First, the donkey is one of the dullest creatures; it is the very animal people cite when they wish to describe stupidity (1).

Second, were it carrying anything other than scrolls—food, fodder, or water—it would at least feel some awareness of the load, whereas books mean nothing to it (2).

Third, the Israelites were made to bear the Torah; they did not shoulder it of their own volition. Compelled to carry it, they derived no honor or benefit from it whatsoever.

Fourth, because they bore it under coercion, they felt no satisfaction with it and never embraced it willingly, even though they knew (3) they could not dispense with it, and that had they accepted it by choice the final success, in this world and the next, would have been theirs.

Fifth, the Torah itself contains all that secures their worldly and eternal welfare and happiness, yet they turned away from what would have brought them prosperity to pursue its very opposite—a mark of the highest ignorance, obtuseness, and lack of discernment.

Their ignorance and feeble understanding also appear in their demand to exchange manna and quail—among the finest, most wholesome foods—for herbs, cucumbers, garlic, lentils, and onions. Anyone content to swap such nourishment for those blessings will readily trade faith for disbelief, guidance for misguidance, divine pleasure for wrath, and mercy for punishment. Such is the condition of one who knows neither his Lord, nor His Book, nor His Messenger, nor even his own soul.