CHAPTER 18

To approach [qarob], to touch [nagoʿa], to come near [nagosh]. Those three terms, I mean approaching, touching, and coming near, sometimes signify to draw near and approach in space. Elsewhere they signify the union of cognition with what is cognized, which is, as it were, similar to the proximity of one body to another.

Examples of the first signification of approaching¹—that is, approaching in space—are: As he approached the camp;² And Pharaoh approached.³ The first signification of touching is the drawing near of one body to another. Thus: And she caused it to touch his feet;⁴ And he caused it to touch my mouth.⁵ The first signification of coming near is the act in which one individual goes and moves toward another individual. Thus: And Judah came near unto him.6

The second signification of these three terms is union in⁷ knowledge and drawing near through apprehension, not in⁸ space. Thus Scripture, using the word touching in the sense of union in knowledge, says: For her judgment toucheth heaven.⁹ As for approaching, it is said: And the cause that is too hard for you, cause it to approach me.¹⁰ Scripture says, as it were, let me know it. The word is thus used to denote the act of letting somebody know a knowable thing. As for coming near, it is said: And Abraham came near and said,¹¹ while he was in a state of inspiration and prophetic trance, as shall be explained;¹² Forasmuch as this people came near, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor Me.¹³

Every mention of approaching and coming near that you find in the books of prophecy referring to a relation between God, may He be exalted, and a created being¹⁴ [24a] has this last meaning. For God, may He be exalted, is not a body, as shall be demonstrated to you in this Treatise. And accordingly He, may He be exalted, does not draw near to or approach a thing, nor does anything15 draw near to or approach Him, may He be exalted, inasmuch as the abolition of corporeality entails that space be abolished;¹⁶ so that there is no nearness and proximity, and no remoteness, no union and no separation, no contact and no succession. I do not think that you shall grow doubtful or perplexed because Scripture says: The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him;¹⁷ They take delight in approaching unto God;¹⁸ The nearness of God is my good.¹⁹ For in all these verses nearness through cognition,²⁰ I mean cognitive apprehension, is intended, not nearness in space.²¹ The same applies to its dicta: Nigh unto it;²² Approach thou and hear;²³ And Moses alone shall come near unto the Lord, but they shall not come near.²⁴ The verse is to be interpreted in this way, unless you wish to consider that the expression shall come near, used with reference to Moses, means that the latter shall approach the place on the mountain upon which the light, I mean the glory of God, has descended. For you are free to do so. You must, however, hold fast to the doctrinal principle25 that there is no difference whether an individual is at the center of the earth, or, supposing that this were possible, in the highest part of the ninth heavenly sphere. For he is not farther off from God in the one case²⁶ and no nearer to Him in the other.²⁷ For nearness to Him, may He be exalted, consists in apprehending Him; and remoteness from Him is the lot of him who does not know Him.²⁸ And there are very many gradations in being near to or far away from Him in this respect. I shall explain the manner of these gradations in apprehension in one of the chapters of this Treatise. As for its dictum, Touch the mountains that they may smoke,²⁹ Scripture signifies thereby in parabolic language: let Thy decree come to them. It says in a similar way:³⁰ And touch Thou him himself,³¹ meaning let Thy infliction come upon him. Consider in a similar way the term touching and all its derivatives in every passage in which they occur according to the context.³² Sometimes the word is intended to signify the approach of one body to another, and sometimes union through³³ the cognition and apprehension of a certain thing. [24b] For one who apprehends a thing that he did not apprehend before has, as it were, approached a thing that previously had been remote from him. Understand this.