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Maimonides: and the Biblical Prophets
This engaging and informative book reveals unknown but true facts about the prophetical books of the Bible. Rabbis have avoided many questions raised by the seemingly improbable events in these volumes. This book addresses these questions and takes an open and rational look at the episodes. <>The book addresses provocative questions such
352 pages, Hardcover
First published February 10, 2009
4 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
About the author
Israel Drazin
45 books9 followersBrigadier General (Ret.) Dr. Israel Drazin, Ph.D. (Aramaic Literature, 1981; M.A., Hebrew Literature, 1978; J.D., Law, 1974; M.Ed., Psychology, 1966; B.A., Theology, 1957), in an ordained rabbi, practicing lawyer, and retired U.S. Army chaplain. A recipient of the Legion of Merit, he completed his service in the active reserves in 1984 as Assistant Chief of Chaplains, the highest reserve officer position available in the Army Chaplaincy.
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December 26, 2024
Interpreting The Prophets With Rabbi Israel Drazin
"Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets" (2009) is Rabbi Israel Drazin's second book of a three-part series on the great Jewish thinker Maimonides (1138? -- 1204). I read and reviewed the first book, "Maimonides: the Exceptional Mind" and proceeded almost immediately to read this second volume. Israel Drazin (b. 1935) is an American Orthodox Rabbi, as well as a lawyer, who has written extensively on Jewish subjects. Drazin and I have got to know each other through the online review process, and he kindly sent me the books in his Maimonides series to review.
In "Maimonides the Exceptional Mind", Drazin developed some of the leading ideas of Maimonides and compared and contrasted them with other Jewish thinkers. The focus of this second book is on Scriptural interpretation. Drazin explains and applies Maimonides' approach to interpreting the Hebrew Bible. As always with two notoriously difficult sources (the Bible and Maimonides), this is an inherently controversial task. In this study, Drazin focuses on the books of the Bible that follow upon the Five Books of Moses: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles which purport to offer historical accounts of the Jewish people in Israel following the death of Moses. Drazin recounts that Jewish education, even at the seminary level, tends to shy away from these books because of their difficulties. Some years ago, I was in a study group with friends in which we explored these books. From reading Drazin's study, I found that I had forgotten much.
As was the earlier book, this book is written in short well-organized chapters which begin with an introduction, followed by a list of questions to be discussed, the discussion, and a concluding summary. The organization helps make the book easy to follow. This book includes a mix of material. It is in four parts together with an Introduction and an Afterword. The third and fourth parts do not deal as directly with Scriptural texts as does the remainder of the book. They are not as interesting or as crucial to Drazin's study as is the remainder of the work, which will be the focus of this review.
The most valuable section of this book is the Introduction in which Drazin offers an overview and states that "the object of this volume is to encourage people to think." He lists a series of nine wonderful "don'ts" for individuals engaging in Biblical study. Space prevents a listing of the entire set, but here are three. People should not:
"Dissociate themselves from the material and other goods that God created;
Spend their entire time in worship and in the study of sacred texts;
Accept what is illogical because of faith or tradition."
In the first part of the book, Drazin offers "preliminary ideas" to Scriptural interpretation. At the outset, he offers the important lesson that points of view should not be accepted or rejected because their proponent was or was not Jewish as the search for truth and wisdom may be shared by all people. Then, Drazin develops three means or reading Scripture: 1. the literal approach propounded by Spinoza in his "Theological-Political Treatise" 2. the approach of many Midrashic commentators which tend to read moral stories or elaborate backgrounds into a Scriptural text to deal with a felt discomfort in the reading; and 3. the approach of Maimonides. Maimonides taught that the Bible was written to be understood by people without much sophistication. The text should be read rationally, where possible, to accord with experience and reason, rather than to be read credulously in a manner inconsistent with the laws of nature and ordinary human experience.
If this discussion seems somewhat abstract, Drazin brings it to life in the body of his book which explores specific sections from the Prophets. Drazin typically quotes a Biblical passage, outlines the difficulties readers find in it, and offers his own "rational" way of interpreting the passage to best avoid the difficulties. The 31 short chapters in this part examine matters both familiar and obscure including, Moses' parting of the Red Sea, the fall of the walls of Jericho,, and the sun standing still for Joshua. Other subjects include the census conducted at the behest of King David which apparently resulted in the death of 70,000 Israelites, the irony shown by the Biblical writer in the treatment of the reign of King Solomon, the story of the rape of Tamar, and much more. Drazin discusses the stories, shows their ethically or physically troubling points, and generally shows more than one way the Biblical commentators struggled with the issues. He also digresses a great deal to bring in stories and information about the Biblical texts, the commentators, and their histories. There is, for example, and outstandingly clear discussion of the Septuagint and its origin. In his interpretations, Drazin generally prefers a Maimonidean approach which eschews miracles or out-of -the ordinary occurrences and reads the Bible rationally in accordance with the laws of nature as developed by science.
Drazin's Scriptural passages and interpretations are fascinating and lively. They kept me absorbed and provoked thought about material I hadn't considered for a long time. I found, after reading the book, that the lines between the three means of Scriptural interpretation were less than fixed and clear. I also thought that on the whole, Spinoza's literalist approach to the Bible offers a surer ground to its basic meaning than the Maimonidean approach Drazin prefers. Maimonides approach shares with the second of Drazin's approaches (traditional Biblical commentators) a degree of anachronism. Maimonides puts ideals of reason and science into the Scripture which probably were as foreign to the Biblical authors as other materials that Drazin argues were imported into the text at a latter date. Drazin and Maimonides tend to read out the miraculous and the crude from their interpretations at the cost of not capturing the Biblical mind. At least this is how I viewed the matter upon reading some of Drazin's suggested interpretations. Each of the many ways of interpreting the text remains fascinating and each has something to teach. I tend to agree with the rationalism Maimonides, Spinoza, and Drazin share but to support Spinoza's way of interpreting the text over that of Maimonides.
