The Creation of a People

(101) 95. The Rabbi: Bear with me a little while that I show the lofty station of the people. For me it is sufficient that God chose them as His people from all nations of the world, and allowed His influence to rest on all of them, and that they nearly approached being addressed by Him. It even descended on their women, among whom were prophetesses, whilst since Adam only isolated individuals had been inspired till then.

Adam was perfection itself, because no flaw could be found in a work of a wise and Almighty Creator, wrought from a substance chosen by Him, and fashioned according to His own design. There was no restraining influence, no fear of atavism, no question of nutrition or education during the years of childhood and growth; neither was there the influence of climate, water, or soil to consider. For He created him in the form of an adolescent, perfect in body and mind. The soul with which he was endowed was perfect; his intellect was the loftiest which it is possible for a human being to possess, and beyond this he was gifted with the divine power of such high rank, that it brought him into connexion with beings divine and spiritual, and enabled him, with slight reflection, to comprehend the great truths without instruction. We call him God's son, and we call all those who were like him also sons of God.

He left many children, of whom the only one capable of taking his place was Abel, because he alone was like him. After he had been slain by Kain through jealousy of this privilege, it passed to his brother Seth, who also was like Adam, being [as it were] his essence and heart, whilst the others were like husks and rotten fruit. The essence of Seth, then, passed to Enosh, and in this way the divine influence was inherited by isolated individuals down to Noah. They are compared to the heart; they resembled Adam, and were styled sons of God. They were perfect outwardly and inwardly, their lives, knowledge and ability being likewise faultless. Their lives fix the chronology from Adam to Noah, as well as from Noah to Abraham. There were some, however, among them who did not come under divine influence, as Terah, but his son Abraham was the disciple of his grandfather Eber, and was born in the lifetime of Noah. Thus the divine spirit descended from the grandfather to the grandchildren.

Abraham represented the essence of Eber, being his disciple, and for this reason he was called Ibri. Eber represented the essence of Shem, the latter that of Noah. He inherited the temperate zone, the centre and principal part of which is Palestine, the land of prophecy. Japheth turned towards north, and Ham towards south. The essence of Abraham passed over to Isaac, to the exclusion of the other sons who were all removed from the land, the special inheritance of Isaac. The prerogative of Isaac descended on Jacob, whilst Esau was sent from the land which belonged to Jacob.

The sons of the latter were all worthy of the divine influence, as well as of the country distinguished by the divine spirit. This is the first instance of the divine influence descending on a number of people, whereas it had previously only been vouchsafed to isolated individuals. Then God tended them in Egypt, multiplied and aggrandised them, as a tree with a sound root grows until it produces perfect fruit, resembling the first fruit from which it was planted, viz. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and his brethren. The seed further produced Moses, Aaron and Miriam, Bezaleel, Oholiab, and the chiefs of the tribes, the seventy Elders, who were all endowed with the spirit of prophecy; then Joshua, Kaleb, Hur, and many others. Then they became worthy of having the divine light and providence made visible to them. If disobedient men existed among them, they were hated, but remained, without doubt, of the essence inasmuch as they were part of it on account of their descent and nature, and begat children who were of the same stamp. An ungodly man received consideration in proportion to the minuteness of the essence with which he was endowed, for it reappeared in his children and grandchildren according to the purity of their lineage. This is how we regard Terah and others in whom the divine afflatus was not visible, though, to a certain extent, it underlay his natural disposition, so that he begat a descendant filled with the essence, which was not the case with all the posterity of Ham and Japhet. We perceive a similar phenomenon in nature at large. Many people do not resemble their father, but take after their grand-fathers. There cannot, consequently, be any doubt that this nature and resemblance was hidden in the father, although it did not become visible outwardly, as was the nature of Eber in his children, until it reappeared in Abraham.

(3) Once this Might One was weaning, he began to question these practices while he was young, and to ponder day and night. He would wonder, "How could this sun behave like this always, without a Guide, or someone to keep it in motion? Because certainly it is impossible for it to cause itself to orbit." And he had no teacher or informer; rather he was immersed in the idolatrous environment of Ur Kasdim amongst the foolish idol worshippers. His father and mother, along with the rest of the population, were all idol worshippers. He would worship with them, but he would question and wonder, until he found the true and just path from his own correct intuition. And he knew that there is only one God, that He guides the sun, that He created everything, and that there exists no other God besides Him. And he knew that the entire world was mistaken, and that which lead them astray was that they worshipped the stars and the idols, until they lost the truth. And Abraham was 40 years old when he recognized his Creator.

Once he recognized and understood God he began to tell others in Ur Kasdim and argue with them, saying that they path which they walk is not the path of truth. And he broke their images and he began to inform them that it was fitting to worship only the one God of the World, to bow and bring sacrifices and librations to Him alone, in order so that future generations would know Him. And that it was fitting to abandon and destroy all of the idols, so that the entire nation would not be lead astray, like those who believed they were the only gods. Because Abraham overpowered them with his proofs, the king ordered him to be killed. But a miracle was down for him, and he escaped to Charan. He began to call out in a great voice to the entire world that there was only one God, and only He was worthy of worship. And he would travel, and call out, and gather the people from city to city, and state to state, until he arrived in the land of Canaan, and called out [to the inhabitants] there, as it says, "He called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God" (Genesis 21:33). And since the people were gathered around him and asking him questions, he would respond to each and every one according to their ability, until he would return him or her to the true path, until multitudes and thousands had been gathered to him. And these are the people of the House of Abraham. He planted within them this major foundation and wrote books about it, and informed Isaac his son about it. And Isaac would teach and warn others. And Isaac informed Jacob and appointed him to teach and sat and strengthen all those following him. And Jacob our Father taught all of his sons, and separated Levi and appointed him the leader of an academy to teach the path of the Name and to observe Abraham's instructions. And he commanded his sons that a appointments from the Children of Levi should never cease so that the teachings would never be forgotten. And this practice continued and grew amongst the children of Jacob and those who accompanied them, and a nation was created in the world that knew God.

Until Israel's days in Egypt grew longer, and they returned to learning their ways, worshipping stars like the Egyptians—except for the tribe of Levi that upheld the commandments of the Forefathers, and the tribe of Levi never worshipped idols. And the fundamental principle that Abraham had planted was almost completely uprooted and the Children of Yaakov returned to err and to stray. And out of God's love for us, he upheld the oath he swore to Abraham, and made Moses our Teacher the Teacher of all the prophets and sent him. And since Moses prophesied, and God chose Israel as His portion, He crowned them with commandments and informed them of the way to worship Him, and what the laws would be concerning idol worship and those who err after idols.

(32) 26. Al Khazari: If this be so, then your belief is confined to yourselves?

(33) 27. The Rabbi: Yes; but any Gentile who joins us unconditionally shares our good fortune, without, however, being quite equal to us. If the Law were binding on us only because God created us, the white and the black man would be equal, since He created them all. But the Law was given to us because He led us out of Egypt, and remained attached to us, because we are the pick of mankind.