1. I have altered the usual translation slightly, in line with the exegetical twist that Maimonides adduces here, and with the interpretation of Abraham Ibn Ezra, whose commentary ad loc. may have played a role in Maimonides’ choice of verse. See Isadore Twersky, Introduction to the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah), (New Haven, 1980), 190. For an alternative reading of the verse see TaNaKh: The Holy Scriptures: The New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text (Philadelphia and Jerusalem, 1985), 1251. See also the comments of the Mesudat David, ad loc.
2. Maimonides’ life and writings have attracted more scholarly attention than perhaps any other figure in the long span of Jewish intellectual history. A convenient biographical summary may be found in Isadore Twersky, A Maimonides Reader, 2nd ed. (New York, 1989), 1–29. A comprehensive bibliography on the life, times and writings of Maimonides may be found in Mavo’ la-Mishneh Torah la-Rambam, the Hebrew version of Twersky’s Introduction, trans. M. B. Lerner (Jerusalem, 1991), 405–9.
3. In general, Maimonides’ originality as a Biblical exegete has yet to find its full measure of appreciation and evaluation. See Wilhelm Bacher, Die Bibelexegese der jüdischen Religionsphilosophen des Mittelalters vor Maimûni (Strasbourg, 1892);
4. Wilhelm Bacher, Ha-Rambam: Parshan ha-Miqra’, trans. A. Z. Rabinovitz, (Tel Aviv, 1932);
5. Jacob Levinger, Ha-Rambam ke-Filosof u-ke-Poseq (Jerusalem, 1990), passim; and Twersky, Introduction, 145–50.