Chronological and Thematic Order/0

Chronological and Thematic Order

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Introduction

When recording history an author must always balance the competing demands of chronological and thematic order.  The Biblical text sets chronological order as the norm, but in a number of instances it is willing to sacrifice it for literary reasons.  In several places in Torah this achronology is explicit in the text.  Time or location markers such as people's ages, a switch of locale, or more rarely, definitive dates, clue the reader into the phenomenon.  More often, though, the true timing of scenes is ambiguous.  For textual or conceptual reasons a case might be made for achronology, but no definitive proof can be found in the text.

Overlapping Units – When a textual unit takes place over an extended period of time, some of its components might overlap with the events of surrounding stories. Instead of constantly switching back and forth between the two, the Torah often completes one narrative unit (השלמת הענין) before moving to the other. Several examples follow:

Explicit Cases

Displacement of Minor Details – In some cases, the majority of a story is recorded in its chronological place, but additional details which occurred at a later date are nonetheless included in the narrative as part of an epilogue which completes the unit (השלמת העניין):

• Death notices – The lives of the main protagonists discussed in Sefer Bereshit always overlap with those of the subsequent generations.  Nonetheless, the text is organized so that it focuses on only one leader at a time, without interrupting the story to talk about events that relate only to later characters.¹  As such, the deaths of each character are not mentioned where they occur (in the middle of the narrative that deals with their son), but are rather recorded earlier and serve as conclusions to their story cycles.² 

• The manna – Shemot 16 focuses on the story of the manna's arrival in the first year, but also mentions its later preservation by the Ark, and its being eaten throughout the forty years of wandering.³ Despite the fact that these details occur only later, they are placed here both to provide closure to the unit and so as not to interrupt later narratives with unconnected information.⁴

Displacement of Major Units – Sometimes entire chapters are recorded out of chronological order.  The displacement is motivated by a desire to juxtapose related material, but in contrast to the above cases, in these incidents both the chronological and achronological components are of equal import.  In the following two examples, the displaced unit is moved to serve as an introduction:

• Laws of Sacrifices in Vayikra 1-5 and 6-7 – According to Vayikra 1:1 the laws of sacrifices discussed in Chapters 1-5 were all said to Moshe in the Tent of Meeting.  In contrast, the directives of Chapters 6-7, aimed at the priests, were given earlier at Mt. Sinai⁵ and relate to to the sacrificial ceremonies surrounding the Tabernacle's consecration.⁶  As such, the two units appear in reverse chronological order.  In this case, it is possible that the written account flips the true chronology due to the differing needs of the desert generation and the future nation.  In the desert, Moshe first transmitted the laws relating to priests since these were necessary for them to fulfill their immediate tasks.  When writing for generations, however, it was more important to begin with those laws which are relevant for all times, and only afterwards to include directives related to the one time event of the Mishkan's consecration.

• Census and Camp in Bemidbar 1-4 – Sefer Bemidbar opens with a series of dated, and explicitly non-chronological events.  Chapters 1-4 speak of the census taken in the second month of the second year, while Bemidbar 7:1-3 goes back in time to the dedication of the altar in the first month.  Bemidbar 9:1-2 continues with the Pesach in the first month, and Bemidbar 10 brings the reader back to the middle of the second month with the nations' travels.⁷  Though the opening census really occurs in between the events of Chapters 9 and 10, placing such an extensive list of numbers there would break up the main narrative of the book. As such, the Torah preferred to incorporate the non-narrative material as an introduction to the book,⁸ and start the main plot line in Chapter 7.

