על הנטיעה י״דConcerning Noah's Work as a Planter 14
א׳
1[59] Is not this the explanation of that utterance in the Greater Song: “Ask thy father, and he will proclaim it to thee, thy elders, and they will tell it thee; when the Most High distributed the nations, when He dispersed the sons of Adam, He set up boundaries of the nations corresponding to the number of the angels of God, and His people Israel became the portion of the Lord” (Deut. 32:7–9)?
ב׳
2[60] Mark how he has again given the name of “portion” and “lot” of God to the character that has eyes to see Him and accords Him genuine devotion, while he says that the children of earth, whom he entitles sons of Adam, have been dispersed and broken up and no more gathered together but are become a mob incapable of following the guidance of right reason. For virtue is in very deed the cause of harmony and unity, whereas the contrary disposition brings about dissolution and dismemberment.
ג׳
3[61] An illustration of what has been said is afforded by that which is done year by year on the day called the “Day of Atonement.” It is enjoined on that day “to assign by lot two goats, one for the Lord, and one for separation (Lev. 16:8), a twofold description, one for God and one for created things. That which exalts the First Cause shall be allotted to Him, while that which exalts creation shall be banished, driven from the most holy places, to find itself amid rocky chasms in trackless and unhallowed regions.