Guiding the Perplexed

Rambam begins his explanation of the Book of Job with his understanding of the debate between Job (Iyov) and the first three friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Tzofar.

Rambam describes the nature of the Satan, what the concept means in the context of the story of Job and in general.

Rambam begins his analysis of the Book of Job and the lessons to learn regarding God's providence.

Rambam describes in chapter 20 the difference between God's "knowledge" and ours makes it impossible to ask questions about God's knowledge of future events and how that might conflict with free choice. In 21 he further explains this concept with a comparison between the knowledge a craftsman has of his craft and the knowledge of the user of the device he crafted.

In 19, Rambam describes why people conclude that God doesn't know or care what we do; because we have the arrogant idea that when things don't conform to the way we think they should be, we assume that they are not right. In 20, we begin Rambam's discussion of how God's "knowledge" is not the same as our human "knowledge".

Rambam describes in Chapter 18 how God's providence is commensurate with a person's intellect and how one chooses to live. Chapter 19 begins with the reason so many people conclude that God doesn't know or care what happens in this world.

Rambam describes his opinion regarding God's providence. Providence is for humans only as it works through our intellect and only humans have intellect.

Rambam describes the fourth and fifth possible understandings of how God's providence works, the fifth one being the simple meaning of the Torah. He reviews the flaws of all the possibilities, and leads us toward his own understanding of God's providence, which he will describe next.

Rambam describes various opinions regarding God's providence. In this lecture we cover the first three approaches.

Rambam begins his discussion of the difficult question of theodicy by describing what led many philosophers to conclude that God doesn't know what is happening in His universe.