על אברהם כ״הOn Abraham 25
א׳
1[124] There are three classes of human temperaments, each of them so constituted that the vision presents itself in one of the three ways above-mentioned. To the best class it presents itself in the middle form, that of the essentially existent; to the next best, in that which stands on the right, the beneficent, which bears the name of God; to the third, in that on the left, the governing, which is called Lord.
ב׳
2[125] Temperaments of the last kind worship the solely Self-existent and nothing can make them swerve from this, because they are subject to the single attraction which leads them to honour the one. Of the other two types, one is introduced and made known to the Father by the beneficial, the other by the kingly potency.
ג׳
3[126] My meaning is something as follows: men, when they see others approaching them under profession of friendship, in quest of advantages to be gained from them, look askance and turn away; they fear that counterfeited adulation and suavity which they regard as exceedingly pernicious.
ד׳
4[127] But God cannot suffer injury, and therefore He gladly invites all who set themselves to honour Him under any form whatsoever, and in His eyes none such deserves rejection. Indeed one might almost say that to those whose souls have ears God speaks plainly as follows:
ה׳
5[128] “My first prizes will be set apart for those who honour Me for Myself alone, the second to those who honour Me for their own sakes, either hoping to win blessings or expecting to obtain remission of punishments, since, though their worship is for reward and not disinterested, yet all the same its range lies within the divine precincts and does not stray, outside.
ו׳
6[129] But the prizes set aside for those who honour Me for Myself will be gifts of friendship; to those whose motive is self-interest they do not show friendship but that I do not count them as aliens. For I accept both him who wishes to enjoy My beneficial power and thus partake of blessings and him who propitiates the dominance and authority of the master to avoid chastisement. For I know well that they will not only not be worsened, but actually bettered, through the persistence of their worship and through practising piety pure and undefiled.
ז׳
7[130] For, however different are the characters which produce in them the impulses to do My pleasure, no charge shall be brought against them, since they have one aim and object, to serve Me.”
ח׳
8[131] That the triple vision is in reality a vision of a single object is clear not merely from the principles of allegory but from the literal text which contains the following account.
ט׳
9[132] When the Sage supplicates the three seeming travellers to accept his hospitality, he discourses with them as though they were one and not three. He says, “Sir, if indeed I have found favour with thee, do not thou pass thy servant by.” Here “Sir” and “with thee” and “do not thou pass” and the other like phrases must be addressed to one and not to more than one; and during their entertainment, when they show courtesy to their host, we find one only, as though no other was present, promising the birth of a son born in wedlock in the following words: “I will return and come to thee at this season next year, and Sarah, thy wife, shall have a son.”