Fear of God vs Fear of Man - Brakhot 28b

"May it be [God's] will that the fear of heaven shall be upon you like the fear of flesh and blood."

On his deathbed, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai is visited by his students and begins to cry, explaining that if he were only going to see a human king then he would certainly cry - but he is in fact goign to stand before the King of Kings whose judgements last forever.

But when asked for a blessing, he offers the above blessing, that the fear of heaven should be to his students like the fear of human beings.

So which is primary? Fear of God or fear of mortals? In this story, Rabbi Yochanan seems to switch between the two.

It seems that perhaps we are seeing two perspectives, one when close to death, and one as a way to live one's life. Rabbi Yochanan is on his deathbed, and so from his perspective it's the intangible, wrath of the divine that he most fears.

But for his students, he offers them a more tangible basis for their faith and for their future good behaviour, to be at least as afraid of God as you are of human beings. For earthly life, earthly fear is the proper foundation on which to build ethical action.