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Radak on Genesis : Creation, Humanity, and Torah ■ 113 perceives genuine importance in at least some of its nuances . A nonspecific approach to the allegory, therefore, will not prove satisfactory . Indeed, in the case of the early chapters of Genesis, Maimonides assigns highly consequential esoteric meanings to individual motifs and formulations . Because of the challenge that this presents, however, he resorts to a variety of creative methods, often pushing the limits of context and philology to achieve his exegetical objectives . 8 Radak, who sought to provide a sustained allegorical interpretation of the majority of Genesis 2 – 4, faced an even harder task . On the one hand, to help identify esoteric meaning, he adopts Maimonides’ resourceful methods of interpretation . For example, he assigns multiple definitions to words, and he invokes wordplay of different varieties . Like Maimonides, furthermore, Radak often draws on the rabbis, highlighting their own figurative exegesis of th...
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