Biblical Hermeneutics

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PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL HERMENETICS ; M. M. NINAN "You, no doubt, know the Talmudical saying, which includes in itself all the various kinds of interpretation connected with our subject. It runs thus: `The Torah speaks according to the language of man,' dibra tora ki'lshon bnei adam, that is to say, expressions, which can easily be comprehended and understood by all, are applied to the Creator." Maimonides "Jewish scholarship has never regarded the Bible as a textbook for physical or even abstract doctrines. In its view the main emphasis of the Bible is always on the ethical and social structure and development of life on earth; that is, on the observance of laws through which the momentous events of our nation’s history are converted from abstract truths into concrete convictions. That is why Jewish scholarship regards the Bible as speaking consistently in “human language;” the Bible does not describe things in terms of objective truths known only to God, but in terms of human understanding, which is, after all, the basis for human language and expression." (Rav Hirsch Collected Writings vol. 7 p. 57) The Bible may, therefore, have employed superfluous words and sounds; and forced values should not be assigned to them for the purpose of deducing new rules therefrom. The same statement holds with regard to the repetition of an entire section. Ishmael is of the opinion that "The Torah at times repeats a whole section of the Law in order to give a new application to it" ; וחזרו שנאה במקום אחר לא שנאה אלא בשביל דבר שנתחדש בה פרשה שנאמרה במקום אחד כל " Sifre, Num. 2, according to the reading of Elijah of Vilna. It is not necessary, therefore, to draw a new inference from every repetition. Thus, for instance, in Num. v. 5-8 the Torah repeats the section on אשם גזלות in Lev. v. 20-26 (vi. 1-7, A. V.) for the purpose of teaching the new ruling that in certain cases recompense for sin shall be made directly to the priests. Akiva asserts, on the other hand (in Sifre, l.c., according to the reading of Elijah of Vilna), that "Everything that is said in a section so repeated must be interpreted" (= מה שנאמר בה צריך להדרש ‏,(כל and that new deductions may be drawn from it. According to this view, in Num. v. 5-8, for example, a new meaning must be sought in the repetition of the Law. Vocalization of words According to Akiva, the traditional vocalization in the Bible of a word which may be read in various ways is well founded אם למקרא)‏ ‏;(יש and he deduces many rules from the meanings which such words have according to traditional pointing. This rule had been formulated before Akiva by a tanna תנא)‏ Tanna "repeater", "teacher") named rabbi Judah ben Ro'eẓ, who is not mentioned elsewhere, and of whom, consequently, nothing more is known (comp. Sanhedrin 4a). Ishmael, in opposition to Akiva, follows the principle למסורת יש ‏,אם i.e., that the tradition regarding only the consonantal text is authoritative, and that rules may be deduced only from that text. A single example will serve to illustrate the difference between the methods of the two schools. In Lev. xxi. 11, in the law which forbids a priest to defile himself by touching a corpse, the word נפשת is written defectively. Since the traditional reading indicates the plural, "nafshot," Akiva draws the conclusion that a quarter-log of blood, the minimum quantity by 33
PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL HERMENETICS ; M. M. NINAN which a priest may be rendered unclean through contact with a single corpse, also defiles him when it issues from two bodies. According to Ishmael, however, this minimum quantity defiles a priest only when it issues from a single corpse; for the word, according to the consonantal text, is to be read in the singular "nafshat" (comp. Sanhedrin 4a, b, Hullin 72a, and Tosafot to both passages). Juxtaposition of sections "Every passage which stands close to another must be explained and interpreted with reference to its neighbor" שהיא סמוכה לחבירתה למדה הימנה כל פרשה Sifre, Num. 131. 34
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Prof. Madathilparampil Mammen Ninan
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Life, Legacy and the Theology of Dr
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Biblical Hermeneutics

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