Many people have an image in their minds of Moshe ascending to Hashem [what does that mean?] and Hashem dictating the Torah to Him as [li-havdil] a boss would dictate a letter to his secretary and Moshe faithfully transcribed His words.
Not exactly.
Let us see the Rambam:
היסוד השמיני היות התורה מן השמים. והוא שנאמין כי כל התורה הזאת הנתונה ע"י משה רבנו ע"ה, שהיא כולה מפי הגבורה. כלומר, שהגיעה אליו כולה מאת ה' יתברך, בעניין שנקרא על דרך השאלה "דיבור". ואין ידוע היאך הגיע, אלא היה משה ע"ה שהגיע לו, וכי הוא היה כמו סופר, שקוראים לו והוא כותב כל מאורעות הימים, הסיפורים והמצוות. ולפיכך נקרא "מחוקק". |
The eighth foundation is that the Torah is from heaven; to wit, it [must] be believed that the whole of this Torah which is in our hand today is the Torah that was brought down to Moshe, our teacher; that all of it is from G-d [by] the transmission which is called metaphorically 'speech'; that no one knows the quality of that transmission except he to whom it was transmitted, peace be upon him; and that it was dictated to him while he was of the rank of a scribe; and that he wrote down all of its dates, narratives and its laws – and for this he is called the legislator.
NOTE: The Rambam says והוא נקרא על דרך השאלה דיבור - The transmission is metaphorically called speech. But what REALLY happened there, stripped of all metaphors? That - only Moshe knew....
So we can have some image in our mind but we have to know that it is not an accurate portrayal of the reality of what happened.
This could lead me on a loooooooong road but it is late and maybe for another time....:-).
