Concepts of Scripture in Nahmanides 149indicates here, comes from penetrating the simple level of the text with the
help of an authentic tradition that derives from Mosaic revelation.
Th e diff erent hermeneutics of Nahmanides and Maimonides may be
witnessed in their respective interpretations of prophetic visions. In the fol-
lowing passage, for example, Nahmanides is critical of Maimonides’s dis-
cussion of the appearance of angels to Abraham under the oaks of Mamre
in Genesis 18:1. First he summarizes Maimonides’s discussion of the events:
[Maimonides argues] that scripture fi rst says that the Eternal appeared to
Abraham in the form of prophetic visions [maraot ha-navuah], and then
explains in what manner this vision took place, namely, that he [Abra-
ham] lift ed up his eyes in the vision, and three men stood by him [Gen.
18:2] and he said, if now I have found favor in your eyes [Gen. 18:3]. Th is is
the account of what he said in the prophetic vision to one of them, namely,
their chief. 26Maimonides’s interpretation of these events, according to Nahmanides’s
summary here, glosses over the details of the account. For Maimonides,
the meeting with the three strangers, the meal that he and Sarah cook for
them, and the subsequent conversation that leads to the announcement
that the aged Sarah will give birth occurred only in Abraham’s imagination.
Nahmanides continues:
Now if in the vision there appeared to Abraham only men partaking of
food, how then does scripture say, And the Eternal appeared to him, as God
did not appear to him in vision or in thought? . . . [According to Mai-
monides], Sarah did not knead cakes, nor did Abraham prepare a bullock,
and also, Sarah did not laugh. It was all a vision! If so, this dream came
through a multitude of business [Eccl. 5:2], like dreams of falsehood, for
what is the purpose of showing him all this! Similarly did the author of the
Guide of the Perplexed [i.e., Maimonides] say in the case of the verse, And
a man wrestled with him [Gen. 32:25], that it was all a prophetic vision. But
if this be the case, I do not know why Jacob limped on his thigh when he
awoke! And why did Jacob say, For I have seen an angel face to face, and my
life is preserved [Gen. 32:31]? 27Nahmanides’s criticism of Maimonides here is based on the latter’s desire
to downplay — or, indeed, to negate — the literal level of the biblical narra-
tive. If scripture says one thing, asks Nahmanides, why should Maimonides