Aligned sentence by sentence
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Part One · Chapter Thirty — Akhol
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Akhol — this word's first imposition in the language is for an animal's taking in of the food it takes; this needs no example. Then the language marked in 'eating' two meanings: the one meaning is the destruction of the thing eaten and its passing away — that is, the corruption of its form first; and the other meaning is the animal's growth by the food it takes, the continuance of its survival thereby, the persistence of its existence, and the soundness of all the body's faculties by it.
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According to the one meaning, the term 'eating' was borrowed for every destroying and every annihilating — in sum, for every stripping-away of form: 'and the land of your enemies shall eat you up' (Lev 26:38); 'a land that eateth up its inhabitants' (Num 13:32); 'ye shall be devoured by the sword' (Isa 1:20); 'the sword shall devour' (2 Sam 11:25); 'and the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed them in the uttermost part of the camp' (Num 11:1); 'he is a consuming fire' (Deut 4:24) — meaning he annihilates those who rebel against him as fire annihilates whatever it takes hold of; and this is frequent.
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According to the latter meaning, the term 'eating' was borrowed for knowledge and learning — in sum, for the intellectual apprehensions by which the survival of the human form endures in the most perfect of states, as the body's survival endures by food in its best state: 'come ye, buy, and eat' (Isa 55:1); 'hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good' (Isa 55:2); 'it is not good to eat much honey' (Prov 25:27); 'my son, eat thou honey, because it is good' (Prov 24:13); 'and the honeycomb is sweet to thy taste: so is the knowledge of wisdom unto thy soul' (Prov 24:13–14).
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This usage too is frequent in the words of the Sages — I mean the metaphor of knowledge by 'eating': 'come, eat fat meat at the house of Rava' (b. Bava Batra 12a); and they said, 'all eating and drinking mentioned in this book is nothing but wisdom' (Kohelet Rabbah) — and in some recensions, 'the Torah.' And likewise they often named knowledge 'water': 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters' (Isa 55:1).
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And because this usage became so frequent and widespread in the language that it became as if it were the original imposition, the terms 'hunger' and 'thirst' were likewise used for the absence of knowledge and apprehension: 'and I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord' (Amos 8:11); 'my soul thirsteth for God, for the living God' (Ps 42:3); and this is frequent. And Jonathan ben Uzziel, peace be upon him, rendered 'Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation' (Isa 12:3): 'and ye shall receive a new teaching with joy from the chosen of the righteous.' Consider his interpretation: that 'water' is knowledge to be attained in those days; and he made 'wells' like 'the eyes of the congregation' (Num 15:24) — that is, the notables, who are the learned — saying 'the chosen of the righteous,' since righteousness is the true salvation. See how he interpreted every word in this verse for the sense of knowledge and learning; understand this.