discussed in the sequel, in accordance with the object of this treatise (II. chap. xiv.).
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE term regel is homonymous, signifying, in the first place, the foot of a living being; comp." Foot for foot (Exod. XXi. 24). Next it denotes an object which follows another: comp. And all the people that follow thee" Oit. that are at thy feet) (ib. xi. 18). Another signification of the word is cc cause"; comp." And the Lord hath blessed thee, I being the cause" (leragli) (Gen. xxx. 30), i.e., for my sake; for that which exists for the sake of another thing has the latter for Its final cause. Examples of the term used in this sense are numerous. It has that meaning in Genesis xxxiii. 14," Because (leregel) of the cattle that goeth before me, and because (leregel) of the children."
Consequently, the Hebrew text, of which the literal rendering is:" And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives" (Zech. xiv. 4) can be explained in the following way:" And the things caused by him (raglav) on that day upon the Mount of Olives, that is to say, the wonders which will then be seen, and of which God will be the Cause or the Maker, will remain permanently." To this explanation does Jonathan son of Uziel incline in paraphrasing the passage," And he will appear in his might on that day upon the Mount of Olives. He generally expresses terms denoting those parts of the body by which contact and motion are effected, by" his might" [when referring to God], because all such expressions denote acts done by His Will.
In the passage (Exod. xxiv. 10, lit.," And there was under his feet, like the action of the whiteness of a sapphire stone" ), Onkelos, as you know, in his version, considers the word (raglav)" his feet" as a figurative expression and a substitute for" throne": the words" under his feet" he therefore paraphrases," And under the throne of his glory." Consider this well, and you will observe with wonder how Onkelos keeps free from the idea of the corporeality of God, and from everything that leads thereto, even in the remotest degree. For he does not say," and under His throne": the direct relation of the throne to God, implied in the literal sense of the phrase" His throne," would necessarily suggest the idea that God is supported by a material object, and thus lead directly to the corporeality of God: he therefore refers the throne to His glory, i.e., to the Shekhinah, which is a light created for the purpose.
Similarly he paraphrases the words," For my hand I lift up to the throne of God" (Exod. xvii. 16)," An oath has been uttered by God, whose Shekhinah is upon the throne of his glory." This principle found also expression in the popular phrase," the Throne of the Glory."
We have already gone too far away from the subject of this chapter, and touched upon things which will be discussed in other chapters; we will now return to our present theme. You are acquainted with the version of Onkelos [of the passage quoted]. He contents himself with excluding from his version all expressions of corporeality in reference to God, and does not show us what they (the nobles of the children of Israel Exod. xxiv. 10) perceived,
