אליגוריות החוקים, ספר ג נ״אAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis, Book III 51
א׳
1[148] It is owing to this that when treating of the soul suspected of adultery he says (Num. 5:27), that if it have forsaken the right principle, which is the lawful husband, and be discovered to have had intercourse with soul-defiling passion, “it will swell up in the belly,” which signified that it will have ever unfilled and insatiable the pleasures and desires of the belly, and will never cease to be insatiate owing to gross stupidity, but, with a countless throng of them pouring in, will keep its passion for ever.
ב׳
2[149] To cite an instance, I know many brought to such disaster over the craving of the belly, that after resorting to emetics they fly back again to strong drink and all the rest. For the craving of the soul that is out of control is not restricted as the bodily organs are by their size. These are vessels of a fixed capacity admitting nothing that exceeds it, but ejecting all that is superfluous. Desire is never filled up, but continues always thirsty and in want of more.
ג׳
3[150] This explains “the breaking up of the thigh,” being added as the sequel to the swelling of the belly. For then it is that the soul experiences the breaking up of the right principle, the principle that is the seed whence all noble things are begotten. We see this from the words that follow, “If she have not been defiled and be pure, she shall be free and shall conceive seed” (Numb. 5:28), if she have not been defiled by passion, but have been chaste and faithful to her lawful husband, the princely and wholesome principle, she will have a soul fruitful and productive, yielding the offspring of sound sense and righteousness and all excellence.