Among the things you ought to know is their dictum:75 And the Lord God took the man16— [that zs,] raised him — and pul him into the garden of Eden 11 — [that w,] He gave him. rest. Thus they do not make out that this text means that He took him away from one place and put him in another, but that He raised the rank of his existence among the existents that come into being and pass away and established him in a certain state.
Among the things you ought also to know and have your attention aroused to is the manifestation of wisdom constituted by the facts that the two children of Adam were called Cain and Abel; that it was Cain who slew Abel in the field,-78 that both of them perished, though the aggressor had a respite; | and that only Seth was vouschsafed a true existence: For God hath appointed [. shath ]79 me another seed.60 This has already been shown to be correct.81 Among the things you ought to know and have your attention aroused to is the dictum: And the man gave names, and so on.62 It informs us 73. Genesis Rabbah, XV; J.T., Berakhoth, XI. 74. Genesis Rabbah, XV in fine.
79. The verb from which the name Sheth (i.e., Seth) is said to derive.
358 The Guide of the Perplexed 11-30 [ 716 that languages are conventional and not natural, as has sometimes been thought.
Among the things you ought to reflect upon are the four words that occur with reference to the relation between the heaven and God. These words are bare? [to create ] and cassoh [to make ] and qanoh [to acquire, possess ] and El [God], It says: God [ Elohim ] created [bar a?"] the heaven and the earth.8* And it says: In the day that the Lord God made [cassoth] earth and heaven.8* It says also: Possessor [ qoneh ] of heaven and earth.85 And it says:86 God [El] of the World 87 And: The God [ Elohe ] of the heaven, and the God [Elohe] of the earth.88 Regarding the dicta: which Thou hast established [/ konanta ];89 hath spread out [tipphah] the heavens f Who stretchcst out the heavens f the terms used therein are included in the verb to make lassoh]. As for the word yesirah [forming], it does not occur in this sense 5 for it seems to me that yesirah is only applied to shaping and forming a configuration or to one of the other accidents, for shape and configuration are also accidents. For this reason it says: Who formeth [ yoser ] the light92 — for light is an accident — and: That formeth [yoser] the mountains9* — that is, who shapes them. Similarly: And the Lord God formed [va-yiser], and so on.9* However, with regard to the existence proper to the whole of the world, which is constituted by the heaven and the earth, the term bard3 [create] is used. For according to us it signifies bringing into existence out of non¬ existence. It also says cassoh [to make], which is applied to the specific forms that were given to them95 — I mean their natures. With reference to them, it says qanoh [acquire, possess ], because He, may He be exalted, has dominion over them just as a master has over his slaves. For this reason He is also called the Lord [3adon] of all the earth 96 and the Lord [ha-3adon]91 However, as there is no Lord [fadon] without there being something possessed [qinyan]98 by Him, and this tends toward the road of the belief in the eternity of a certain matter, the terms bard3 [create] and cassoh [make] are used with reference to them.99 As for the expressions, the God [Elohe] of the heaven and also God of the World [El zolam],i0° they are used with 87. In the biblical context, “God of Eternity” is the correct translation of the Hebrew phrase El colam. However, the word c olam also means “world,” “universe”; and Maimonides evidently (see below) means to interpret the biblical phrase in this sense.
95. This pronoun probably refers to the heaven and the earth, 98. A noun deriving from the verb qanoh mentioned earlier in this paragraph.
gg. This pronoun probably refers to the heaven and the earth.
100. Cf. n. 87, this chap.
72a ] The Guide of the Perplexed II • 31 respect to His perfection, may He be exalted, and theirs. He is Elohim — that is, | He who governs — and they are those governed by Him, not in the sense of domination — for that is the meaning of qoneh [possessor-] — but with respect to His rank, may He be exalted, in being and in relation to theirs. For He is the deity and not they — I mean heaven. Know this.
The sum of observations given here, together with what has been stated before and what will be stated after with regard to this subject, is sufficient considering the purpose of this Treatise and considering him who studies it.
