gaze

And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.

Gaze not on a maid, that thou fall not by those things that are precious in her.

And to turn away thy face from thy kinsman; or to take away a portion or a gift; or to gaze upon another man’s wife.

Bound and exposed to public gaze, they were hurried violently on board ship.

They were carried like this in this vessel, and at the end of it arrived at Schedia. The king had ordered them to be cast into the vast hippodrome, which was built in front of the city. This place was well adapted by its situation to expose them to the gaze of all comers into the city, and of those who went from the city into the country. Thus they could hold no communication with his forces. They weren’t deemed worthy of any civilized accommodation.

The king’s heart teemed with impious rage; and he rushed forth with the mass, along with the elephants. With unsoftened feelings and pitiless eyes, he longed to gaze at the hard and wretched doom of the previously mentioned Jews.

The day of their victory shone forth, and they proceeded from the prison into the amphitheatre, as if to an assembly, joyous and of brilliant countenances; if perchance shrinking, it was with joy, and not with fear. Perpetua followed with placid look, and with step and gait as a matron of Christ, beloved of God; casting down the luster of her eyes from the gaze of all. Moreover, Felicitas, rejoicing that she had safely brought forth, so that she might fight with the wild beasts; from the blood and from the midwife to the gladiator, to wash after childbirth with a second baptism. And when they were brought to the gate, and were constrained to put on the clothing—the men, that of the priests of Saturn, and the women, that of those who were consecrated to Ceres—that noble-minded woman resisted even to the end with constancy. For she said, “We have come thus far of our own accord, for this reason, that our liberty might not be restrained. For this reason we have yielded our minds, that we might not do any such thing as this: we have agreed on this with you.” Injustice acknowledged the justice; the tribune yielded to their being brought as simply as they were. Perpetua sang psalms, already treading under foot the head of the Egyptian; Revocatus, and Saturninus, and Saturus uttered threatenings against the gazing people about this martyrdom. When they came within sight of Hilarianus, by gesture and nod, they began to say to Hilarianus, “Thou judgest us,” say they, “but God will judge thee.” At this the people, exasperated, demanded that they should be tormented with scourges as they passed along the rank of the venatores. And they indeed rejoiced that they should have incurred any one of their Lord’s passions.

Then Death came into the tomb of the Saviour, and he found it lighted up with the light of life, and he went into the back of the tomb, and seated himself there with his ministers. Now Abbatôn, who is Death, and Gaios, and Tryphon, and Ôphiath, and Phthinôn, and Sotomis, and Komphion, who are the six sons of Death, wriggled into the tomb of the Son of God on their faces in the form of serpents (?), wriggling in with their great thief in very truth. These robbers and evil-doers were lying in wait for the moment wherein the Saviour would go down into Amente, so that they might enter with Him, and know what it was that He would do. And the Saviour made Himself manifest unto them in the form of a dead body, in the hinder part of the tomb; He was lying upon the ground in their midst—now it was the second day that He was in the heart of the earth—and there was a napkin bound round His face, and another one bound round His head. Gaze thou thyself, O my son, at what His eye doth gaze at, how that the sun doth stand still, and doth not rise upon the earth, for He hath covered His face with a napkin.

Then Death came into the tomb of the Saviour, and he found it lighted up with the light of life, and he went into the back of the tomb, and seated himself there with his ministers. Now Abbatôn, who is Death, and Gaios, and Tryphon, and Ôphiath, and Phthinôn, and Sotomis, and Komphion, who are the six sons of Death, wriggled into the tomb of the Son of God on their faces in the form of serpents (?), wriggling in with their great thief in very truth. These robbers and evil-doers were lying in wait for the moment wherein the Saviour would go down into Amente, so that they might enter with Him, and know what it was that He would do. And the Saviour made Himself manifest unto them in the form of a dead body, in the hinder part of the tomb; He was lying upon the ground in their midst—now it was the second day that He was in the heart of the earth—and there was a napkin bound round His face, and another one bound round His head. Gaze thou thyself, O my son, at what His eye doth gaze at, how that the sun doth stand still, and doth not rise upon the earth, for He hath covered His face with a napkin.

