Throughout the readings, Maimonides repeats a saying of the Sages, “The Torah speaks in the language of men.” What do you make of this saying in relation to his views on the negative attributes of God?
Throughout the readings, Maimonides repeats a saying of the Sages, “The Torah speaks in the language of men.” What do you make of this saying in relation to his views on the negative attributes of God?
Maimonides means to say that the Torah was catering to the fallible and superficial understandings of the people of the generation when the Torah was given. It was purposely stated in this way to allow for common man to relate and understand God in their own unique way, and at the same time allow for deeper exegesis of the homonyms that the explicates in the first part of his “Guide to the Perplexed.”
Since the saying “The Torah speaks in the language of men” means that Torah has many interpretations and is always subject to change in their religious discourse based on convenience, in order to better recognize God, instead of sticking to one absolute interpretation. This is because mankind’s knowledge is limited because of negations, since our knowledge is nothing compared to God’s knowledge, due to God being the sole creator and ruler of every existence in the universe and that every natural cause and effect that may happen in the universe is emanated from him, giving nature an established order like the article mentions. This includes our human intellect and reasoning, which God transcends in, that any attempt to describe God makes us confused or silent because anything said to describe God represents the effects of God’s activity dwelling within human intellect, just like how nature is.