CHAPTER 31 Perhaps it has already become clear to you what is the cause of the Law’s establishing the Sabbath so firmly and ordaining death by stoning for breaking it. The Master of the prophets has put people to death because of it. It comes third after the existence of the deity and the denial of dualism. For the prohibition of the worship of anything except Him only aims at the affirmation of the belief in His unity. You know from what I have said that opinions do not last unless they are accompanied by actions that strengthen them, make them generally known, and perpetuate them among the multitude. For this reason we are ordered by the Law to exalt this day, in order that the principle of the creation of the world in time be established and universally known in the world 1 through the fact that all people refrain from working on one and the same day. If it is asked: What is the cause of this?, the answer is: For in six days the Lord made,2 For this commandment two different causes are given, corresponding to two different effects. In the first Decalogue, the cause for exalting the Sabbath is stated as follows: For in six days the Lord made, and so on. In Deuteronomy,3 on the other hand, it is said:4 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a slave in Egypt} Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. This is correct. For the effect, according to the l. Literally: in existence. 2. Exod. 20:11.
3. Maimonides here designates the book of Deuteronomy by the term Mishneh Torah.
4. Deut. 5:15.
5. The biblical text has: in the land of Egypt. This alteration may be due to Maimonides’ having had in mind, in addition to the verse referred to, Deut. 16:12 and 24: 18.
first statement, is to regard | that day as noble and exalted. As it says: Wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.6 This is the effect consequent upon the cause stated in the words: For in six days, and so on. However, the order given us by the Law with regard to it and the commandment ordaining us in particular to keep it are an effect consequent upon the cause that we had been slaves in Egypt where wre did not work according to our free choice and when we wished and where we had not the power to refrain from working. Therefore we have been commanded inactivity and rest so that we should conjoin the two things: the belief in a true opinion — namely, the creation of the world in time, which, at the first go and with the slightest of speculations, shows that the deity exists — and the memory of the benefit God bestowed upon us by giving us rest from wider the burdens of the Egyptians? Accordingly the Sabbath is, as it were, of universal benefit, both with reference to a true speculative opinion and to the well-being of the state of the body.
CHAPTER 32 CHAPTER 32 The opinions of people concerning prophecy are like their opinions concerning the eternity of the world or its creation in time. I mean by this that just as the people to whose mind the existence of the deity is firmly established, have, as we have set forth, three opinions concerning the eternity of the world or its creation in time, so are there also three opinions concerning prophecy. I shall not pay attention to the opinion of Epicurus, for he does not believe in the existence of a deity and all the more does he not believe in prophecy. I only aim to set forth the opinions of those who believe in the deity.
The first opinion — that of the multitude of those among the Pagans who considered prophecy as true and also believed by some of the common people professing our Law — is that God, may He be exalted, chooses whom He wishes from among men, turns him into a prophet, and sends him with a mission. According to them it makes no difference whether this individual is a man of knowledge or | ignorant, aged or young. However, they also posit as a condition his having a certain goodness and sound morality. For up to now people have not gone so far as*to say that God sometimes 7. Exod. 6:7.
6. Exod. 20:11.
73 b ] The Guide of the Perplexed II • 32 )6* turns a wicked man into a prophet unless He has first, according to this opinion, turned him into a good man.
The second opinion is that of the philosophers. It affirms that prophecy is a certain perfection in the nature of man. This perfection is not achieved in any individual from among men except after a training that makes that which exists in the potentiality of the species pass into actuality, provided an obstacle due to temperament or to some external cause does not hinder this, as is the case with regard to every perfection whose existence is possible in a certain species. For the existence of that perfection in its extreme and ulti¬ mate form in every individual of that species is not possible. It must, how¬ ever, exist necessarily in at least one particular individual; if, in order to be achieved, this perfection requires something that actualizes it, that some¬ thing necessarily exists. According to this opinion it is not possible that an ignoramus should turn into a prophet 5 nor can a man not be a prophet on a certain evening and be a prophet on the following morning, as though he had made some find. Things are rather as follows: When, in the case of a superior individual who is perfect with respect to his rational and moral qualities, his imaginative faculty is in its most perfect state and when he has been prepared in the way that you will hear, he will necessarily become a prophet, inasmuch as this is a perfection that belongs to us by nature. According to this opinion it is not possible that an individual should be fit for prophecy and prepared for it and not become a prophet, except to the extent to which it is possible that an individual having a healthy tempera¬ ment should be nourished with excellent food, without sound blood and similar things being generated from that food.
