Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 31/0

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Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 31

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Terafim

Tools

  • Concordance – Using the concordance to see where "תְּרָפִים" play a role in Tanakh, one sees that the word appears 15 times, one third of which are in the stories of Rachel (Bereshit 31) and Michal (Shemuel I 19). A comparison of the two stories points to further parallels, most notably how both women are entangled in conflict between husband and father and practice deception relating to the use of "תְּרָפִים", perhaps in an effort to save their loved ones.

Articles / Lectures

Sojourning, Slavery and Oppression

Articles

  • R. David Silber, in his essay, "Gerut, Avdut, and Innuy: The Covenantal Formula" in Go Forth and Learn: A Passover Haggadah, notes that the root words of גרות, עבדות ועינוי, which appear in the Covenant Btween the Pieces in relation to the Egyptian exile (Bereshit 15:13), also figure in Yaakov’s experience in Lavan’s house (see Bereshit 31:41-42, 32:5).  This indicates that Yaakov experiences, on an individual level, mirror the national destiny of the nation of Israel.  

Yaakov and David

There are a number of parallels between the stories of Yaakov and David, including their difficult relationships with their fathers-in-law and the challenging tasks they must complete as a prerequisite to marriage.

Tools

  • Tanakh Lab – As the stories of each figure span multiple chapters (in the case of David, an entire book), it is difficult to linguistically compare the entire story.  However, individual components might more easily be paralleled.  For example, one might compare the tragic stories of the rape of Yaakov and David's daughters, Dina and Tamar, using the Tanakh Lab.1

Articles

  • See Yaakov and David for an exploration of both the plot parallels and linguistic similarities in the stories of these two figures.