CHAPTER 5

As for the assertion that the spheres are living and rational, I mean to say endowed with apprehension, it is true and certain also from the point of view of the Law; they are not dead bodies similar to fire and earth — as is thought by the ignorant — but they are — as the philosophers say — living beings who obey their Lord and praise Him and extol Him greatly. Thus Scripture says: The heavens tell of the glory of God, and so on.¹ How very remote from mental representation of the truth are those who think that this is language appropriate to the state of the speaker. For the terms speaking and telling² are applied together in Hebrew only to a being endowed with intellect. The manifest proof of the fact that Scripture describes their state according to their essence — I mean to say the state of the spheres — not the state according to which people consider them, is the dictum:³ There is no speech, there are no words, neither is their voice heard.4 It thus makes it clear and manifest that it describes the essence of the spheres as praising God and making known His wonders without speech of lip and tongue. And this is correct. For he who praises through speech only makes known what he has represented to himself. Now this very representation is the true praise, whereas the words concerning it are meant to instruct someone else or to make it clear concerning oneself that one has had the apprehension in question. Thus it says, Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still, Selah,⁵ as we have explained.⁶ This is a proof based on the Law that may be denied only by one who is ignorant or obstinate. As for the opinion of the Sages concerning this, I do not think that it requires to be explained or proved. Consider the way they arranged the blessing of the moon, as well as what is repeatedly stated in the prayers and the texts of the Midrashim⁷ regarding the dicta: And the host of heaven [15b] worshippeth Thee,⁸ and: When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.⁹ Similar dicta occur frequently in what they say. Thus they say in Bereshith Rabbah¹⁰ with regard to the dictum of Him, may He be exalted,¹¹ And the earth was tohu¹² and bohu:¹³ [It was] mourning [toha]¹⁴ and crying [boha]¹⁴ — which means that it, I mean the earth, cried woe and howled¹⁵ because of her evil lot. It said, I and they were created together — which means the earth and the heavens. [Yet] those above are alive and those below dead. They also have said explicitly that the heavens are living bodies and not dead ones like the elements. Thus it has become clear to you that what Aristotle said likewise with regard to the sphere being endowed with apprehension and mental representation corresponds to the dicta of our prophets and of the bearers of our Law, who are the Sages, may their memory be blessed.

Know that there is a consensus of all the philosophers to the effect that the governance of this lower world is perfected by means of the forces overflowing to it from the sphere, as we have mentioned,¹⁶ and that the spheres apprehend and know that which they govern. This also is expounded in the letter of the Torah, which says:¹⁷ Which the Lord thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples, which means that He made the spheres intermediaries for the governance of the created beings and not with a view to their being worshipped. It says clearly: And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide, and so on.18 Now the meaning of ruling is domination through governance; and this is a supplementary notion added to that of light and darkness, which is the proximate cause of generation and corruption. For the meaning of light and darkness is referred to in the words: And to divide the light from the darkness.¹⁹ Now it is absurd to assume that he who governs something should not know that thing which he governs, provided that the true reality of governance, as the word is applied here, is known. We shall speak at length about this subject elsewhere. [16a]