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Part One · Chapter Forty-Six — Why Scripture Attributes Limbs and Organs to God
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We have already mentioned in certain chapters of this part that there is a great difference between guiding someone to the existence of a thing and establishing its quiddity and essence — for guiding to the existence of a thing may be done through its accidents, or through its actions, or through relations extremely remote from it, between it and something else.
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An example of this: if you wished to make known a sultan of a certain region to one of the people of his lands who did not know him, you might make him known and alert him to his existence by many means — among them, that you say: he is the tall man, fair of complexion, white-haired — and you have made him known by his accidents. Or you might say: he is the one around whom you see a large company of men — riders and foot-soldiers, with drawn swords around him, and banners raised over his head, and trumpets being sounded before him. Or: he is the one who lives in the palace in such-and-such a city of this region. Or: he is the one who commanded the building of this wall, or the making of this bridge — and the like from his actions and his relations to others. And you may indicate his existence by circumstances more hidden than these — for example, if someone asks you: does this city have a sultan? — you say: yes, without doubt. And if he asks you: what is the proof of that? — you say: this money-changer, as you see him — a weak man, small in body, with before him this great pile of coins, and that other man, enormous in body and powerful, yet poor, standing before him asking him to give charity of a single carob-weight, and he did not do so, but rather reprimanded him and pushed him away with words — saying: were it not for fear of the sultan, he would have immediately killed him, or pushed him away and taken the money from him. This is a proof that this city has a king. And you have pointed to his existence through the orderly state of the city, caused by fear of the sultan and dread of his punishment. But in none of all that we have cited as an analogy is there anything that indicates the sultan's very person and the true nature of his essence, insofar as he is a sultan.
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The same situation arose in making known God, mighty and exalted, to the multitude, in all the books of the prophets and in the Torah as well — since necessity required guiding them all to His existence, exalted be He, and that He possesses all the perfections; I mean that He is not merely existent, as the earth is existent and the heavens are existent, but existent, living, knowing, powerful, and active — and everything else that should be believed about His existence — as I shall explain. So minds were guided by imagining corporeality for Him: that He is existent — by imagining corporeality; and that He is living — by imagining motion; for the multitude sees nothing as having settled and certain existence, without any doubt, except the body; and whatever is not a body, but is in a body, is existent, though less in existence than the body, for it requires a body in order to exist; but what is neither a body nor in a body is not in any way an existent thing, in the initial conception of a person, and especially in imagination. Likewise the multitude cannot conceive of the meaning of life except as motion; and whatever does not move with voluntary local motion is not alive — even if motion is not part of the essence of the living being, but only a concomitant accident.
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Likewise, the mode of apprehension familiar to us is through the senses — I mean hearing and sight. And likewise, we do not know nor can we conceive of the transmission of meaning from the soul of one of us to the soul of another except through speech — which is the sound that lips, tongue, and the other instruments of speech produce. So when minds were guided also toward Him, exalted be He, as one who apprehends, and that meanings reach from Him to the prophets so that they convey them to us — He was described to us as hearing and seeing; meaning: that He apprehends these things, the visible and the audible, and knows them. And He was described to us as speaking; meaning: meanings reach from Him, exalted be He, to the prophets — and this is the meaning of prophecy, as I shall explain at length elsewhere. And since we can conceive of our creating something other than ourselves only by acting upon it directly, He was described as acting. Likewise, since the multitude apprehends nothing as living except what possesses a soul, He was described to us as having a soul — even though nefesh is equivocal, as has been clarified — meaning: that He is living.
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And since all these actions are not apprehended among us except through corporeal instruments, all those instruments were borrowed by metaphor for Him — namely, the instruments by which local motion takes place, I mean the two legs and the soles of the feet; and the instruments by which hearing, seeing, and smelling are accomplished, which are the ear, the eye, and the nose; and the instruments through which speech and the matter of speech occur, which are the mouth, the tongue, and the voice; and the instruments by which the one who acts among us performs what he performs, which are the hands, the fingers, the palm, and the forearm. The summary of all this is: since He, exalted be He, is beyond all deficiency, the corporeal instruments were borrowed for Him in order to indicate through them His actions; and those actions were borrowed for Him in order to indicate through them a perfection that is not the very action itself. For example: eye, ear, hand, mouth, and tongue were borrowed for Him in order to indicate through them seeing, hearing, acting, and speaking; and seeing and hearing were borrowed for Him in order to indicate apprehension in general — hence you find Hebrew using the apprehension of one sense in place of another: He said, 'see the word of the Lord' (Is 1:12) as if to say 'hear' — for the intent is: apprehend the meaning of His speech. Likewise, 'and he smelled the scent of my son' (Gen 27:27) — as if he had said, 'the scent of my son was smelled' — the intent being: to apprehend his fragrance. According to this it is said, 'and all the people saw the voices' (Ex 20:15) — given also that this passage was a prophetic vision, as is well known and established in our tradition. And action and speech were borrowed for Him to indicate through them an overflow that flows forth from Him — as will be explained.
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All these corporeal elements that you find in all the books of prophecy — they are either instruments of local motion, to indicate life; or instruments of sensation, to indicate apprehension; or instruments of striking and force, to indicate action; or instruments of speech, to indicate the overflow of the intellects upon the prophets — as will be explained.
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The guidance of all these metaphors thus establishes in us the conviction that there exists a living Being, the Agent of everything other than Himself, who apprehends His own action as well. And we shall explain, when we take up the negation of the attributes, how all of this returns to a single meaning — which is His very essence, exalted be He, alone; for the aim of this chapter is only to clarify the meaning of these corporeal instruments attributed to Him, exalted be He, who is beyond all deficiency — and that all of them serve to indicate the actions of those instruments, which actions are perfections in our view, in order to indicate that He is perfect by including the perfections — as they have drawn our attention in saying, 'the Torah speaks in the language of men.'