Ambiguous Cases

• "לֶךְ לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ" – Hashem's command to Avraham that he leave his birthplace is found in Bereshit 12:1, yet Avraham and his family already uproot from Ur Kasdim at the end of Chapter 11.  This leads commentators to question whether Hashem's command is really in its chronological place, or if it was delayed so as to first finish the Terach cycle of stories before opening the Avraham narratives. For a full discussion of the issue and its implications for understanding Avraham's move as a whole, see Avraham's Aliyah.
• Covenant of the Pieces – In order to resolve the discrepancy between Hashem's promise in Bereshit 15 that the exile would be 400 years and Shemot 12 which states that the bondage lasted 430 years, many commentators⁹  maintains that the 400 years started from the birth of Yitzchak, while the 430 count began thirty years earlier, at the Covenant of the Pieces.  According to this, Avraham was seventy when the Covenant took place,¹⁰ and had not yet moved to Canaan.¹¹ As such, these exegetes are forced to say that the Covenant is recorded out of place.  See Bereshit 15 – One Prophecy or Two? and Avraham's Aliyah for elaboration and attempts to explain the reason for the misplacement.
• Avraham's marriage to Ketura - Bereshit 25:1 describes Avraham's marriage to  Ketura, which appears to take place after Sarah's death and Yitzchak's marriage, when Avraham is over 140 years old!¹²  The incongruity of his marrying and bearing children at such an advanced age makes readers question the chronology of the incident.  Is it possible that here too, the event occurred earlier, but is only recorded as part of the epilogue to the Avraham stories so as not to interrupt the main narrative?  See Avraham's Many Wives for a variety of opinions.
• Yitzchak in Gerar
• Birth of Yaakov's children – Bereshit 39-30 speaks of the births of Yaakov's first 12 children, including seven from Leah alone.  A simple read of the story allocates slightly more than six years for all these births,¹³ but also includes a hiatus in which Leah was not able to conceive at all.  This makes one question the chronology of the story as a whole and the relationship between the births of each mother. It is possible that some of the pregnancies/births overlapped, but so as not to confuse the reader, the Torah presented them as consecutive events.  See The Births and Relative Ages of Yaakov's Children for this and other opinions, and for how the issue relates to the ages of Shimon and Levi during the Slaughter of Shekhem.¹⁴
• Blessing to Menashe and Efraim
• Yehuda and Tamar – Both the Yosef saga and the story of Yehuda's marriage to Bat Shua and relationship with Tamar span many years and overlap with each other.  The chronological order of the various events appears to be:
• 1) Yehuda's marriage to Bat Shua (Chapter 38:1-11)¹⁵
• 2) The sale of Yosef (Chapter 37)
• 3) Yosef's rise to power in Potiphar's house (Chapter 39)¹⁶
• 4) Yehuda and Tamar (Chapter 38:12ff) 
• 5) the rest of the Yosef story. 
• To preserve continuity in each story, the Torah separates the two sagas rather than interweaving one into the other.¹⁷  It opens with the events which occurred in Canaan, telling of the sale and Yehuda¹⁸ and then moves to those events which happened in Egypt.¹⁹ 

• "כְּתֹב זֹאת זִכָּרוֹן בַּסֵּפֶר"  – In Shemot 17, after the battle of Amalek, Hashem tells Moshe to record the event for posterity in "the book" and to speak to Yehoshua about wiping out Amalek.  Ibn Ezra Shemot Short Commentary 17:14About R. Avraham ibn Ezraposits that this was first commanded in the fortieth year, by which point it was known that Yehoshua alone was to head the conquest, and that the "book" refers to the Sefer Torah which was by then extant.²⁰  In order to finish the story, however, the command is recorded here.

• Yitro's arrival and advice – Shemot 18 speaks of Yitro's arrival at Sinai before the revelation and his subsequent advice to Moshe.  Several textual issues lead commentators to question if the incident is recorded in its proper chronological place.  Yitro offers sacrifices "לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים", a term often used to refer to the Mishkan, yet at this point the Tabernacle has not been built.  Moshe tells Yitro that he teaches the people "the statutes of God and His laws", yet the Decalogue has not been given. In addition, the parallel story in Devarim appears in the midst of Moshe's account of the events of the second year rather than the first!  As such, many have attempted to reconstruct the actual order of events and explain why the story, or parts thereof,²¹ was moved here. To see the full array of opinions and issues, see Chronology – Shemot 18.
• Shemot 24
• Mishkan
• Bemidbar 21
• –

¹ This is not to say that Avraham may not play a role in any Yitzchak narrative, but only that if a certain event relates only to the life of Avraham, even if it happened at the same time as events being told that concern Yitzchak, it would not appear there in the text but rather earlier during the "Avraham cycle" of narratives.

