Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Maimonides was wrong (the Rambam)

The great Medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides wrote:

The Jewish people did not believe in Moses our teacher because of the miracles he performed. If one believes in something because of miracles, he may suspect that they were performed through sleight of hand or sorcery...We believe in Moshe because of what happened at Mount Sinai. Our own eyes saw, not a stranger's, our own ears heard, and not another's...The revelation at Sinai is the only real proof that Moses' prophecy was true and above suspicion...(Yad, Yesodei HaTorah 8:1.)

What the Scriptures show is such "believing" people provoked God 10 times in the Wilderness, even after the 10 plagues upon Egypt, the utterly unique Mount Sinai experience, the Manna and the Water from the Rock...

If not for miracles, in accordance with the Law and the Prophets, how would we know who is the Messiah that's supposed to be like Moses? It's not written that we'll all be gathered together again at Mount Sinai, is it? So miracles, faith and works in accordance to the Tanach (the Bible), the fulfillment of prophecies, is the proof after all.

No comments: