As for the term likeness [demuth], it is a noun derived from the verb damoh [to be like], and it too signifies likeness in respect of a notion. For the scriptural dictum, I am like a pelican in the wilderness,12 does not signify that its author | resembled the pelican with regard to its wings and feathers, but that his sadness was like that of the bird. In the same way in the verse, Nor was any tree in the garden of God like unto it in beauty,13 the likeness is with respect to the notion of beauty. Similarly the verses, Their venom is in the likeness of the venom of a serpent 14 and His likeness is that of a lion that 6. Isa. 44:13.
7. The plural conforms to the Arabic text. However, as far as one can see, the sentence has in view only one term, namely, td’ar.
is eager to tear in pieces, 15 refer both of them to a likeness in respect of a notion and not with respect to a shape and a configuration. In the same way it is said, the likeness of the throne, the likeness of a throne,-16 the likeness referred to being in respect of elevation and sublimity, not in respect of a throne’s square shape, its solidity, and the length of its legs, as wretched people think. A similar explanation should also be applied to the expression: the likeness of the living creatures.17 Now man possesses as his proprium something in him that is very strange as it is not found in anything else that exists under the sphere of the moon, namely, intellectual apprehension. In the exercise of this, no sense, no part of the body, none of the extremities are used; and therefore this apprehension was likened unto the apprehension of the deity, which does not require an instrument, although in reality it is not like the latter apprehension, but only appears so to the first stirrings of opinion. It was because of this something, I mean because of the divine intellect conjoined with man, that it is said of the latter that he is in the image of God and in His likeness, not that God, may He be exalted, is a body and possesses a shape.
CHAPTER 2 Years ago a learned man propounded as a challenge to me a curious objection. It behooves us now to consider this objection and our reply invalidating it. However, before mentioning this objection and its invalida¬ tion, I shall make the following statement. Every Hebrew knew that the term Elohim is equivocal, designating the deity, the angels, and the rulers governing the cities. Onqelos the Proselyte, peace be on him, has made it clear, and | his clarification is correct, that in the dictum of Scripture, And ye shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil,11 the last sense is intended. For he has translated: And ye shall be as rulers.
After thus having set forth the equivocality of this term, we shall begin to expound the objection. This is what the objector said: It is manifest from the clear sense of the biblical text that the primary purpose with regard to man was that he should be, as the other animals are, devoid of intellect, of thought, and of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil. How¬ ever, when he disobeyed, his disobedience procured him as its necessary 1. Gen. 3:5.
24 The Guide of the Perplexed 1-2 [14a consequence the great perfection peculiar to man, namely, his being en¬ dowed with the capacity that exists in us to make this distinction. Now this capacity is the noblest of the characteristics2 existing in us; it is in virtue of it that we are constituted as substances. Now it is a thing to be wondered at that man’s punishment for his disobedience should consist in his being granted a perfection that he did not possess before, namely, the intellect. This is like the story told by somebody that a certain man from among the people disobeyed and committed great crimes, and in consequence was made to undergo a metamorphosis,5 becoming a star in heaven. This was the intent and the meaning of the objection, though it was not textually as we have put it.
Hear now the intent of our reply. We said: 0 you who engage in theoretical speculation using the first notions that may occur to you and come to your mind and who consider withal that you understand a book that is the guide of the first and the last men while glancing through it as you would glance through a historical work or a piece of poetry — when, in some of your hours of leisure, you leave off drinking and copulating: collect yourself and reflect, for things are not as you thought following the first notion that occurred to you, but rather as is made clear through reflection upon the following speech.4 For the intellect that God made overflow unto man and that is the latter’s ultimate perfection, was that which Adam had been provided with before he disobeyed. It was because of this that it was said of him that he was created in the image of God and in His likeness. It was likewise on account of it that he was addressed by God and given commandments, as it says: And the Lord | God commanded, and so on.5 For commandments are not given to beasts and beings devoid of intellect. Through the intellect one distinguishes between truth and falsehood, and that was found in [Adam] in its perfection and integrity. Fine and bad,6 on the other hand, belong to the things generally accepted as known,7 not to those cognized by the intellect. For one does not say: it is fine that heaven 2. macdni. The term has many meanings and often, as in this passage, cannot be satis¬ factorily translated.
3. The Arabic verb sometimes designates a particular kind of transmigration.
4. The word may also refer to the scriptural story, but the translation given in the text is somewhat more probable.
5. Gen. 2:16.
6. These two terms, rather than good and evil, have been chosen because the Arabic text does not use here the two most common terms ( al-khayr wa’l-sharr employed earlier in this chapter) denoting the two notions in question, but rather has al-hasan and al-qabih.
7. The expression, “the words (the things) generally accepted as known,” render the Arabic term al-mashhurdt, which is used as a translation of the Greek endoxa.
i4^] Tlie Guide of the Perplexed 12 25 is spherical, and it is bad that the earth is flat; rather one says true and false with regard to these assertions. Similarly one expresses in our language the notions of truth and falsehood by means of the terms emeth and sheqer, and those of fine and bad by means of the terms tov and rac.a Now man in virtue of his intellect knows truth from falsehood; and this holds good for all intelligible things. Accordingly when man was in his most perfect and excellent state, in accordance with his inborn disposition and possessed of his intellectual cognitions — because of which it is said of him: Thou hast made him but little lower than Elohim9 — he had no faculty that was engaged in any way in the consideration of generally accepted things, and he did not apprehend them. So among these generally accepted things even that which is most manifestly bad, namely, uncovering the genitals, was not bad according to him, and he did not apprehend that it was bad. However, when he disobeyed and inclined toward his desires of the imagination and the pleasures of his corporeal senses — inasmuch as it is said: that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes10 — he was punished by being deprived of that intellectual apprehension. He therefore disobeyed the commandment that was imposed upon him on account of his intellect and, becoming endowed with the faculty of apprehending generally accepted things, he became absorbed in judging things to be bad or fine. Then he knew how great his loss was, what he had been deprived of, and upon what a state he had entered. Hence it is said: And ye shall be like Elohim knowing good and evil;li and not: knowing the false and the true, or apprehending the false and the true. With regard to what is of necessity, there is no good and evil at all, but only the false and the true. Reflect on the dictum: And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.19 It is not said: And the eyes of them both were opened, | and they saw. For what was seen previously was exactly that which was seen after¬ wards. There had been no membrane over the eye that was now re¬ moved, but rather he entered upon another state in which he considered as bad things that he had not seen in that light before. Know moreover that this expression, I mean, to open,15 refers only to uncovering mental vision and in no respect is applied to the circumstance that the sense of sight has been newly acquired. Thus: And God opened her eyes;u Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened;15 Opening the ears, he heareth not16— a verse that is analogous to its dictum, That have eyes to see and see not.11 Now concerning 13. Used in the verse. 14. Gen. 21:19. 15. Isa. 35:5. 16. Isa. 42:20.
17. Ezek. 12:2.
6 26 The Guide of the Perplexed 1-5 [15a its dictum with regard to Adam — He changes his face and Thou sendest him forth™ — the interpretation and explanation of the verse are as follows: when the direction toward which man tended 19 changed, he was driven forth. For panim 20 is a term deriving from the verb panoh [to turf, since man turns his face toward the thing he wishes to take as his objective. The verse states accordingly that when man changed the direction toward which he tended and took as his objective the very thing a previous commandment had bidden him not to aim at, he was driven out of the Garden of Eden. This was the punishment corresponding to his disobedience 5 it was measure for measure. He had been given license to eat good things and to enjoy ease and tranquillity. When, however, as we have said, he became greedy, followed his pleasures and his imaginings, and ate what he had been for¬ bidden to eat, he was deprived of everything and had to eat the meanest kinds of food, which he had not used as aliment before — and this only after toil and labor. As it says: Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and so on; In the sweat of thy brow, and so on.21 And it explains and says: And the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground.22 And God reduced him, with respect to his food and most of his circumstances, to the level of the beast. It says accordingly: And thou shalt eat the grass of the field. 23 And it also says in explanation of this story: Adam2* unable to dwell in dignity, is like the beasts that speak not.25 Praise be to the Master of the will whose aims and wisdom cannot be apprehended! | CHAPTER 3 It is thought that in the Hebrew language the meanings of the words figure [ temunah\ and shape [ tabnith] are identical. This is not the case. For tabnith is a term deriving from the verb banoh [to build], and it signifies the build and aspect of a thing; I mean to say its shape, for instance, its being a square, a circle, a triangle, or some other shape. Accordingly it 18. Job 14:20.
