state in which they could have been perceived by the senses, not in a vision of prophecy. As to this I shall cite you an example | about which no one can have fanciful notions, and I shall add to it some other examples belong¬ ing to the same species. And from these examples you will be able to draw an inference regarding those that I shall not mention.
An example that is clear and about which no one can have fanciful notions is the dictum of Ezekiel: I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, and so on. And a spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem,3 Similarly when he says, Then I arose, and went forth into the plain* this also only happened in the visions of God. Just as when it is said of Abraham: And He brought him forth abroad,5 this occurred in a sight.6 In a similar way when he says, And set me down in the midst of the valley,7 this only happened in the visions of God. With regard to the vision in which Ezekiel was brought 1. Literally: absolutely. Maimonides means to say that sometimes Scripture does not expressly state with regard to various details that they formed part of a vision.
6. Cf. Gen. 15:1. The word translated here as sight is mahazeh. Unless otherwise noted, wherever vision occurs in this chapter, mar'eh is the Hebrew term used.
7. Ezek. 37:1.
986] The Guide of the Perplexed 11-46 405 into Jerusalem, he makes a dictum of which the text is as follows: And when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. Then said He unto me: Son of man, dig now in the wall; and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door, and so on.6 And just as he saw in the visions of God that he was ordered to dig in the wall in order to enter and see what was being done there and that he dug — in the visions of God, as has been mentioned — and entered through the hole and saw that which he saw — all that in a vision of prophecy. So was his saying to him: Thou also...take thee a tile, and so on. More¬ over lie thou upon thy left side, and so on.9 Take thou also unto thee wheat and barley, and so on; as well as his saying to him: And cause iti0 to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard 1 1 — seen, all of it, in a vision of prophecy in which he saw that he carried out the actions he was ordered to carry out. God is too exalted than that He should turn His prophets into a laughing¬ stock and a mockery for fools by ordering them to carry out crazy actions. And this in addition to ordering them to commit acts of disobedience; for [Ezekiel] was a Priest, and every side of beard or of hair he cut made him guilty of transgressing two prohibitions. But all this happened merely in a vision of prophecy. In the same way when He says, Like as My servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot,12 | this only happened in the visions of God. Only those weak in syllogistic reasoning fancy with regard to all this that the prophet tells that he was ordered to do certain things and hence did them. For instance he tells that he was ordered, while he was in Babylon, to dig in the wall that is on the mountain of the temple, and there¬ upon he recounts that he actually dug in it; for he says: And when I had digged in the wall.16 However, he had already made it clear that this was in the visions of God. Similarly it is said of Abraham: The word of the Lord came unto Abram in a sight, saying.1* And it is said in this same vision of prophecy: And He brought him forth abroad, and said: Look now toward heaven, and count the stars}6 It is therefore clear that it was in a vision of prophecy that he saw that he was brought out from the place he was in so that he should see the heavens and that afterwards it was said to him: And count the stars; and this is recounted in the way you see. I shall say the same thing regarding the order given to Jeremiah to hide the girdle in the Euphrates.16 Thereupon he hid it and then, after a long time, going to fetch it, found that it had rotted away and was spoilt. All those happenings are parables in a vision of prophecy. For Jeremiah did not go out of the 16. Cf. Jer. 13:4—7.
