Still more emphatic is Shem-tob ibn Palqera in demanding the right of free inquiry into everything taught by Revelation and Tradition. In a dialogue between the believer and the inquirer (Hammebhakkesh) the former is represented as ignorant of everything our mind desires to know; whilst the wise man, who combines belief and confidence in Tradition with the right use of his reason, knows how to satisfy the inquirer, and lays down the rule, “Let the study of the Torah be the foundation, and the study of other things secondary; believe nothing that is not proved by reason or by God” (i.e., by the word of Revelation). R. Abraham ben David, in Emunah ramah: “Because three out of four scholars (R. Akiba, Ben-azai, Ben-zoma, and Elisha) were unsuccessful in their philosophical researches, therefore many turn their backs upon science, and in consequence of this neglect they remain ignorant of the chief principles of our religion.” The object of his book is to reconcile religion and science. R. Judah hallevi, in his “Kuzari,” endeavours to convince the Kuzarite king of the truth of the Jewish religion by philosophical arguments, but gives unhesitatingly the preference and the higher authority to Divine revelation. He is convinced that reason or philosophical argument could never refute any principle taught in the Law. He says: “Prophecy is certainly stronger than logical inference.” R. Abraham ibn Ezra believes that man’s intellectual faculties are insufficient to solve all transcendental problems; thus, e.g., the nature of the spirit of man is unknown to most, and is only comprehended by him “whose thoughts are weighed in the balance of reason, and are established on the four elements of wisdom, viz., the three R’s: reading, writing, and reckoning; (in Hebrew, the three ‏ס‎: ‏סְפָר סֵפֶר סִפּוּר‎) and the Divine Law.” Ibn Ezra recommends the study of science, united with the belief in Divine revelation. “The Torah,” Ibn Ezra remarks in his Commentary on Ps. xix. 8, “is perfect in itself; it requires no evidence from without for the truths which it teaches.” Maimonides’ “Guide to the Perplexed” is entirely devoted to the problem how to reconcile Scripture and reason. Scripture cannot contain anything contrary to reason; nor can the result of scientific research and philosophical speculation be conceived as contrary to reason, which is their very basis. But where any such contradiction is perceived, we are at fault either in our reasoning or in our interpretation of the Divine Writings. The Incorporeality and Unity of God are doctrines that have been fully proved, and Scripture cannot teach anything that is contrary to them. Where we believe them to be contradicted in the Holy Writings the contradiction is only apparent, and by assuming an allegorical use of words and phrases the seeming contradiction is removed.