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Document Details : Title: Interpretation and the Law Subtitle: Samuel Ibn Tibbon on Perfection and the Reasons for the Commandments in the Latin Liber de parabolis et mandatis Author(s): PICK, Lucy K. Journal: Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales Volume: 93 Issue: 1 Date: 2026 Pages: 73-101 DOI: 10.2143/RTPM.93.1.3295661 Abstract : The Liber de parabolis et mandatis is not only the earliest extant Latin translation of part of Moses Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed – Book III, 29-49 on the reasons for the commandments – it also contains a precious early witness of Maimonidean philosophical biblical exegesis. The first quarter of the text replaces Guide III, 25-28 with introductory material that reframes our reading of the reasons for the commandments that follow, placing them within a larger discussion of the problem of human perfection. It reveals the Bible to be a text that can be read parabolically as describing the challenges faced by a person who seeks to become perfected in body and soul, and it ends by arguing that the commandments are the necessary though insufficient prerequisite for reaching this goal of perfection. Few will attain this level, which requires conjunction with a separated intellect, framed in Avicennan terms. This first quarter is an original text which transmits the thought of Samuel Ibn Tibbon, translated into Latin, and might even reflect some of his lost esoteric commentary on Genesis, Ner ha-ḥofeš. |
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