406 The Guide of the Perplexed II • 46 [ 99a Land of Israel to Babylon and did not see the Euphrates. The position is similar with regard to the words addressed to Hosea: Take unto thee a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry}1 All this story concerning the birth of the children and their having been named so and so happened in its entirety in a vision of prophecy. For after it has been stated expressly that these were parables, there remains no room for obscurity as to any of these things having a real existence except according to what has been said of us: And the vision 18 of all is become unto you as the words of a book, and so on}9 It likewise seems to me that the story concerning Gideon with regard to the fleece and other things 20 only occurred in the vision. I will not call it unqualifiedly a vision of prophecy. For Gideon did not reach the rank of the prophets 5 so how could he have reached the rank of one who works miracles? His highest achievement is that of having been included among the judges of Israel | and [the Sages] have even numbered him,21 as we have made clear,22 as being among the inconsequential people of the world. All this only happened in a dream similar to the dream of Laban and of Abimelech that we have mentioned.23 Similarly what Zechariah says: So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily the poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves,2* and the whole tale till its ending about the wages asked for gently, his taking the wages, the number of the drachmas, and their being cast in the house of the founder 25 was all of it seen in a vision of prophecy, he was ordered to do it and so he did it either in a vision of prophecy or in a dream of prophecy. This is a thing that can only be doubted or not known by him who confuses the possible things with the impossible ones.
From what I have mentioned you may draw an inference to what I have not mentioned, for all these things pertain to the same species and to the same method. All have occurred in a vision of prophecy. And everything that is said concerning such a vision — for instance that he26 acted in it or heard or went out or went in or spoke or was spoken to or stood or sat down or went up or went down or made a journey or asked a question or was asked — all of it happens in a vision of prophecy. And even if such actions should have had a long duration and should have been attached to certain 17. Hos. 1 -.2.
18. The noun hazuth, used here, is derived from the same verb as hazon and mahazeh.
19. Isa. 29:11. The verse continues: that is sealed.
20. Cf. Judg. 6:21 and 37.
22. Cf. II 41 and 45 (section on the first degree of prophecy). Maimonides does not refer in those chapters to the dictum in disparagement of Gideon that is quoted here.
26. I.e., the individual who had the vision.
99^] The Guide of the Perplexed II • 47 407 times, to individuals that are indicated, and to places, you should — as soon as it has become clear to you that the action in question is a parable — have certain knowledge that it occurred in a vision of prophecy.
CHAPTER 47 CHAPTER 47 Undoubtedly it has become clear and manifest that the greater part of the prophecies of the prophets proceeds by means of parables; for that is the action of the instrument for this,1 I mean the imagination. Something should likewise be known about figurative uses | and hyperboles, for they sometimes occur in the text of the prophetic books. And if the words are understood according to their precise meaning and it is not known that they constitute a hyperbole or an exaggeration, or if they are understood according to their first conventional meaning and it is not known that they are used figuratively, incongruities arise. [The Sages] have given an explanation by saying, The Torah speaks in exaggerated language2 — that is, hyperbole — and have used as a proof the dictum: Cities great and walled up to heaven 5 And this is correct. The dictum, For a bird of heaven shall carry the voice,* belongs to the class of hyperbole. In a similar way it is said: Whose height was like the height of the cedars, and so on.5 This kind of language occurs frequently in the dicta of all the prophets — I mean things said in a hyperbolical and exaggerated, not a precise and exact, way.
However, what the Torah literally states about Og does not belong to this group: Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead [ceres] of iron, and so on.6 For ceres is a bed: Also our bed \^arsenu\ is verdant.1 Now a man’s bed is not exactly his size, for it is not a garment, which one puts on. The bed is rather always bigger than the individual who sleeps on it. And the usual and well- known thing is for it to be longer than the individual by a third of his length. If the length of the bed in question came to nine cubits, the length of him who slept on it must, according to the usual proportion of beds, have come to six cubits or a little more. And its dictum, after the cubit of a man,8 means according to the cubit of an individual from among ourselves — jo8 The Guide of the Perplexed II • 47 [ iooa I mean to say from among the rest of men — and not according to the cubit of Og. For all individuals have mostly proportionate members; accordingly it says that the length of Og was twice that of other men or a little more. This is doubtless anomalous for the individuals of the species, but is by no means impossible. | As for the precise statements made by the texts of the Torah regarding the length of life of certain individuals, I say that only that individual who is mentioned lived so long a life, whereas the other men lived lives that had the natural and usual duration. The anomaly in the individual in question may be due either to numerous causes attaching to his nutrition and his regimen or is due to a miracle and follows the laws thereof. It is not possible to say of this anything else.