19. The Arabic word derives from a root from which the usual word for “face” is likewise derived.
24. Or: man. 25. Ps. 49:13.
15&] The Guide of the Perplexed 1-4 27 says: The shape of the tabernacle and the shape of all its vessels I And it says: According to the shape which thou wast shown upon the mountain;2 the shape of any bird;1 the shape of a hand;* the shape of the porch.5 In all these passages the word means shape. For this reason the Hebrew language does not use this word6 with reference to attributes that apply in any way to the deity.
As for the term figure, it is used amphibolously in three different senses. It is used to designate the form of a thing outside the mind that is apprehended by the senses, I mean the shape and configuration of the thing. Thus it says: And make you a graven image, the figure of any, and so on;7 For ye saw no figure.8 It is also used to designate the imaginary form of an individual object existing in the imagination after the object of which it is the form is no longer manifest to the senses.9 Thus it says, In thoughts from the visions of the night, and so on,i0 the conclusion of the dictum being, It stood still, but I could not discern the appearance thereof, a figure was before mine eyes. He means: a fantasm of the imagination11 that is before my eyes while in sleep. The term is also used to designate the true notion grasped by the intellect. It is with a view to this third meaning that the word figure is used with reference to God, may He be exalted. Thus it says: And the figure of the Lord shall he look upon,12 The meaning and interpreta¬ tion of this verse are: he grasps the truth of God. | CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 4 Know that the three words to see [rcdoK], to look at [ habbit ], and to vision ■ j hazoK] are applied to the sight of the eye and that all three of them are also used figuratively to denote the grasp of the intellect. As for the verb to see, this is generally admitted by the multitude. Thus it says: And he saw, and behold a well in the field I This refers to the sight of the eye. But it also says: Yea, my heart hath seen much of wisdom and knowledge;2 and this refers to intellectual apprehension. Every mention of seeing, when referring to God, may He be exalted, has this figurative meaning — as when 9. Literally: after its absence from the senses. 10. Job 4:15.
11. Literally: he means an imagination. 12. Num. 12:8.
28 The Guide of the Perplexed 1-4 [ 16a Scripture says: I saw the Lord;3 And the Lord became seen to him;* And God saw that it was good;3 I beseech Thee, let me see Thy glory;3 And they saw the God of Israel.1 All this refers to intellectual apprehension and in no way to the eye’s seeing, as the eye can only apprehend a body, one that is placed in some direction and, in addition, with some of the accidents of the body, I mean the body’s coloring, shape, and so forth. Similarly God, may He be exalted, does not apprehend by means of an instrument, as will be explained later.
In the same way the word to look at is applied to the act of turning the eye toward a thing. Thus: Look not behind thee-3 But his wife looked back from behind him;9 And if one look unto the land.10 The word is also used figuratively to designate the mind’s turning and directing itself to the contemplation of a thing until it grasps it. Thus it says: He11 hath not looked at iniquity in Jacob;1,1 for iniquity is not seen by the eye. Similarly it says: And they looked after Moses;13 of which words the Sages, may their memory be blessed, have said14 that they too have this figurative meaning, as they inform us that the Israelites watched his actions and words and scrutinized them. The word likewise has this meaning when it says: Look now toward heaven;13 for this was in a prophetic vision. Every mention of looking, when referring | to God, may He be exalted, is in this figurative sense. Thus: To look upon God;13 And the figure of the Lord shall he look upon;11 And Thou canst not look on mischief.13 The word to vision is likewise used to designate the eye’s seeing. Thus: And let our eyes vision Zion.19 It has been applied figuratively to the apprehension of the heart. Thus: Which he visioned concerning Judah and Jerusalem;10 The word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision.11 The word is used in the same figurative sense when it is said: And they visioned God.11 Know this.
