על שינוי השמות ד׳On the Change of Names 4
א׳
1[27] We should remember this also that the words ‘I am thy God” are used by licence of language and not in their proper sense, for the Existent considered as existent is not relative. He is full of Himself and is sufficient for Himself. It was so before the creation of the world, and is equally so after the creation of all that is.
ב׳
2[28] He cannot change nor alter and needs nothing else at all, so that all things are His but He Himself in the proper sense belongs to none. But the Potencies which He has projected into creation to benefit what He has framed are in some cases spoken of as in a sense relative, such as the kingly and the beneficial, for a king is a king of someone and a benefactor the benefactor of someone, while the subject of the kingship and the recipient of the benefit is necessarily something different.
ג׳
3[29] Akin to these two is the creative Potency called God, because through this the Father who is its begetter and contriver made the universe, so that “I am thy God” is equivalent to “I am the Maker and Artificer.”
ד׳
4[30] And the greatest gift we can have is to have Him for our Architect, Who was also the Architect of the whole world, for He did not form the soul of the bad, since wickedness is at enmity with Him, and in framing the soul which is in the intermediate stage He was not the sole agent according to the holiest of men, Moses, since such a soul would surely admit like wax the different qualities of noble and base.
ה׳
5[31] And therefore we read, “Let us make man after our image” (Gen. 1:26), so that according as the wax received the bad or the noble impress it should appear to be the handiwork of others or of Him Who is the framer of the noble and the good alone. Surely then he is a man of virtue to whom God says “I am thy God,” for he has God alone for his maker without the co-operation of others.
ו׳
6[32] At the same time Moses teaches us here by implication the doctrine which he so often lays down that God is the maker of the wise and good only. And all that company have voluntarily stripped themselves of the external goods which are so abundantly supplied to us, and further have despised what is dear to the flesh.
ז׳
7[33] Fine, lusty and athletic are those who use the body as a menace to the soul. Pale, wasted and withered, so to speak, are the children of discipline. They have made over the bodily muscles to serve the powers of the soul and in fact are resolved into a single form, that of soul, and become unbodied minds.
ח׳
8[34] Naturally then the earthly element is destroyed and dissolved when the mind in all its powers has a fixed purpose to be well pleasing to God.
ט׳
9But that kind is rare and hardly to be found, though that such should be is not impossible. This is shown by the oracle vouchsafed about Enoch. “Enoch was well pleasing to God and was not found” (Gen. 5:24),
י׳
10[35] for where could one search and find this good thing, what seas should he cross, what islands, what continents should he visit? Shall he look for it among the Greeks or the barbarians?
י״א
11[36] Indeed are there not still among the disciples of philosophy some who say that a wise man is non-existent and therefore wisdom also? None, they say, from the beginning of man’s creation up to the life of to-day has been held to be completely free from fault, for absolute happiness is impossible to one who is imprisoned in the mortal body.
י״ב
12[37] Whether these statements are true we will inquire at the proper occasion. At present we will accept the text and say that wisdom is indeed something which exists, and so too is the lover of wisdom, the sage, but, though he exists, we who are evil fail to see him, for good cannot keep company with bad.
י״ג
13[38] Therefore we are told that “he was not found,” this type of character which was well pleasing to God, meaning doubtless that though actually existing he was hidden from us and shunned our company. And to confirm this we read that he was “translated” (ibid.), that is, changed his abode and journeyed as an emigrant from the mortal life to the immortal.