the commentators, differ from his interpretation with regard to certain words and many notions that are set forth by the prophets. How could this not be with regard to these obscure matters? Moreover I do not oblige you to decide in favor of my interpretation.14 Understand the whole of his inter¬ pretation from that to which I have drawn your attention, and understand my interpretation. God knows in which of the two interpretations there is a correspondence to what has been intended.
CHAPTER 5 Among the things to which your attention ought to be directed is his1 l\ expression: visions of God.2 He does not say vision, in the singular, but visions, because there were many apprehensions differing in species; I mean to say three apprehensions, that of the wheels, that of the living creatures, and that of the man, who is above the living creatures. With regard to every apprehension he says: And I saw. Thus with reference to the apprehension of the living creatures he says: And I saw, and, behold, a whirlwind, and so on with reference to the apprehension of the wheels he says: And I saw the living creatures, and, behold, one wheel upon the earth,-4 and with reference to the man, who in degree is above the living creatures, he says: And I saw as the color ofhashmal,5 and so on, from the appearance of his loins, and so on.6 In the description of the Chariot, he only repeats the word I saw these three times. The Sages of the Mishnah have already explained this matter; in fact it is they who drew my attention to it. For they said that it is permissible to teach the first two apprehensions only, I mean | the apprehension of the living creatures and that of the wheels,- whereas only the chapter headings may be taught with regard to the third apprehension, that of the hashmal and of what is connected with it. However, our holy Rabbi1 believes that all three apprehensions are called the Account of the Chariot and that with respect to none of them may anything other than the chapter headings be taught. Their text with regard to this is as follows: Till where [w it permis¬ sible to teach ] the Account of the Chariot? Rabbi Meir says: Till the last 14. Or, according to certain manuscripts: oi one interpretation.
5. Several explanations of this Hebrew word are set forth below in III 7.
G. Ezek. 1:27. 7. I.e., Rabbi Judah, compiler of the Mishnah, 426 The Guide of the Perplexed III - 5 [ 9a “And I saw.''8 Rabbi Isaac says: Till [ the word ] “hashmal.” From [ the first] “And I saw”9 till [ the word ] “hashmal,” [it is permissible ] to teach; from there on the chapter headings are transmitted to [the disciple]. Some say: from [the first ] “And I saw” till [ the word ] “hashmal,” the chapter headings are transmitted to him; from there on, [he may be taught] if he is a wise man, understanding in virtue of his own intelligence and [he may] not, if [he w] not [that].10 It has thus become clear to you from their texts that there were various apprehensions to which attention is drawn by the expression: And I saw, And I saw, And I saw; that these signified different degrees; and that the last apprehension, that referred to in the words: And I saw as the color of hashmal11 — I mean the apprehension of the form of the divided man of which it is said: From the appearance of his loins and upward, and from the appearance of his loins and downward12 — is the ultimate perception and the highest of all. There is also a difference of opinion among the Sages about whether it is permissible for it to be alluded to in any way through teaching — I mean to say through the transmission of the chapter headings— or whether it is not permissible in any way that an allusion be made to the teaching of this third apprehension, though it be only through the chapter headings-, but he who is a wise man will understand in virtue of his own intelligence. Similarly there is also, as you see, a difference of opinion among the Sages with regard to the first two apprehensions like¬ wise— I mean those concerning the living creatures and the wheels— about whether it is permissible to teach explicitly the notions concerning them, or whether this is only permitted to be done through allusions and enigmas through the chapter headings.
You ought also to have your attention directed to the order of these | three apprehensions. Thus he13 has put first the apprehension of the living creatures, for they come first because of their nobility and of their causality — according to what he says: For the air of the living creature was in the wheels1* — and because of other things too. After the wheels comes the third apprehension, which is higher in degree than that of the living creatures, as is clear. The reason for this lies in the fact that the first two apprehensions necessarily precede the third apprehension in the order of knowledge, the latter being inferred with the help of the other two.
1 1. Ezek. 1: 27.
