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...into two, any more than someone else could gather them into five.
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One may also counter them by pointing out that all benefit and harm fall under color, and the natural primary colors are seven:
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white, black, green, yellow, red, the color of the sky, and the color of the earth;
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so they have no stronger claim to gather everything into two than someone else has to gather it all into seven.
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One may also counter them by pointing out that the two fall under taste, and the primary tastes are nine:
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sweet and oily — both hot and moist; bitter, salty, and pungent — hot and dry; sour, astringent, and acrid — cold and dry;
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and the bland — which is the taste of water and cucumber — cold and moist;
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so they have no stronger claim to gather it all into two than to gather it all into nine.
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They may likewise be countered by reference to the four natures on which everything rests.
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Likewise by the ten categories that supervene on substance; likewise by the six species of motion; likewise by the seven species of quantity.
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Likewise by the three tenses; and the three propositions; and the three figures —
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...I will not prolong the discussion — enough to show the corruption of their position, from the angle of their arbitrary extraction of some number from among all other numbers and their fixing of it.
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Let me add clarity to this and say: if each of the two, when wishing to create something, cannot complete it except with the other's assistance, then both are incapable;
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and furthermore: if one's will compels the other to assist him, then both are under compulsion;
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and if both are free agents, and one wills to give a body life while the other wills to put it to death, then that body must be simultaneously alive and dead.
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I say also: if each of the two can conceal something from his counterpart's gaze, then neither is all-knowing;
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and if neither can do this, then both are incapable.
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I say also: if the two are joined, then they are one; and if they are separated, there must be a third between them;
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and I do not permit their adherents to liken them to shadow and light that touch without a third — for those two are accidents, while their pair are, on their own account, two bodies.
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These arguments thus came out in agreement with what the scriptures say — that there is no Creator other than the One —
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as it says: 'You were shown to know that the Lord is God — there is none else besides Him' (Deut. 4:35);
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and also: 'Know this day and lay it to your heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below — there is none else' (Deut. 4:39);
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and also: 'Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else' (Is. 45:22);
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and also: 'So that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is nothing besides Me — I am the Lord and there is none else' (Is. 45:6);
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and also: 'I am the Lord and there is none else; besides Me there is no God — I girded you though you did not know Me' (Is. 45:5);
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and: 'Am I not the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me — a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me' (Is. 45:21), and the like.
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Section 3. If someone asks: what is the meaning of these two names always used together in Scripture, 'the Lord God'?
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We reply: it has been established that the two refer to one meaning — as it says: 'For thus says the Lord, Creator of the heavens — He is God' (Is. 45:18).
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And His word: 'Know that the Lord is God — He made us...' (Ps. 100:3).
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Once this equation has been established, one need not worry if one name is attributed a particular act and the other a different act;
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and the linguistic analogue is: 'Jerubbaal son of Joash went and dwelt in his house' (Judg. 8:29), and afterwards: 'Gideon had seventy sons of his body' (Judg. 8:30) —
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one name is attributed one act and the other name a different act, without concern, since the text has already established that Jerubbaal is Gideon.
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If one asks: what is the meaning of 'My God, give voice to my cause' (Ps. 43:1) and likewise 'The Lord will thunder from heaven, and the Most High will make His voice heard'?
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We say to him: this is a double causative — 'thunder' because He is the Lord and because He is the Most High; 'rouse' because You are my God and because You are the Lord.
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Its linguistic analogue is: 'Hear this, all peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world — both sons of man and sons of people, rich and poor together' (Ps. 49:2–3);
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its meaning being: because you are peoples, and because you are inhabitants of the world, and because you are sons of man, and because you are sons of people —
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and the analogue is also: 'Fear not, My servant Jacob, and Jeshurun whom I have chosen' (Is. 44:2) — because you are Jacob, and because you are Jeshurun.
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In sum I say: everything found in the language of Scripture and in our language as the affirmers of unity — any word in describing our Creator or His act that seems to contradict what sound rational inquiry requires —
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— such a word has without doubt a figurative sense in the language, which investigators will find if they seek it;
and this topic does not require me to expand —