total comprehension to pursue what is beloved in other creatures, this must be even more the case when it strives to possess God. “By night / I sought him whom my soul loves” (Song 3:1). This darkness does not connote the mere absence of knowledge but is the sign of a corresponding divine illumination. Accordingly, the book of Exodus denotes the proximity to God by means of the symbols of light. “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in
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