על שהרע נוהג לארוב לטוב כ׳That the Worse is wont to Attack the Better 20
א׳
1[69] “And God said, ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me out of the ground’ ” (Gen. 4:10). The words “What hast thou done?” express as well indignation at an unrighteous act, as mockery of the man who thought that his treachery had accomplished his brother’s death. Indignation is kindled by the intention of the doer of the deed, at his having purposed to destroy that which was noble; the mockery is occasioned by his thinking that his evil design was against him who was better than he, whereas it had been against himself rather than his brother:
ב׳
2[70] for, as I said before, he that seems to be dead is alive, since he is found acting as God’s suppliant and using His voice; whereas he who is supposed to survive has died the death of the soul, being debarred from virtue, the only worthy rule of life. Hence the question, “What hast thou done?” is tantamount to “You have done nothing, accomplished nothing.”
ג׳
3[71] It was so with Balaam also. He was a sophist, an empty conglomeration of incompatible and discordant notions. It was his desire to do harm to the goodly one by laying curses upon him. But he could not, for God turned his curses into a blessing (Numb. 23:8), in order that He might at once convict the unrighteous one of his villainy, and at the same time make good his own love of virtue.