The third opinion is the opinion of our Law and the foundation of our doctrine. It is identical with | the philosophic opinion except in one thing. For we believe that it may happen that one who is fit for prophecy and prepared for it should not become a prophet, namely, on account of the divine will. To my mind this is like all the miracles and takes the same course as they. For it is a natural thing that everyone who according to his natural disposition is fit for prophecy and who has been trained in his education and study should become a prophet. He who is prevented from it is like him who has been prevented, like Jeroboam,* from moving his hand, or, like the King of Aram’s army going to seek out Elisha,2 from seeing. As for its being fundamental with us that the prophet must possess prepara¬ tion and perfection in the moral and rational qualities, it is indubitably the opinion expressed in their dictum: Prophecy only rests upon a wise, strong, 362 The Guide of the Perplexed II • 52 [ 74a and rich man.5 We have explained this in our Commentary on the Mishnah* and in our great compilation,5 and we have set forth that the disciples 6 of the prophets were always engaged in preparation. As for the fact that one who prepares is sometimes prevented from becoming a prophet, you may know it from the history of Baruch, son o f Neriah. For he followed Jeremiah, who trained, taught, and prepared him. And he set himself the goal of becoming a prophet, but was prevented; as he says: l am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.1 Thereupon he was told through Jeremiah: Thus shalt thou say unto him: Thus saith the Lord, and so on. And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. 8 It is possible to say that this is a clear statement that prophecy is too great a thing for Baruch. Similarly it may be said, as we shall explain,9 that in the passage, Yea, her prophets find no vision from the Lord,10 this was the case because they were in Exile. However, we shall find many texts, some of them scriptural and some of them dicta of the Sages, all of which maintain this fundamental principle that God turns whom He wills, whenever He wills it, into a prophet — but only someone perfect and superior to the utmost degree. But with regard to one of the ignorant among the common people, | this is not possible accord¬ ing to us — I mean, that He should turn one of them into a prophet — except as it is possible that He should turn an ass or a frog into a prophet. It is our fundamental principle that there must be training and perfection, where¬ upon the possibility arises to which the power of the deity becomes attached. You should not be led astray by His saying: Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou earnest forth from the womb I sanctified thee? 1 For this is the state of every prophet: he must have a natural pre¬ paredness in his original natural disposition, as shall be explained. As for his saying, For I am young j/znc<m],12 you know that in the Hebrew language Joseph the righteous was called young [nacar] 13 though he was thirty years old, and that Joshua was called young [ hacar ] though he was near his sixtieth year. For it says with reference to the time of the doings concerning the calf: But his servant Joshua, son of Nun, a young man, departed not, and so on. 14 Now Moses our Master was at that time eighty-one years old, and his whole life lasted one hundred and twenty years. Joshua lived after him fourteen years, and the life of Joshua lasted one hundred and ten years.
4. Cf, Introduction to Seder Zera'im.
5. Cf. Mishneh Torah, Yesodei ha-Torah, VII.
14. Exod. 33:11.
74 b ] The Guide of the Perplexed II • 33 )6) Accordingly it is clear that Joshua was at that time at least fifty-seven years old, and was nevertheless called young \nazar]. Again you should not be led astray by His dictum figuring in the promises: I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy f 5 for He interprets this and lets us know what kind of prophecy is meant, for He says: Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. 16 For everyone who communicates knowledge as to something secret, whether this be with the help of soothsaying and divination or with the help of a veridical dream, is likewise called a prophet. For this reason prophets of Baal and prophets of Asherah are called prophets. Do you not see that He, may He be exalted, says: If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams?^ As for the Gathering at Mount Sinai, though through a miracle all the people saw the great fire and heard the frightening and terrifying voices, | only those who were fit for it achieved the rank of prophecy, and even those in various degrees. Do you not see that He says: Come up unto the Lord, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel.18 He, peace be upon him, had the highest rank, as He said: And Moses alone shall come near unto the Lord; but they shall not come near.19 Aaron was below him; Nadab and Abihu below Aaron; the seventy elders below Nadab and Abihu; and the other people below the latter according to their degrees of perfection. A text of the Sages, may their memory be blessed, reads: Moses is an enclosure apart, and Aaron an enclosure apart.20 As we have come to speak of the Gathering at Mount Sinai, we shall give indications, in a separate chapter, concerning what becomes clear regarding that Gathering as it was, from the scriptural texts, if they are well examined, and from the dicta of the Sages.