11. Apparently Maimonides, contrary to other opinions, considers that God is not the sub¬ ject of this verse.
14. Cf. Tanhuma, Ki Tissa; Exodus Rabbah, LI; B.T., Qiddushin, 33b. Cf. B.T., Sanhedrin, 1 10a.
CHAPTER 5 When the chief of the philosophers began to investigate very obscure matters and to attempt a proof concerning them, he excused himself by making a statement the meaning of which was as follows.1 A student of his books should not, because of the subject of these researches, ascribe to him effrontery, temerity, and an excess of haste to speak of matters of which he had no knowledge 5 but rather he should ascribe to him the desire and the endeavor to acquire and achieve true beliefs to the extent to which this is in the power of man. In the same way we say that man should not hasten too much to accede to this great and sublime matter at the first try, without having made his soul undergo training in the sciences and the different kinds of knowledge, having truly improved his character, and having extinguished2 the desires and cravings engendered in him by his imagination.3 * When, however, he has achieved and acquired knowledge of true and certain premises and has achieved knowledge of the rules of logic and inference and of the various ways of preserving himself from errors of the mind, he then should engage in the investigation of this subject. When doing this he should not make categoric affirmations in favor of the first opinion that occurs to him and should not, from the outset, strain and impel his thoughts toward the apprehension of the deity; he rather should feel awe and refrain and hold back until he gradually elevates himself. It is in this sense that it is said, | And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God-* this being an additional meaning of the verse over and above its external meaning that indicates that he hid his face because of his being afraid to look upon the light manifesting itself — and not that the deity, who is greatly exalted above every deficiency, can be apprehended by the eyes. [Moses], peace be on him, was commended for this; and God, may He be exalted, let overflow upon him so much of His bounty and goodness that it became necessary to say of him: And the figure of the Lord shall he look upon.5 The Sages, may their memory be blessed, have stated that this is a reward for his having at first hidden his face so as not to look upon God.6 1. Cf. Aristotle DeCaelo ii. 12.29^24 ff. Part of this passage may be translated as follows: “...one should say that which appears to be plausible, looking upon the readiness to do so as evidence of modesty rather than of temerity, provided that one rests content with but a little success in matters that cause us very great perplexity.”
2. Literally: killed. 3. Literally: his imaginary desires and cravings.
6. B.T., Berakhoth, 7a; Tanhuma (Verona ed.), 23b.
jo The Guide of the Perplexed 1-5 [17a The nobles of the children of Israel? on the other hand, were overhasty, strained their thoughts, and achieved apprehension, but only an imperfect one. Hence it is said of them: And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under His feet, and so on? and not merely: And they saw the God of Israel. For these words are solely intended to present a criticism of their act of seeing, not to describe the manner of their seeing. Thus they were solely blamed for the form that their apprehension took inasmuch as corporeality entered into it to some extent9 — this being necessitated by their overhasty rushing forward before they had reached perfection. They deserved to perish. However, [Moses], peace be on him, interceded for them; and they were granted a reprieve until the time they were burnt at Taberah, whereas Nadab and Abihu were burnt in the Tabernacle of the Congrega¬ tion, as is stated in a correct tradition.10 This having happened to these men, it behooves us, all the more, as being inferior to them, and it behooves those who are inferior to us, to aim at and engage in perfecting our knowledge of preparatory matters and in achieving those premises that purify appre¬ hension of its taint, which is error. It will then go forward to look upon the divine holy Presence. It is accordingly said: And let the priests also, that come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.11 Accordingly Solomon has bidden the man who wishes to reach this rank to be most circumspect. He said | warningly in parabolic language: Guard thy foot when thou goest to the house of God.12 I shall now go back in order to complete what we began to explain, and I shall say: Because of the hindrances that were a stumbling block to the nobles of the children of Israel in their apprehension,13 their actions too were troubled; because of the corruption of their apprehension, they inclined toward things of the body. Hence it says: And they visioned God, and did eat and drink.14 As for the rest15 of this passage — namely, from the words of Scripture: And there was under His feet, as it were, a work of the whiteness of sapphire stone, and so on16 — it will be explained in some17 of the chapters of this Treatise.
