אליגוריות החוקים, ספר ג פ׳Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis, Book III 80
א׳
1Moses, moreover, gives intimations of such a conflagration of the mind as this, occasioned by the senses, when he says:
ב׳
2[225] “And the women kindled yet further a fire in Moab.” For “Moab” means “out of a father,” and our father is the Mind, His words are, “Then shall they that propound riddles say, Come to Heshbon that it may be built, and that the city of Sihon may be constructed. For a fire hath gone forth from Heshbon and a flame from the city of Sihon, and it devoured as far as Moab and drank up the boundaries of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab, thou art undone, O people of Chemosh. Their sons were given up as fugitives, and their daughters as prisoners of war to Sihon, king of the Amorites, and their seed shall perish, Heshbon unto Dibon, and their women yet further kindled a fire against Moab” (Numb. 21:27–30).
ג׳
3[226] “Heshbon” means “reasonings”: and “reasonings” are riddles full of obscurity. Look at a doctor’s reasonings: “I will purge the patient, I will feed him up, I will prescribe medicines and put him on a diet that will make him well, I will operate, I will cauterize.” But many a time has nature either brought recovery without these means being used, or brought death when these have been resorted to, proving all the doctor’s calculations to be vain dreams, nothing but guesswork in the dark. Again, the farmer says,
ד׳
4[227] “I will sow, I will plant, the plants will grow, seeds and plants will yield crops, not only useful as affording food that we cannot do without, but so abundant as to give us enough and to spare.” Then all of a sudden a fire, or a storm, or persistent rain spoils everything. Sometimes all that he had reckoned on comes to pass, but the reckoner dies first without having had the benefits of them, and his expectation of enjoying the fruits of his toil proves a vain one.