The use made by some well-meaning Christians of the above-named Kabbalistic canons of interpretation, in controversies with Jews, to prove that the doctrines of Christianity are concealed under the letter of the Old Testament, will now be deprecated by every one who has any regard for the laws of language. As a literary curiosity, however, we shall give one or two specimens. No less a person than the celebrated [[144]]Reuchlin would have it that the doctrine of the Trinity is to be found in the first verse of Genesis. He submits, if the Hebrew word ‏ברא‎, which is translated created, be examined, and if each of the three letters composing this word be taken as the initial of a separate word, we obtain the expressions ‏בן רוח אב‎ Son, Spirit, Father, according to Rule 2 (p. [131]). Upon the same principle this erudite scholar deduces the first two persons in the Trinity from the words—“the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” ( Ps. cxviii, 22 ), by dividing the three letters composing the word ‏אבן‎ stone, into ‏אב בן‎ Father, Son (Comp. De Verbo Mirifico, Basel, 1494). In more recent times we find it maintained that the ‘righteousness’ spoken of in Daniel ix, 24 , means the Anointed of Jehovah, because the original phrase, ‏צדק עלמים‎ is by Gematria, = numerical value, (which is Rule 1, given above, p. [131]), the same as ‏משיח יהוה‎. So pleased is the author with this discovery, that he takes great care to remark—“It is a proof which I believe has hitherto escaped the notice of interpreters.” Such proofs, however, of the Messiaship of Christ bring no honour to our religion; and in the present day argue badly both against him who adduces them and against him who is convinced by them. [[145]]

[1] ‏דע כי אין סוף לא יכנס בהרהור וכל שכן בדבור אף על פי שיש לו רמז בכל דבר שאין חוץ ממנו ולכך אין אות ואין שם ואין דבר אשר יגבלנו‎, Commentary of the ten Sephiroth, ed. Berlin, p. 4 a. This doctrine, however, that everything is in the Deity is not peculiar to the Kabbalah, it has been propounded by the Jews from time immemorial, before the Kabbalah came into existence, as may be seen from the following passage in the Midrash. “The Holy One, blessed be he, is the space of the universe, but the universe is not his space (‏הקב״ה מקומו של עולם ואין העולם מקומו‎). R. Isaac submitted: from the passage ‏מעונה אלהי קדם‎ ( Deut. xxxiii, 27 ), we do not know whether the Holy One, blessed be he, is the habitation of the universe or the universe his habitation; but from the remark ‏אדני מעון אתה‎ Lord thou art the dwelling place ( Ps. xc, 1 ), it is evident that the Holy One, blessed be he, is the dwelling place of the universe, and not the universe his dwelling place.” (Bereshith Rabba, § lxviii.) To the same effect is the remark of Philo, “God himself is the space of the universe, for it is he who contains all things.” (De Somniis, i.) It is for this reason that God is called ‏מקום‎ or ‏המקום‎ = ὁ τόπος, locus, and that the Septuagint renders ‏ויראו את אלהי ישראל וגו׳‎ ( Exod. xxiv, 10 ), by καὶ εἶδον τὸν τόπον, οὗ εἱστήκει ὁ θεὸς, which has occasioned so much difficulty to interpreters. [↑]

[2] ‏לא ידע ולא אתידע מה דהוי בראישא דא דלא׳ אתדבק בחכמתא ולא כסוכלתנו ובגן כן אקרי אין‎ (Sohar iii, 283 b.) To the same effect is the ancient expository work on the doctrine of the Emanations which we quoted in the preceding note, comp. ‏מה שאינו מוגבל קרוי אין סוף והוא ההשואה גמורה באחדות השלמח שאין בה שנוי ואם הוא מבלי גבול אין חוץ ממנו‎, Commentary on the ten Sephiroth, ed. Berlin, p. 2 a. [↑]

[3] ‏דע כי אין סוף אין לומר כי יש לו רצון ולא כונה ולא חפץ ולא מחשבה ולא דבור ומעשה‎ ibid., 4 a. [↑]

[4] ‏אם האמר כי הוא בלבד כיון בבריאח עולמו יש להשיב על זה כי הכונה מורה על הסרון המכון‎, Commentary on the ten Sephiroth, p. 2 b. Again, says the same authority, ‏ואם תאמר שהגבול הגמצא ממנו תחלה היה העולם הזה שהוא (העולם) חסר מהשלמותו חסרת חכוח שהוא ממנו .… ואם תאמר שלא כיון בבריאחו אם כן היתה הבריאה במקרה, וכל דבר הבא במקרה אין לו סדר, ואנו רואים כי הנבראים יש לחם סדר, ועל סדר הם מתקימים, ועל סדר הם מתכטלים, ועל סדר הם מתחדשים‎, ibid., p. 2. [↑]

[5] Both the etymology and the exact meaning of the word ‏ספירה‎ (plural ‏ספירות‎) are matters of dispute. R. Azariel, the first Kabbalist, derives it from ‏ספר‎ to number, whilst the later Kabbalists derive it alternately from ‏ספיר‎ Saphir, from ‏השמים מספרים כבוד אל‎ ( Ps. xix, 1 ), and from the Greek σφαῖραι, and are not at all certain whether to regard the Sephiroth as principles (ἀρχαὶ), or as substances (ὑποστάσεις), or as potencies, powers (δυνάμεις), or as intelligent worlds (κόσμοι νοητικοί), or as attributes, or as entities (‏עצמות‎), or as organs of the Deity (‏כלים‎). [↑]

[6] The Sohar, like the Talmud, generally renders the words ‏מלך שלמה‎ King Solomon; while verses in the Song of Songs, by ‏מלכא די שלמא דיליה‎ the King to whom peace belongs. [↑]

[7] ‏כי כל בריאה כשנוטלין ממנה תתמעט ותתחסר .… כח האצילות שנוטלין ממנו ואינו חסר‎, Commentary on the ten Sephiroth, 2 b; 4 a. [↑]

[8] ‏הספירות שהם כח השלם וכח החסר כשהם מקבלים מהשפע הבא מהשלמתו הם כח שלם ובהמנע השפע מהם יש בחם כח חסר לכך יש בהם כח לפעול בהשלמה ובחסרון‎. [↑]