strip of territory, and had handed over to the care of other gods
substituted by Himself the rest of the nations and territories,
and that therefore He was called the God of Israel and the God
of Jerusalem, whereas the other gods were called the gods of the
Gentiles.  (2:94) For this reason the Jews believed that the strip of
territory which God had chosen for Himself, demanded a Divine worship
quite apart and different from the worship which obtained elsewhere,
and that the Lord would not suffer the worship of other gods adapted
to other countries.  (95) Thus they thought that the people whom the
king of Assyria had brought into Judaea were torn in pieces by lions
because they knew not the worship of the National Divinity
(2 Kings xvii:25).

(2:96) Jacob, according to Aben Ezra's opinion, therefore admonished
his sons when he wished them to seek out a new country, that they
should prepare themselves for a new worship, and lay aside the
worship of strange, gods - that is, of the gods of the land where
they were (Gen. xxxv:2, 3).

(2:97) David, in telling Saul that he was compelled by the king's
persecution to live away from his country, said that he was driven
out from the heritage of the Lord, and sent to worship other gods
(1 Sam. xxvi:19).  (98) Lastly, he believed that this Being or Deity
had His habitation in the heavens (Deut. xxxiii:27), an opinion
very common among the Gentiles.

(2:99) If we now examine the revelations to Moses, we shall find
that they were accommodated to these opinions; as he believed
that the Divine Nature was subject to the conditions of mercy,
graciousness, &c., so God was revealed to him in accordance with
his idea and under these attributes (see Exodus xxxiv:6, 7, and
the second commandment).  (100) Further it is related (Ex. xxxiii:18)
that Moses asked of God that he might behold Him, but as Moses
(as we have said) had formed no mental image of God, and God
(as I have shown) only revealed Himself to the prophets in
accordance with the disposition of their imagination, He did not
reveal Himself in any form.  (2:101) This, I repeat, was because
the imagination of Moses was unsuitable, for other prophets bear
witness that they saw the Lord; for instance, Isaiah, Ezekiel,
Daniel, &c.  (102) For this reason God answered Moses, "Thou canst
not see My face;" and inasmuch as Moses believed that God can be
looked upon - that is, that no contradiction of the Divine nature
is therein involved (for otherwise he would never have preferred
his request) - it is added, "For no one shall look on Me and live,"
thus giving a reason in accordance with Moses' idea, for it is not
stated that a contradiction of the Divine nature would be involved,
as was really the case, but that the thing would not come to pass
because of human infirmity.

(2:103) When God would reveal to Moses that the Israelites,
because they worshipped the calf, were to be placed in the
same category as other nations, He said (ch. xxxiii:2, 3),
that He would send an angel (that is, a being who should
have charge of the Israelites, instead of the Supreme Being),
and that He Himself would no longer remain among them; thus
leaving Moses no ground for supposing that the Israelites
were more beloved by God than the other nations whose
guardianship He had entrusted to other beings or angels
(vide verse 16).

(2:104) Lastly, as Moses believed that God dwelt in the heavens,
God was revealed to him as coming down from heaven on to a mountain,
and in order to talk with the Lord Moses went up the mountain,
which he certainly need not have done if he could have conceived
of God as omnipresent.

(2:105) The Israelites knew scarcely anything of God, although
He was revealed to them; and this is abundantly evident from
their transferring, a few days afterwards, the honour and
worship due to Him to a calf, which they believed to be the
god who had brought them out of Egypt.  (106) In truth, it is
hardly likely that men accustomed to the superstitions of Egypt,
uncultivated and sunk in most abject slavery, should have held
any sound notions about the Deity, or that Moses should have
taught them anything beyond a rule of right living; inculcating
it not like a philosopher, as the result of freedom, but like a
lawgiver compelling them to be moral by legal authority.
(2:107) Thus the rule of right living, the worship and love
of God, was to them rather a bondage than the true liberty,
the gift and grace of the Deity.  (108) Moses bid them love God
and keep His law, because they had in the past received benefits
from Him (such as the deliverance from slavery in Egypt), and
further terrified them with threats if they transgressed His
commands, holding out many promises of good if they should
observe them; thus treating them as parents treat irrational
children.  (108a) It is, therefore, certain that they knew not
the excellence of virtue and the true happiness.

(2:109) Jonah thought that he was fleeing from the sight of God,
which seems to show that he too held that God had entrusted the
care of the nations outside Judaea to other substituted powers.
(110) No one in the whole of the Old Testament speaks more
rationally of God than Solomon, who in fact surpassed all the
men of his time in natural ability.  (111) Yet he considered
himself above the law (esteeming it only to have been given for
men without reasonable and intellectual grounds for their actions),
and made small account of the laws concerning kings, which are
mainly three: nay, he openly violated them (in this he did wrong,
and acted in a manner unworthy of a philosopher, by indulging in
sensual pleasure), and taught that all Fortune's favours to