(1) And Moses went up into the mount of God, and the glory of the Lord abode on Mount Sinai, and a cloud over- shadowed it six days.

(7) Afterwards the pillar of fire, which accompanied them (for it went before them as a guide), conducted the Hebrews by night through an untrodden region, training and bracing them, by toils and hardships, to manliness and endurance, that after their experience of what appeared formidable difficulties, the benefits of the land, to which from the trackless desert he was conducting them, might become apparent. Furthermore, he put to flight and slew the hostile occupants of the land, falling upon them from a desert and rugged line of march (such was the excellence of his generalship). For the taking of the land of those hostile tribes was a work of skill and strategy.

(1) And He called to Moses on the seventh day out of the midst of the cloud, and the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a flaming fire on the top of the Mount.

(3) And when the Pleiades separated, I saw clouds, which I shall pass by. For the cloud of the spirit is like a pure beryl. And the cloud of the hymen is like a shining emerald. And the cloud of silence is like a flourishing amaranth. And the cloud of the middle region is like a pure jacinth.

(12) For such is the allegory, according to the Scripture. But the fire was seen, as Aristobulus says, while the whole multitude, amounting to not less than a million, besides those under age, were congregated around the mountain, the circuit of the mount not being less than five days' journey. Over the whole place of the vision the burning fire was seen by them all encamped as it were around; so that the descent was not local. For God is everywhere.

(7) Again, there is the veil of the entrance into the holy of holies. Four pillars there are, the sign of the sacred tetrad of the ancient covenants.

(2) Behold, when God the Father had brought Israel into the Wilderness to Mount Sinai, and would give them Laws, in which they should live, then he commanded Moses to come up the Mountain to the Lord, and the rest of the Elders must stay afar off, and the People below the Mountain; and Moses went up the Mountain alone to the Lord, and there appeared the Brightness [or Glory] of the Lord, and on the seventh Day he called Moses, and spoke with him concerning all the Laws. And the Countenance of Moses was glorified from the Lord, so that he could stand before him, and speak with him. Thus also the Man Christ in Ternario Sancto [in the Holy Ternary] when he ascended into his Throne, was glorified on the ninth Day in the Holy Trinity.

(22) As the Children of Israel in the desert could not behold the countenance of Moses, and therefore, when he drew near to the people, he must put a veil before his face.

(2) Now concealment is evinced in the reference of the seven circuits around the temple, which are made mention of among the Hebrews; and the equipment on the robe, indicating by the various symbols, which had reference to visible objects, the agreement which from heaven reaches down to earth. And the covering and the veil were variegated with blue, and purple, and scarlet, and linen. And so it was suggested that the nature of the elements contained the revelation of God.

(1) Rabbi Nehuniah ben HaKana said: One verse (Job 37:21) states, "And now they do not see light, it is brilliant in the skies..." Another verse, however, (Psalm 18:12), states, "He made darkness His hiding place." It is also written (Psalm 97:2), "Cloud and gloom surround Him." This is an apparent contradiction. A third verse comes and reconciles the two. It is written (Psalm 139:12), "Even darkness is not dark to You. Night shines like day — light and darkness are the same."

(1) And the angel of the presence who went before the camp of Israel took the tables of the divisions of the years — from the time of the creation — of the law and of the testimony of the weeks, of the jubilees, according to the indivi- dual years, according to all the number of the jubilees [according to the individual years], from the day of the [new] creation fwhenf the heavens a and the earth shall be renewed and all their creation according to the powers of the heaven, and according to all the creation of the earth, until the sanctuary of the Lord shall be made in Jerusalem7 on Mount Zion, and all the luminaries be renewed for healing and for peace and for blessing for all the elect of Israel, and that thus it may be from that day and unto all the days of the earth. The Angel dictates to Moses the Primaeval History : the Creation of the World and Institution of the Sabbath (ii. - ; cf. Gen. i-ii. ).

(21) Moses speaks only of the Tables of God, which were graven through with the Ten Commandments, so that they could see through them into the Paradise. He hung the Vail before his Face (as is to be seen concerning [the People of] Israel) because Man was become earthly, and therefore must put Virgin-like. off the earthly again, and then he must with Joshua (or Jesus) enter into the paradisical promised Land, and not with Moses stay in the Wilderness of this World, where the Vail of this World hangs before him, before the Paradise.

(14) Well, then, that fire like a pillar, and the fire in the desert, is the symbol of the holy light which passed through from earth and returned again to heaven, by the wood [of the cross], by which also the gift of intellectual vision was bestowed on us.

(10) From such an instance, therefore, let our accounts become credible to the Greeks, namely, that it was possible for the omnipotent God to make the pillar of fire, which was their guide on their march, go before the Hebrews by night.

(89) And the Lord of the sheep went with them, as their leader, and all His sheep followed Him: and his face was dazzling and glorious and terrible to behold.

(22) Why did God keep Israel forty Years in the Wilderness, and feed them with heavenly Bread? That they should be a People full of Love, such as love one another, and should depend on God in one Love; and therefore he gave their Laws, Brightness [or Clarity,] to see if they could live in the Love of the Father, and then he would have sent them among the Heathens, to turn them with their Wonders; as was done at the Time of the Apostles. And in that he fed them from the Heaven, and that none of them (which gathered much or little) had any Want, thereby they ought to have known, that the Kingdom [the Power and all] is God's, and that they were in him; they ought to have left their Covetousness, and to converse among one another with brotherly Love, none ought to look after Covetousness, because he horribly punished nit.

(5) What was done there? Answer, Moses was called by God (out from [among] the Children of Israel) up into Mount Sinai, and stayed there forty Days: And then he would try the People whether it was possible for them to put their Trust [or Confidence] in God, that they might be fed with heavenly Bread, that so they might attain Perfection. And there now stood the Mind Majoris mundi, of the great World; and on the contrary, the eternal Mind of God, in Strife one against another; God required Obedience, and the Mind of this World required [or desired] the Pleasure of this transitory Life, as Eating, Drinking, Playing, Dancing; therefore they chose them moreover their Belly-God, a Golden Calf, that they might be free and live without Law,

(7) But now when they were fallen away from God, [as Adam was,] then came Moses and Joshua, and saw the Apostacy [or Falling away,] and broke the Tables in Pieces, and led them into the Wilderness; where they must all die, except Joshua and Caleb: For the Clarity [or Brightness] of the Father in the Fire, in the first Principle, could not bring them into the promised Land; and although they did eat Manna, yet it did not help [in] the Trial, only Joshua, and at length JESUS must do it.

(5) Rabbi Rahumai sat and expounded: What is the meaning of the verse (Deuteronomy 33:23), "The filling is God's blessing, possessing the Sea and the South"? This means that wherever we find the letter ב it is blessed. This is the Filling referred to in the verse, "The filling is God's blessing." From there it nourishes those who need it. It was from this Filling that God sought advice. What example does this resemble? A king wanted to build his palace among great cliffs. He mined into the bedrock and uncovered a great spring of living water. The king then said, "Since I have flowing water, I will plant a garden. Then I will delight in it, and so will all the world." It is therefore written (Proverbs 8:30), "I was with Him as a craftsman, I was His delight for a day, a day, frolicking before him at every time." The Torah is saying, "For two thousand years I was in the bosom of the Blessed Holy One as His delight." The verse therefore says, "a day, a day." Each day of the Blessed Holy One is a thousand years, as it is written (Psalm 90:4), "A thousand years in Your eyes is as but yesterday when it is passed." From then on, it is at times, as the verse states, "...at every time." The rest is for the world. It is thus written (Isaiah 48:9), "I will breathe out My praise through My nose for you." What is the meaning of "My praise"? As it is written (Psalm 145:2), "A praise of David, I will raise You high..." Why is this a praise? Because I will "raise You high." And what is this elevation? Because "I will bless Your name for the world and forever."

(1) With that "brightness of lightning" He kindled their souls That, which shone from Adam was gathered by Seth, When Noah received the gift of that lustre, By that light the soul of Abraham was led, Without fear he entered Nimrod's fiery furnace. When Ishmael sought out that light, He meekly laid his head beneath his father's bright knife. The soul of David was warmed by its heat, When Solomon was nurtured by its fruition, When Jacob bowed his head to the Divine decree, When moonlike Joseph saw that brilliant sun, When the staff drew might from the hand of Moses,