CHAPTER 43

Wing [kanaph] is an equivocal term, and its equivocality is mostly due to its being used in a figurative sense. The first meaning given to it is that of a wing of the living beings that fly. Thus: Any winged fowl that flieth in the heaven.¹ Subsequently it was applied figuratively to the extremities and corners of garments. Thus: Upon the four wings² of thy covering.³ Afterwards it was applied figuratively to the farthest ends and extremities of the habitable part of the earth, which are remote from the places where we live.⁴ Thus: That it might take hold of the wings⁵ of the earth;⁶ From the uttermost wing⁷ of the earth have we heard songs.⁸ Ibn Janāḥ⁹ says that the term also occurs with the signification of concealing, as it is akin to the Arabic, in which one may say, “kanaftu” a thing, meaning: I have concealed it. He accordingly interprets¹⁰ the verse, Yet shall not thy Teacher be winged11 [yikaneph], as meaning: thy Enlightener shall not be concealed and hidden away from thee; and this is a good explanation.¹² In my opinion this meaning occurs also in the verse, And he shall not uncover the wing of his father,¹³ which means that he shall not uncover that of his father which is concealed. Similarly the verse, Spread therefore thy wings over thy handmaid,¹⁴ has to be interpreted in my opinion as meaning: spread that by which thou concealest over thy handmaid. In my opinion it is in this sense that wing is figuratively applied to the Creator, may He be exalted, and also to the angels. For according to our opinion the angels have no bodies, as I shall make clear.¹⁵ Accordingly the interpretation of the dictum of Scripture, Under whose wings thou art come to trust,¹⁶ should be: thou art come [to be hidden under that by which He conceals. Similarly in all cases in which wing occurs with reference to the angels, it signifies that which conceals. Will you not consider the dictum of Scripture: With twain¹⁷ he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet?¹⁸ This means that the cause of his existence, I mean that of the angel, is most hidden and concealed, that cause being indicated by the expression his face. And similarly the things of which he, I mean the angel, is the cause—these being his feet, as we have made clear¹⁹ when dealing with the equivocality of the word foot—are also hidden. For the acts of the intellects are hidden, and their effects become clear only after one has trained oneself. This is due to two causes, one of which should be referred to them and one to us.²⁰ I mean the weakness of our apprehension and the difficulty of apprehending, in its true reality, that which is separate from matter. As for the dictum of Scripture, And with twain he did fly,²¹ I shall explain in a separate chapter²² in what sense the motion of flying is attributed to the angels.