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As for the instruments of local motion attributed to Him, exalted be He: such as, 'the footstool of My feet' (Is 66:1); 'and the place of the soles of My feet' (Ezek 43:7). As for the instruments of striking and force attributed to Him: 'the hand of the Lord' (Ex 9:3); 'with the finger of God' (Ex 8:15); 'the work of Your fingers' (Ps 8:4); 'and You placed upon Your palm'; 'and the arm of the Lord — upon whom has it been revealed?' (Is 53:1); 'Your right hand, O Lord' (Ex 15:6). As for the instruments of speech attributed to Him: 'for the Lord has spoken' (Is 1:2); 'and He opens His lips with you' (Job 11:5); 'the voice of the Lord in its power' (Ps 29:4); 'and His tongue is like a consuming fire' (Is 30:27). As for the instruments of sensation attributed to Him: 'His eyes behold, His eyelids test the children of men' (Ps 11:4); 'the eyes of the Lord roam over it' (Zech 4:10); 'incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear' (Is 37:17); 'You have kindled a fire in My nostril' (Jer 17:4). And of the internal organs, only the heart was borrowed for Him, because it is an equivocal name, being also the name of the intellect, and it is the principle of life for the living — for His saying, 'My entrails are in tumult' (Is 63:15); 'the multitude of Your entrails' (Is 63:15) — intends by this also the heart, since meʿi is a name used broadly and specifically: specifically it names the intestines, and broadly it names every internal organ; hence it is also the name of the heart. The proof is His saying, 'and Your Torah is within my meʿi' (Ps 40:9), equivalent to 'within my heart' (Ps 40:8); and therefore in this verse He said, 'My entrails are in tumult,' 'the multitude of Your entrails' — and the language of tumult comes with respect to the heart, from all the organs: 'my heart is in tumult within me' (Ps 38:11). Likewise, the shoulder was not borrowed for Him, because it is the instrument of carrying according to common usage, and also because the thing carried is leaned upon it. And as for the fact that the instruments of eating were not borrowed for Him — this is obvious deficiency at first thought.
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The function of all the organs in reality is one — whether external or internal: they are all instruments for the varied actions of the soul. Among them are instruments necessary for the survival of the individual for a time — such as all the internal organs. Among them are instruments necessary for the survival of the species — such as the organs of reproduction. And among them are instruments for the improvement of the individual's condition and the completion of his actions — such as the hands, the legs, and the eyes — all for the perfection of motion, work, and apprehension. As for the necessity of motion for the animal: it is for the purpose of approaching what is beneficial and fleeing what is harmful. As for the necessity of the senses: it is for distinguishing what is harmful from what is beneficial. And as for the human being's need for the crafts — for the preparation of his food, clothing, and shelter — this is necessitated by his nature, meaning that he needs to prepare what suits him; and some of the crafts are also found in some animals, due to their need for that craft.
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And I see no one who would doubt that God, exalted be He, is not in need of anything to extend His existence or to improve His conditions — so He has no organ; meaning: He is not a body. And His actions proceed from His essence alone, not through an organ. And powers are without doubt a subset of instruments — so He has no power; meaning: there is no additional meaning in Him beyond His essence through which He acts, or knows, or wills. For the attributes are merely powers in which the name has changed — nothing more. But this is not the aim of this chapter.
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And they, of blessed memory, uttered a comprehensive saying that repels all that these corporeal attributes — all of which the prophets mention — might lead one to imagine; and it is their saying — I shall indicate to you that the Sages, of blessed memory, never entertained corporealism in mind at any time, nor was there anything in their view that could mislead or confuse. And for this reason you find them throughout all the Talmud and the Midrashim persisting upon those prophetic externals, knowing that this is a matter in which confusion is safe and error need not be feared in any respect — but everything is by way of parable and guiding the mind to an existent being. Since the parable had been established — in that He, exalted be He, was likened to a king who commands, prohibits, punishes, and rewards his subjects, who has servants and administrators who execute his orders and do what he wishes to have done — they too, I mean the Sages, continued with that parable in every passage, speaking in accordance with what the parable entails by way of speech, response, deliberation about a matter, and the like from the acts of kings — and they were in all of this fully confident and secure that this could not mislead nor perplex. And that comprehensive saying to which I referred is their saying in Bereshit Rabbah: 'Great is the power of the prophets, who liken the form to its Creator, as it is said: and above the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man' (Ezek 1:26). They explicitly stated and made clear that all these forms that all the prophets apprehend in the vision of prophecy are created forms that God has created — and this is correct, for every imagined form is created. And how wondrous is their saying 'great is their power' — as if they, peace be upon them, considered this meaning immense; for in this manner they always speak when expressing wonder at a saying that was said, or a deed that was done, which appears in its outward form to be objectionable — as they said: 'Rabbi So-and-so did such-and-such a deed in secret, at night — Rabbi So-and-so said: how great is his power, that he did it in private.' And 'great power' is 'great is his power' — as if they were saying: how immense was the audacity of the prophets in their doing, in that they point to His very essence, exalted be He, through the created things He created. Understand this thoroughly: they explicitly stated and made clear, declaring themselves free from believing in corporealism, and that every configuration and design seen in the vision of prophecy — these are created things; but they likened the form to its Creator, as the Sages of blessed memory stated. So whoever wishes to think ill of them after these sayings, out of wickedness and to slight one who was not personally present nor whose state he has come to know — no harm shall come to them, of blessed memory, from that.