirteen Principles. They have
found their way into the Prayer-book in two different forms, one in
prose and one in poetry. Maimonides, in commending them to the
reader, says: “Read them again and again and study them well, and
let not your heart entice you to believe that you have comprehended
their full meaning after having read them a few times; you would then
be in a great error, for I have not written down what occurred to my
mind at first thought. I first thoroughly studied and examined what I
was going to write, compared the various doctrines, the correct ones
and the incorrect ones, and when I arrived at what we ought to
accept as our creed, I was able to prove it by arguments and
reasoning.” The thirteen articles as put forth by Maimonides, and
called by him principles and foundations of our religion, are the
following:—

1. The first principle: The belief in the existence of the Creator; that
is, the belief that there exists a Being who requires no other cause
for His existence, but is Himself the cause of all beings.

2. The second principle: The belief in the Unity of God; that is, the
belief that the Being who is the cause of everything in existence is
One; not like the unity of a group or class, composed of a certain
[21]number of individuals, or the unity of one individual consisting of
various constituent elements, or the unity of one simple thing which
is divisible ad infinitum, but as a unity the like of which does not
exist.

3. The third principle: The belief in the Incorporeality of God; that is,
the belief that this One Creator has neither bodily form nor
substance, that He is not a force contained in a body, and that no
corporeal quality or action can be attributed to Him.

4. The fourth principle: The belief in the Eternity of God; that is, the
belief that God alone is without a beginning, whilst no other being is
without a beginning.

5. The fifth principle: The belief that the Creator alone is to be

worshipped, and no other being, whether angel, star, or ought else,
all these being themselves creatures.
6. The sixth principle: The belief in Prophecy; that is, the belief that
there have been men endowed with extraordinary moral and
intellectual powers, by which they were enabled to reach a degree
and kind of knowledge unattainable to others.

7. The seventh principle: The belief that our teacher Moses was the
greatest of all prophets, both those before him and those after him.

8. The eighth principle: The belief in the Divine origin of the Law; the
belief that the whole Pentateuch was communicated to Moses by
God, both the precepts and the historical accounts contained therein.

9. The ninth principle: The belief in the integrity of the Law; that both
the written and the oral Law are of Divine origin, and that nothing
may be added to it or taken from it. [22]

10. The tenth principle: The belief that God knows and notices the
deeds and thoughts of man.

11. The eleventh principle: The belief that God rewards those who
perform the commandments of His Law, and punishes those who
transgress them.

12. The twelfth principle: The belief that Messiah will come at some
future time, which it is impossible for us to determine; that he will be
of the house of David, and will be endowed with extraordinary
wisdom and power.

13. The thirteenth principle: The belief in the revival of the dead, or
the immortality of the soul.

These thirteen principles (‫‏שלשה עשר עקרים‬‎) may be divided into three
groups, according to their relation to the three principles:—1.
Existence of God. 2. Revelation. 3. Reward and punishment. The
first group includes the first five principles, the second the next four,
and the third the remaining four. In this order they will now be
considered.
[Contents]

1. Existence of God ‫‏מציאות הבורא‬‎.

The notion of the existence of God, of an invisible power which

exercises its influence in everything that is going on in nature, is
widespread, and common to almost the whole human race. It is
found among all civilised nations and many uncivilised tribes. The
existence of God may be regarded as an innate idea, which we
possess from our earliest days. This is the origin of Natural Religion.
Thinkers of all ages and nations have attempted to confirm this
innate idea by convincing arguments. Prophets and divine poets
[23]have frequently directed the attention of those whom they
addressed to the marvels of nature in order to inspire them with the
idea of an All-wise and All-powerful Creator.

“Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these? Who
is He who bringeth them forth by number? All of them He calleth by
name, by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in
power, not one is lacking” (Isa. xl. 26). “The heavens declare the
glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handywork” (Ps. xix. 2).