Similarly one ought to examine carefully the things said in a figurative way. Some of them are clear and manifest and do not seem obscure to anybody. Thus, for instance, its dictum: The mountains and hills shall break forth before you singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.9 This is clearly figurative language. And similarly its dictum: Yea, the cypresses rejoice at thee, and so on.10 Jonathan ben Uziel translated this as follows: Also the rulers rejoiced in thee, those rich in property. Thus he set the passage down as a parable, like the passage: Curd of kine and milk of sheep, and so on.11 This figurative use of language is exceedingly frequent in the books of prophecy. With regard to some of them the multi¬ tude are aware that the expressions are figurative, whereas with regard to others they think that they are not figurative. For no one doubts with respect to its dictum, The Lord shall open unto thee His \goodi] treasure, and so on,12 that this is figurative and that God has no treasure in which there is rain. Similarly when it says, And opened the doors of heaven, and caused manna to rain upon them,15 no one thinks that there are in heaven a gate and doors. For this is said as a simile, which is a species of figurative language. It is likewise in this way that one ought to understand its dicta: The heavens were opened j* And if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written,-15 I will blot him out of My book;16 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living.11 All these expressions are used as similes; | and they do not mean that there exists a book belonging to Him, may He be exalted, in which He writes and from which He blots out, as is thought by the multitude because of their not being aware of the use of figurative language in the passages in question.
12. Deut. 28:12. The verse continues: the heaven to give the rain of thy land in its season.
17. Ps. 69:29.
ioia ] The Guide of the Perplexed II -48 4 op All these expressions belong to the same class. Take, therefore, what I have not mentioned in the manner that I have mentioned in this chapter, and distinguish and differentiate between the various matters by means of your intellect. Then you will know clearly 18 what has been said by way of a parable, what has been said figuratively, what has been said by way of a hyperbole, and what has been said exactly according to the first conventional meaning. Then all the prophecies will become clear and manifest to you. And then only intelligible beliefs will remain with you, beliefs that are well ordered19 and that are pleasing to God. For only truth pleases Him, may He be exalted, and only that which is false angers Him. Your opinions and thoughts should not become confused so that you believe in incorrect opinions that are very remote from the truth and you regard them as Law. For the Law's are absolute truth if they are understood in the way they ought to be. Accordingly it says: Thy testimonies are righteous for ever, and so on,-20 and: I the Lord speak righteousness. 21 Through these consid¬ erations you will be delivered from imagining beings that God has not brought into being and from evil thoughts, some of which may perhaps lead to infidelity 22 and to a belief that there may be a defect in God — such as modes of corporeality, attributes, and passions — as we have set forth.23 Or again you may think24, that these dicta of the prophets are false. The whole fault that incites to this is neglect of that to which we have drawn attention. These too are notions pertaining to the mysteries of the Torah. And though we have only spoken summarily about them, it is easy, after what has been set forth before, to know the details of these matters. | CHAPTER 48 It is very clear that everything that is produced in time must necessarily have a proximate cause, which has produced it. In its turn that cause has a cause and so forth till finally one comes to the First Cause of all things, I mean God’s will and free choice. For this reason all those intermediate causes are sometimes omitted in the dicta of the prophets, and an individual 18. Literally: It will be clear to you. 19. Literally: that go according to an order.
22. kufr\ i.e., disbelief in fundamental religious dogma. 23. Cf. I 44 et seq.
24. I.e., if you are not guided by the considerations set forth above.
18 4io The Guide of the Perplexed 11-48 [ ioi£ act produced in time is ascribed to God, it being said that He, may He be exalted, has done it. All this is known. We and other men from among those who study true reality have spoken about it, and this is the opinion of all the people adhering to our Law.
