CHAPTER 9

Throne [kisse]. Originally the meaning given to this word in the Hebrew language was that it was the term designating the throne.¹ As, however, [19a] only people of high rank and great authority, such as kings, used to sit on a throne, and the throne became an existent thing indicative of the grandeur, the high rank, and the great dignity of him who was thought worthy of it, the Sanctuary was called a throne, because of its indicating the grandeur of Him who manifested Himself therein and let His light and glory descend upon it. Thus Scripture says: Thou throne of glory, on high from the beginning,2 and so on.³ On account of this sense, the heaven is called a throne, as indicating to those who have knowledge of them and reflect upon them the greatness of Him who caused them to exist and to move, and who governs this lower world by means of the overflow of their bounty. Accordingly it says: Thus saith the Lord: The heaven is My throne, and so on.⁴ That is, He says: the heaven indicates My existence, grandeur, and power, as a throne indicates the greatness of the individual who is considered worthy of it. That is the doctrine that those who investigate the truth ought to believe, whereas they ought not to believe that there is a body onto which the deity, may He be greatly exalted, raises Himself. For it will be demonstrated to you that He, may He be exalted, is not a body. How, therefore, could there be for Him a place and an abode situated above a body? The matter is just as we have pointed out: namely, every place, such as the Sanctuary or the heaven, distinguished by God and singled out to receive His light and splendour is called a throne. This term is given a wider meaning in the Hebrew language when it says: For my hand upon the throne of the Lord.5 What is meant is the attribute of His greatness and sublimity; this ought not to be imagined as a thing outside His essence or as a created being from among the beings created by Him, so that He, may He be exalted, should appear to exist both without a throne and with a throne. That would be infidelity beyond any doubt. For it states explicitly: Thou, O Lord, sittest for all eternity, Thy throne is from generation to generation;⁶ whereby it indicates that the throne is a thing inseparable from Him. Hence the term throne signifies, in this passage and in all those similar to it, His sublimity and greatness that do not constitute a thing existing outside His essence, as will be explained in some⁷ of the chapters of this Treatise. [19b]