על הנטיעה י״חConcerning Noah's Work as a Planter 18
א׳
1[73] Having said, then, what was called for about the first Planter and that which He planted, we will pass on next to the industry of those who have learnt from the former and copied the latter. We come at once to the record of Abraham the wise “planting a hide of land at the well of the oath, and invoking upon it the Name of the Lord as God eternal” (Gen. 21:33). No particulars are given as to the kind of plants meant, but simply the size of the plot of ground.
ב׳
2[74] Yet those whose habit it is to look closely into such matters assure us that we have all the points of an estate laid down with extraordinary precision, the tree, the ground, and the fruit of the tree; the hide itself being the tree; not a tree like those which spring up from the earth, but one planted in the understanding of him that is beloved of God; the well of the oath, the plot of ground; and the change of the Name of the Lord into “God eternal,” the Fruit.
ג׳
3[75] Each of these points requires further treatment in the shape of such a reasoned account of them as may commend itself. Well, the hide, being 100 cubits long and as many broad, comes, by the rule of square measure, to 10,000 superficial cubits.
ד׳
4[76] This is the highest completest term in the series which increases from unity: that is to say, while 1 is the starting-point of numbers, a myriad or 10,000 is the end, if we adhere to the line of progress on which we set out. Accordingly that comparison is not wide of the mark which some have made between 1 and the post from which runners start, and 10,000 and the post at which they finish, all the intervening numbers being like the competitors in the race; for beginning their course from 1 as from a starting-post they come to a stop at 10,000 as the finish.
ה׳
5[77] Some have found symbols in these things and have gone on with their help to proclaim God as the beginning and final goal of all things, a teaching on which religion can be built; this teaching, when planted in the soul, produces piety, a fruit most fair and full of nourishment.
ו׳
6[78] The well, entitled Oath, in which, as history says, no water was found, is a place most appropriate to that which grew there. What we read is this: “The servants of Isaac came and brought word to him concerning the well which they had dug, saying ‘We found no water,’ and he called it ‘Oath’ ” (Gen. 26:32 f.). Let us observe the force of these words.
