Abstract
This chapter clarifies some questions regarding Maimonides' allegorical readings of Scripture. Maimonides' position struck Spinoza as 'noxious, useless, and absurd'; for according to it, one could never know what a biblical text meant until one conducted an independent scientific investigation and determined whether or not its plain meaning contradicted reason. Of course, Spinoza was able to reject Maimonides' position regarding the allegorical interpretation of Scripture because, unlike him, he was not committed to the reasonableness of the biblical text. Maimonides' position regarding the allegorical interpretation of Scripture is similar to that of his contemporary and fellow Cordovan, Averroes. Maimonides' allegorical interpretations of Scripture are often highly creative, and may indeed seem outrageous to the fundamentalist or to the critical Bible scholar, yet they are almost always rooted in classical Rabbinic midrash. Keywords: Averroes; biblical text; classical Rabbinic midrash; Maimonides' allegorical readings; Scripture; Spinoza
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