At the time when the Saviour brought us on the Mount of Olives He spake unto us in a language which we knew not, and at that very time He revealed it unto us, saying, 'Anetharath.' And straightway the heavens opened, one after the other, and the interior shone brightly like unto snow, and the Saviour passed onwards into the heavens whilst we followed Him with our gaze. Then the Saviour cast Himself down before His Good Father, saying, 'My Father, shew Thy mercy to My brethren the Apostles, and bless Thou them with an everlasting blessing.' Then the Father (with the Son, and with the Holy Spirit) stretched out His hand over the head of Peter, and consecrated him Archbishop of the whole world. And He blessed him, saying, 'Thou shalt be the chief and head in My kingdom, and thou shalt be the chief and head over the whole world likewise, for I and My beloved Son, and the Holy Spirit have laid Our hands on thy head. Whomsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; whomsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; nothing shall be exalted above thee and thy throne; and the hand of him that is ordained by any authority save thine shall be repulsed. Thy breath shall be filled with the breath of the Holy Spirit, so that every man whom thou shalt baptize shall receive a portion of the Holy Spirit.' And all the hosts of the heavens answered, 'Amen. Hallelujah.'

And while I said these things, look! A bright cloud surrounded me. Because of the way it was shining, I couldn't gaze into the light around it. And I heard something from the cloud and the light. It shone on me and said, "O Stranger, the sound of your prayer has been heard, and I've been sent here to tell you the gospel before you leave [this place], so that you may [know …] reveal [… body] dissolve […] the [spirit…]

And now, I command you, my children, not to love money, nor to gaze upon the beauty of women; because for the sake of money and beauty I was led astray to Bathshua the Canaanite.

Of the two sides under the border, the one which sloped down to the table was a very beautiful piece of work, but it was the outer side which attracted the gaze of the spectator.

Again when a man wished to direct his gaze to the silver vessels, as they stood before him, everything seemed to flash with light round about the place where he was standing, and afforded a still greater delight to the onlookers.

And he said to me: "All these slaughter, and divide the animals into halves, one against the other, but the birds do not sever; and give to the men, whom I will shew thee, standing by thee, for these are the altar upon the Mountain, to offer a sacrifice to the Eternal; but the turtledove and the pigeon give to me, for I will ascend upon the wings of the bird, in order to shew thee in heaven, and on the earth, and in the sea, and in the abyss, and in the under-world, and in the Garden of Eden, and in its rivers and in the fulness of the whole world and its circle — thou shalt gaze in (them) all."

And I said, And where does the sun begin its labours, after the cock crows? And the angel said to me, Listen, Baruch: All things whatsoever I showed thee are in the first and second heaven, and in the third heaven the sun passes through and gives light to the world. But wait, and thou shalt see the glory of God. And while I was conversing with him, I saw the bird, and he appeared in front, and grew less and less, and at length returned to his full size. And behind him I saw the shining sun, and the angels which draw it, and a crown upon its head, the sight of which we were not able to gaze upon, and behold. And as soon as the sun shone, the Phoenix also stretched out his wings. But I, when I beheld such great glory, was brought low with great fear, and I fled and hid in the wings of the angel. And the angel said to me, Fear not, Baruch, but wait and thou shalt also see their setting.

We wished, and God hath fulfilled [our wish]; we agreed concerning it, and God made it good; we held converse [concerning it], and God performed; we meditated [upon it], and God devised the plan; we spoke, and God was well pleased; we directed our gaze, and God directed it rightly; we meditated, and God hath justified.

We have wished to gaze upon the face of our women rather than upon the face of God in repentance.