The regularity in the rising and setting of the heavenly bodies, which
enables us to foretell the exact time and duration of an eclipse of the
sun or the moon, is certainly a strong argument for the belief that
there is a mighty and wise Creator who fixed the laws in accordance
with which these luminaries move.
“Beautiful are the luminaries which our God has created. He has
formed them with knowledge, reason, and understanding; He
endowed them with power and strength to rule in the midst of the
world. Full of splendour and beaming with light, they illumine the
whole world; they rejoice when they rise, they are glad when they
set, doing in reverence the will of their Master” (Sabbath Morning
Service).

A similar regularity we notice when looking on the face of the earth.

The various seasons of the year, each with its peculiar aspect and
influence, the sequence of day and night at regular intervals, the
gradual and systematic development of vegetable and animal life—
all point forcibly to the fact that these [24]things do not owe their
existence to chance, but to the will of an Almighty and All-wise
Creator.

Again, if we consider the structure of a single plant, or of a single

animal, we find that every one of the members and parts of which it
is composed has its peculiar function or purpose in the economy of
the whole plant or the whole animal. Let one of these component
parts refuse its function or cease to fulfil its purpose and the whole is
disorganised. Certainly there must be a Being who makes the
different members of an organism co-operate for the development
and advantage of the whole. The idea of purpose which regulates
this co-operation cannot have originated in the parts nor in the
whole, but in the conception of Him by whose Will these were
created.

“The finger of God” is further recognised in the important events of

the life of the individual as well as in the history of whole nations. We
are frequently reminded of the lesson, “The heart of man deviseth
his way, but the Lord directeth his step” (Prov. xvi. 9). “Salvation is
the Lord’s, and on Thy people it is incumbent to bless Thee” (Ps. iii.
9).

Another argument in support of the belief in the existence of God is

taken from the moral consciousness which every human being
possesses. This points to the existence of a higher Being, perfect in
goodness, as the origin and cause of the moral consciousness in our
own heart.

These and similar arguments are employed to strengthen and purify

our belief in God. The question, however, arises, are these
arguments alone sufficient [25]to convince us? Are they strong
enough to resist the attacks of scepticism?

On examining them thoroughly we shall find them of excellent

service to the believer. His belief is strengthened against many
doubts by which he may be assailed; and scepticism will be kept at
bay by these arguments. But of themselves and unsupported they
may not always suffice to establish belief in God; and if they carry
conviction with them for the moment, we are not sure whether fresh
arguments of opponents might not again unsettle the mind. Another
method was therefore chosen by the Almighty, by which certainty is
attained, and a sure guide is given for our moral and religious life. It
is Revelation. Of this we shall speak later on.

The principal forms of religion or worship that sprang from the

natural belief in God are Polytheism, Pantheism, Atheism, Theism,
and Deism.

1. The first form of Divine worship of which history and archæology

give us information is Polytheism. The creating and ruling power of
some invisible Being was noticed everywhere. Every manifestation
of such influence was ascribed to its peculiar deity, which was
worshipped according to the peculiar conception of the deity in the
mind of the individual person, family, or nation. This is chiefly the
kind of idolatry mentioned in the Bible and combated by the
prophets.

A very general object of worship were the stars. Rabbi Jehudah ha-
Levi, in Kuzari iv. 1, in trying to explain the origin of this practice,
says as follows:—“The spheres of the sun and the moon do not
move in the same way. A separate cause or god was therefore
[26]assumed for each, and people did not think that there was a
higher force on which all these causes depended.” The ancient
monuments and the treasures stored up in our museums show how
great was the variety of forms which idolatry took, and to how great
an extent people adhered, and still adhere, to this kind of worship.
But there have been thinkers and philosophers even among the
idolatrous nations who sought a unity in the construction and working
of the universe, and early arrived at the idea of a First Cause as the
sole source of all that exists.

