על הבריחה והמציאה כ״הOn Flight and Finding 25
א׳
1[137] Another instance. When they sought what it is that nourished the soul (for, as Moses says, “they knew not what it was”) (Exod. 16:15), they became learners and found it to be a saying of God, that is the Divine Word, from which all kinds of instruction and wisdom flow in perpetual stream. This is the heavenly nourishment, and it is indicated as such in the sacred records, when the First Cause in his own person says, “Lo, it is I that am raining upon you bread out of the heaven” (ibid. 4);
ב׳
2[138] for in very deed God drops from above the ethereal wisdom upon minds which are by nature apt and take delight in Contemplation; and they see it and taste it and are filled with pleasure, being fully aware of what they feel, but wholly ignorant of the cause which produced the feeling. So they inquire “What is this” (ibid. 15) which has a nature making it sweeter than honey and whiter than snow? And they will be taught by the seer that “This is the bread, which the Lord hath given them to eat” (ibid. 15).
ג׳
3[139] Tell me, then, of what kind the bread is. “This saying,” he says, “which the Lord ordained” (ibid. 16). This Divine ordinance fills the soul that has vision alike with light and sweetness, flashing forth the radiancy of truth, and with the honied grace of persuasion imparting sweetness to those who hunger and thirst after nobility of character.
ד׳
4[140] A seeker also was the prophet himself, to know the cause of successful achievement, and he found that it was the presence with him of the only God. For when he asked in doubt, “Who am I, and what is there in me that I should deliver the race of vision from the character which fancies itself king and sets itself up against God?” he is instructed by a message from God, “I will be with thee” (Exod. 3:11 f.).
ה׳
5[141] It is true, of course, that the seeking of partial and subordinate objects calls out in us the exercise of delicate and profound thought; but the seeking of God, best of all existences, incomparable Cause of all things, gladdens us the moment we begin our search, and never turns out fruitless, since by reason of His gracious nature He comes to meet us with His pure and virgin graces, and shews Himself to those who yearn to see Him, not as He is, which is a thing impossible, since even Moses “turned away his face, for he was afraid to look upon God” (Exod. 3:6), but so far as it was allowable that created nature should direct its gaze towards the Power that is beyond conception.
ו׳
6[142] This promise also is included in the Exhortations, where it is said “Ye shall turn back to the Lord your God, and shall find Him, when ye shall seek after Him, with all your heart, and with all your soul” (Deut. 4:29 f.).