Some such opinions, we believe, ought to be entertained regarding the divine promises, when we direct our understanding to the contemplation of that eternal and infinite world, and gaze on its ineffable joy and blessedness. But as the preaching of the church includes a belief in a future and just judgment of God, which belief incites and persuades men to a good and virtuous life, and to an avoidance of sin by all possible means; and as by this it is undoubtedly indicated that it is within our own power to devote ourselves either to a life that is worthy of praise, or to one that is worthy of censure, I therefore deem it necessary to say a few words regarding the freedom of the will, seeing that this topic has been treated by very many writers in no mean style. And that we may ascertain more easily what is the freedom of the will, let us inquire into the nature of will and of desire.

And with respect to His having descended among men, He was “previously in the form of God;” and through benevolence, divested Himself [of His glory], that He might be capable of being received by men. But He did not, I imagine, undergo any change from “good to evil,” for “He did no sin;” nor from “virtue to vice,” for “He knew no sin.” Nor did He pass from “happiness to misery,” but He humbled Himself, and nevertheless was blessed, even when His humiliation was undergone in order to benefit our race. Nor was there any change in Him from “best to worst,” for how can goodness and benevolence be of “the worst?” Is it befitting to say of the physician, who looks on dreadful sights and handles unsightly objects in order to cure the sufferers, that he passes from “good to evil,” or from “virtue to vice,” or from “happiness to misery?” And yet the physician, in looking on dreadful sights and handling unsightly objects, does not wholly escape the possibility of being involved in the same fate. But He who heals the wounds of our souls, through the word of God that is in Him, is Himself incapable of admitting any wickedness. But if the immortal God—the Word—by assuming a mortal body and a human soul, appears to Celsus to undergo a change and transformation, let him learn that the Word, still remaining essentially the Word, suffers none of those things which are suffered by the body or the soul; but, condescending occasionally to [the weakness of] him who is unable to look upon the splendours and brilliancy of Deity, He becomes as it were flesh, speaking with a literal voice, until he who has received Him in such a form is able, through being elevated in some slight degree by the teaching of the Word, to gaze upon what is, so to speak, His real and pre-eminent appearance.

Now, to him who would give to these lines a grave allegorical meaning (whether any such meaning be contained in them or not), we would say: Are the Greeks alone at liberty to convey a philosophic meaning in a secret covering? or perhaps also the Egyptians, and those of the barbarians who pride themselves upon their mysteries and the truth [which is concealed within them]; while the Jews alone, with their lawgiver and historians, appear to you the most unintelligent of men? And is this the only nation which has not received a share of divine power, and which yet was so grandly instructed how to rise upwards to the uncreated nature of God, and to gaze on Him alone, and to expect from Him alone [the fulfilment of] their hopes?

Let us look also at his next statement, in which he introduces, as it were, a certain person, who, after hearing what has been said, expresses himself in the following manner, “How, then, shall I know God? and how shall I learn the way that leads to Him? And how will you show Him to me? Because now, indeed, you throw darkness before my eyes, and I see nothing distinctly.” He then answers, as it were, the individual who is thus perplexed, and thinks that he assigns the reason why darkness has been poured upon the eyes of him who uttered the foregoing words, when he asserts that “those whom one would lead forth out of darkness into the brightness of light, being unable to withstand its splendours, have their power of vision affected and injured, and so imagine that they are smitten with blindness.” In answer to this, we would say that all those indeed sit in darkness, and are rooted in it, who fix their gaze upon the evil handiwork of painters, and moulders and sculptors, and who will not look upwards, and ascend in thought from all visible and sensible things, to the Creator of all things, who is light; while, on the other hand, every one is in light who has followed the radiance of the Word, who has shown in consequence of what ignorance, and impiety, and want of knowledge of divine things these objects were worshipped instead of God, and who has conducted the soul of him who desires to be saved towards the uncreated God, who is over all. For “the people that sat in darkness—the Gentiles—saw a great light, and to them who sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up,”—the God Jesus. No Christian, then, would give Celsus, or any accuser of the divine Word, the answer, “How shall I know God?” for each one of them knows God according to his capacity. And no one asks, “How shall I learn the way which leads to Him?” because he has heard Him who says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” and has tasted, in the course of the journey, the happiness which results from it. And not a single Christian would say to Celsus, “How will you show me God?”