CHAPTER 35 It is clear to me that at the Gathering at Mount Sinai, not everything that reached Moses also reached all Israel. Speech was addressed to Moses alone; for this reason, in the whole Decalogue the second person singular is used, 19. Exod. 24:2. 20. Mekhilta, commentary on Exod. 19:24.
464 The Guide of the Perplexed II ■ 55 [ 75 a and he, peace be on him, went to the foot of the mountain and com¬ municated to the people what he had heard. The text of the Torah reads: I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare unto you the word of the Lord} It also says: Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice } And it is explicitly said in the Mekhilta 5 that he repeated to them each and every commandment as he heard it. Again a text of the Torah reads: That the people may hear when I speak with thee, and so on.* This is a proof that it was he who wTas spoken to and that they heard the great voice, but not the articulations of speech. About hearing | this great voice, it says: When ye heard the voice } And it also says: Ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no figure; only a voice.6 It does not say: ye heard the words. Thus every time when their hearing words is mentioned, it is their hearing the voice that is meant, Moses being the one who heard words and reported them to them. This is the external meaning of the text of the Torah and of most of the dicta of the Sages, may their memory be blessed. However, they also have a dictum formulated in several passages of the Midrashim 7 and also figuring in the Talmud. This is their dictum:8 They heard " I ”9 and “ Thoushalt not have”10 from the mouth of the Force}1 11 They mean that these words reached them just as they reached Moses our Master and that it was not Moses our Master who communicated them to them. For these two principles, I mean the existence of the deity and His being one, are knowable by human speculation alone. Now with regard to everything that can be known by demonstration, the status of the prophet and that of everyone else who knows it are equal; there is no superiority of one over the other. Thus these two principles are not known through prophecy alone. The text of the Torah says: Unto thee it was shown, and so on}2 As for the other commandments, they belong to the class of generally accepted opinions and those adopted in virtue of tradition, not to the class of the intellecta.
Taking into consideration whatever else they have said about this, the texts and the dicta of the Sages permit considering as admissible that all Israel only heard at that Gathering one voice one single time — the voice through which Moses and all Israel apprehended 1 15 and Thou shall not have)* which commandments Moses made them hear again as spoken in his own 1. Deut. 5:5. 2. Exod. 19:19. 5. Mekhilta, commentary on Exod. 20:1.
4. Exod. 19:9. 5. Deut. 5:20. 6. Deut. 4:12. 7. In the text: Midrashoth, 8. B.T., Makkoth, 24a; Midrash on the Song of Songs, 1:2.
9. I.e., the First Commandment. 10. I.e., the Second Commandment.
1 1. The Hebrew word geburah, here translated “force,” sometimes designates the deity.