CHAPTER 6 Know that the great and sublime notion that Ezekiel, peace be on him — _ being moved by the prophetic motive force that incited him to let us know this began to teach us in describing the Chariot is the very notion that Isaiah, peace be on him, let us know summarily without having the need to go into these details. For he says: And I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. The seraphim stood, and so on} The Sages have explained all this to us and have called our atten¬ tion to this subject. They said that the apprehension grasped by Ezekiel was identical with that grasped by Isaiah. They made about it a comparison with two men who saw the ruler while the latter was riding: one of them be¬ longed to the settled population and the other to the desert nomads. Because the former knew that city people know in what state the ruler rides, he did not describe that state, but said only: I saw the ruler. The latter, however, wishing to describe this to the desert nomads, | who have no knowledge at all regarding the state in which the ruler rides, described to them in detail this state and the characteristic of the ruler’s troops, his ser¬ vants, and those who execute his orders. An intimation of this scope is of very great utility. I refer to their dictum in Hagigah: All that was seen by Ezekiel was [ likewise ] seen by Isaiah. Isaiah is like unto a city man who saw the king} whereas Ezekiel is like unto a villager who saw the king.2 It is possible that this text was interpreted by its author in accordance with what I have said at the beginning [of the chapter]: namely, that the contemporaries of Isaiah had no need of his expounding those details to them, it being sufficient for them that he said: And I saw the Lord, and so on-, whereas the people of the Exile required these details. It is also possible that the author of this remark believed that Isaiah was more perfect than Ezekiel, and that the apprehen¬ sion that amazed Ezekiel and was regarded by him as terrible was known by Isaiah through a knowledge the exposition of which did not require extra¬ ordinary language, the subject being well known to those who are perfect, CHAPTER 7 To the whole of things requiring investigation belongs the tying of the apprehension of the Chariot to a year, a month, and a day, and also to a place. This is something the significance of which ought to be sought. It should not be thought that this is a matter without significance. To the things that ought to be considered, for it is the key1 to the whole, belongs his saying: The heavens were opened? This is something that frequently occurs in the speech of the prophets — I mean the use of the figurative expressions of the opening and also of the opening of gates: Open ye the gates;5 And He opened the doors of heaven? Yea, lift up the openings of the world? Open to me | the gates of righteousness,6 This occurs frequently.
Among the things to which your attention ought to be directed belongs the fact that though this whole description7 is based indubitably on a vision of prophecy — for as he says: And the hand of the Lord was there upon him 8 — there is between various parts of this description a very great difference in expression. For when he speaks of the living creatures, he says, The likeness of four living creatures, and does not only say, Four living crea¬ tures? Similarly he says: And the likeness of the firmament was upon the heads of the living creature;™ and: The likeness of a throne, as the appear¬ ance of a sapphire stone?1 and: The likeness as the appearance of a man.™ With regard to all this he uses the expression: likeness. With regard to the wheels, however, he by no means says concerning them, the likeness of a wheel or the likeness of wheels, but makes absolute statements regarding what they really are in a form expressive of that which really exists. Be not misled by his saying, And the four had one likeness?5 for this dictum is not ordered in the same way and has not the signification referred to. In the last appre¬ hension he corroborates and explains this notion. He mentions the firma¬ ment in an absolute manner, beginning as he does with it and setting forth the details concerning it 5 he says: Then I saw, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne?* Thus he speaks 1. The Arabic and the Hebrew words for “key” derive from the same verbal root, which means in both languages, “to open.”
5. Ps. 24:9. In the English Bible this is translated: Yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors. 6. Ps. 118:19. 7- That of Ezekiel. 8. Ezek. 1:3. 9. Ezek. 1:5.
14. Ezek. 10:1.
io£ ] The Guide of the Perplexed III ■ 7 ^29 in this passage about the firmament in an absolute manner and does not say the likeness of the firmament as was the case when he spoke of it in connection with the heads of the likeness of the living creatures. As for the throne he says, There appeared over them the likeness of a throne, this being a proof that the apprehension of the firmament came first and that after¬ wards there appeared to him over it the likeness of a throne. Understand this.
Among the things to which your attention ought to be directed belongs the fact that in the first apprehension he states that the living creatures had both wings and the hands of a man; whereas in the second apprehension in which he explains that the living creatures are cherubim, he apprehended in the first place J only their wings, the hands of a man appearing in them afterwards in the course of his apprehension 5 for he says: And there appeared in the cherubim the shape [tabnith] of a man's hand under their wings.15 His saying shape [1 tabnith ] is analogous to his saying likeness [demuth\. And the place of this16 is under their wings. Understand this.
Consider also how he makes an explicit statement in his dictum, And the wheels were facing them,11 though he does not ascribe a form to them.
He also says: And the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of ram, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. 18 The matter, the true reality, and the essence of the rainbow that is described are known. This is the most extraordinary comparison possible, as far as parables and similitudes are concerned; and it is indubitably due to a prophetic force. Understand this.
