While learning Chumash & Rashi, I came across a comment of Rashi on the following verse:
The L’rd will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the L’rd and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the L’rd will blot out his name from under heaven.
Rashi says:
HASHEM’S ANGER (literally, “nose”) WILL SMOKE – Through anger the body heats up, and smoke emerges from the nose, figuratively speaking. Similarly, “Smoke went up in His nose.” Although this is not so before the Omnipresent, i.e., although these physical phenomena are not applicable to the Omnipresent, Scripture lets the ear hear in the manner in which it is accustomed and able to hear according to the normal way of the world.[1]
This principle, of the Torah speaking according to the normal way of the world, is also explained by the Rambam in the Guide.
“The Torah speaks according to the language of man,” that is to say, expressions, which can easily be comprehended and understood by all, are applied to the Creator. Hence the description of G’d by attributes implying corporeality, in order to express His existence; because the multitude of people do not easily conceive existence unless in connection with a body, and that which is not a body nor connected with a body has for them no existence.
Whatever we regard as a state of perfection, is likewise attributed to G’d, as expressing that He is perfect in every respect, and that no imperfection or deficiency whatever is found in Him. But there is not attributed to G’d anything which the multitude consider a defect or want; thus He is never represented as eating, drinking, sleeping, being ill, using violence, and the like. [2]
In my opinion this captures very well the idea behind the Torah’s language.
[1] R. Herczeg, Rashi (New York: Mesorah Publications ltd., 2007), p.310
[2] Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed (New York: Dover Publications inc., 2000), p.35
In essay four of “The Kuzari”, the king of the Khazars questions the need for anthropomorphisms once one is convinced of the existence of the Creator and arrives at the knowledge of His unity and the knowledge that everything comes from Him. The point being that once one comes to the knowledge of HaShem he will naturally fear and love Him and therefore anthropomorphous expressions will not be necessary.
The answer of the Chacham (R’ Yehuda Halevi) is quite interesting in light of your comments above. The human soul is startled by observing tangible, awe-inspiring events or objects, but it is not moved to fear by merely hearing about such events. In the same way, a person can be attracted to something beautiful through descriptions, but it will not become an object of love until it is experienced in a tangible way.
“Without tangible representations that portray abstractions by means of imagination and motion, a person would not be able to comprehend these matters in an abstract manner. Similarly, the prophet grasps the greatness of G-d . . . .by means of appearance of that majestic form, full of greatness and splendor (that is revealed to him in his prophetic vision).”
In a different section of the book, Halevi explains that “human senses are not capable of perceiving the actual substance of things, but only their consequences”. It is the consequences that aid man in comprehending the essence of objects and their causes.
(The Kuzari– Kalman Steinberg, Israel, 2000, pp. 184, 185, 191)