While the doctrine of creation leaves open the possibility of miracles, Maimonides takes pains to argue their limited occurrence. God created a perfect natural order; hence, there can be no permanent changes in nature. Nature, and not miracles, is regarded by Maimonides as the true expression of divine wisdom. Miracles are rare, temporary disruptions in nature. Moreover, Maimonides suggests that miracles are in some manner implanted in nature at creation, God experiencing no change of will after the creation of the world. This view entails that nature is created also to meet certain historical exigencies.
Prophecy is treated by Maimonides as a completely natural phenomenon. Only the person who possesses a perfect intellect and imagination can receive prophecy. Maimonides does introduce an element of divine will in dealing with this phenomenon by maintaining that God can intervene and withhold prophecy from one who is worthy, just as the case with miracles in general, which disrupt the natural functioning of the order. Yet God, Maimonides, argues, never bestows prophecy to one who does not possess all the necessary qualifications. Whether Maimonides, in fact, believed that God ever intervened in the process, or whether he added this point to mask his complete agreement with the Aristotelian position, is a subject of debate among his interpreters.
Prophecy itself is not defined as a message from God but rather an emanation from God to the Active Intellect and from there to the rational faculty of the individual and to the imagination, resulting in seeing theoretical truths in figurative form, or learning principles of governance, or viewing the future. Maimonides’ account appears to allude to the view that God does not bestow a particular vision on the individual but the emanation strengthens the individual’s own rational and imaginative faculties, thereby providing the person with a vision regarding matters that he was thinking about. This interpretation is strengthened by the fact that Maimonides in his discussion of prophecy speaks also of an emanation from the Active Intellect to the rational faculty alone due to the weakness of the imagination which results in the person becoming a philosopher, and the emanation to the imagination alone, characterizing politicians and diviners. Prophecy thus appears to be a completely natural phenomenon, just as the other phenomena are. Even the prophetic mission is explained by Maimonides in terms of an emanation that is so strong that the prophet feels compelled to extend his perfection to others. Maimonides notes that a similar phenomenon occurs by philosophers, leading them to write books and teach others. The prophetic mission for Maimonides essentially is the result of internal compulsion as a result of the prophetic experience rather than an explicit command from the Deity.
The two phenomena most closely associated with the revelation of the Divine Law, however, are removed from the category of normative prophecy. Maimonides treats both the Revelation at Sinai and the prophecy to Moses as sui generis. His discussion suggests that Moses received his prophecy directly from God. Whether Maimonides’ God is a deity who, in fact, acts directly in history, even if only on exceptionally rare occasions, has been a subject of debate among his interpreters through the ages. It is clear at any rate that Maimonides felt it crucial to preserve this conception of God in order to preserve the nation’s faith in the notion of God as the immediate author of the Divine Law.
World History
