Note 25 — I.

This view that the mere literal narrative is unworthy of inspiration, and that it must contain a spiritual meaning concealed under the garment of the letter, is not peculiar to the Kabbalah. Both the Synagogue and the Church have maintained the same from time immemorial. Thus the Talmud already describes the impious Manasseh, King of Israel, as making himself merry over the narratives of the Pentateuch and ironically asking (‏מנשוה בן חזקיה שהיה יושב ודורש בהגדות של דופי אמר וכי לא היה לו למשה לכתוב אלא אחות לוטן תמנע והמנע היתה פלגש לאליפז וילך ראובן בימי קציר חטים וימצא דודאים בשדה‎), whether Moses could not find anything better to relate than that “Loton’s sister was Timna” ( Gen. xxxvi, 22 ); “Timna was the concubine of Eliphaz” (ibid., v. 12 ); that “Reuben went in the days of the wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field” (ibid., xxx, 14 ), &c, &c. And it is replied that these narratives contain another sense besides the literal one. (Sanhedrim, 99 b.) Hence the rule (‏כל מה שאירע לאבות סימן לבנים‎), what happened to the fathers is typical of the children. ↑