Now, ye chiefs of righteousness, is the thing good in your sight? For the thing which they do is not good, and the report which the people of the Lord caused to transpire is not good. Far be it from us, lest the nation should be divided into two, and God forbid that the name of Heaven should be profaned through them. For it is really the duty of every Israelite to tell them that. We have trustworthy evidence in that which the Israelites did, when the children of Gad and the children of Reuben built an altar on the other side of the Jordan.[202] Did they not hasten to assemble for war on account of the suspicion of the intention? How much more have we to do it, since these men destroy the cluster[203] in the sight of all! Far be it from us that, by hiding our face from the evil report, we should be included in the prophet’s accusation: ‘There they stood; no battle was to overtake them in Gibeah.’[204] Ye mountains of Israel, may ye bear your fruit for ever! ye people of the God of Abraham, set your eyes upon the palace,[203] lest their folly should destroy the fence of the Law. Let us be one band, for we are all the children of one man. With many covenants we and our fathers received truthful Laws, written and oral, at the hands of the master of the prophets. How can we deal falsely against our soul and entice our heart to seek the deceptions of Greek philosophy? They whose eyes go in front of them, how can they walk with their faces backward and ally themselves with Arabic philosophy? Arise, ye princes, anoint the shield, and the Lord shall defend you and your houses; for the Master of your work is faithful to pay the reward of your labor. XXXII. JEDAIAH HA-BEDERSI [Poet, philosopher, and physician. He was born in Béziers about 1270, and died about 1340. As a boy he was very precocious, and composed a prayer of a thousand words, each word beginning with the letter ‏מ‎. Being an eloquent writer, he earned for himself the title _ha-Meliz_ (the Rhetorician). He was the author of several treatises in prose and poetry, but his fame rests upon the _Behinat ‘Olam_ (Examination of the World).] The Nothingness of Man and His Pursuits[205]