Among the things to which your attention should be drawn belongs his dividing the likeness of the man that was on the throne; the upper part of the likeness being as the color of hashmal and the lower as the appearance of fire.19 They20 have explained21 that the word hashmal is composed of two notions, hash and mal; this means, of the notion of rapidity, indicated by hash, and of that of cutting, indicated by mal, the intention being to com¬ bine through a simile two separate notions regarding two sides, above and below. They also give us a second hint, saying that the word derives from the notions of speech and silence, saying that they 22 sometimes hashoth [are silent] and sometimes memalleloth [speak]. They ascribe the meaning “silence” [to “hash”] from the verse: hehesheiti [I have been silent] for along time;25 there is thus an allusion to two notions through the indication of speech 18. Ezek. 1:28. 19. Cf. Ezek. 1:27 and 8:2. 20. I.e., the talmudic Sages.
4 jo The Guide of the Perplexed III * 8 [ na without a sound. There is no doubt that their dictum, they sometimes are silent [hashoth] and sometimes speak [ memalleloth ], refers to a created thing. See accordingly how they have made it quite clear to us that the likeness of a man that was on the throne and that was divided, is not a parable referring to Him, who is exalted above all composition, but to a created thing. Accord¬ ingly the prophet himself says: This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.24 Now the glory of the Lord is not the Lord, as we have made clear several times. Accordingly everything | to which the parables contained in these apprehensions refer is only the glory of the Lord, I mean to say the Chariot, not the Rider, as He, may He be exalted, may not be presented in a likeness in a parable. Understand this.
We have thus given you also in this chapter such chapter headings that if you combine25 the headings there will emerge from them a whole that is useful with regard to this theme. If you consider all that we have said in the chapters of this Treatise up to this chapter, the greater part or the entirety of the subject in question, except for a few slight details and repetitious speech, whose meaning remains hidden, will become clear to you. Perhaps upon thorough consideration, this too will be revealed, and nothing of this will remain hidden. Do not hope that, after this chapter, you will hear from me even a single word about this subject, be it as an explicit statement or in a flashlike allusion. For everything that it is possible to say about this has been said; I have even plunged deep into this with temerity. We shall accordingly start upon other subjects from among those that, I hope, I shall explain in this Treatise.
CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 8 All bodies subject to generation and corruption are attained by corruption only because of their matter; with regard to form and with respect to the latter’s essence, they are not attained by corruption, but are permanent. Do you not see that all the specific forms are perpetual and permanent? Cor¬ ruption attains the form only by accident, I mean because of its being joined to matter. The nature and the true reality of matter are such that it never | 24. Ezek. 1: 28.
25. Or, according to certain manuscripts and to Ibn Tibbon’s translation: if you complete them.
ceases to be joined to privation 5 hence no form remains constantly in it, for it perpetually puts off one form and puts on another. How extraordinary is what Solomon said in his wisdom when likening matter to a married harlot,1 for matter is in no way found without form and is consequently always like a married woman who is never separated from a man and is never free? However, notwithstanding her being a married woman, she never ceases to seek for another man to substitute for her husband, and she deceives and draws him on in every way until he obtains from her what her husband used to obtain. This is the state of matter. For whatever form is found in it, does but prepare it to receive another form. And it does not cease to move with a view to putting off that form that actually is in it and to obtaining another form; and the selfsame state obtains after that other form has been obtained in actu. It has then become clear that all passing-away and corruption or deficiency are due solely to matter. Thus in the case of a man, for instance, it is clear that the deformity of his form, the fact that his limbs do not conform to their nature, and also the weakness, the cessation, or the troubling of all his functions — no matter whether all this be inherent in his natural constitution from its beginning or be only a supervening accident — that all this is consequent upon his corrupt matter and not upon his form. Similarly every living being dies and becomes ill solely because of its matter and not because of its form. All man’s acts of disobedience and sins are consequent upon his matter and not upon his form, whereas all his virtues are consequent upon his form. For example, man’s apprehension of his Creator, his mental representation of every intelligible, his control of his desire and his anger, his thought on what ought to be preferred3 and what avoided, are all of them consequent upon his form. On the other hand, | his eating and drinking and copulation and his passionate desire for these things, as well as his anger and all bad habits found in him, are all of them con¬ sequent upon his matter. Inasmuch as it is clear that this is so, and as accord¬ ing to what has been laid down by divine wisdom it is impossible for matter to exist without form and for any of the forms in question to exist without matter, and as consequently it was necessary that man’s very noble form, which, as we have explained,* is the image of God and His likeness, should be bound to earthy, turbid, and dark matter, which calls down upon man 1. Cf. Prov. 6:26. 2. Cf. above, I Introduction and 17.
