In these chapters, Maimonides returns to the theme of explaining away the parts of Scripture that seem to describe a God inconsistent with correct Metaphysics. In chapter 65 he wades into the ‘createdness of the Qur’an debate’, where he stands firmly on the side of ‘the word of God is created’. Since God does not have any attributes superadded to his essence, he cannot have the attribute of speech, either; this is why, he says, “our people generally believe that the Law, i.e., the word asribed to him, was created” (anna al-taurata makhluqah أن التوراة مخلوقه). Thus, any references to the ‘speech’ of God should not be taken to mean that God actually speaks, but rather that God ‘thinks’ or ‘wills’; even with regard to the speech of God to Moses on Mount Sinai, Maimonides insists that we must understand these things figuratively.

In these chapters, Maimonides makes a passing remark about the process of creation when he is dealing with the reference in the Bible to ‘God rested on the seventh day’. The Universe works according to definite rules, but the act of Creation must have involved an entirely different set of rules. Thus,

while on each of the six days events took place contrary to the natural laws now in operation throughout the Universe, on the seventh day the Universe was merely upheld and left in the condition in which it continues to exist.

This is because Maimonides identifies the Hebrew word used for God’s action on the seventh day ( וישבת) with something like “to leave off speaking”. Thus, while God was actively involved — through his ‘Word’ — in the creation process in the first six days, on the seventh day, he ceased speaking. He seems to indicate that this goes against the grain of “Our Sages’” explanation, who prefer the term to mean that God “gave rest to the world” on the seventh day, but gives a detailed philological argument as to why his own interpretation is more appropriate.