על צאצאי קין ד׳On the Posterity of Cain and his Exile 4
א׳
1[12] Cain, then, has left the face of God to fall into the hands of Justice who takes vengeance on the impious. But Moses will lay down for his pupils a charge most noble “to love God and hearken to and cleave to Him” (Deut. 30:20); assuring them that this is the life that brings true prosperity and length of days. And his way of inviting them to honour Him Who is the worthy object of strong yearning and devoted love is vivid and expressive. He bids them “cleave to Him,” bringing out by the use of this word how constant and continuous and unbroken is the concord and union that comes through making God our own.
ב׳
2[13] These and other exhortations like these does Moses address to others. But so unceasingly does he himself yearn to see God and to be seen by Him, that he implores Him to reveal clearly His own nature (Exod. 33:13), which is so hard to divine, hoping thus to obtain at length a view free from all falsehood, and to exchange doubt and uncertainty for a most assured confidence. Nor will he abate the intensity of his desire, but although he is aware that he is enamoured of an object which entails a hard quest, nay, which is out of reach, he will nevertheless struggle on with no relaxation of his earnest endeavour, but honestly and resolutely enlisting all his faculties to co-operate for the attainment of his object.