CHAPTER XVII
Do not imagine that only Metaphysics should be taught with reserve to the common people and to the uninitiated: for the same is also the case with the greater part of Natural Science. In this sense we have repeatedly made use of the expression of the Sages," Do not expound the chapter on the Creation in the presence of two" [vide Introd. page 2]. This principle was not peculiar to our Sages: ancient philosophers and scholars of other nations were likewise wont to treat of the principia rerum obscurely, and to use figurative language in discussing such subjects. Thus Plato and his predecessors called Substance the female, and Form the male. (You are aware that the principia of all existing transient things are three, viz., Substance, Form, and Absence of a particular form; the last-named principle is always inherent in the substance, for otherwise the substance would be incapable of receiving a new form: and it is from this point of view that absence [of a particular form) is included among the principia. As soon, then, as a substance has received a certain form, the privation of that form, namely, of that which has just been received, has ceased, and is replaced by the privation of another form, and so on with all possible forms, as is explained in treatises on natural philosophy.) -- Now, if those philosophers who have nothing to fear from a lucid explanation of these metaphysical subjects still were in the habit of discussing them in figures and metaphors, how much more should we, having the interest of religion at heart, refrain from elucidating to the mass any subject that is beyond their comprehension, or that might be taken in a sense directly opposite to the one intended. This also deserves attention.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE three words karab," to come near," naga'," to touch," and nagash," to approach," sometimes signify" contact" or" nearness in space," sometimes the approach of man's knowledge to an object, as if it resembled the physical approach of one body to another. As to the use of karab in the first meaning, viz., to draw near a certain spot, comp." As he drew near (karab) the camp" (Exod. xxxii. 19);" And Pharaoh drew near (hikrib) (Exod. xiv. 10). Naga, in the first sense, viz., expressing the contact of two bodies, occurs in" And she cast it (va-tagga') at his feet" (Exod. iv. 25):" He caused it to touch (va-yagga') my mouth" (Isa. vi. 7). And nagash in the first sense, viz., to approach or move towards another person, is found, e.g., in" And Judah drew near (va-yiggash) unto him" (Gen. xliv. 1).
The second meaning of these three words is" approach by means of knowledge," or" contact by comprehension," not in reference to space. As to naga' in this second sense, comp." for her judgment reacheth (naga') unto heaven" (Jer. li. 9). An instance of karab being used in this meaning is contained in the following passage," And the cause that is too hard for you, bring (takribun) it unto me" (Deut. i. 17): this is equivalent to saying," Ye shall make it known unto me." The verb karab (in the Hiphil) is thus employed in the sense of giving information concerning a thing. The verb nagash is used figuratively in the phrase," And Abraham drew near (vayiggash), and said" (Gen. xviii. 23): this took place in a prophetic vision and in