9. Literally: in which was included of corporeality that which was included.
10. Tanhuma, Beha'alotkha; Leviticus Rabbah, XX. n. Exod. 19:22. 12, Eccles. 4:17.
15. Literally: The nobles of the children of Israel with what happened to them in their apprehension [in the way] of stumbling-blocks.
14. Exod. 24:11.
15. tamam. From the linguistic point of view Ibn Tibbon’s translation of sof (end) is quite correct. However, the passage that Maimonides is about to quote precedes, in the biblical text, that to which he has just referred.
16. Exod. 24:10. 17. Or: in one.
i nb ] The Guide of the Perplexed 1-6 j/ Our whole purpose was to show that whenever the words seeing, vision, and looking occur in this sense, intellectual apprehension is meant18 and not the eye’s sight, as God, may He be exalted, is not an existent that can be apprehended with the eyes. If, however, an individual of insufficient capacity should not wish to reach the rank to which we desire him to ascend and should he consider that all the words [figuring in the Bible] concerning this subject are indicative of sensual perception of created lights — be they angels or something else — why, there is no harm in his thinking this.
CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 6 Man [bk/i] and woman fishshah] are terms that at first were given the meaning1 of a human male and a human female.2 Afterwards they were used figuratively to designate any male or female among the other species of living beings. Thus it says: Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee seven and seven, the man and his woman.5 It is as if it said male and female. Thereupon the term woman was used figuratively to designate any object apt for, and fashioned with a view to being in, conjunction with | some other object. Thus it says: The five curtains should be coupled together, a woman to her sister.+ Hereby it has been made clear to you that the terms sister [ahoth] and brother [ah] are likewise used equivocally with figurative meaning just as with man and woman.
18. Literally: that all seeing, vision, and looking that occur in this sense are intellectual apprehension.
l. literally: were posited. The implication is that the meaning of words is conventional.
2. Literally: man and woman. This translation could not be adopted because the Hebrew terms with which Maimonides is concerned in this chapter have also been rendered by these words.
3. Gen. 7:2.
4. Exod. 26:3.
CHAPTER 7 To bear children [ yalod ]. The notion understood by means of this word is well known. It is that of procreation. Thus: And they have borne him children? Afterwards this word was used figuratively to designate the bringing to existence of natural things. Thus: Before the mountains were brought forth.2 It was likewise used figuratively to designate, by analogy with procreation, the notion of earth bringing forth her vegetal produce. Thus: And make it bring forth and bud.3 It was likewise used figuratively with reference to happenings occurring in time, as though they were things that were born. Thus: Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.* It was likewise used figuratively with reference to happenings within thought and the opinions and doctrines that they entail. Thus it says: And bore falsehood? It is a derivation from this meaning when it is said: And they please them¬ selves in the children 6 of strangers,1 that is, they are content with their opinions 5 or, as Jonathan ben Uziel, peace be on him, has put it in his interpretation of this verse: They walk according to the laws of the gentiles. In this sense whoever instructs an individual in some matter and teaches8 him an opinion, has, as far as his being provided with this opinion is con¬ cerned, as it were engendered that individual. In this sense the prophets’ disciples were called sons of the prophets, as we shall explain when treating the equivocality of the term son. In this figurative sense it is said of Adam: And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years and begot 9 [a son ] in his own likeness, after his image?0 It has already been explained to you what the meaning of the image of Adam and his likeness is. Now none of the children of [Adam] born before [Seth] had been endowed with true human form, which is | the image of Adam and his likeness referred to in the words: the image of God and His likeness. As for Seth, it was after [Adam] had instruc¬ ted him and procured him understanding and after he had attained human 6. The word derives from the same Hebrew root as the verb dealt with in this chapter.
7. Isa. 2:6.
8. afada. The original meaning of the word is “to be useful to.’’ The fact that it acquired the secondary meaning “to teach,” is indubitably due to its having been used as an equivalent of the Greek verb ophelein, the original signification of which is identical with that of afada. In late Greek philosophic texts it sometimes also has the meaning “to teach.” In medieval texts the Hebrew hocil sometimes also has this meaning, as it was used by the translators to render afada in all its senses.
9. The Hebrew word derives from the root with which this chapter is concerned.
10. Gen. 5:3.
i86] The Guide of the Perplexed 1-8