Lesson · 4 min Steady
The Order of Creation
In one line Zera Yacob judged laws by whether they fit the order of nature, and argued that women and men are equal.
Zera Yacob reasoned that a wise creator made the world with a good order. Laws that truly come from God, then, should fit that order. A law that goes against nature or harms people is more likely a human invention claiming God’s authority.
He applied the test boldly. Strict fasting rules that weaken the body, he argued, cannot be God’s will, since God made food for us and gave us appetite. Forbidding marriage goes against the creator’s plan. And since God created men and women equal, he held that husband and wife are equal in marriage, and he rejected taking more than one wife.
His standard was simple: what is good for human beings, as reason shows, is what the creator intends.
Go deeper
Zera Yacob lived the view he argued. After leaving the cave he settled in the town of Emfraz, married a woman named Hirut, and worked as a scribe and teacher. Readers have compared his method to that of Descartes, his near contemporary, though there is no sign either knew of the other.
An Italian scholar argued in 1920 that the Hatata was written by a nineteenth-century missionary; later study of the language and the text has led most scholars to accept Zera Yacob as its author.
The dress code
A company requires heavy suits in a hot climate, and staff are often unwell by afternoon. The rule is old, and no one remembers why it began.
A new manager asks what the rule is for. Looking smart for clients matters, but it can be done in lighter clothes. She changes the rule. The test she used was whether the rule served the people bound by it.
Try this today Take one rule you follow and ask whether it serves people’s good, or only habit.
Cite or share this lesson
A plain reference you can paste into notes or an essay:
Quest2Reason. “The Order of Creation.” https://quest2reason.com/learn/lesson/the-order-of-creation. Accessed 13 November 2026.
Sources
- Wikipedia, “Hatata” — Covers Zera Yacob’s treatise, its arguments from reason and the debate over its authorship.
- Wikipedia, “Walda Heywat” — Covers the companion Hatata by Zera Yacob’s student and the debate over both texts’ authenticity.
- Wikipedia, “Zera Yacob (philosopher)” — His life at Emfraz with the merchant Habtu, his marriage, his views on one wife and on equality, and the authorship dispute.
- Claude Sumner, “The Significance of Zera Yacob’s Philosophy”, Ultimate Reality and Meaning 22.3 (1999) — His reasoned rejection of monastic life and strict fasting.