In these chapters, Maimonides states that it is not a principle of religion that the Universe will again be reduced to nothing; he believes that indications of this in the Torah are open to figurative interpretation. Maimonides understands that not everyone agrees with him;

those who follow the literal sense of the Scriptural texts reject our view, and assume that the ultimate certain destruction of the Universe is part of their faith, they are at liberty to do so. But we must tell them that the belief in the destruction is not necessarily implied in the belief in the Creation.

Commentary

This chapter exemplifies Maimonides’ view of the precise relationship between Scripture and reason.

  • Firstly, we see that Maimonides does not take Scripture at face value and instead treats it to rational scrutiny. Therefore, even though Revelation teaches that the Universe will be destroyed, he does not subscribe to this view.
  • Secondly, we see that if a certain speculative/philosophical viewpoint does not involve “a fundamental principle of our faith”, then he is willing to accept a difference of opinion. Here, for instance, he thinks that those who believe that the Universe will be destroyed are wrong, but he thinks it’s O.K. to believe what they believe.
  • Thirdly, Maimonides seems to believe that the willed actions of God are exempt from the laws of nature.

    whatever owes its existence to the action of physical laws is, according to the same laws, subject to destruction … [but] according to our theory, taught in Scripture, the existence or non-existence of things depends solely on the will of God and not on fixed laws, and, therefore, it does not follow that God must destroy the Universe after having created it from nothing.

When convincing his readers of a certain point, Maimonides begins by establishing the possibility of that point of view. In this chapter, he first shows that “reasoning leads to the conclusion that the destruction of the Universe is not a certain fact”. This step is usually a rational step for Maimonides, and to establish the scientific possibility of things he does not rely on Scripture. ‘A is clearly possible, on the authority of Our Teacher Moses’ is not a formulation we are likely to see Maimonides use.