על הבריחה והמציאה כ״חOn Flight and Finding 28
א׳
1[157] Again, the goat of the sin-offering is sought for by the lover of virtue, but he does not find it; for, as the passage of Holy Writ shews, it had already been burnt (Lev. 10:16). We must consider what he means by this figure. To do no sin is peculiar to God; to repent, to the wise man; and this latter is a very difficult thing, and hard to find.
ב׳
2[158] So the oracle says that “Moses diligently sought” in this mortal life the secret of repentance for sins; for he was intent on discovering a soul divesting itself of unrighteousness, and going forth without shame, naked of misdeeds. But nevertheless he did not find one, for the flame, in other words the irrational impulse exceeding swift in its movements, had overrun and devoured the whole soul.
ג׳
3[159] For the fewer are overpowered by the more numerous, and the slower by the more fleet, and things that tarry by things that are present; and repentance is a restricted and slow and tarrying thing, whereas wrongdoing is copious and swift and constantly present in this mortal life. Naturally, then, one who has come into a state of lapse from virtue says that he is “unable to eat of the sin-offering,” since his inward feeling does not permit him to be fed by repentance, wherefore it is said “Moses heard it, and it pleased him” (Lev. 10:19 f.).
ד׳
4[160] For our relation to other created beings is a very different thing from our relation to God; for to creation only things manifest are known, but to God hidden things also. The man who, lying against the truth, maintains while still doing wrong that he has repented, is a madman. It is just as if the sick man were to act the part of the healthy man: he will clearly get worse through declining to have recourse to any means conducive to health.