על החוקים לפרטיהם, ספר א נ״אOn the Special Laws, Book I 51
א׳
1[273] That what I have said above is true and is the word not of myself but of nature is attested not only by its self-evident certitude which provides clear grounds of belief to those who do not out of contentiousness cultivate disbelief, but also by the law which commanded two altars to be constructed differing in materials and situations and in the use to which they were applied.
ב׳
2[274] For one of these was built of stones picked up and left unhewn, and it was set in the open air beside the avenues to the sanctuary and was to be used for blood-offerings. The other was formed of the purest gold; it was set in the inner shrine within the first veil, not to be seen by any except such priests as were in a state of purity, and it was to be used for frankincense-offerings.
ג׳
3[275] This clearly shews that even the least morsel of incense offered by a man of religion is more precious in the sight of God than thousands of cattle sacrificed by men of little worth. For as gold is better than casual stones and all in the inner shrine more sacred than what stands outside, so and in the same measure is the thank-offering of incense superior to that of the blood of beasts.
ד׳
4[276] And therefore the altar of incense receives special honour, not only in the costliness of its material, its construction and its situation, but by taking every day the earlier place in subserving the thanksgiving which men render to God. For it is not permitted to bring the victim of the whole-burnt-offering outside until the incense has been offered inside at the first glimpse of day.
ה׳
5[277] The symbolical meaning is just this and nothing else: that what is precious in the sight of God is not the number of victims immolated but the true purity of a rational spirit in him who makes the sacrifice. Can you think that if the judge whose heart is set on giving righteous judgement will not take gifts from any of the litigants, or if he does take them will be open to the charge of bribery; if again the good man will not receive them from the bad, though both are men, and the one perhaps in need and the other rich—can you think, I say, that God can be corrupted, God Who is absolutely sufficient to Himself and needs nothing of anything created, and being as He is the primal good, the consummation of perfection, the perennial fountain of wisdom and justice and every virtue, turns His face from the gifts of the unjust?
ו׳
6[278] And is not he who proffers them the most shameless of men when he gives to God a share of the profits of his thefts or robbery or denial of a just debt or refusal to pay it, and treats Him as a partner in his wickedness and greed? To such a one I would say “Most miserable of wretches, there are only two alternatives: You expect that your conduct will either be unobserved by God or patent to Him.
ז׳
7[279] If the former, you little know the power by which He sees all and hears all: if the latter, your audacity is beyond measure. When you should hide your face in shame for the sins you have committed, you make an open show of the outward signs of your iniquity and, priding yourself on them, assign a share to God. You bring Him the first-fruits of unholiness and have not reflected that the law does not admit of lawlessness nor sunlight of darkness. But God is the archetype on which laws are modelled: He is the sun of the sun, in the realm of mind what that is in the realm of sense, and from invisible fountains He supplies the visible beams to the sun which our eyes behold.”
ח׳
8[280] There is a very excellent ordinance inscribed in the sacred tables of the law, that the hire of a harlot should not be brought into the temple; the hire, that is, of one who has sold her personal charms and chosen a scandalous life for the sake of the wages of shame.
ט׳
9[281] But if the gifts of one who has played the harlot are unholy, surely more unholy still are the gifts of the soul which has committed whoredom, which has thrown itself away into ignominy and the lowest depths of outrageous conduct, into wine-bibbing and gluttony, into the love of money, of reputation, of pleasure, and numberless other forms of passion and soul-sickness and vice. What length of time can purge away the stains of these? None, to my knowledge.
י׳
10[282] The harlots’ traffic indeed is often brought to a close by old age, since when the freshness of their charm is passed, all cease to seek them now that their bloom is faded like the bloom of flowers. But as for the soul, when by constant familiarity with incontinence it has been schooled into harlotry, what agelong stretch of years can convert it to decent living? Not even the longest, but only God, with Whom that is possible which is impossible with us.
י״א
11[283] So he who intends to sacrifice must consider not whether the victim is unblemished but whether his own mind stands free from defect and imperfection. Further, let him examine the motives which determine him to make the offering. For either he is giving thanks for benefits already received or is asking for security in his tenure of present blessings or for acquisition of others to come, or for deliverance from evils, either present or expected, and all these demand that he should put himself into a condition of mental health and safety.
י״ב
12[284] For if he is offering thanks for what has already been granted, let him not shew ingratitude by falling from the state of virtue in which he received these boons. Or if he is securing present blessings or has bright expectations for the future, let him shew himself by good conduct worthy of such happy events. Or if he is seeking to escape from some ills, let none of his actions be deserving of chastisement and punishment.