He proceeds to repeat himself, and after saying a great deal which he had said before, and ridiculing the birth of God from a virgin,—to which we have already replied as we best could,—he adds the following: “If God had wished to send down His Spirit from Himself, what need was there to breathe it into the womb of a woman? For as one who knew already how to form men, He could also have fashioned a body for this person, without casting His own Spirit into so much pollution; and in this way He would not have been received with incredulity, if He had derived His existence immediately from above.” He has made these remarks, because he knows not the pure and virgin birth, unaccompanied by any corruption, of that body which was to minister to the salvation of men. For, quoting the sayings of the Stoics, and affecting not to know the doctrine about “things indifferent,” he thinks that the divine nature was cast amid pollution, and was stained either by being in the body of a woman, until a body was formed around it, or by assuming a body. And in this he acts like those who imagine that the sun’s rays are polluted by dung and by foul-smelling bodies, and do not remain pure amid such things. If, however, according to the view of Celsus, the body of Jesus had been fashioned without generation, those who beheld the body would at once have believed that it had not been formed by generation; and yet an object, when seen, does not at the same time indicate the nature of that from which it has derived its origin. For example, suppose that there were some honey [placed before one] which had not been manufactured by bees, no one could tell from the taste or sight that it was not their workmanship, because the honey which comes from bees does not make known its origin by the senses, but experience alone can tell that it does not proceed from them. In the same way, too, experience teaches that wine comes from the vine, for taste does not enable us to distinguish [the wine] which comes from the vine. In the same manner, therefore, the visible body does not make known the manner of its existence. And you will be induced to accept this view, by [regarding] the heavenly bodies, whose existence and splendour we perceive as we gaze at them; and yet, I presume, their appearance does not suggest to us whether they are created or uncreated; and accordingly different opinions have existed on these points. And yet those who say that they are created are not agreed as to the manner of their creation, for their appearance does not suggest it, although the force of reason may have discovered that they are created, and how their creation was effected.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel said: There were no days of joy in Israel greater than the fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur. On these days the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in borrowed white garments in order not to shame any one who had none. All these garments required immersion. The daughters of Jerusalem come out and dance in the vineyards. What would they say? Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself. Do not set your eyes on beauty but set your eyes on the family. “Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that fears the Lord, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30). And it further says, “Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her works praise her in the gates” (ibid, 31:31). Similarly it says, “O maidens of Zion, go forth and gaze upon King Solomon wearing the crown that his mother gave him on his wedding day, on the day of the gladness of his heart” (Song of Songs 3:11). “On his wedding day”: this refers to Matan Torah (the Giving of the Torah). “And on the day of the gladness of his heart”: this refers to the building of the Temple; may it be rebuilt speedily in our days, Amen.

All the walls that were there [in the Temple] were high except the eastern wall, for the priest who burned the red heifer would stand on the top of the Mount of Olives and direct his gaze carefully to see the opening of the Sanctuary at the time of the sprinkling of the blood.

King Monobaz distributed all his property to the poor. His relatives sent to him: Your forefathers added to what they had and to what their forefathers had, and you wasted yours and that of your forefathers. He said to them, that is correct! My forefathers locked it up in the earth, I locked it up in Heaven, as it is said (Ps. 85:12): “Truth will sprout from the earth, but charity will gaze from Heaven.” My fathers locked up treasures that bring no interest, but I locked up treasures that bring interest as it is said (Is. 3:10): “Say to the giver of charity that he did a good deed, that they will eat the fruits of their intentions.” My forefathers collected in a place over which a (human) hand rules, but I collected in a place over which no hand rules, as it is said (Ps. 97:2): “Charity and truth are the foundations of His throne.” My forefathers collected money but I collected souls, as it is said (Prov. 11:30): “He who acquires souls is wise.” My forefathers collected for others but I collected for myself, as it is said (Deut. 24:13): “Charity will be your property.” My forefathers collected in this world but I collected for the future world, as it is said (Prov. 10:2): “But charity will save from death.” And does he not die? But that he should not die an eternal death in the future world.

