(51) He who leads the people astray is punished by being
prevented from repenting. This does not mean, however, that
man, in general, does not act in accordance with his own free
will. Maimonides, in discussing this problem, says, in the
eighth chapter of the _Shemonah Perakim_, "Just as some of
man's undertakings, which are ordinarily subject to his own
free will, are frustrated by way of punishment, as, for
instance, a man's hand being prevented from working so that he
can do nothing with it, as was the case of Jeroboam, the son
of Nebat, or a man's eyes from seeing, as happened to the
Sodomites, who had assembled about Lot, likewise how does God
withhold man's ability to use his own free will in regard to
repentance, so that it never occurs to him to repent, and he
thus finally perishes in his own wickedness." See ed.
Gorfinkle, p. 94 _et seq._

(52) Deut. XXXIII, 21.

(53) I Kings XV, 30. Cf. _Sanhedrin_ X, 2: "Three kings have
no portion in the world to come . . . Jeroboam, Ahab, and
Manasseh."

22. Whosoever has these three attributes is of the disciples of
Abraham, our father, but whosoever has three other attributes is of
the disciples of Balaam, the wicked (54). A good eye (55), a humble
mind, and a lowly spirit (are the tokens) of the disciples of Abraham,
our father; an evil eye, a haughty mind, and a proud spirit (are the
signs) of the disciples of Balaam, the wicked. What is the difference
between the disciples of Abraham, our father, and those of Balaam, the