Musar for Berakhot 115:3

We are told in Berachot 58a that Ben Zoma once saw a large gathering of Jews on the approaches of the Temple Mount and recited the benediction ברוך חכם הרזים, "Blessed be the One who understands the secrets; and blessed be He Who created them all to serve me." How could Ben Zoma make such a presumptuous sounding statement? The fact is that the world was created for the sake of man so that he could study and perform the laws of the Torah. In view of the fact that the vast majority of people do not live up to what is expected of them it is easy to query why G–d bothers to have such a large human population. Ben Zoma answered this question by pronouncing a blessing that G–d had created all the other human beings to serve those who – like himself – devoted themselves to Torah. Unless there were armies of people whose occupation it is to maintain civilization, how would the few who dedicate themselves to Torah study and מצוה performance even come close to what they were able to achieve by having been relieved of more mundane tasks? The chance for perfect man to achieve his goal of perfection is made a great deal easier by this army of people labouring in other fields. The subject is also discussed by Maimonides in his introduction to סדר זרעים, in connection with the well-known statement that nowadays all that G–d has in this universe are the four cubits of Halachah.