How does Rambam explain the use of magic in Tanakh?

Question

I've heard that the Rambam says that when the Torah speaks about magic it is meant as a parable. If this is the case, how does he explain Pharoah's sorcerers and other incidents in Tanakh such as prophet Shmuel's séance?

Answer 1

Regarding the plagues in Egypt, his son R. Abraham writes in his Torah commentary (Exodus 7: 11) in the name of R. Saadya Gaon (9th-10th century) that when the Torah states that "they too did so with magic" it means that they tried to do it.

He brings evidence that the term "they too did..." does not mean that they succeeded, from the later verse (8: 14) that states that "the magicians did so with their charms, to bring forth lice, but were unable".

וַיַּעֲשׂוּ־כֵ֨ן הַחַרְטֻמִּ֧ים בְּלָטֵיהֶ֛ם לְהוֹצִ֥יא אֶת־הַכִּנִּ֖ים וְלֹ֣א יָכֹ֑לוּ

Evidently the term "they did so" does not mean that they succeeded.

The following is the citation of R. Abraham:

ביאר ר׳ סעדיה ז״ל שטעמו רצו לעשות והביא עדות ממאמר ויעשו כן החרטמים בלטיהם להוציא את הכנים ולא יכלו

Given Rambam's statement in Hil. Avodah Zarah (11: 15-16) that anyone who believes in magic is a fool, it seems probable that he would have concurred with his son here.

Regarding Prophet Samuel's seance, Radak writes in his commentary to I Samuel (28: 24) that all of the Geonim (heads of academy in Babylonia) agree that that necromancy is ineffective. However they disagree regarding the interpretation of the passage in Samuel.

Rabbi Saadya Gaon and Rabbi Hai Gaon (10th-11th century) explain that really necromancy is ineffective, but in this instance God performed a miracle and brought Prophet Samuel:

רב סעדיה ורב האיי הגאונים ז"ל אמרו אמת הוא כי רחוק הוא שתדע האשה העתידות וכן שתחיה היא את המת בחכמת האוב אך הבורא יתברך החיה את שמואל כדי לספר לשאול את כל הקורות העתידות לבא עליו והיא האשה אשר לא ידעה בכל אלה נבהלה כמו שנאמר ותזעק בקול גדול

Rabbi Samuel bar Chofni Gaon explains that she was faking the whole thing and using her intelligence to fake Prophet Samuel's side of the conversation:

יש מהם אומרים כי לא דבר שמואל עם שאול וחס ושלום לא עלה שמואל מקברו ולא דבר אבל האשה עשתה הכל ברמאות כי מיד הכירה כי שאול הוא... זהו פי' רב שמואל בן חפני הגאון ז"ל

It seems probable that Rambam would adopt one of these approaches, or a similar one.

Answer 2

In Hilchos Avodat Kochavim 11:15, the Rambam differentiates between the punisments for a person who actually does magic, versus a person who merely used slight of hand:

המכשף חייב סקילה והוא שעשה מעשה כשפים אבל האוחז את העינים והוא שיראה שעשה והוא לא עשה לוקה מכת מרדות

I'm sure plenty of readers would love to play with these words and adapt them to their vision of the Rambam's opinion, but he clearly is saying that you're only deserving of the death penalty if you actually perform magic, not if you use slight of hand to make it seem as though you're performing magic.

Ironically, many people quote the following Halacha as a proof of the Rambam's "disbelief" in magic:

ודברים האלו כולן דברי שקר וכזב הן והם שהטעו בהן עובדי כוכבים הקדמונים לגויי הארצות כדי שינהגו אחריהן ואין ראוי לישראל שהם חכמים מחוכמים להמשך בהבלים אלו

Since he refers to magic here as non-reality (falsehood) and trickery, out of context it could certainly seem as if he is denying it's existence. However, seen in context he must be adding something else.

I humbly suggest that he understands magic to be part of a non-holistic vision of reality, where shortcuts and simple solutions are used to make your way through the world. Thus he ends the Halacha with:

אלו הדברים שאסרה תורה אינם דברי חכמה אלא תהו והבל שנמשכו בהן חסרי הדעת ונטשו כל דרכי האמת בגללן ומפני זה אמרה תורה כשהזהירה על כל אלו ההבלים תמים תהיה עם ה' אלהיך.

He describes these things as Tohu, chaotic, non-holistic/non-scientific, and thereby are approaches which destroy all paths of reality. People with simple minds get drawn into this, he says, because they aren't connected to a Temimus and wholesomeness which focuses a person on the bigger picture. It's like buying into some new-age treatment you read about online because "This has worked on 100 people!". A person on the path of Truth and reality doesn't involve himself in things which are disconnected from the universal functionality of the world; he doesn't look for shortcuts to getting all your prayers answered, for having all your wishes fulfilled by rubbing the genie's bottle. Rather, he lives life on its' own terms, and looks to the patterns of Creation as expression of a reality which God wishes to share with us.