3. I read yu’thar, in accord with one manuscript and the translation of Ibn Tibbon (and probably also that of Alharizi), rather than yuHa, the variant suggested by other manu¬ scripts. The latter variant could be translated: ought to be brought forward. Cf. Joel’s ed., p. 310, 1. 17.
4. Cf. I 1.
4^2 The Guide of the Perplexed III • 8 [126 every imperfection and corruption; He granted it — I mean the human form — power, dominion, rule, and control over matter, in order that it subju¬ gate it, quell its impulses, and bring it5 back to the best and most har¬ monious state that is possible.
In this respect the ranks of the Adamites differ. Among men, there are individuals who aspire always to prefer that which is most noble and to seek a state of perpetual permanence according to what is required by their noble form. They only reflect on the mental representation of an intel¬ ligible, on the grasp of a true opinion regarding everything, and on union with the divine intellect, which lets overflow toward them that through which that form exists. Whenever the impulses of matter impel such an individual toward the dirt and the generally admitted shame inherent in matter, he feels pain because of his entanglement, is ashamed and abashed because of what he has gone through, and desires to diminish this shame with all his power and to be preserved from it in every way. This is like the case of a man with whom the ruler had become angry; he ordered him accordingly, with a view to humiliating him, to transport dung from one place to another. Such a man will endeavor with all his power to be hid¬ den at the time when he is humiliated in this manner; possibly he will transport a small quantity to a nearby place, so that perhaps his hands or clothes will not be dirtied and no one [ else will see him. Free men would act in this manner. A slave, however, would rejoice in this and would not con¬ sider that he has been subjected to a great hardship. He would throw him¬ self with his whole body into this dung and filth, soil his face and hands, and carry the dung in public, laughing the while and rejoicing and clapping his hands. The state of the various classes of people is similar. As we have said, there are among men individuals to whose mind all the impulses of matter are shameful and ugly things, deficiencies imposed by necessity; particu¬ larly so the sense of touch, which, as Aristotle has stated, is a shame for us, and because of which we wish to eat, to drink, and to copulate.6 Consequently one’s recourse to these things should be reduced to the extent to which this is possible; one should do them in secret, should feel sorrowful because one does them, and not have them spoken of and discoursed about; no gathering should be held with a view to these things. A man should be in control of all these impulses, restrict his efforts in relation to them, and admit only that which is indispensable. He should take as his end that which is the end of man qua man: namely, solely the mental representation of the intelligibles, the most certain and the noblest of which being the apprehension, in as far 13 a ] The Guide of the Perplexed III - 8 as this is possible, of the deity, of the angels, and of His other works. These individuals are those who are permanently with God. They are those to whom it has been said: Ye are gods, and all of you children of the Most High.1 This is what is required of man; I mean to say that this is his end. As far as the others are concerned — those who are separated from God by a veil, being the multitude of the ignorant8 — the opposite is true: They refrain from all thought and perception about any intelligible thing and take as their end the sense that is our greatest shame, I mean the sense of touch. Accordingly they have no thought and no perception except only in relation to eating and copulation, as has been stated clearly with regard to these ] wretched people wholly given over to eating, drinking, and copulating. It says: But these also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way, and so on,-9 and it says: For all tables are full of filthy vomit, so that there is no place.10 It also says: And women rule over him j-11 this being contrary to what was required of them in the beginning of the creation: And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.12 It also describes the violence of their desire; it says: Every one neigheth after his neighbor's wifef and also: For they are all adulterers, and so on.1* For this reason Solomon has devoted the whole of Proverbs to warnings against fornication and intoxica¬ ting drink. For those who are the objects of divine wrath and who are remote from God are plunged deeply into these two vices. Of them it is said: For they are not the Lord's,15 and also: Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.16 As for [Solomon’s] dictum, A woman of virtue who can find?,11 and this whole parable, it is clear. For if it so happens that the matter of a man is excellent, and suitable, neither dominating him nor corrupting his constitu¬ tion, that matter is a divine gift. To sum up: it is easy, as we have men¬ tioned, to control suitable matter. If it is unsuitable, it is not impossible for someone trained to quell it. For this reason Solomon — both he and others — inculcated all these exhortations. Also the commandments and pro¬ hibitions of the Law are only intended to quell all the impulses of matter. It behooves him who prefers to be a human being in truth, not a beast having the shape and configuration of a human being, to endeavor to diminish all 7. Ps. 82:6.
8. Possibly the translation, “pagans,” should be preferred. The word al-jahiliyya, used here by Maimonides, means etymologically “the ignorant.” However, in ordinary Islamic terminology, it is applied to the pre-Islamic pagans of Arabia.
The Guide of the Perplexed III - 8 [ 136