² For examples, see mention of the death of Noach in Bereshit 9:29, Terach in Bereshit 11:31-32, Avraham in Bereshit 25:8, and Yitzchak in Bereshit 35:29.

³ As such, the story basically overlaps with the rest of Torah.

⁴ For a spectrum of opinions regarding the timing of the specific events mentioned in the epilogue, see Epilogue to the Manna Story.

⁵ See Vayikra 7:37.

⁶ As such, they are really an extension of the discussion of the Miluim ceremony relayed in Shemot 29.  See R. D"Z Hoffmann who makes this point.

⁷ In other words, to reflect the true chronology, the chapters should have been ordered: a) Chapters 7-9 b) Chapters 1-6 c) Chapters 10ff.

⁸ Chapters 5-6 comprise undated legal material and are thus appended to the census.

⁹ See Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael Bo 14, Seder Olam Rabbah 1, Baraita of 32 Middot: 22, Rashi Shemot 12:40, Rashbam Shemot 12:40, and Chizkuni Bereshit 15:1-7.

¹⁰ Since Avraham was 100 when Yitzchak was born, and the Covenant took place thirty years prior to that, Avraham would have been 70.

¹¹ Bereshit 12 sets his age at seventy five when he left Charan for Israel.

¹² We know from Bereshit 25:20 that Yitzchak was 40 when he married Rivka. Thus, since Avraham was 100 when Yitzchak was born, Avraham would be at least 140 when he married Keturah.

¹³ Yaakov appears to marry Leah after completing his first seven years of labor for Lavan (see Bereshit 29:20-23 ), and Yosef, the twelfth child, is born at the end of his second seven year stint .

¹⁴ Since the story of Shechem appears to have occurred soon after Yaakov made his way back to Canaan,  Shimon and Levi would seem to be but 12 and 13 during the massacre!

¹⁵ Among the people listed in Bereshit 42 as going to Egypt are Yehuda's great-grandchildren, Chezron and Chamul.  As there are only 22 years between the sale of Yosef and the descent [Yosef is 17 when sold, 30 when he stands before Paroh, and 39 when the family comes down (seven years of plenty and two years of famine pass)], it would be very hard to assert that Yehuda's marriage is in its chronological place.  See Ibn Ezr ad Ralbag who suggest that the opening of the chapter "וַיְהִי בָּעֵת הַהִוא" hints to the reader that the events actually happened earlier.  Cf.Seder Olam Rabbah who nonetheless does attempt to maintain chronological order and suggests that each generation bore children at the age of seven.

¹⁶ See how Bereshit 39:1 resumes right where Bereshit 37:36 left off.

¹⁷ undefined

¹⁸ One might have thought that the Torah should separate the two stories totally, first telling the Yehuda and Tamar tale and only afterwards speaking of the sale and the rest of the Yosef narratives. It is possible that the Torah did not open with Yehuda's marriage since the Bat-Shua story is not important in and of itself, and only comes to serve as an introduction to the main story of Yehuda and Tamar which occurred later. As such, the Torah begins chronologically, with the first event of import, the sale of Yosef.
Others suggest that the Torah had other calculations.  Ibn Ezra posits that the Torah wanted to juxtapose the story of Yehuda and Tamar with that of Yosef and Mrs. Potiphar so the reader can compare how each character dealt with the attempted seduction.

¹⁹ As such, the events in Potiphar's house are only told after the Yehdua and Tamar story, despite their occurring earlier.  Otherwise the narrative of Yosef's life in Egypt would be interrupted.

²⁰ Cf. RashiShemot 17:14About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki who disagrees and maintains chronological order, asserting instead that Hashem hinted here to Moshe that he was not to enter the land and Yehoshua was to lead after him.  Alternatively, Yehoshua is mentioned due to the role he played in the present battle, and not because of his future position of leadership.

²¹ While some posit that the entire story is misplaced, others suggest that it is entirely chornological.  Many also take middle positions, claiming that the story of Yitro's arrival might be in its proper place, but the advising of Moshe is not.  Finally, some claim that just the final verse discussing Yitro's return home is out of order and found here only to complete the story.