The Highest Good (1629) - Page 11

...always walked [in their ways], as was declared from the place cited above; but this mystic science—through which they were made participants in holy wisdom—was not communicated or revealed to all Israelites, but only to one or another of the whole multitude through secret tradition. But Joseph, whom Jacob pursued with such love that he was hated by his brothers, possessed the gift of dreaming true dreams and of revealing and uncovering the secrets of dreams. He held this gift so highly, through the revelation of that mystic spirit, that the Egyptians themselves, moved by the truth, broke out into this opinion of him: Genesis 41:38. Can we find a man like this, in whom the spirit of the Gods resides? No one is as prudent and wise as you. Then afterwards, this mystery reached Moses through Kabbalistic succession, as he was a vessel chosen by God. In his time, driven by necessity and by the command of Jehovah, this gift was communicated to the seventy elders, and thus it was spread among the multitude. And in the following age, that power given by divine decree was placed in Joshua, and thus communicated through the succession of the Judges of the house of Israel. From them, it passed to King David and his son Solomon—since the way of acquiring that divine gift had been revealed to him by his father—and afterwards to the prophets and the priests, to Ezra and the Maccabees. And finally, Christ, filled most of all men with that spirit, taught the way of acquiring this mystic wisdom to the Apostles, who also left it to their successors even until the end of the world.

For if this were not a hidden mystery to be revealed through Kabbalistic tradition from a father to an only son, or from a faithful master to a worthy disciple, why would Isaac have taken it so heavily that he had given this gift to Jacob against his will? Concerning this, it is said: Isaac trembled with a wandering stupor, etc. And also, why would Esau have taken this trickery of his brother so bitterly, crying out in a wonderful manner? For it is said: When Esau heard his father’s words, he roared with a great cry and, being dismayed, said: Bless me also, my father. He said: Your brother came fraudulently and took your blessing. To which he replied: He has supplanted me, behold, a second time; and now a second time he has stolen my blessing. And again to his father: Have you not reserved (he said) a blessing for me also? etc. Hence it was that Esau hated his brother Jacob for a long time and threatened him with death, just as Cain punished his brother Abel with death for the same cause—namely, because he perceived that God was on his side, but against himself and his sacrifices.

But so that we may now arrive at a methodical division of Kabbalah taken in a general sense, we say that:

Kabbalah is divided into:

I. True and Essential, of which there are two species:	II. Superstitious and Spurious, of which there are three species:
Cosmology or Bereshit original: "Brefeth," a corruption of the Hebrew Bereshit, meaning "In the beginning" or "Genesis." which explains the powers of Celestial and Terrestrial things.	Gematria, which is also called Arithmetic: engaged in the transmutation of syllables and words and the computation of numbers and characters.
Merkavah original: "Mercaua," referring to the "Chariot" of Ezekiel’s vision, the study of the divine realm., which is either Notariacon The use of initials to form words. or Theomancy Divination through the names of God..	Notariacon, expressing letters in place of words.
	Temurah, or the commutation of letters, in which one letter is accepted in place of another.