12. Deut. 4:55. 13. I.e., the First Commandment.
14. I.e., the Second Commandment.
j 6a ] The Guide of the Perplexed II • 35 speech with an articulation of the letters that were heard. The Sages said this, quoting in support of this assertion the dictum: God hath spoken once, twice have I heard this}5 And they made it clear at the beginning of Midrash Hazith 16 that they had not heard another | voice coming from Him, may He be exalted. Thus too a text of the Torah: A great voice, and He added no more}1 It was after they had heard that first voice that they, as is mentioned, were terrified of the thing and felt a great fear, and that they, as is reported, said: And ye said, Behold the Lord [ our God] hath shown us, and so on. Now therefore why should we die, and so on. Go thou near and hear, and so on.18 Thereupon he, who was greater than anyone born of man, went forward a second time, received the rest of the com¬ mandments one after the other, descended to the foot of the mountain, and made them hear these commandments in the midst of that great gathering. Meanwhile they were seeing the fires and hearing the voices, I mean those voices that are said to be voices and lightnings}'3 like thunder and the loud voice of the trumpet. All that you find mentioned about hearing many voices — as for instance the dictum: And all the people saw the voices, and so on 20 — refers only to the voice of the trumpet, the thunderings, and the like. As for the voice of the Lord, I mean the created voice from which the speech [of God] was understood, they heard it once only, according to what the text of the Torah states and according to what the Sages make clear in the passage to which I drew your attention. This was the voice on hearing which their soul went out of them}1 and through which the first two commandments were apprehended. Know that with regard to that voice too, their rank was not equal to the rank of Moses our Master. I shall draw your attention to this secret, and I shall let you know that this is a matter that is transmitted by tradition in the religious community22 and that is known to its men of knowledge. Thus in all the passages in which you will find, And the Lord spoke [ va-yedabber ] to Moses saying, Onqelos translates: And the Lord spoke [u-mallel], Thus: And God spoke [ va-yedabber ] all [these] words}5 is translated: And the Lord spoke [ u-mallel ] all [these] words. On the other hand, the words of Israel to Moses: But let not God speak [yedabber] with us}* he translates: [ Speech ] should not be spoken [yitmallel ] with us on the part of the Lord. Thus he, peace be on him, has made clear to you the proposition that we have set forth in detail, j You know that, as has 15. Ps. 62:12. 16. Midrash on the Song of Songs, 1:2. 17. Deut. 5:19.
21. Midrash on the Song of Songs, 5:6.
j 66 The Guide of the Perplexed 11-34 [ 766 been made clear,25 Onqelos received these wondrous and sublime notions that he transmits from the mouth of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua who are the Sages of Israel par excellence. Know this and remember it. For it is impossible to expound the Gathering at Mount Sinai to a greater extent than they spoke about it, for it is one of the mysteries of the Torah. The true reality of that apprehension and its modality are quite hidden from us, for nothing like it happened before and will not happen after. Know this.
CHAPTER 34 Regarding the text that is in the Torah, namely, His saying, Behold, I . will send an angel before thee, and so on1 — the meaning of that text is the one explained in Deuteronomy,2 namely, that God said to Moses at the Gathering at Mount Sinai: I will raise them up a prophet, and so on. A proof for this is His saying concerning this angel: Take heed of him, and hearken unto his voice, and so on} Now there is no doubt that this injunction is addressed only to the multitude. An angel, however, does not manifest him¬ self to the multitude and does not give them orders and prohibitions; consequently they could not be ordered not to disobey him. Accordingly, the meaning of this dictum is that He, may He be exalted, gave them knowledge that there would be a prophet among them to whom an angel would come who would speak to him and give him orders and prohibitions. Thus God forbade us to disobey that angel whose words the prophet would transmit to us. It makes that clear in Deuteronomy,+ saying: Unto him ye shall hearken. And it also says: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My name, and so on5 — this being the explanation of the dictum: For My name is in him J | All this merely taught them this: this great gathering that you saw — I mean to say, the Gathering at Mount Sinai— will not be a thing subsisting 25. Literally: as they have made clear.
1. Exod. 23:20.
2. Deut. 18:18. Maimonides here designates the book of Deuteronomy by the term Mishneh Torah.
3. Exod. 23:21.
4. Deut. 18:15. Maimonides here designates the book of Deuteronomy by the term Mishneh Torah.
5. Deut. 18:19.
6. Exod. 23:21.
77a ] The Guide of the Perplexed II -35 ^6] permanently with you, and in the future there will not be anything like it; and there will not permanently be fire and a cloud, such as those that are now always on the tabernacle.1 However, an angel whom I shall send to your prophets will conquer the country for you, will smooth out the land before you, and will let you know what you should do. He will let you know what you should approach and what you ought to avoid. Thereby the funda¬ mental principle was given, which I have never ceased explaining, namely, that to every prophet except Moses our Master prophetic revelation comes through an angel. Know this.
CHAPTER 35