Several interpretations of the legend have been put forward by modern scholars.
He is not always very critical, and he is passionately fond of allegorical interpretations, but these were the faults of his age.
The terms of the treaty of Paris were not only of indefinite import but were susceptible of contradictory interpretations.
The Geonim in their " Responses " or " Questions and Answers " supplied authoritative interpretations of the Old Testament or of the Talmud, and regulated the application of the teaching of the past to the changed conditions under which their brethren now lived.
Thus, the same evidence could give rise to widely differing conflicting interpretations, which may not be directly deducible from or justified by the Scripture.