CHAPTER 21

To pass [ʿabor]. The first meaning of this term is that of passage¹ in Arabic; and the first instances of its being used as concerned with [25b] the movements of living beings over a certain distance in a straight line. Thus: And he passed over them;2 Pass before the people.³ Such instances are numerous. Subsequently the word was used figuratively to signify the propagation of sounds in the air. Thus: And they caused a voice to pass throughout the camp;4 Which I hear the Lord’s people cause to pass.⁵ Afterwards the word was figuratively used to signify the descent of the light and of the Indwelling⁶ seen by the prophets in the vision of prophecy. Thus it says: And behold a smoking furnace and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.⁷ This happened in a vision of prophecy. For it says at the beginning of the story: And a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and so on.⁸ It is in conformity with this figurative use that it is said: And I shall pass through the land of Egypt,⁹ and that the term is used in all similar instances. Sometimes the term is applied figuratively to a man who, in accomplishing a certain action, has fallen into excess and overpassed the bounds. Thus it says: And as a man whom wine has caused to overpass [the limit].¹⁰ The term is also applied sometimes to one who has been caused to miss¹¹ one objective and thereupon aimed at another objective and at another goal. Thus: He shot an arrow, causing it to pass by.¹² In my opinion the dictum of Scripture, And the Lord passed by before his face,¹³ conforms to this last figurative use; the possessive suffix in the third person attached to the Hebrew word face refers to God,¹⁴ may He be exalted. The Sages have likewise considered that the face¹⁵ mentioned in the verse is that of God, may He be exalted.¹⁶ Though they have mentioned this opinion while setting forth legends that are out of place here, this affords some corroboration for our view. Accordingly, the third person of the possessive suffix figuring in the Hebrew word His face refers to the Holy One, blessed be He.¹⁷ The explanation of this, according to what I think and to what occurs to me, is that Moses, peace be on him, demanded a certain apprehension—namely, that which in its dictum, But My face shall not be seen,¹⁸ is named the seeing of the face—and was promised an apprehension inferior to that which he had demanded. It is this latter apprehension that is named the seeing of the back in its dictum: And thou shalt see My back.¹⁹ We have already given a hint as to this meaning in Mishneh Torah.²⁰ Scripture accordingly says in this passage that God, may He be exalted, hid from him the apprehension called that of the face and made him pass over to something different; [26a] I mean the knowledge of the acts ascribed to Him, may He be exalted, which, as we shall explain,21 are deemed to be multiple attributes. When I say He hid from him, I intend to signify that this apprehension is hidden and inaccessible in its very nature. Moreover every perfect man—after his intellect has attained the cognition of whatever in its nature can be grasped—when longing for another apprehension beyond that which he has achieved, cannot but have his faculty of apprehension deceived or destroyed—as we shall explain in one of the chapters of this Treatise²²—unless divine help attends him. As Scripture says: And I will cover thee with My hand until I have passed.²³ The [Aramaic] translation²⁴ of the Bible, when rendering this verse, does what it customarily does in similar cases.²⁵ For in every case in which it finds that a thing is ascribed to God to which the doctrine of corporeality or some concomitants of this doctrine are attached, it assumes that the nomen regens²⁶ has been omitted and considers that the ascription concerns something expressed by a term that is the nomen regens²⁷ of the genitive God and that has been omitted. Thus when Scripture says, And, behold, the Lord stood erect upon it,²⁸ it translates: The glory of the Lord stood arrayed above it. Again when Scripture says, The Lord watch between me and thee,²⁹ it translates: The word of the Lord shall watch [between me and thee]. This occurs throughout the translation of [Onqelos],³⁰ peace be upon him. He does the same thing with regard to the dictum of Scripture, And the Lord passed by before his face,³¹ which he translates: The Lord caused his Indwelling³² to pass before his face, and he called.³³ Thus according to him it was indubitably a created thing that passed by; he considers that in the expression, his face, the possessive suffix in the third person refers to Moses our Master. The interpretation of before his face would accordingly be: in his presence, as when Scripture says: So the present passed before his face.³⁴ This too is an excellent interpretation that may be approved of. A corroboration of the interpretation of Onqelos the Proselyte, may his memory be blessed, may be found in the dictum of Scripture: And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by.35 This verse makes it clear that what passeth is a thing related³⁶ to God, may He be exalted, not the essence³⁷ of God, may His name be sublime; and it is thus of this glory that Scripture says, Until I have passed by, and, And the Lord passed by before his face. If it is necessary to assume an omitted nomen regens, as is always done by Onqelos—for, in accord with the context, sometimes he takes [26b] the omitted word to be glory, and sometimes he takes it to be Indwelling, and sometimes he takes it to be word—we, for our part too, take the nomen regens omitted here to be voice. The assumption accordingly would be that the verse should read: And the voice of the Lord passed by before him and called. We have already explained that the Hebrew language uses the word passage in a figurative sense with reference to voice. Thus: And they caused a voice to pass throughout the camp.38 In the verse in question it would³⁹ be the voice that called. You should not consider it as improbable that a call is ascribed to a voice, for it is in these very words⁴⁰ that expression is given to the fact that God, may He be exalted, spoke to Moses. For it says: Then he heard the voice speaking unto him.⁴¹ Just as in this latter verse speech is ascribed to the voice, a call is attributed to the voice in the verse we are discussing. Sometimes this, I mean the ascription of speech⁴² and of a call to a voice, occurs quite explicitly. Thus it says: A voice saith: Call. And he said: What shall I call?⁴³ According to this assumption, the interpretation of our verse would thus be: a voice from God passed by in his presence and called: Lord, Lord. The repetition of the word Lord would be due to its being a call, for He, may He be exalted, would be the one who is called. It would be like saying: Moses, Moses; Abraham, Abraham. This too is a very fine interpretation.

You should not consider as blameworthy the fact that this profound subject, which is remote from our apprehension, should be subject to many different interpretations. For this does no harm with respect to that toward which we direct ourselves. And you are free to choose whatever belief you wish. You may believe that the great station attained by [Moses] was indubitably, in its entirety, a vision of prophecy and that he solely desired intellectual apprehensions—everything, namely, that which he had demanded, that which was denied to him, and that which he apprehended, being intellectual and admitting of no recourse to the senses, as we had interpreted in the first place. Or you may believe that there was, in addition to this intellectual apprehension, an apprehension due to the sense of sight, which, however, had for its object a created thing, through seeing which the perfection of intellectual apprehension might be achieved. This would be the interpretation of this passage by Onqelos,44 unless one assumes that this ocular⁴⁵ apprehension also occurred in the vision of prophecy, [27a] as is stated with regard to Abraham: Behold a smoking furnace and a flaming torch that passed.46 Or again you may believe that there was in addition an apprehension due to the sense of hearing; that which passed by before his face being the voice, which is likewise indubitably a created thing. Choose whatever opinion you wish, inasmuch as our only purpose is that you should not believe that when Scripture says, in the verse we are discussing, He passed by, the phrase is analogous to Pass before the people.⁴⁷ For God, may He be honored and magnified, is not a body, and it is not permitted to ascribe motion to Him. It is therefore impossible that He should have been said to pass by if the word is used in the first meaning given to it in the Hebrew language.