Our Gemara quotes a verse in Yirmiyahu 46:20 as a prooftext that the word קרץ means to kill.

עֶגְלָ֥ה יְפֵֽה־פִיָּ֖ה מִצְרָ֑יִם קֶ֥רֶץ מִצָּפ֖וֹן בָּ֥א בָֽא׃

⁦Egypt is a handsome heifer— A killer from the north is coming, coming!

The basic meaning of the verse is that though the Kingdom of Egypt was successful and secure as a fat calf, it will meet its match in a deadly enemy from the north.

The Chida (Chomas Anakh) amplifies this prophecy of doom, based on a Midrash (פרקי דרבי אליעזר ג:יא):

G-d completed all the corners of the Earth except for the North. He said, “Let anyone who claims that he is a god try to complete the North. The one who does so can prove himself to be a god.”

The Chida says, it is fitting that Pharaoh who claimed to be a god, thus claiming to have completed the North, should ultimately have been defeated by an enemy from the North.

Let’s try to understand this Midrash. Why is the natural north considered incomplete? Our first clue comes from the Hebrew etymology of the four directions:

• Mizrach מזרח East
• Darom דרום South
• Maarav מערב west
• Tzafon צפון North

All these four directions relate to the Sun. Zoreach means to shine, thus Mizrach, the east, is where the Sun rises. Maarav comes from Erev, evening, where the Sun sets in the evening. Darom, probably is Dar-Rom, dwelling high. That is the south is the place where the Sun rises to the highest spot. The North side of the world in Israel, Tzafon, does not actually have a path of the Sun. Therefore it is hidden, which is what Tzafon means, same as tzafun in the Haggadah, hidden.

So to the ancients’ understanding of the world, the Sun is travelling East to South to West on a “track” or sphere. In effect, there is no track or sphere on the North side, hence the Midrash says it was left incomplete. Thus, we can begin to understand, at least superficially, the content of the Midrash. To show that it’s not so easy to be a god, G-d left a challenge out there for anyone who would claim he is: Such a tituliary god must complete the unfinished North side of the world? While that’s the basic content, clearly this Midrash has more to say. Here is how I understand it:

G-d left mysteries and unknowns in the world in order for us to experience wonder and mystery. Technology seems to accomplish magical things, but there always seems to be more we cannot yet understand.  For example, gravity though predictable has no known wave or process through which it operates.  Light we know travels through photons which we can detect. We cannot detect gravity waves.

Human consciousness is yet something that cannot be duplicated.  We may be able to create convincing artificial intelligences that can even pass a Turing Test, but that is different than a self-aware entity.  So far, the best artificial intelligence is merely programming, elaborate forms of stimulus and response.  That is not to say science will not advance and possibly solve these riddles.  Just perhaps we can say that there always will be mysteries and unknowns to remind us that God knows more than us, and we are not gods.

Indeed, the Moreh Nevukhim (III:13 ) tells us that while we can notice a biological purpose to most of creation, that is to see how each lower form supports a higher form, e.g. plants to animals to humans, the ultimate purpose is beyond our knowledge. The purpose of the existence of the grand cosmos is unknowable. Rambam even goes as far as to assert that while biological and geological forms in this world clearly are designed to serve Man, the heavenly bodies are not for him but for some unknown Godly purpose.