The Reasons of the Laws of Moses: From the "More Nevochim" of Maimonides

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The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 2001 - Religion - 451 pages
Townley, James. The Reasons of the Laws of Moses from the "More Nevochim" of Maimonides. With Notes, Dissertations, and a Life of the Author. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1827. xi, 451 pp. Reprinted 2001 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. LCCN 00-066334. ISBN 1-58477-168-2. Cloth. $95. * "The laws and institutions of Moses constitute the earliest and most original system of ecclesiastical and civil jurisprudence and polity, with which the world has ever been favoured." (From the Preface). Maimonides' classic work of religious philosophy, the "More Nevochim" or Guide for the Perplexed contains an important section, The Reasons of The Laws of Moses, which was never fully translated into English until Townsley's translation, based on early Hebrew and Latin editions, which was originally published in 1829. Townsley's scholarly translation is supplemented by nine dissertations on the work, extensive notes and an index, and a biography of Maimonides [1135-1204], the medieval Jewish philosopher and jurist whose writings on Jewish law are highly regarded. Walker, The Oxford Companion to Law 797.

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Page 188 - If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land : But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword : for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Page 372 - If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; (What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him ? Did not he that made me in the womb make him ? and did not One fashion us in the womb...
Page 131 - There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
Page 220 - Lest, when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein ; "And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, — "Then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God...
Page 363 - Europe from the east to the west, from the north to the south...
Page 84 - For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Page 190 - There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
Page 221 - And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage...
Page 183 - For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of 'Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices : but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people : and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

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