וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אֶל־זֶ֙בַח֙ וְאֶל־צַלְמֻנָּ֔ע אֵיפֹה֙ הָאֲנָשִׁ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֲרַגְתֶּ֖ם בְּתָב֑וֹר וַֽיֹּאמרוּ֙ כָּמ֣וֹךָ כְמוֹהֶ֔ם אֶחָ֕ד כְּתֹ֖אַר בְּנֵ֥י הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃
Lalu ia berkata kepada Zebah dan Salmuna: “Seperti apakah rupa orang-orang yang kamu bunuh di Tabor?” Jawab mereka: “Mereka seperti engkau, semuanya serupa, seperti rupa anak-anak raja.”
Rabbeinu Bahya
בצלמו, “in His image.” The term צלם refers to an intellectual achievement. When the Torah wrote the word בצלמנו this was meant to alert us to the fact that the intellectual life-force within man has been emanated from G’d’s own Holy Spirit. As a result there is a great difference between the צלם, ”the abstract image,” and the physical appearance of someone who possesses it, i.e. the תאר, the form in which it is presented. I do not agree with Rabbi David Kimchi who believed that the word צלם is equivalent to the word דמות, “outward appearance, form.”
Maimonides also agreed that there is a great difference between the two. At the beginning of his “Guide for the Perplexed,” he writes: “there are many people who understood the word צלם in Hebrew to be a description of the outward appearance which one perceives. These people are in error. In fact their error is so great that it borders on heresy. It might lead them to believe that G’d is corporeal. The fact is that the word צלם and the word תאר refer to two totally different concepts. The word תאר refers to the outward shape and form which we perceive with our five senses, whereas the word צלם applies to the essential core of such a phenomenon. An example of the former is found in Samuel I 28,14 מה תארו “what does he look like?” Another example is found in Judges 8,18 כתאר בני המלך, ”just like the king’s sons.” Concerning the essential core of man’s spiritual makeup the Torah wrote that he is בצלמו , “like our own core,” meaning that the spiritual disembodied essence of man makes him similar to the disembodied phenomena in the world of the angels The Torah emphasised this when it wrote בצלם אלוקים ברא אותו ,”in G’d’s own image He created him.” We know that G’d is not physical, so the word could not refer to a physical appearance This is also the reason for Psalms 73,20 צלמם תבזה, “their image You despise.” One does not “despise” the outward appearance of a person but the inner core such an image may reflect. Clearly, the Torah wanted to tell us by using the word בצלמנו than man and G’d have something in common which is of the essence, the abstract intellectual ability of his soul. Maimonides elaborates further on this theme in his ספר מדע, fourth chapter.
Maimonides also agreed that there is a great difference between the two. At the beginning of his “Guide for the Perplexed,” he writes: “there are many people who understood the word צלם in Hebrew to be a description of the outward appearance which one perceives. These people are in error. In fact their error is so great that it borders on heresy. It might lead them to believe that G’d is corporeal. The fact is that the word צלם and the word תאר refer to two totally different concepts. The word תאר refers to the outward shape and form which we perceive with our five senses, whereas the word צלם applies to the essential core of such a phenomenon. An example of the former is found in Samuel I 28,14 מה תארו “what does he look like?” Another example is found in Judges 8,18 כתאר בני המלך, ”just like the king’s sons.” Concerning the essential core of man’s spiritual makeup the Torah wrote that he is בצלמו , “like our own core,” meaning that the spiritual disembodied essence of man makes him similar to the disembodied phenomena in the world of the angels The Torah emphasised this when it wrote בצלם אלוקים ברא אותו ,”in G’d’s own image He created him.” We know that G’d is not physical, so the word could not refer to a physical appearance This is also the reason for Psalms 73,20 צלמם תבזה, “their image You despise.” One does not “despise” the outward appearance of a person but the inner core such an image may reflect. Clearly, the Torah wanted to tell us by using the word בצלמנו than man and G’d have something in common which is of the essence, the abstract intellectual ability of his soul. Maimonides elaborates further on this theme in his ספר מדע, fourth chapter.