אליגוריות החוקים, ספר ג ח׳Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis, Book III 8
א׳
1[23] We read as follows: “And they gave Jacob the strange gods, which were in their hands, and the ear-rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth that was in Shechem” (Gen. 35:4). These are bad men’s gods. And Jacob is not said to receive them, but to hide and destroy them. This is in every point perfectly accurate. For the man of sterling worth will take nothing to make him rich in the products of evil, but will hide them secretly and do away with them.
ב׳
2[24] In like manner when the king of Sodom is artfully attempting to effect an exchange of creatures without reason for reasonable beings, of horses for men, Abraham says that he will take none of the things that are his but will “stretch out” his soul’s operation, which he figuratively called his “hand,” “to the Most High God” (Gen. 14:22), for that he would not take of all that was the king’s “from a cord even to a shoelace,” in order that he may not say that he has conferred wealth on the man whose eyes were open, by giving him poverty in return for his wealth of virtue.
ג׳
3[25] The passions are always hidden away and placed under guard in Shechem—“shoulder” is the meaning of the name—for he that devotes toil to pleasures is prone to keep pleasures well guarded. But in the case of the wise man the passions perish and are destroyed, not for some short period but “even to this day,” that is, always. For the whole age of the world is made commensurate with to-day, for the daily cycle is the measure of all time.
ד׳
4[26] For this reason too Jacob gives as a special portion to Joseph Shechem (Gen. 48:22), the things of the body and of the senses, as he is occupied in toiling at these things, but to Judah who openly acknowledges God he gives not presents, but praise and hymns and hallowed songs from his brethren (Gen. 49:8). Jacob receives Shechem not from God, but by dint of “sword and bow,” words that pierce and parry. For the wise man subjects to himself the secondary as well as the primary objects, but, having subjected them, does not keep them, but bestows them on him to whose nature they are akin.
ה׳
5[27] Mark you not that, in the case of the gods also, though apparently receiving them, he has not really done so, but hid them and did away with them and “destroyed” them for ever from himself? What soul, then, was it that succeeded in hiding away wickedness and removing it from sight, but the soul to which God manifested Himself, and which He deemed worthy of His secret mysteries? For He says: “Shall I hide from Abraham My servant that which I am doing?” (Gen. 18:17). It is meet, O Saviour, that Thou displayest Thine own works to the soul that longs for all beauteous things, and that Thou hast concealed from it none of Thy works. That is why it is strong to shun evil and always to hide and becloud and destroy passion that works cruel havoc.