The Guide of the Perplexed, Volume 2

Moses Maimonides, Shlomo Pines

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9780226502274
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Religión

This monument of rabbinical exegesis written at the end of the twelfth century has exerted an immense and continuing influence upon Jewish thought. Its aim is to liberate people from the tormenting perplexities arising from their understanding of the Bible according only to its literal meaning. This edition contains extensive introductions by Shlomo Pines and Leo Strauss, a leading authority on Maimonides.

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 men of speculation, is very great. At the conclusion of Pesahim, when speaking of the signification of the dictum² — For her gain shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat their fill, and limekhasse athiq³ — they say: For him who covers the things revealed by the Ancient of Days, namely, the mysteries of the Torah.⁴ 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 orally to one man having certain stated qualities, and even to that one only the chapter headings may be mentioned. This [2a] 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 chief⁵ 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, 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 prohibition, 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; 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 you that which was said by Ezekiel the prophet, peace be on him, in such a way that anyone who heard that interpretation would think that I do not say anything over and beyond what is indicated by the text, but that it is as if I translated words from one language to another or summarized the meaning of the external sense of the speech. On the other hand, if that interpretation is examined with a perfect care by him for whom this Treatise is composed and who has understood [3a] all its chapters — every chapter in its turn — the whole matter, which has become clear and manifest to me, will become clear to him so that nothing in it will remain hidden from him. This is the ultimate term that it is possible to attain in combining utility⁷ for everyone with abstention from explicit statements in teaching anything about this subject — as is obligatory.⁸

After this introduction has preceded, apply your mind to the chapters that will follow concerning this great, noble, and sublime subject, which is a stake upon which everything hangs and a pillar upon which everything is supported.⁹

CHAPTER 1

It is known that there are men the form of whose faces resembles that of one of the other animals, so that one may see an individual whose face resembles that of a lion and another individual whose face resembles that of an ox and so forth. It is according to the shapes that tend to have a likeness to those of animals that people are nicknamed. Thus his saying: The face of an ox and the face of a lion and the face of an eagle;¹ all of them merely indicate the face of a man that tends to have a likeness to forms belonging to these species. Two proofs indicate this to you. One of them is his saying with regard to the living creatures in general: And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.² Thereafter he describes every living creature among them as having the face of a man and the face of an eagle and the face of a lion and the face of an ox. The second proof is his explanation in the second Chariot, which he set forth in order to explain things left obscure in the first Chariot. He says in the second Chariot: [3b] And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.³ Thus he explicitly indicates that what he had called the face of an ox is the face of the cherub. Now cherub designates a human being of tender age. With regard to the two remaining faces, the analogy likewise applies. Also he has omitted in this passage the face of an ox in order to draw attention to a certain derivation of words, as we have indicated in a flash.⁴ It is impossible to say: Perhaps this was an apprehension of other forms. For he says at the end of this second description: This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Khebar.⁵ Thus that which we have begun to make clear has already become clear.

CHAPTER 2

He¹ states that he saw four living creatures and that every living creature among them had four faces, four wings, and two hands. As a whole, the form of each creature was that of a man; as he says: They had the likeness of a man.² He also states that their two hands were likewise the hands of a man, it being known that a man’s hands are indubitably formed as they are in order to be engaged in the arts of craftsmanship. Then he states that their feet are straight; he means that they have no articulations. This is the meaning of his dictum, straight feet,³ according to its external sense. [The Sages] have likewise said: And their feet were straight feet — this teaches [us] that above,⁴ there is no sitting.⁵ Understand this also. Then he states that the soles of their two feet, which are instruments for walking, are not like the feet of a man, whereas their hands [4a] are like the hands of a man. For the feet were round, Like the sole of a calf’s [ʿeget] foot.⁶ Then he states that there is no interval and no space between those four living creatures, each of them adhering to the other; he says, Coupled together, a woman to her sister.⁷ Then he states that though they adhered to one another, their faces and their wings were separated above; he says: And their faces and their wings were separated above.⁸ Consider his saying above. For only the bodies adhered to one another, whereas their faces and their wings were separated, but only from above. That is why he says: And their faces and their wings were separated above. Then he states that they were brilliant like the color of burnished brass.⁹ Then he states that they also gave light; he says: Their appearance was like coals of fire.¹⁰ This is all that he says concerning the form of the living creatures, I mean their shape, their substance, their forms, their wings, their hands, and their feet.

Then he began to describe the manner of the motions of these living creatures. Regarding these he states that which you will hear. He says that in the motions of the living creatures, there was no turning, no deviation, and no curve, but only one motion. For he says: They turned not when they went.¹¹ Then he states that each of the living creatures went in the direction toward which its face was turned. For he says: Each goes in the direction of its face.¹² Thus he makes it clear that each living creature went only in the direction that was contiguous to its face. Would only that I knew to which face, for they had many faces. However, to sum up, the four did not all of them go in one direction. For if it had been so, he would not have assigned to each of them a separate motion, saying: Each goes in the direction of its face. Then he states that the form of the motion of these living creatures was running and that it was likewise by running that they retraced their way. For he says: And the living creatures ran and returned [raṣo va-shob].¹³ For raṣo is the infinitive of the verb raṣ [to run] and shob is the infinitive of the verb [4b] shab [to return]. He did not use the verbs halokh [to go] and bo [to come], but said that their motion consisted in running and retracing their way. And he made it clear in an image, saying: As the appearance of a flash of lightning [bazaq].¹⁴ For bazaq is another word for baraq [lightning]. Accordingly he says that it is like lightning [baraq], whose motion appears to be the swiftest of motions and which stretches out rapidly and at a rush from a certain place and then with the same rapidity contracts and returns time after time to the place whence it moved. Jonathan ben Uziel, peace be on him, interpreted the words raṣo va-shob as follows: They went round the world and returned [as] one creature and rapid as the appearance of lightning. Then he¹⁵ states that the motion takes place, not because of the direction ...