Biblical Hermeneutics

PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL HERMENETICS ; M. M. NINAN
A curious fact, characteristic of the varied mental gifts of the Polish Jews, is that Moses
Isserles, called Rama ( ), the greatest rabbinical authority of Poland in the sixteenth
century, imitated the Provençal allegorists, some two hundred years after them, by
allegorizing the Book of Esther. The quarrel between Ahasuerus and Vashti is the conflict
between Form and Matter in the universe, just as Plato had presented the same opposition of
existence as that of man and woman. The five senses and the five powers of organic life are
symbolized for Isserles in the ten sons of Haman, who is himself the Evil Inclination
(Commentary on Esther, "Meḥir Yayin").
Mystical Allegorism.
Though conservatism may thus be said to have vanquished philosophical allegorism in the
fourteenth century and brought it to a halt, it could not prevent its development in another
direction into that mystical allegorism, which in its turn became the most predominant
method of Biblical interpretation. As far back as the "Sefer ha-Bahir" (first half of the twelfth
century) this tendency had held sway in certain quarters, and it has survived down to the
latest cabalistic work of modern Ḥasidim. The "Bahir" is the oldest cabalistic work of this kind.
It says, "The earth was without form and void" (Gen. i. 2); the word "was" indicates that
something was already existent; "void" also shows that there was a something; thus the preexistence
of the universe before Creation is deduced from Scripture.
Though Naḥmanides made only a scant use of allegorism in his Bible commentary, he was the
chief Talmudic authority of his age who with great insistence spoke a good word for it, and a
pupil of his, Baḥya b. Asher, was the first to define the advantages of mystic allegorism over
other modes of interpretation. While admitting the merits of peshaṭ (the literal meaning), of
remez (philosophical allegorism), and derush (exposition), he claims that only in the path of
the sod (Cabala) is there light (Introd. to Pentateuch commentary, begun in 1291). In his
commentary he never fails to take cognizance of this mystical interpretation; thus he sees in
the three festivals, the symbols of the three Sefirot, ḥesed (love), din (justice), and raḥamim
(mercy), the last of which establishes equilibrium between the former two, which are mutual
opposites. In the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt, God's love was displayed; in the
revelation upon Sinai, His mercy, the intermediary between justice and love; and on the
festival of the Holy Spirit (Tabernacles), the Sefirah of din (justice) stood revealed, an
emanation of ḥokmah (wisdom). ("Commentary, Deut." ed. Riva di Trento, p. 256b.)
Zohar.
The masterpiece of Jewish allegorism, and next to Philo's writings the most interesting and
most influential product of its kind, is the celebrated Zohar (Splendor), the gospel of the
Jewish mysticism of the Middle Ages. It was this allegorical commentary upon the Pentateuch
that coined the term PaRDeS ( Paradise) for the four species of Biblical interpretation,
forming it from their initial letters, thus Peshat (literal meaning), Remez (allegorical),
Derush (haggadic or halakic interpretation), and Sod (mystic meaning). As secondary forms
of these four, the Zohar mentions in a passage (iii. 202a, ed. Amsterdam) the following
seven: (1) literal meaning, (2) Midrash, (3) allegory, (4) philosophical allegory, (5) numerical
value of the letters, (6) mystic allegory, and (7) higher inspiration. It may be remarked with
regard to the last that Philo likewise claims "higher inspiration" for some of his interpretations
("De Cherubim," i. 9, 144; "De Somniis," i. 8, 627). Resting as it does upon rabbinical
Judaism, the Zohar maintains the authority of the written word; but mysticism was already
aware, at the time of the Zohar's origin, of its essential antagonism to the spirit of strict
111