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...'This stone will be a witness against us, for it heard' (Josh. 24:27); and that the mountain speaks: 'The mountains and hills will break into song before you' (Is. 55:12); and that the hill garbs itself: 'the hills shall gird themselves with joy' (Ps. 65:13) — and what resembles this is too numerous to enumerate quickly.
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If one asks: what is the use of language extending in this way and throwing these ambiguities at us — why did it not confine itself to precise terminology and spare us this burden?
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I say: had it confined itself to a single expression, its usage would be sparse and one could communicate with it only a portion of the intended meanings; but it extended itself so as to encompass every intended meaning,
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relying on what is in the intellects, the scriptural texts, and received tradition; and had we insisted on describing Him only in literal terms, we would be compelled to drop 'Hearing,' 'Seeing,' 'Merciful,' and 'Willing' — ending up with nothing but bare existence alone.
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Having explained this, I return to those ten expressions and explain their meanings. I say: by 'head' the prophets intended rank and elevation, as in 'You are my glory and the one who lifts my head' (Ps. 3:4).
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By 'eye' they intended care — as in 'I will set My eye upon him' (Jer. 39:12). By 'face' they intended pleasure or anger — as in 'In the light of a king's face there is life' (Prov. 16:15), and 'her face was no longer [sad]' (1 Sam. 1:18).
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By 'ear' they intended receiving a voice — as in 'Let your servant speak a word in my lord's ear' (Gen. 44:18). By 'mouth and lip' they intended declaration and command — as in 'according to the mouth of Aaron and his sons' (Num. 4:27), 'the lips of the righteous shepherd many' (Prov. 10:21).
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By 'hand' they intended power — as in 'and their inhabitants were powerless' (2 Kgs. 19:26). By 'heart' they intended wisdom — as in 'a lad lacking heart' (Prov. 7:7). By 'bowels' they intended gentleness — as in 'Your Torah is in my bowels' (Ps. 40:9). By 'foot' they intended subjugation — as in 'until I set
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...'your enemies as the footstool of your feet' (Ps. 110:1). Since we found such expressions applied to people without corporeal intent on occasion, it is all the more certain that they work non-corporeally when interpreted in the meanings of the Creator.
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Then I say: we also found such expressions applied to inanimate things that cannot have any of these limbs — for we find in the language twelve of these expressions applied to the earth and water:
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First, 'head' — 'the beginning of His works, the dust of the world' (Prov. 8:26); 'eye' — 'it will cover the eye of the earth' (Ex. 10:5); 'ear' — 'Give ear, O earth' (Deut. 32:1); 'face' — 'on the face of the earth' (Gen. 4:14); 'mouth' — 'the earth opened its mouth' (Num. 16:32);
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'wing/skirt' — 'from the wing/skirt of the earth' (Is. 24:16); 'hand' — 'on the bank of the river' (Dan. 10:4); 'lip/bank' — 'on the bank of the Nile' (Ex. 2:3); 'heart' — 'the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea' (Ex. 15:8); 'navel' — 'those who dwell on the navel of the earth' (Ezek. 38:12); 'belly' — 'from the belly of Sheol I cried, you heard my voice' (Jonah 2:3); 'womb' — 'He shut up the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb' (Job 38:8); 'thigh' — 'I will gather them from the thighs of the earth' (Is. 46:9).
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Since we find that language applies these expressions to things our senses testify have none of these limbs — and they are all figures — so too for their Maker, whose having none of these limbs our intellects testify, they are all figures.
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Whoever says that language only produces what is corporeal is obligated to find these twelve limbs in the earth and water. And just as these
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...expressions were permissible in attribution — 'incline Your ear,' 'open Your eyes,' 'stretch forth Your hands,' and the like —
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so too the verbal actions attributed to them are permissible: He sees, He hears, He speaks, He considers, He tramples, and the like — each of them has its interpretation,
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including 'the Lord smelled' which by hearing seems difficult — but it means 'acceptance,' as in 'at the scent of water it blossoms' (Job 14:9), in keeping with what rational inquiry, scripture, and tradition all agree upon.
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If an objector presses and says: how can these interpretations be applied to these corporeal expressions and what is attributed to them, when scripture states plainly that the prophets saw a form in human likeness that addressed them —
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and adds to his argument — especially since this form is upon a throne and angels carry it above a chariot, as in 'And above the firmament that was over their heads was, as the appearance of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne; and upon the likeness of the throne was, above it, a likeness like the appearance of a man' (Ezek. 1:26) —
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and also this form on a throne with angels to its right and its left, as in 'I saw the Lord sitting on His throne and all the host of heaven standing beside Him, on His right and His left' (1 Kgs. 22:19) —
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— we reply that this form is created, and likewise the throne, the chariot, and those who carry it — all are newly-made things the Creator made from light in order to validate for His prophet that He is the one who revealed His word to him, as we will explain in the third maamar;
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it is a noble form among the angels, vast in creation and radiant with light — it is called the Glory of the Lord; and it is what some of the prophets described when they said 'I watched until thrones were set and the Ancient of Days sat' (Dan. 7:9), and it is
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...what the sages called the Shekhinah. This light may exist without a personal form; but God distinguished His prophet by making him hear the revelation from a great created form of light called the Glory of the Lord, as I have explained.
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A proof for what we said is the prophet's account of this form: 'And He said to me: Son of man, stand on your feet and I will speak with you' (Ezek. 2:1). This speaker cannot be the Master of the universe —
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for the Torah said that the Creator spoke to no one without an intermediary except Moses our teacher alone — 'And there arose no prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face' (Deut. 34:10) —
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while all other prophets were addressed by angels. So when we find the text has stated explicitly 'angel' — it has explicitly stated a created being; and when it says 'the Glory of the Lord' — that too is created;
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and when God's name is mentioned without 'glory' or 'angel' but a vision, throne, or personal attribute is added — there is no doubt that something is implicit in the text, namely the Glory of God or an angel of God, as we find language regularly makes implicit.
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Section 11. I now speak about the category of quality — namely accidents — and I say: in truth it is not permissible that any accident befall Him, since He is the Creator of all accidents.
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When we find it said that He loves something and hates something — the meaning is that everything He commanded us to do He called beloved to Him, since He obligated us to love it, as in 'for the Lord loves justice' (Ps. 37:28), 'for the righteous Lord loves righteousness' (Ps. 11:7), and the like;
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and He gathered several of these and said 'for in these I delight, says the Lord' (Jer. 9:23); and everything He forbade us to do He called hateful —