For what reason? Rab Judah said : So that [the child] may not gaze at the place of nakedness. Rab Mattena said : So that it should not have to suck from a part of the body which is foul.

R. Johanan had the habit of going and sitting at the gates of the baths, saying, "When the daughters of Israel leave, let them gaze upon me, and they will have children as beautiful as I." The Rabbis said to him, "Art thou not afraid of the Evil Eye?" He answered, "I am come from the seed of Joseph against whom the Evil Eye had no power ; for it is written, 'Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a fountain' (Gen. xlix. 22) ; and R. Abbahu said: Read not 'ale 'ayin 'by a fountain' but 'ole 'ayin 'overcoming the [Evil] Eye'."

Why all this? Because women are garrulous. Samuel said: The women did it in order to gaze upon Saul's beauty; for it is written, "From his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people" (ibid. 5:2). R. Johanan said : [The women did it] because one reign must not encroach upon another even a hair's breadth.

The next commenced and said : He who enters a town and is afraid of the Evil Eye, let him take his right thumb in his left hand and his left thumb in his right hand and say the following: "I, A the son of B, come from the seed of Joseph against whom the Evil Eye had no power ; as it is said, 'Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a fountain' (Gen. xlix. 22). Read not 'ale 'ayin 'by a fountain' but 'ole 'ayin 'overcoming the [Evil] Eye'." R. Jose b. R. Hannina said : It may be derived from the verse : "And let them grow [weyidgu] into a multitude in the midst of the earth" (ibid, xlviii. 16) ; i.e. as the fishes [dagim] in the sea are covered by the water and the Evil Eye cannot have power over them, in similar manner the Evil Eye has no power over the seed of Joseph. Should he, however, be afraid of his own Evil Eye, let him gaze upon the wing of his left nostril.

Abbai said to the Rabbis : When you pass through the alleys of a town to go into the country, look neither to the one side nor the other, lest women be sitting there, and it is not proper to gaze at them.

8. Said Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel: The Israelites never had such joyous days as the fifteenth of Ab and the Day of Atonement, for on those days the sons of Jerusalem used to go out dressed in white garments, which they borrowed from one another in order not to cause shame to him who had none of his own. All these garments had to be immersed (before they were used). The daughters of Jerusalem too used to go out on these days and dance in the vineyards, saying, "Young man, lift up thine eyes, and consider what thou wilt select for thyself (as a wife); do not fix thine eyes upon beauty, but consider the family." And the young man replied (Cant. 3.11): "Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon, even upon the crown wherewith his mother hath crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart."

R. Abbahu said: R. Meir is different, because to him could be applied the verse, "Let your eyes look in front, and gaze straight before you" (Proverbs 4:25). Rami b. Hama asked R. Jeremiah from Difti: What is the meaning of "Let your eyes [af'apekha] look in front, and gaze straight before you"? He replied: This refers to the words of the Torah, of which it is written, "Will your eyes fly over it [ta'if] and it is gone?" (Proverbs 23:5). And even so, they were produced correctly by R. Meir.

R. Abbahu said: R. Meir is different, because to him could be applied the verse, "Let your eyes look in front, and gaze straight before you" (Proverbs 4:25). Rami b. Hama asked R. Jeremiah from Difti: What is the meaning of "Let your eyes [af'apekha] look in front, and gaze straight before you"? He replied: This refers to the words of the Torah, of which it is written, "Will your eyes fly over it [ta'if] and it is gone?" (Proverbs 23:5). And even so, they were produced correctly by R. Meir.

"And shuts his eyes from seeing evil" this is like what Rebbi Chia bar Aba said. That Rebbi Chia bar Aba said this refers to one who does not gaze at woman at the time that they are doing their laundry.