וַיּוֹצֵ֨א אֹת֜וֹ הַח֗וּצָה וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ הַבֶּט־נָ֣א הַשָּׁמַ֗יְמָה וּסְפֹר֙ הַכּ֣וֹכָבִ֔ים אִם־תּוּכַ֖ל לִסְפֹּ֣ר אֹתָ֑ם וַיֹּ֣אמֶר ל֔וֹ כֹּ֥ה יִהְיֶ֖ה זַרְעֶֽךָ׃
Il le fit sortir en plein air, et dit: "Regarde le ciel et compte les étoiles: peux-tu en supputer le nombre? Ainsi reprit-il, sera ta descendance."
Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis
And for this reason he says, “He led him forth abroad and said, Look up to heaven and count the stars” (Gen. 15:5). These we would fain take in in one all-encompassing view, being insatiable in our love of virtue, but we are powerless to take the measure of the riches of God.
Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis
Gen. 15:5. Bliss of flying from Self to God (39).
Who is the Heir of Divine Things
[76] Now that he who has gone forth from us and desires to be God’s attendant is the heir of the glorious wealth that nature has to give is testified by Moses in the words “He led him out outside and said ‘Look up into heaven’ ” (Gen. 15:5). For heaven is the treasury of divine blessings. “May the Lord,” he says, “open to thee His good treasure, the heaven” (Deut. 28:12)—that heaven from which the bountiful Giver rains down continually His most perfect joys. Yes, look up, and thus convict of their errors the multitude of common men, the blind race, which has lost the sight which it thinks it possesses.