which of the two worlds is the larger, this world or the world to
come?" God: "The world to come is the larger." The moon: "O Lord,
Thou didst create two worlds, a greater and a lesser world; Thou
didst create the heaven and the earth, the heaven exceeding the
earth; Thou didst create fire and water, the water stronger than
the fire, because it can quench the fire; and now Thou hast
created the sun and the moon, and it is becoming that one of them
should be greater than the other." Then spake God to the moon: "I
know well, thou wouldst have me make Thee greater than the sun.
As a punishment I decree that thou mayest keep but one-sixtieth
of thy light." The moon made supplication: "Shall I be punished
so severely for having spoken a single word?" God relented: "In
the future world I will restore thy light, so that thy light may
again be as the light of the sun." The moon was not yet
satisfied. "O Lord," she said, "and the light of the sun, how
great will it be in that day?" Then the wrath of God was once
more enkindled: "What, thou still plottest against the sun? As
thou livest, in the world to come his light shall be sevenfold
the light he now sheds."[100] The Sun runs his course like a
bridegroom. He sits upon a throne with a garland on his
head.[101] Ninety-six angels accompany him on his daily journey,
in relays of eight every hour, two to the left of him, and two to
the right, two before Him, and two behind. Strong as he is, he
could complete his course from south to north in a single
instant, but three hundred and sixty-five angels restrain him by
means of as many grappling-irons. Every day one looses his hold,
and the sun must thus spend three hundred and sixty-five days on
his course. The progress of the sun in his circuit is an
uninterrupted song of praise to God. And this song alone makes
his motion possible. Therefore, when Joshua wanted to bid the sun