or playing with Leviathan, or uttering complaints at the
beginning of every watch in the night; or what is intended by
ascribing to God one sort of employment in the day and the
other in the night? It is not enough to say that these are all
figures conveying the most profound wisdom; this assertion
must be proved by showing what this wisdom is. Let the
Rabbinists explain these figures satisfactorily, and they will
then have some chance of being believed, though even that
would not amount to a proof, that the authors of these passages
intended that they should be understood mystically. It is a
certain fact that many of the rabbies have understood these
and similar passages literally. In the commentary on the assertion,
"That in the second three hours God sits and judges the
world," we are told, that some believed this so firmly as to
think that on this very account the additional form of prayer,
called (
Hebrew characters) was prescribed:—
(Hebrew characters)
"Some say, that on this account the words 'Let him turn from his place,' have been appointed in the sanctification of the Musaph, for this part of the prayer generally occurs in the second three hours, when he is sitting in judgment, and that we pray that he may turn from the throne of judgment, and sit on the throne of mercy." Those who held this opinion plainly thought, that the hours were literal hours, and that the distribution of the day into four different employments was not figurative, but real. These persons, therefore, believed that God studies in the law, that he plays with Leviathan, and observes the distinction of day and night. And it must be confessed that, if they believed in the Talmud, they had good reason for this literal interpretation, as the corresponding passage, respecting God's roaring like a lion at every watch of the night, cannot be explained figuratively, if it be taken in connexion with its context. The context contains a discussion about real, not figurative night-watches. The question proposed by the Mishna is, Until what hour of the night is it lawful to perform the evening-reading of the Sh'mah Israel (Hear, O Israel)? R. Eliezer says, It is lawful until the end of the first watch. The Gemara then considers what the rabbi could mean by this definition—
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