[Avodah] (Neviim & Possible Mistakes); Akeidah & Yizchak

[Micha Berger]

I think that in this discussion we need to distinguish the Rambam and
Ramban at one step before. I believe they disagree about what nevu'ah
is, and thus of course they would disagree about what imperfections can
creep ito a nevu'ah.

This matter involves the Ramban's questioning the Rambam saying that
much of parashas Vayeira was a nevu'ah. The Rambam famously writes in
the Moreh that it must have been so, since mal'akhim are incorpoeral and
therefore whenever they are seen it must be the description of nevu'ah.
The Ramban asks, were Sodom et al then not destroyed, and Lot not saved?
The Abarbanel answers that the Rambam would say that the mal'akhim saved
Lot AND they were only seen bederekh nevu'ah. Nevu'ah according to the
Rambam is seeing things going on on higher planes of reality. Thus,
Avraham and Lot only saw the mal'akhim bederekh nevu'ah because they
were actually there. The Ramban seems to assume that nevu'ah is a
message relayed to the navi, and thus the things in it are metaphors,
not real entities.

There is also a machloqes about the end of parashas Mishpatim: who
was the man on the throne? The Rambam says it was the Kavod Nivra,
whereas the Ramban says it was Hashem Himself. This is leshitasam. The
Rambam can't understand the 70 zeqeinim to see HQBH, nor that they
saw something that didn't exist, and so Hashem created something that
could be seen. According to the Ramban, there is no problem, since the
metaphor of the vision could have a representation of anything, even HQBH,
without violating "lo yir'ani adam".

I wrote about this at greater length, including R' Saadia Gaon's shitah,
at <http://www.aishdas.org/mesukim/5764/mishpatim.pdf>.

I see what's being discusssed here as also lesitasam.

The Rambam wouldn't question the accuracy of a nevu'ah any more than
what he sees physically. Therefore, his notion of an imperfect nevu'ah is
getting fewer details. The Ramban's shitah, OTOH, more readily supports
the possibillity of the navi misunderstanding parts of the message.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             I have great faith in optimism as a philosophy,
micha at aishdas.org        if only because it offers us the opportunity of
http://www.aishdas.org   self-fulfilling prophecy.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                              - Arthur C. Clarke