R. Akiba said to them: When ye arrive at the stones of pure marble, say not, water, water! For it is said: He that speaketh falsehood shall not be established before mine eyes.
I am quite at a loss with Akiba's saying. I could suppose a meaning like "when you get there don't take mere crystal ('pure marble') for water [of life]" (i.e. "don't take the clarity of appearance for the clarity of substance" or something similar), which seems to agree with your understanding. This would find some support (a) in the fact that "water" is sometimes used for "water of life", (b) in Ex. 24:10 (at least as MN 1:28 understands it), (c) in Akiba's own quote from Ps. 101:7 ("falsehood" must be degrading enough to deserve such a judgment). Yet this is inconclusive, and contradicts the Soncino note on "say not, water, water!": "I.e., how can we proceed!" The note is hardly to be just dismissed, meanwhile it means something seemingly strange ("proceed and don't be scared by false obstacles!"??).
I googled "stones of pure marble" and the 1st thing I found was that Akiba's words "have baffled exegetes both ancient and modern." However, R. Schneerson ("the Rebbe", who I think is authoritative in spite of kabbalism), seems to favor the interpretation that water is too good to take stones of marble for it: "[This indicates that] the stones possess water, but they are hidden and greatly concealed to the extent that much effort and labor is necessary to reveal the element of water that they possess. ...etc." On the other hand, here is quite a different - I can say opposite - interpretation derived from the same kabbalistic concepts.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2013-06-25 07:59 pm (UTC)I am quite at a loss with Akiba's saying. I could suppose a meaning like "when you get there don't take mere crystal ('pure marble') for water [of life]" (i.e. "don't take the clarity of appearance for the clarity of substance" or something similar), which seems to agree with your understanding. This would find some support (a) in the fact that "water" is sometimes used for "water of life", (b) in Ex. 24:10 (at least as MN 1:28 understands it), (c) in Akiba's own quote from Ps. 101:7 ("falsehood" must be degrading enough to deserve such a judgment). Yet this is inconclusive, and contradicts the Soncino note on "say not, water, water!": "I.e., how can we proceed!" The note is hardly to be just dismissed, meanwhile it means something seemingly strange ("proceed and don't be scared by false obstacles!"??).
I googled "stones of pure marble" and the 1st thing I found was that Akiba's words "have baffled exegetes both ancient and modern." However, R. Schneerson ("the Rebbe", who I think is authoritative in spite of kabbalism), seems to favor the interpretation that water is too good to take stones of marble for it: "[This indicates that] the stones possess water, but they are hidden and greatly concealed to the extent that much effort and labor is necessary to reveal the element of water that they possess. ...etc." On the other hand, here is quite a different - I can say opposite - interpretation derived from the same kabbalistic concepts.