ABSTRACT
In his philosophical work The Guide to the Perplexed, Maimonides follows the Talmud (source A35 and Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 92a) in explaining that a prophet should be “strong, wise, and rich.” Interestingly, he brings a slightly different formulation in his legal compendium Mishneh Torah (Hilkhot Yesodei ha-Torah 7:1) and his commentary on the Mishnah (Shemoneh Peraqim 7), which glosses over the requirement to be wealthy. Being a person of means apparently facilitated the focus on personal perfection, which, in Maimonides’ understanding, is the prerequisite for receiving prophecy.
