Foreknown

The creation of man, however, is preceded by a forecast. “And God said: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The act of man’s creation is preceded by an utterance of His intention; God’s knowledge of man precedes man’s coming into being. God knows him before He creates him. Man’s being is rooted in his being known about. It is the creation of man that opens a glimpse into the thought of God, into the meaning beyond the mystery.—Abraham Joshua Heschel in Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays, 367