XVIII. (73) Having, therefore, now said what is proper concerning the original planter and the original plant, let us next proceed, in due order, to the consideration of matters of instruction and imitation. In the first place, then, the wise Abraham is said “to have planted a field at the well of the oath, and to have called upon the name of the everlasting Lord God.”{17}{#ge 21:33.} And here there is no peculiar property of the plants mentioned, but only the magnitude of the place. (74) And they who are in the habit of investigating these matters say, that everything which belongs to God has been very carefully and accurately described, both tree and place, and the fruit of the tree. Accordingly, they say that the tree was the field itself, not like those trees which sprung up out of the ground, but rather to those which grow according to the firmly-rooted mind of the man who loves God: and the place, they say, is the well of the oath, and the fruit, the change of the name of the Lord into that of “The Eternal God.” (75) And it is necessary further to give the probable explanation of each point of the things here mentioned. The field, then, being in length a hundred cubits, and as many in breadth, multiplied together according to the nature and character of a square, is composed of ten thousand superficial cubits; (76) and this is the greatest limit of those numbers which increase from the unit, and also the most perfect: so that the limit is the beginning of numbers, and the end, in those calculations, according to the first combination, is the number ten thousand; in reference to which fact, some persons have not erred greatly, who have compared the limit to the starting-place, and the number ten thousand to the goal, and all the numbers between these two to those who contend in a race; for they, beginning to start from the unit, as from the starting place, come to the number ten thousand as to the goal. (77) Therefore, some persons, departing from these numbers, as from signals, have said that God is the beginning and end of everything, which is a doctrine admirably calculated to engender piety. This doctrine, being implanted in the soul, produces a most beautiful and nutritious fruit, holiness; and the place most suitable for this fruit, (78) is the well which is called the oath, in which there is a report that no water could be found. For, says Moses, “the children of Israel, coming thither, reported to him concerning the well which they had digged: and they said, We found no water; and he called that place, æThe Oath.’ “{18}{#ge 26:32.} Let us now consider what is the meaning of this statement.
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