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450 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Bahya ben Joseph

prove the incorporeality of God. The question with is rather, How can we know a being who is so far beyond our mental comprehension Attributes that we can not even define Him? of God All In answering this, Bahya distinNegative. guishes between two different kinds of attributes; namely, essential attributes and such as are derived from activity. Three attributes of God are essential, though we derive them from creation: (1) His existence; since a non-existent being can not create things (3) His unity since the last cause of all (3) His eternity things is necessarily one and everlasting. But these three attributes are one and inseparable from the

him







nature of

God in fact, they are only negative atGod can not be non-existent, or a nona non-unit, or else He is not God.

tributes:

eternal or

The second

class of attributes, such as are derived

most frequently applied to God in the Bible, and are as well applied to the creatures These anthropomorphisms, howas to the Creator.

from

activity, are

whether they speak of God as having manlike form or as displaying a manlike activity, are used in the Bible only for the purpose of imparting in homely language a knowledge of God to men who would otherwise not comprehend Him; while the intelliever,

450

Bahya here presents a beautiful and interesting system of natural philosoph}', the teleological character of which indicates its provenience His from the Brothers of Purity, as well as Natural from Galen, whom he mentions in parFollowing the idea expressed Phiticular. losophy. in Prov. ix. 1, " Wisdom hath builded her house, hewn out her seven pillars," he points out a sevenfold manifestation for the creative wisdom in (1) the combination of the elements of which the earth forms the center, with water and air surrounding it and fire placed above; (2) the perfection of man as the microcosm (3) the physiology and intellectual faculties of man; (4) the order of the animal kingdom (5) that of the vegetable kingdom (6) the sciences, arts, and industries of man and (7) the divine revelation as well as the moral and social welfare of all the nations. But, as has been said by one of the sages, " True philosophy is to know oneself." It behooves man to ponder on his own wondrous formation in order to recognize the wisdom of his Maker in observing the process of transformation of the elements into vegetation, which as food turns into marrow and blood, and builds up the animal body, which again, when joined to the soul a spiri;





—

tual, ethereal

body akin

to the celestial spirits

—be-

gent thinker will gradually divest the Creator of every quality that renders Him manlike or similar to any creature. The true essence of God being inaccessible to our understanding, the Bible offers the.

and struggling man. How diverse the qualities of soul and of body and yet they are united by the breath of life, the blood, And how wisely are all and the nervous system

name of God as substitute; making human reverence, and the center of

the tender organs shielded by flesh, skin, hair, ornail against the perils surrounding them! And what marvelous foresight is exhibited in the way the infant is sheltered in the womb against the harmful influences of the atmosphere and nourished like a plant until it enters life, when the blood in the mother's breast is transformed for it into nurturing milk. The long dependence of the child upon the mother, the gradual awakening of the senses, and the slow development of the intellect lest its state of helplessness become unbearable, the frequent shedding of tears, even the mode of teething and the frequent sicknesses that befall children, betoken an especial training of man for the higher objects and obligations of life. Bahya then surveys the entire physiology and psychology of man; showing the wisdom displayed in the construction of each organ and of eachfacultj 7 and disposition of the soul; also in such contrasts as memory and forgetfulness the latter being as necessary for the peace and enjoyment of man as is the former for his intellectual progress. In nature likewise, the consideration of the sublimity of the heavens and of the motion of all things, the interchange of light and darkness, the variety of color in the realm of creation, the awe with which the sight of

the object of ancestral tradiit

And just because the wisest of men learn in the end to know only their inability to name God adequately, the appellation " God of the Fathers " will strike with peculiar force all people alike. All attempts to express in terms of praise all the qualities of God will necessarily fail (Ber. 336). tion.

Man's

know God finds its parallel in know his own soul, whose existence is

inability to

bis inability to

manifested in every one of his acts. Just as each of the five senses has its natural limitations the sound that is heard by the ear, for instance, not being perceptible to the eye so human reason has its limits Insistence in regard to the comprehension of God. on knowing the sun beyond what is possible to the human eye causes blindness in man so does the insistence on knowing Him who is unknowable, not only through the study of His work, but through attempts to ascertain His own essence, bewilder and confound the mind, so as to impair man's reason. To reflect on the greatness and goodness of God, as manifested throughout creation, is consequently the highest duty of man and to this is devoted the second section of the book, entitled " Sha'ar ha-Behinah " (Gate of Reflection). Men, as a rule, fail to appreciate the mercies of God, either because their insatiable longing for pleasure deprives them of the sense of gratitude, or because they are spoiled by fortune, or dissatisfied and disappointed in their exAll the more necessary is it to pectation of life. contemplate the active working of God in order to penetrate as far as possible into the Divine wisdom, which, while ever the same, is infinitely manifold in its effects, just as the rays of the sun differ in color according to their mode of refraction.

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comes a thinking,

striving,

!

!

—

living

man

inspires the brute, the wonderful fertil-

ity of each grain of corn in the soil, the large

supply

of those elements that are essential to organic

life,

and water, and the lesser frequency of those things that form the objects of industry and commerce in the shape of nourishment and raiment all these and similar observations tend to fill man's soul with gratitude and praise for the providential love and wisdom of the Creator. This necessarily leads man to the worship of such as

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air