It was refreshing and challenging to read this book. Oddly enough, the texts and the various interpretative threads brought me closer to Judaism than I have felt for a long time. I didn't agree with everything in this book, but it held my mind and attention. I am looking forward to reading the final book in Drazin's Maimonides trilogy.
Robin Friedman
"Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets" (2009) is Rabbi Israel Drazin's second book of a three-part series on the great Jewish thinker Maimonides (1138? -- 1204). I read and reviewed the first book, "Maimonides: the Exceptional Mind" and proceeded almost immediately to read this second volume. Israel Drazin (b. 1935) is an American Orthodox Rabbi, as well as a lawyer, who has written extensively on Jewish subjects. Drazin and I have got to know each other through the online review process, and he kindly sent me the books in his Maimonides series to review.
In "Maimonides the Exceptional Mind", Drazin developed some of the leading ideas of Maimonides and compared and contrasted them with other Jewish thinkers. The focus of this second book is on Scriptural interpretation. Drazin explains and applies Maimonides' approach to interpreting the Hebrew Bible. As always with two notoriously difficult sources (the Bible and Maimonides), this is an inherently controversial task. In this study, Drazin focuses on the books of the Bible that follow upon the Five Books of Moses: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles which purport to offer historical accounts of the Jewish people in Israel following the death of Moses. Drazin recounts that Jewish education, even at the seminary level, tends to shy away from these books because of their difficulties. Some years ago, I was in a study group with friends in which we explored these books. From reading Drazin's study, I found that I had forgotten much.
As was the earlier book, this book is written in short well-organized chapters which begin with an introduction, followed by a list of questions to be discussed, the discussion, and a concluding summary. The organization helps make the book easy to follow. This book includes a mix of material. It is in four parts together with an Introduction and an Afterword. The third and fourth parts do not deal as directly with Scriptural texts as does the remainder of the book. They are not as interesting or as crucial to Drazin's study as is the remainder of the work, which will be the focus of this review.
The most valuable section of this book is the Introduction in which Drazin offers an overview and states that "the object of this volume is to encourage people to think." He lists a series of nine wonderful "don'ts" for individuals engaging in Biblical study. Space prevents a listing of the entire set, but here are three. People should not:
"Dissociate themselves from the material and other goods that God created;
Spend their entire time in worship and in the study of sacred texts;
Accept what is illogical because of faith or tradition."
In the first part of the book, Drazin offers "preliminary ideas" to Scriptural interpretation. At the outset, he offers the important lesson that points of view should not be accepted or rejected because their proponent was or was not Jewish as the search for truth and wisdom may be shared by all people. Then, Drazin develops three means or reading Scripture: 1. the literal approach propounded by Spinoza in his "Theological-Political Treatise" 2. the approach of many Midrashic commentators which tend to read moral stories or elaborate backgrounds into a Scriptural text to deal with a felt discomfort in the reading; and 3. the approach of Maimonides. Maimonides taught that the Bible was written to be understood by people without much sophistication. The text should be read rationally, where possible, to accord with experience and reason, rather than to be read credulously in a manner inconsistent with the laws of nature and ordinary human experience.
If this discussion seems somewhat abstract, Drazin brings it to life in the body of his book which explores specific sections from the Prophets. Drazin typically quotes a Biblical passage, outlines the difficulties readers find in it, and offers his own "rational" way of interpreting the passage to best avoid the difficulties. The 31 short chapters in this part examine matters both familiar and obscure including, Moses' parting of the Red Sea, the fall of the walls of Jericho,, and the sun standing still for Joshua. Other subjects include the census conducted at the behest of King David which apparently resulted in the death of 70,000 Israelites, the irony shown by the Biblical writer in the treatment of the reign of King Solomon, the story of the rape of Tamar, and much more. Drazin discusses the stories, shows their ethically or physically troubling points, and generally shows more than one way the Biblical commentators struggled with the issues. He also digresses a great deal to bring in stories and information about the Biblical texts, the commentators, and their histories. There is, for example, and outstandingly clear discussion of the Septuagint and its origin. In his interpretations, Drazin generally prefers a Maimonidean approach which eschews miracles or out-of -the ordinary occurrences and reads the Bible rationally in accordance with the laws of nature as developed by science.
Drazin's Scriptural passages and interpretations are fascinating and lively. They kept me absorbed and provoked thought about material I hadn't considered for a long time. I found, after reading the book, that the lines between the three means of Scriptural interpretation were less than fixed and clear. I also thought that on the whole, Spinoza's literalist approach to the Bible offers a surer ground to its basic meaning than the Maimonidean approach Drazin prefers. Maimonides approach shares with the second of Drazin's approaches (traditional Biblical commentators) a degree of anachronism. Maimonides puts ideals of reason and science into the Scripture which probably were as foreign to the Biblical authors as other materials that Drazin argues were imported into the text at a latter date. Drazin and Maimonides tend to read out the miraculous and the crude from their interpretations at the cost of not capturing the Biblical mind. At least this is how I viewed the matter upon reading some of Drazin's suggested interpretations. Each of the many ways of interpreting the text remains fascinating and each has something to teach. I tend to agree with the rationalism Maimonides, Spinoza, and Drazin share but to support Spinoza's way of interpreting the text over that of Maimonides.
It was refreshing and challenging to read this book. Oddly enough, the texts and the various interpretative threads brought me closer to Judaism than I have felt for a long time. I didn't agree with everything in this book, but it held my mind and attention. I am looking forward to reading the final book in Drazin's Maimonides trilogy.
Robin Friedman
Displaying 1 of 1 review