"Maimonides taught that this principle is a pillar on which rests the Torah and the commandments, as says, "Behold, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil," and says, "Behold, I have set before you today the blessing and the curse," implying that the choice is in our hands.Maimonides argued that the idea that God decrees that an individual is righteous or wicked (as imagined by astrology) is inconsistent with God's command through the prophets to "do this" or "not do this."