Page:Ginzburg - The Legends of the Jews - Volume 5.djvu/54

106–107] $undefined$ vol. IV, p. 309.In Visio Pauli 4–6, the sun, moon, stars, and the sea implore God to grant them the power to destroy the sinners.There is a widespread view, which is based on Deut. 31.28, to the effect that the earth, the heaven, and the heavenly bodies bear witness for and against man, according to his actions; comp. Enoch 1.7; Sifre D., 306; ‘Abodah Zarah 3a.The following legend is quoted by many medieval authors (Mahzor Vitry 373; Zohar III, 275a; Sefer Mizwot Gadol, 42nd positive precept; Kaneh in Yalkut Reubeni I, 16, 8b) from an unknown midrashic source which reads: Whenever Satan brings accusations against Israel on the New Year, the day when God sits down to judge the whole universe, God commands him to produce witnesses in support of his accusations.But he can only secure one witness on that day, the sun, because the moon is invisible at that time; but when Satan appears ten days later, on the Day of Atonement, with his second witness, he is informed by the Lord that Israel repented of their sins during the ten days of penitence and that they were pardoned.Satan fares still worse in the legend given in PR 45, 185b–186a, according to which, while Satan is searching for more sins, God removes sins from the balance in which the good and evil deeds are weighed.On the appearance of the heavenly bodies, before and after their daily course, before God, comp. Baba Batra 25a and vol. III, p. 116.  $undefined$ Zohar Hadash Bereshit 4, 23a (on Gen. 2.8); that God’s name is engraved in the sun is already mentioned in PRE 6, as well as in the Baraita de-Ma'aseh Bereshit 50; whereas according to the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch 6, the bird running before the sun (comp. vol. I, p. 32) bears on its body an inscription of golden letters.In the old Midrashim (Tan. B. II, 112; Kinyan Torah; introduction to Ekah 2; Tan. Ki-Tissa 16; PK 15, 121a; ShR 41.6) it is said that a heavenly voice proclaims daily on mount Horeb: “Woe to mankind for contempt of the Torah.”The revelation which took place on Sinai-Horeb is a constant accusation against mankind for not walking in God’s path, despite the Torah that was given to them.Similarly the daily appearance of the sun also is a constant accusation against the sinners who do not recognize their Creator.  $undefined$ 107 BR 6.7; ShR 5.9; Koheleth Z. 86; Shemuel 9, 74; Yoma 20b–21a; PRE 34.On the grating of the sun against its wheel, comp. Sachs, Beiträge, I, 50; Perles, Etymologische Studien, 72; Grunbaum, Gesammclte Aufsätzet 145.This has nothing to do with the music of the spheres, despite the statement of Maimonides, Guide of the 