After this introduction, listen to what I shall explain in this chapter and consider it with particular attention, with an attention exceeding the attention with which you consider the other chapters of this Treatise. This is the matter that I shall make clear to you. Know that all proximate causes through which is produced in time that which is produced in time, regardless of whether these causes are essential and natural, or voluntary, or accidental and fortuitous — I mean by the voluntary cause of that particular thing produced in time, the free choice of a man — and even if the cause consists in the volition of an animal other than man: that all these causes are ascribed in the books of the prophets to God, may He be exalted. And according to their manner of expressing themselves, it is said of such and such an act that God did it or commanded it or said it. For all these things the expressions to say, to speak, to command, to call, j and to send are used. This is the notion to which I wished to draw attention in this chapter. For inasmuch as the deity is, as has been established, He who arouses a particular volition in the irrational animal1 and who has necessitated this particular free choice in the rational animal2 and who has made the natural things pursue their course — chance being but an excess of what is natural, as has been made clear, and its largest part partakes of nature, free choice, and volition — it follows necessarily from all this that it may be said with regard to what proceeds necessarily from these causes that God has commanded that something should be done in such and such a way or that He has said: Let this be thus. I shall cite for you examples of all these cases 5 draw an analogy to all those I have not mentioned.
Speaking of natural things, which always follow their course, such as the melting of the snow when the air becomes warm and waves being stirred up to a certain extent in the sea when the wind blows, it says: He sendeth forth His word, and melteth them,-3 For He commanded, and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves thereof.* About the falling of rain, it says: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it, and so on.5 When speaking of things the cause of which lies with human free choice — such as the war waged by a ruling people upon another people or an 1. I.e., the animals other than man. 4. Ps. 107:25. 5. Isa. 5:6.
3. Ps. 147:18.
2. I.e., man.
individual’s setting out to harm another individual, even if he only insults him — it says, for instance when treating of the tyranny of the wicked Nebuchadnezzar and his armies:6 I have commanded My consecrated ones, yea I have called My mighty ones for Mine anger.1 And it also says: I will send him against a hypocritical nation.8 Dealing with the story of Shimei, son of Gera, it says: Because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David? With regard to the deliverance of Joseph the righteous from prison, it says: He sent a king and loosed him.10 With reference to the victory of the Persians and the Medes over the Kasdim, it says: And I will send unto Babylon scatterers who shall scatter her. 11 In the story of Elijah, peace be on him, when | for his benefit God caused a woman to feed him, he is told: Behold, I have commanded a widowed woman there to sustain thee?2 And Joseph the righteous says: It was not you that sent me hither, but God?5 When speaking of things the cause of which lies with the volition of animals and their being set in motion by their animal impulses, it says: And the Lord spoke unto the fish?* This means that it was God who aroused in it that particular volition, not that He turned the fish into a prophet and sent it a prophetic revelation. In a similar way it is said of the locusts that came in the days of Joel, son of Pethuel: For he is mighty that executeth His word?5 Again in a similar way it is said of the fact that wild beasts gained mastery over the land of Edom after it had been devastated in the days of Sennacherib: And He hath cast the lot for them, and His hand hath divided it unto them by line?5 Though the expressions to say, to command, and to send, are not used there, yet its meaning is clearly analogous. Compare analogically all other dicta having the same pattern.
Likewise when speaking of accidental things due to pure chance, it says in the story of Rebekah: And let her be thy master’s son’s wife, as the Lord hath spoken?7 In the story of David and Jonathan, it says: Go, for the Lord hath sent thee away?5 And in the story of Joseph, it says: And God sent me before you?9 Accordingly it has become clear to you that in order to designate the shaping of the causes in whatever way they are shaped, whether they are causes by essence or by accident or by free choice or by volition, these 6. As Munk remarks, following Ibn Kaspi, this reference is not correct; for the verse of Isaiah quoted immediately after it seems to refer to the army of the Medes setting out to conquer Babylon.