2. The fact that the influence of the Divine power makes itself
perceptible to the observing eye of man everywhere produced
another kind of human error: Pantheism (All-God). Modern
Pantheism dates from Spinoza; but long before Spinoza, when the
secret forces at work in the changes noticed by us in all material
objects were recognised as properties inherent in the substance of
things, these forces were considered as the sole independent
causes of the existing universe, and the combination of these forces,
called Nature, was considered to be the First Cause, or God. A
modification of this theory is contained in the philosophy of Spinoza.
According to this great philosopher’s system, the universe in its
entirety has the attributes of the Deity: there exists nothing but the
Substance (God), its attributes, and the various ways in which these
attributes become perceptible to man. Spinoza tried to defend
himself from the reproach of describing God as corporeal, but he did
not succeed. The attribute of extension or space which God
possesses, according to Spinoza, is only conceivable [27]in relation
to corporeal things. The philosophy of Spinoza is in this dilemma:
either God is corporeal, or the corporeal world does not exist. Both
assumptions are equally absurd. It is true, in one of his letters he
complains that he has been misrepresented, as if he believed God to
consist of a certain corporeal mass. But we cannot help assuming
the existence of a certain corporeal mass, and if this is not God, we
must distinguish in our mind God and something that is not God,
contrary to the fundamental doctrine of Pantheism. Besides, there
are many incongruities and improbabilities involved in this theory. It
has no foundation for a moral consciousness. The wicked and the
good are alike inseparable from God. They both result with necessity
from the attributes of God, and they cannot be otherwise than they
actually are. If we, by the consideration that injury done to us by our
fellow-man was not done by that person alone, but by a series of
predetermined necessary causes, may be induced to conquer hatred
against the apparent cause of our injury, we may equally be induced
by the same reasoning to consider the kindness and benefits of our
friends not worthy of gratitude, believing that they were compelled to
act in this manner, and could not act otherwise.

3. Pantheism, by teaching All in One and One in All, is opposed to

the theory of man’s responsibility to a higher Being, denies the
existence of God in the ordinary sense of the word, and is, in its
relation to true religion, equal to atheism.

In the Bible atheism is stigmatised as the source of all evils. Thus the
patriarch Abraham suspected the [28]people of Gerar, that there was
“no fear of God” in the place, and was afraid “they might slay him”
(Gen. xx. 11); whilst Joseph persuaded his brothers to have
confidence in him by the assertion, “I fear God” (Ib. xlii. 18). The first
instance of an atheist we meet in Pharaoh, king of Egypt, when he
defiantly said, “I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go” (Exod.
v. 2). Another form of atheism is warned against in the words of
Moses: “Lest thou sayest in thine heart, My strength and the power
of my hand has got for me all this wealth” (Deut. viii. 17); and “Lest
they say, Our hand is high, and it is not the Lord that hath done all
this” (Ib. xxxii. 27). The prophets likewise rebuke the people for want
of belief in God. In the Psalms, the crimes and evil designs of
oppressors are traced to godlessness. “The wicked says in his heart,
There is no God” (Ps. xiv. 1). But this atheism of the Bible is not a
theoretical or dogmatic one; it is not the result of thought, or of deep
inquiry into the causes of things, but merely the voice of an evil
inclination which tempts man to act contrary to the command of God,
and assures him of immunity, under the impression that his actions
are not watched by a higher authority. In post-Biblical literature we
meet with the phrase, ‫‏לית ִּד ין ולית ַּד ָּין‬‎“There is no judgment, and there
is no judge,” as the basis of atheism.

4. Although the conviction of man’s responsibility to a higher

authority is the essential element in the belief in God, yet the notion
of godlessness was so intimately connected with crime and
wickedness, that those who rejected the authority and mastership of
the [29]Deity refused to be called godless or atheists. Many
philosophers retained the name “God” (theos, deus) for their “First
Cause” of the universe, although it is deprived of the chief attributes
of God. Thus we have as the principal religious theories resulting
from philosophical investigations, Theism and Deism. Literally these
two terms denote, Theory of God, or Belief in God; the one word
being derived from the Greek theos, the other from the Latin deus,
both meaning “God.”

There is, however, an essential difference between the two theories.

Theism and Deism have this in common, that both assume a
spiritual power, a divine being, as the cause and source of
everything that exists. They differ in this: to Theism this power is
immanent in us and the things round us; Deism considers this power
as separate from the things. Revelation or prophecy is altogether
denied by the Deists, whilst the Theists would accept it after their
own fashion and rationalise it.

