We have mentioned in one1 of the chapters of this Treatise2 that there is an immense difference between guidance leading to a knowledge of the existence of a thing and an investigation of the true reality of the essence and substance of that thing. The reason is that guidance leading to the knowledge of the existence of a thing can be had even if that should be through the accidents of the thing or through its acts or through a relation—which may be very remote from the thing—existing between the latter and things other than itself. For instance, if you wish to make known the ruler of a certain region of the earth to one of the people of that ruler’s country, who does not know him, you can inform him about that ruler and draw his attention to the latter’s existence in many different ways. One of them consists in your saying that the ruler is a tall individual who is white in color and gray-haired. Thus you would make him known through his accidents. You may also say that he is the one whom you see surrounded by a great company of people, who are riding or on foot, with drawn swords around him and banners raised above his head, while trumpets are sounded in front of him; or that he is the one residing in a castle, that is in a certain city of that region of the earth; or that he is the one who ordered this wall to be built or this bridge to be laid; or you may mention similar actions of his and similar relations of his to what is other than he. You may, however, indicate his existence through circumstances that are of a more hidden nature than those that have been mentioned. For instance, if someone asks you, Has this country a ruler? you shall answer him, Yes, undoubtedly. And if he asks you, What proof is there for this? you shall tell him, This proof is to be found in the fact that while this money-changer is, as you see, a weak and small man and this great amount of dinars is placed before him, this other big, strong, and poor individual is standing in front of him [50a] and asking him to give him as alms a carob-grain and that the money-changer does not do this, but reprimands him and drives him off by means of words. For, but for his fear of the ruler, the poor man would have been quick to kill him or to drive him away and to take the wealth that is in his possession. Accordingly, this is a proof of the fact that this city has a king. Thus you would have proved the existence of the king through the fact that matters in the city proceed in an orderly fashion,3 the cause of which is the fear of the ruler and the anticipation of the punishment he metes out.
Now in all that we have said by way of parable there is nothing to give an indication of the ruler’s essence and of the true reality of his substance in respect of his being a ruler. A similar thing has occurred with regard to the knowledge of God, may He be honored and magnified, given to the multitude in all the books of the prophets and also in the Torah. For necessity required that all of them be given guidance to the belief in the existence of God, may He be exalted, and in His possessing all the perfections. I mean to say guidance to the belief that He does not merely exist, as the earth and the heavens do, but that He is an existent who is living, possessed of knowledge and of power,4 active, and having all the other characteristics that ought to be believed in with reference to His existence. This shall be made clear later on. The minds of the multitude were accordingly guided to the belief that He exists by imagining that He is corporeal,5 and to the belief that He is living by imagining that He is capable of motion.6 For the multitude perceive nothing other than bodies as having a firmly established existence and as being indubitably true, for anything that is not a body, but subsists in a body, is existent; but its existence is more deficient than that of a body, as it requires a body in order to exist. That, however, which is neither a body nor in a body is not an existent thing in any respect, according to man’s initial representation, particularly from the point of view of the imagination. Similarly the multitude do not represent to themselves the notion of life as anything other than motion and consider that that which has no local motion due to its will is not alive, despite the fact that motion does not pertain to the substance of the living but is an accident attaching to it. Similarly apprehension, [50b] as it is habitually known among us, comes about through the instrumentality of the senses, I mean to say through hearing and seeing. And similarly we do not know nor can we represent to ourselves how a notion can be transmitted from the soul of one individual who is among us to the soul of another individual except through the instrumentality of speech, which is a sound produced by the lips,7 the tongue, and the other organs of speech. Accordingly, as our minds are likewise guided to the belief that God, may He be exalted, apprehends and that notions are communicated from Him to the prophets in order that they should communicate them to us, He is described to us as hearing and seeing; the meaning thereof being that He apprehends and knows the visible and audible things. He is also described to us as speaking; the meaning thereof being that notions are communicated from Him, may He be exalted, to the prophets. This is the meaning of prophecy. Later on this shall be made extremely clear. Again, as we have no intellectual cognition of our bringing somebody other than us to existence except through a direct act,8 He is described as active. Similarly, in view of the fact that the multitude apprehend no living thing that is not endowed with a soul, He is also described to us as having a soul. And though the term “soul” is an equivocal one, as has been made clear,9 the meaning is that He is living. Since with regard to us the apprehension can be made that all these acts are only performed by means of bodily organs, all these organs are figuratively ascribed to Him; those by means of which local motion takes place—I mean the feet and their soles; those by means of which hearing, seeing, and smelling come about—that is, the ear, the eye, and the nose; those by means of which speech and the matter10 of speech are produced—that is, the mouth, the tongue, and the voice; finally, those by means of which he among us who acts carries out his actions—those organs are the hands, the fingers, the palm, and the arm.
