Biblical Hermeneutics

PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL HERMENETICS ; M. M. NINAN
HYPERLITERISTS
The "hyperliteralists" took things to the extreme and were constantly looking for hidden
meanings lying "under" the surface of the text.
NOTARIKON
The Kabbalists even allegorized the letters of the words to get new hidden meanings. They
used notarikon where each letter stood for another word. They also used a method called
gemetria which assigned numerical values to words, and then compared numbers and a
system called termura which changed the letters of words to form new words.
Here is the description and examples of notarikon from Jewish virtual library
The notarikon can be divided into two categories.
One kind interprets every letter in a particular word as the abbreviation of a whole word,
since "the words of the Torah are written as notarikon" (Mekh. Ba-Ḥodesh, 8).
Example:
The word נִמְרֶ‏ צֶת (nimreẓet, "grievous"; I Kings 2:8) stands for תּוֹעֵבָה , (No'ef,
Mo'avi, Roẓe'aḥ, Ẓorer, To'evah; "adulterer, Moabite, murderer, oppressor, despised")
120
נוֹאֵף
מוֹאָבִי,‏ רוֹצֵחַ,‏ צוֹרֵ‏ ר,‏
אָנָא נָפְשִׁי (Anokhi, "I") was interpreted to mean אָנ ‏ֹכִי Commandments, The first word of the Ten
105a). (Anna Nafshi Ketavit Yahavit; "I Myself wrote (and) gave [them]" (Shab. כְּתָבִית יַהֲבִת
A second and later application of notarikon consists of breaking up a word into various
components.
Example:
The name רְ‏ אוּבֵן (Re'uven, "Reuben"; Gen. 29:32) becomes ראוּ בֵן (re'u ven, "see (the) son";
PdRE 36)
The word אַבְרֵ‏ ך (avrekh, "senior adviser"; Gen. 41:43) changes into אָב בְּחָכְמָה ר״ְך בְּשָׁנִים (Av Be-
ḥokhmah, Ra-Kh be-Shanim, "father in wisdom (though) tender in years"; Sif. Deut. 1).
Extreme cases of manipulated notarikon can be seen below:
כַּרְ‏ מֶל Sometimes, one-syllable words are transposed. An example of this is when the noun
(karmel, "fresh corn"; Lev. 2:14) is taken to mean רַ‏ ‏ְך מֶל (rakh mel, "tender and easily
crushed"; Men. 66b).
At other times, a word is even transposed although the abbreviation for one of the derived
words is missing: מְצוֹרָ‏ ע (meẓora, "leper"; Lev. 14:2), is therefore taken to mean
(moẓi shem ra, "slanderer"), although there is no letter shin in the original word (Tanḥ.
Meẓora, 4).
מוֹצִיא שֵׁם רַ‏ ע