The First Book of the Treatise on The Allegories of the Sacred Laws, after the Work of the Six Days of Creation.

 I. (1) And the heaven and the earth and all their world was Completed.[Ge 2:1.] Having previously related the creation of the mind and of sense, Mos

 II. (2) And on the sixth day God finished his work which he had made. It would be a sign of great simplicity to think that the world was created in

 III. For God never ceases from making something or other but, as it is the property of fire to burn, and of snow to chill, so also it is the property

 IV. (8) But nature delights in the number seven. For there are seven planets, going in continual opposition to the daily course of the heaven which al

 V. (14) And the power of this number has extended also to the most useful of the arts--namely, to grammar. At all events, in grammar, the most excelle

 VI. (16) Accordingly, on the seventh day, God caused to rest from all his works which he had Made.[Ge 2:2.] Now, the meaning of this sentence is som

 VII. (17) And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it. God blesses the manners which are formed in accordance with the seventh and divine light

 VIII. (19) This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth, when they were Created.[Ge 2:4.] This is perfect reason, which is put in motion i

 IX. (21) On which day God created the heaven and the earth, and every green herb of the field, before it appeared upon the earth, and all the grass o

 X. (24) And all the grass of the field, he proceeds, before it sprang up. That is to say, before the particular things perceptible by the external

 XI. (28) But a fountain went up upon the earth, and watered all the face of the earth. He here calls the mind the fountain of the earth, and the sen

 XII. (31) And God created man, taking a lump of clay from the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life: and man became a living soul. Th

 XIII. (33) But some one may ask, why God thought an earth-born mind, which was wholly devoted to the body, worthy of divine inspiration, and yet did n

 XIV. (43) And God planted a paradise in Eden, in the east: and there he placed the man whom he had Formed:[Ge 2:8.] for he called that divine and he

 XV. (48) And some one may ask here, why, since it is a pious action to imitate the works of God, it is forbidden to me to plant a grove near the altar

 XVI. (53) And the man whom he had formed, Moses says, God placed in the Paradise,[Ge 2:8.] for the present only. Who, then, is he in reference to

 XVII. (56) And God caused to rise out of the earth every tree which is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life he raised in the

 XVIII. (59) But the tree of life is that most general virtue which some people call goodness from which the particular virtues are derived, and of wh

 XIX. (63) And a river goes forth out of Eden to water the Paradise. From thence it is separated into four heads: the name of the one is Pheison. That

 XX. (66) The name of one river is Pheison. This is that river which encircles all the land of Evilat there is the country where there is gold. And t

 XXI. (68) And the name of the second river is Gihon. This is that which encircles all the land of Ethiopia. Under the symbol of this river courage i

 XXII. (70) It is worth while therefore to raise the question why courage has been spoken of as the second virtue, and temperance as the third, and pru

 XXIII. (72) And the fourth river, continues Moses, is the river Euphrates. And this name Euphrates means fertility and symbolically taken, it is

 XXIV. (74) Again, let us look at the subject in this way also. Pheison, being interpreted, is the change of the mouth and Evilat means bringing forth

 XXV. (77) That, says Moses, is the country, where there is gold. He does not say that that is the only place where there is gold, but simply that

 XXVI. (79) There also is the carbuncle and the emerald. The two beings endowed with distinctive qualities, the prudent man and the man who acts prud

 XXVII. (85) And it is worth while to raise the question why the two rivers the Pheison and the Gihon encircle certain countries, the one surrounding E

 XXVIII. (88) And the Lord God took the man whom he had made and placed him in the Paradise, to cultivate and to guard it. The man whom God made diff

 XXIX. (90) And the Lord God commanded Adam, saying, Of every tree that is in the Paradise thou mayest freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of

 XXX. (92) It is therefore very natural that Adam, that is to say the mind, when he was giving names to and displaying his comprehension of the other a

 XXXI. (97) And the recommendations that he addresses to him are as follows: Of every tree that is in the Paradise thou mayest freely Eat.[Ge 2:16.]

 XXXII. (100) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he shall not eat. Therefore this tree is not in the Paradise. For God encourages them

 XXXIII. (105) Accordingly God says, In the day in which ye eat of it ye shall die the death. And yet, though they have eaten of it, they not only do

XXVI. (79) "There also is the carbuncle and the emerald." The two beings endowed with distinctive qualities, the prudent man and the man who acts prudently, differ from one another; one of them existing according to prudence, and the other acting wisely according to the rules of wisdom. For it is on account of these two beings thus endowed with distinctive qualities God implanted prudence and virtue in the earth-born man. For what would have been the use of it, if there had been no reasoning powers in existence to receive it, and to give impressions of its form? So that virtue is very properly conjoined with prudence, and the prudent man is rightly joined with him who displays prudence in his actions; the two being like two precious stones. (80) And may not they be Judah and Issachar? For the man who puts in practice the prudence of God confesses himself to be bound to feel gratitude, and to feel it towards him who has given him what is good without grudging; and he also does honourable and virtuous actions. Accordingly Judah is the symbol of a man who makes this confession "in respect of whom Leah ceased from child-Bearing."[Ge 29:35.] But Issachar is the symbol of the man who does good actions, "For he put Forth[Ge 49:15.] his shoulder to labour and became a man tilling the earth." With respect to whom Moses says, hire is in his soul after he has been sown and planted, so that his labour is not imperfect, but is rather crowned and honoured with a reward by God. (81) And that he is making mention of these things, he shows when speaking on other subjects; when describing the garment, which reached to the feet he says, "And thou shalt weave in it sets of stones in four rows. The row of stones shall be the sardine stone, the topaz, and the emerald are the first row." Reuben, Simeon, and Levi are here meant. "And the second row," he says, "are the carbuncle and the Sapphire."[Ex 28:17.] And the sapphire is the same as the green stone. And in the carbuncle was inscribed the name of Judah, for he was the fourth son: and in the sapphire the name of Issachar. (82) Why then as he had called the sapphire the green stone, did he not also speak of the red stone? Because Judah, as the type of a disposition inclined to confession, is a being immaterial and incorporeal. For the very name of confession (exomologe�seo�s) shows that it is a thing external to (ektos) himself. For when the mind is beside itself, and bears itself upward to God, as the laughter of Isaac did, then it makes a confession to him who alone has a real being. But as long as it considers itself as the cause of something, it is a long way from yielding to God, and confession to him. For this very act of confessing ought to be considered as being the work not of the soul, but of God who teaches it this feeling of gratitude. Accordingly Judah, who practises confession, is an immaterial being. (83) But Issachar who came forth out of labour is in need of corporeal matter; since if it were otherwise how could a studious man read without his eyes? And how could any one hear words exhorting him to any cause, if he were not endowed with hearing? And how could he obtain meat and drink without a belly, and without a wonder working art exercised towards it? And it is on this account that he was likened to a precious stone. (84) Moreover the colours of the two are different. For the colour of a coal when on fire is akin to that of the man who is inclined to confession: for he is inflamed by gratitude to God, and he is intoxicated with a certain sober intoxication: but the colour of the green stone is more appropriate to the man who is still labouring: for those who are devoted to constant labour are pale on account of the wearing nature of toil, and also by reason of their fear that perhaps they may not attain to such an end of their wish as is desired in their prayers.