To sum up all this: God, may He be exalted above every deficiency, has had bodily organs figuratively ascribed to Him in order that [51a] His acts should be indicated by this means. And those particular acts are figuratively ascribed to Him in order to indicate a certain perfection, which is not identical with the particular act mentioned. For instance, an eye, an ear, a hand, a mouth, a tongue, have been figuratively ascribed to Him so that by this means, sight, hearing, action, and speech should be indicated. But sight and hearing have been figuratively ascribed to Him with a view to indicating apprehension in general. For this reason you will find that the Hebrew language substitutes the apprehension made by one sense for that made by another. Thus Scripture says: See the word of the Lord;11 which is like hear, for the intended meaning is: apprehend the meaning of His speech. Similarly: See the smell of my son;12 which is like saying, Smell the smell of my son, for the intended meaning refers to the apprehension of his smell. In conformity with this it is said, And all the people saw the sounds,13 although this station also constituted a vision of prophecy, as is well known and universally admitted in our community.14 Action and speech are ascribed to God so that an overflow proceeding15 from Him should thereby be indicated, as shall be made clear further on.16 All bodily organs that you can find mentioned in all of the books of prophecy are either organs of local motion mentioned with a view to indicating life, or organs of sensation mentioned with a view to indicating apprehension, or organs of prehension mentioned with a view to indicating action, or organs of speech mentioned with a view to indicating the overflow of the intellects toward the prophets, as will be made clear. The guidance contained in all these figurative senses is intended to establish in us the belief that there is an existent who is living, is the agent17 who produces everything other than He, and in addition apprehends His own act. When we shall begin to expound the negation of the attributes, we shall make clear18 how all this is reducible to one notion, which is exclusively that of the essence of God, may He be exalted. For the purpose of the present chapter is solely to make clear the meaning of the bodily organs ascribed to God, may He be exalted above every deficiency, and to explain that [51b] all of them are mentioned with a view to indicating the actions proper to these organs, which actions—according to us19—constitute a perfection. In this way we indicate that He is perfect in various manners of perfection, a circumstance to which the Sages draw our attention by saying: The Torah speaketh in the language of the sons of man.19
The organs of local motion ascribed to Him, may He be exalted, are, for instance, those figuring in scriptural dicta such as these: The stool of My feet;20 And the place of the soles of My feet.21
The organs of prehension ascribed to Him may be found in scriptural dicta such as these: The hand of the Lord;22 With the finger of God;23 The work of Thy fingers;24 And Thou hast laid Thine palm upon me;25 And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?26 Thy right hand, O Lord.27
The organs of speech ascribed to Him may be found in the scriptural dicta such as these: The mouth of the Lord has spoken;28 And He would open His lips against thee;29 The voice of the Lord is powerful;30 And His tongue is as a devouring fire.31
The organs of sensation ascribed to Him may be found in scriptural dicta such as these: His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men;32 The eyes of the Lord that run to and fro;33 Incline Thine ear, O Lord, and hear;34 For ye have kindled a fire in My nostril.35
Of the hidden parts of the body, only the heart is ascribed to Him because of its being an equivocal term. For it is also a term denoting the intellect; it is, moreover, the principle of life in living beings. For the dicta of Scripture, My bowels are troubled for him,36 and, The trouble of Thy bowels,37 are intended likewise to signify the heart, for bowel is a term used in a general and particular sense. In its particular sense, it is a term denoting the intestines; whereas in its general sense, it is a term denoting all the hidden parts of the body. It is accordingly also a term denoting the heart. A proof of this is to be found in the dictum, And Thy Law is within my bowels,38 which is equivalent to its saying, within my heart. On this account it says in the verse: My bowels are troubled, and, The trouble of Thy bowels.39 For the expression trouble is applied to the heart rather than to the other parts of the body. Thus: My heart troubles me.40 Similarly a shoulder is not figuratively ascribed to Him because it is, according to what is generally known, an organ of transport, and also because the thing that is transported touches it. All the more are the organs of nutrition not figuratively ascribed to Him, for even [52a] according to what first comes to mind, these are clearly deficient.
