אליגוריות החוקים, ספר א ל״בAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis, Book I 32
א׳
1[100] “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ye shall not eat” (Gen. 2:17). Therefore this tree is not in the garden: for if He bids them to eat of every tree in the garden, but not to eat of this one, it is evident that it is not in the garden: and this is quite naturally so: for actually, as I have said, it is there, and virtually it is not. For as all the impressions are virtually in the wax, but actually only the one that has been made, so in the soul, whose nature is waxlike, all the types are contained virtually, but not in actual execution, and the single one engraved in it is in possession, so long as it has not been obliterated by another seal which has made over it a clearer and bolder impression.
ב׳
2[101] Next there is this further question to be raised. When He is giving the charge to eat of every tree of the garden, He addresses the command to a single person, but when He issues the prohibition against making any use of that which causes evil and good, He speaks to more than one: for in the former case He says, “Thou shalt eat from every tree”; but in the latter, “ye shall not eat, and in the day that ye eat” not “that thou eatest,” and “ye shall die” not “thou shalt die.”
ג׳
3[102] We must accordingly remark in the first place that the good is scarce, the evil abundant. Hence it is hard to find a single wise man, while of inferior men there is a countless multitude. Quite fitly, therefore, does He bid a single man to find nourishment in the virtues, but many to abstain from evil-doing, for myriads practise this.
ד׳
4[103] In the second place, for the acquisition and practice of virtue a single thing only, namely our understanding, is requisite: but the body not only fails to co-operate to this end, but is an actual hindrance; for we may almost make it an axiom that the business of wisdom is to become estranged from the body and its cravings: but for the enjoyment of evil it is necessary not only that the mind be in a certain condition, but also the power of perception and of speech, in fact the body;
ה׳
5[104] for all these the inferior man requires for the full satisfaction of his particular form of wickedness. For how shall he divulge sacred and hidden truths unless he have an organ of speech? And how is he to indulge in pleasures, if he be bereft of a stomach and the organs of taste? So it is in accordance with the necessities of the case that He addresses the understanding alone about gaining virtue; for, as I said, it alone is needed for its acquisition; whereas in the pursuit of evil several faculties are needed, soul, speech, senses, body, for wickedness employs all these in displaying itself.