11. Jer. 51.2. 12, I Kings 17:9. 13. Gen. 45:8. Joseph says this to his brothers.
17. Gen. 24:51. The choice of Rebekah as Isaac’s wife was due to chance.
18. I Sam. 20:22. David’s going away was due to chance. 19. Gen. 45:7.
412 The Guide of the Perplexed II • 48 [ 102 b five terms are used — namely, to command, to say, to speak, to send, to call. Know this and reflect upon it regarding every passage in the way that fits it. Then many incongruities will disappear, and the true reality of the matter will become clear to you in the passage in question, which could be fancied to be remote from the truth.
This is the end to which my discussion of prophecy, | its parables, and its expressions, has finally led me 5 and that is the sum of what I shall tell you regarding this subject in this Treatise. We shall go on to other subjects with the help of the Almighty [Shaddai].
* This Second Part OF THE GUIDE OF THE PERPLEXED HAS BEEN COMPLETED THE THIRD PART of The Guide of the Perplexed In the name of the Lord, God of the World1 [introduction] We have already made it clear several times that the chief aim of this Treatise is to explain what can be explained of the Account of the Beginning and the Account of the Chariot, with a view to him for whom this Treatise has been composed. We have already made it clear that these matters belong to the mysteries of the Torah, and you know that [the Sages], may their memory be blessed, blame those who divulge the mysteries of the Torah. They, may their memory be blessed, have already made it clear that the reward of him who conceals the mysteries of the Torah, which are clear and manifest to the menof speculation, is very great. At the conclusion of Pesahim, when speaking of the signification of the dictum 2 — For her gain shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat their fill, and limekhasse athiq5 — they say: For him who covers the things revealed by the Ancient of Days, namely, the mysteries of the Torah.* Understand the extent of that toward which they give guidance, if you are of those that understand. They have already made it clear how secret the Account of the Chariot was and how foreign to the mind of the multitude. And it has been made clear that even that portion of it that becomes clear to him who has been given access to the understanding of it, is subject to a legal prohibition against its being taught and explained except or ally to one man having certain stated qualities, and even to that one only the chapter headings may be mentioned. This | is the reason why the knowledge of this matter has ceased to exist in the entire religious community, so that nothing great or small remains of it. And it had to happen like this, for this knowledge was only transmitted from one chief 5 to another and has never been set down in writing. If this is so, what stratagem can I use to draw attention toward that which may have appeared to me as indubitably clear, manifest, and evident in my opinion, according to what I have understood in these matters? On the other hand, if I had omitted setting down something of that which has appeared to me as clear, l. Gen. 21:33. Cf. above, Epistle Dedicatory, n. 1. 2. Isa. 23:18.
3. Translated in the English Bible: for stately clothing. The meaning of these two words is not clear. They may signify: in order to have luxurious garments. Taken literally, how¬ ever, they may mean: for him who covers the Ancient. The latter seems to be the interpretation adopted in the talmudic passage quoted in the text.
5. sadr. The Arabic word means both “breast” and “chief” or “principal.”
The Guide of the Perplexed ill [3 a so that that knowledge would perish when I perish, as is inevitable, I should have considered that conduct as extremely cowardly with regard to you and everyone who is perplexed. It would have been, as it were, robbing one who deserves the truth of the truth, or begrudging an heir his inheritance. And both those traits are blameworthy. On the other hand, as has been stated before, an explicit exposition of this knowledge is denied by a legal prohibi¬ tion, in addition to that which is imposed by judgment.6 In addition to this there is the fact that in that which has occurred to me with regard to these matters, I followed conjecture and supposition 5 no divine revelation has come to me to teach me that the intention in the matter in question was such and such, nor did I receive what I believe in these matters from a teacher. But the texts of the prophetic books and the dicta of the Sages, together with the speculative premises that I possess, showed me that things are indubitably so and so. Yet it is possible that they are different and that something else is intended. Now rightly guided reflection and divine aid in this matter have moved me to a position, which I shall describe. Namely, I shall interpret to