In truth, the status of all the organs is the same—all of them, both the apparent and the hidden, being organs required for the various actions of the soul. Some of them are organs required of necessity in order that the individual may last for a certain time. All the hidden parts of the body are of this nature. And some are organs required of necessity in order that the species should last. The organs of generation are of this nature. Some again are organs required in order that the individual be in a good state and that his actions be perfected. The feet, the hands, and the eyes are of this nature —all of them being required for the perfection of motion, work, and apprehension. Now the necessity of motion for living beings is due to its being required for the pursuit of what agrees with them and for the avoidance of what disagrees. The necessity of the senses, on the other hand, lies in their being required in order that what disagrees should be distinguished from what agrees with one.41 Again the need of man for manufacturing work is due to its being required for the preparation of his food, his clothing, and his place of shelter. For this is bound up with his nature, I mean his needing to prepare what is suitable for him. Sometimes it is found that some animals possess a certain craft because of their need for that particular craft. Now I perceive no one who would doubt the fact that God, may He be exalted, has no need of a thing that would prolong His existence or improve His circumstances. Accordingly He has no organs; I mean to say by this that He is not a body and that His acts are performed through His essence and not through an organ. Now faculties42 undoubtedly pertain to the class of organs. Accordingly He does not possess any faculty. Thereby I mean that there does not exist in Him anything other than His essence in virtue of which object He might act, know, or will. For the attributes are merely faculties43 with regard to which the terminology, and nothing else, has been changed. However, this is not the subject of this chapter.
The Sages, may their memory be blessed, have made a comprehensive dictum rejecting everything that is suggested to the estimative faculty by any of the corporeal attributive qualifications mentioned by the prophets. This dictum will indicate to you that the doctrine of the corporeality of God did not ever occur even for a single day to the Sages, may their memory be blessed, and that this was not according to them a matter lending itself to imagination or to confusion. [52b] For this reason you will find that in the whole of the Talmud and in all the Midrashim44 they keep to the external sense of the dicta of the prophets. This is so because of their knowledge that this matter is safe from confusion45 and that with regard to it no error is to be feared in any respect; all the dicta have to be considered as parables and as a guidance conducting the mind toward one being. And when the parable is of a consistent nature—as when God, may He be exalted, is likened to a king, who gives orders and prohibitions to, and punishes and rewards, the people of his country, and who has servants and executives who carry out his orders and do for him what he wishes to be done—they, I mean the Sages, likewise kept to this parable in every passage and spoke, in conformity with what the parable requires, of speech, of a favorable answer being given, or of a refusal with regard to a particular matter, and of other such actions of kings. In all this they felt themselves sure and safe in that there would not be confusion and difficulty with regard to this point. The comprehensive dictum to which we have alluded is their dictum in Bereshith Rabbah,46 which reads: Great is the power of the prophets; for they liken a form to its creator. For it is said: And upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man.47 They have thus made clear and manifest that all the forms apprehended by all the prophets in the vision of prophecy are created forms of which God is the Creator. And this is correct, for every imagined form is created. How admirable is their saying: Great is the power, as though to say they, peace be on them, considered this matter great. For they always speak in this way when they express their appreciation of the greatness of something said or done, but whose appearance is shocking. Thus they say:48 A certain rabbi performed the act [of ḥaliṣa49] with a slipper, alone and by night. Another rabbi said thereupon: How great is his strength to have done it alone.50 How great is his strength means how great is his power. They say, as it were: how great was the thing that the prophets were driven [53a] to do when they indicated the essence of God, may He be exalted, by means of the created thing that He has created. Understand this thoroughly. They have thus made clear and manifest, as far as they themselves are concerned, that they were innocent of the belief in the corporeality of God; and furthermore, that all the shapes and figures that are seen in the vision of prophecy are created things. However, the prophets likened a form to its creator, as the Sages, may their memory be blessed, put it. If, however, after these things have been said, someone out of malice wishes to think ill of them, depreciating men who are not seen and about whom there is no clear indication at present,51 his doing this will not harm them, may their memory be blessed.