All these various systems of religion have this in common, that they
attempt to remove from religion everything that cannot be
comprehended by human reason. But all attempts to substitute
human reason for Divine authority have failed. A limit has been set to
human reason, and that cannot be overcome. In every system of
religion—the natural and the rational included—there is a mystic
element, which may be enveloped in a mist of phrases, but remains
unexplained. Whether we call the Creator and Ruler of the universe
God, Deus, or Theos, His relation to the universe, and to man in
particular, cannot be [30]determined by the laws which determine the
natural phenomena in the universe, created by His Will.

What is our conception of the Deity? The fundamental idea, from

which all our notions concerning God are derived, and which we
have in common with all other believers in God, is that He is the First
Cause, the Creator of the universe. This idea expressed in the term
‫‏הבורא יתברך שמו‬‎forms the basis of our creed. It is the Creator that is
described in it. Seven of the articles begin, “I believe with a perfect
faith that the Creator, blessed be His name,” &c.

We do not use the term “First Cause,” because it is too narrow; it

only expresses part of the truth, not the whole of it. By “First Cause”
some understand the cause of the gradual development of the
primitive matter into the innumerable variety of things contained in
the universe; the development of the original chaos into system and
order. It is true that the Creator is the cause of all this; but He is more
than this: He is the cause of the primitive matter, and of the original
chaos. For He has created the world out of nothing. The first verse of
the Bible teaches us creation from nothing (creatio ex nihilo): “In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. i. 1); that is,
the whole universe. It is true that there were men who explained the
meaning of the Hebrew root ‫‏ברא‬‎in a different manner, and desired to
assign to it the meaning: cutting out, forming out of a given material.
But they certainly misunderstood the spirit of the Scriptures. The
eternal coexistence of God and matter would imply a dualism utterly
incompatible with the teaching of the Bible. The frequently repeated
declaration, “He is our God; there [31]is none besides” (‫‏אין עוד‬‎),
clearly excludes every form of dualism. Those who assert that the
universe could not come from nothing belong to the class of people
of whom the Psalmist says, “And they returned and tempted God,
and set limits to the Holy One of Israel” (Ps. lxxviii. 41).

If we cannot understand the act of the Creation, it is our own intellect

that is limited; and if we were to persuade ourselves that we
understand better the eternity of matter, we should deceive
ourselves. We cannot conceive matter without form as existing in
reality, nor can we have a clear notion of anything infinite. We are
human beings, endowed by the will and wisdom of the Creator with
limited physical and intellectual faculties, and in things that surpass
our powers we cannot do better than follow the guidance of the
Divine Word. If we do so we may be sure that we shall be on the
right way to truth.

The first principle declared in our creed is this: God is not only the
Creator of the heavens and the earth, with all their hosts; He is also
the constant ruler of all created beings; He is ‫‏בורא ומנהיג‬‎. We
therefore praise Him in our daily Morning prayer as “Doing wonders;
renewing in His goodness the work of the creation every day.” When
we observe the ordinary phenomena in nature, occurring in
accordance with certain fixed laws which have been discovered and
described by man, we see in them the greatness of the Creator by
whose will these laws are still in force, and by whose will any or all of
these laws may one day cease to continue.

It has been asserted that any interruption or change [32]of these fixed
laws would indicate a weakness and want of foresight on the part of
the Creator, and a fault in the plan of the Creation. This notion has
led people either to deny the truth of the Biblical accounts
concerning the miracles wrought by the Almighty, or to admit the
correctness of the facts while denying their miraculous character, or
to consider the fixed laws of nature, together with their exceptions,
as designed in the original plan of the Creation. How short-sighted is
man! He cannot even fully comprehend his own short-sightedness!
God made him ruler over the works of His hands, and he presumes
to be the ruler of God Himself! When we learn from numerous
observations and experiments the law that seems to regulate certain
recurring phenomena, have we then fathomed the infinite wisdom of
God in the Creation? Do we know the reason which led Him to
produce certain things according to certain laws, and not otherwise?
Have we in discovering a law of nature obtained the power of
prescribing the same law to God, and disallowing Him to deviate
therefrom? Far be it from us human beings, dust and ashes, to
arrogate to ourselves such a right! It may even be one of the objects
with which miracles were wrought to teach us that we do not yet
know all things, that events may happen which we are unable to
foresee, that phenomena may appear which we are unable to
explain according to the laws hitherto discovered; in short, that our
knowledge and wisdom are limited.

