Biblical Interpretation

As Maimonides points out in the first chapter of the Mishnah Torah, there are verses which pose a challenge for interpretation because they seem to contradict things that we know about the world, even some that would seem to imply that the Creator possesses physical form. Some take the approach that the Torah cannot be understood as a literal text, and must be read as an allegorical work intended to impart moral lessons which can be derived from it's stories, but is not a work of imperical fact. Others disdain this approach, pointing out that such a laissez faire attitude to understanding the text undermines it's message by making it so vague that it could mean practically anything. They aver that although it may not make sense to us, the text is to be taken literally at face value.

I believe a better third approach based on a more nuanced understanding of the nature of language is required. Every language uses idioms, phrases that have a precise meaning which is different from the literal meaning of the words that make it up. For example, if I say that I took the ball home, I mean that I grasped a spherical object in my hands and moved it to my place of residence. If, however, I say that I took the train home, I do not mean that I physically moved the train into my house, but only that I rode in it to get home. I am using the word 'took' in a completely different, although no less literal, sense. This difference in meaning would be lost on someone from another period in history, who would infer from my statement that a train must be an object small enough for me to carry.

The scriptures are not a product of our time, and consequently uses idioms with which we are unfamiliar. The only way to understand the intended meaning is to refer to the accompanying explanations of the text that have been passed down to us through Jewish tradition as the Talmud and Midrash, and the classic commentaries based upon them. This is demonstrated repeatedly in Maimonide's Guide for the Perplexed, which addresses many of the idioms found in scripture and explains their idiomatic meaning it's relationship to the words they contain.