# S7, E16 The Guide of the Perplexed, Rambam’s Messianic Vision (04): The Messiah, the Law, and the Unknowable King

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-great-sources-with-rabbi-shnayor-burton-1203468/s7-e16-the-guide-of-the-perplexed-rambam-s-messianic-vision-04-the-messiah-the-law-and-the-unknowable-king
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-great-sources-with-rabbi-shnayor-burton-1203468/s7-e16-the-guide-of-the-perplexed-rambam-s-messianic-vision-04-the-messiah-the-law-and-the-unknowable-king.md
Podcast: [The Great Sources with Rabbi Shnayor Burton](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-great-sources-with-rabbi-shnayor-burton-1203468)
Published: 2025-08-07T03:09:52+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/shnayor-burton/episodes/S7--E16-The-Guide-of-the-Perplexed--Rambams-Messianic-Vision-04-The-Messiah--the-Law--and-the-Unknowable-King-e36i359
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/fb5467c/podcast/play/106547817/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-7-7%2F2632e849-27a8-2254-c9f2-c7330cca142b.mp3
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Duration seconds: 4803

## Resource

00:25 The essence of Rabbi Akiva's wisdom is that the Torah speaks in parables3:40 The sin that led to the death of Bar Kochba is the sin of taking the Torah literally 11:15 Balaam and the parables about the Messiah; the prophets themselves didn't know the meaning of their parables about the Messiah18:00 Balaam blessed Israel with kingship, which turned into a curse21:00 Inverting the meaning of the Torah and Balaam's endeavor24:00 The inversion of the Torah is its external, superficial meaning; Balaam as the anti-Moshe28:45 The function of a king is to craft a unified message; the connection between kings and parables33:45 The problem with kings, who occlude the kingship of Hashem43:00 How can there be a righteous king?44:15 The function of halacha and how it applies to establishing kings who stand as parables for Hashem55:00 The contradiction in Shemoneh Esreh whether Hashem alone will rule us or David will56:00 Solomon's failure revolved around thinking we know the reasons of mitzvahs fully59:30 The more progress we make in recognizing the limits of our reason, the more we can safely explore the reasons for the mitzvahs 1:05:30 The Guide is Gan Eden; the Tree of Life is the middle question in the middle chapter of the middle section of the Guide: "Why did he give these mitzvahs and these prohibitions?"1:11:30 Rabbi Akiva knew the reason of the Red Heifer, which is that paradoxes are appropriate1:13:00 Balaam as the anti-Moshe and his influence, together with Moshe, on all the prophets that come after Moshe1:15:00 Rabbi Meir, student of Rabbi Akiva, and his approach to parables

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