The fact that God has created the universe ex nihilo has been
expressed by Jewish philosophers as follows:—God is the only
Being who demands no cause for His existence; the very idea of
God implies existence, [33]and cannot be conceived without it. All
other beings owe their existence to certain causes, in the absence of
which they would not exist. God alone is therefore only active,
without ever being passive, only cause without ever being effect,
whilst every other being is both active and passive, cause and effect;
it has been produced by certain causes, and is in its turn the cause
of the existence of other beings. In the first article a phrase
expressing this idea has been added: “And He alone is the active
cause of all things, whether past, present, or future.” By the addition
of this sentence it was intended to deny the Eternity of matter (‫‏קדמות‬
‫העולם‬‎). The reference to past, present, and future is to emphasise
the constant action of the Creator, and the dependence of the natural
forces on His Will. The first principle has, therefore, the following
form:—

“I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His name, is both

Creator and Ruler of all created beings, and that He alone is the
active cause of ALL things, whether past, present, or future.” 1

Before passing on to the second principle concerning God, let us

briefly answer a question that has frequently been asked: What is
the relation between the theory of evolution, or in general the results
of modern science, and the history of the creation as related in the
Bible? In the Biblical account of the creation the various kinds of
plants and animals are described as the result or different and
distinct acts of the Creator, whilst according to the theory of
Evolution one creative act sufficed, and the great variety of creatures
is the result [34]of gradual development according to certain laws
inherent in the things created. The Bible tells us of six days of the
creation, whilst according to the theory of evolution it must have
taken millions of years before the various species could have
developed the one from the other. Whilst the Biblical account
describes the earth as the centre of the universe, astronomy shows
that the earth is one of the most insignificant of the bodies that fill the
infinite space of the universe. According to astronomy and geology,
the age of the earth numbers millions of years; from the Biblical
account we infer that the earth is comparatively young. In the Bible
man is described as the aim and end of the whole creation; natural
history and the theory of evolution consider man simply as one of the
forms resulting from a natural development of the animal world.
What shall be our decision in this discrepancy? Shall we shut our
eyes to the results of modern science in our firm belief in the truth of
the Bible? Or shall we accept the former and abandon the latter?

We should adopt neither of these alternatives. We have great

confidence in our reasoning power, and in the results of science
based on reason, but we have still greater confidence in the
truthfulness of Divine teaching. The conflict is not a modern product;
it existed in former times as well. When the Jews first became
acquainted with Greek literature and philosophy, faith was shaken in
the heart of many a Jew that was led away by the attractive
language and the persuasive arguments of the Greek. Such was the
case with the Jews in Alexandria, who were almost [35]more Greek
than Jewish. Feeling that their faith in their old traditions was
beginning to give way, they looked about them for the means of
reconciling faith and philosophy. Where the literal sense of Holy Writ
was awkward, the allegorical interpretation was substituted for it; but
the authority of the Bible was recognised. Later on, in the Middle
Ages, when Aristotle, as understood and interpreted in the Arabic
schools, was infallible, perplexity again became general, among the
educated and learned, as to the course to be pursued in case of a
conflict; whether to remain true to the Bible or to join the banner of
Aristotle. The most prominent amongst the Jewish theologians who
sought the way of reconciliation was Moses Maimonides. This
philosopher wrote his famous work, “Guide of the Perplexed,”
expressly for those scholars who, whilst firmly adhering to the
inherited faith, had been trained in the study of philosophy, and were
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