Chronological and Thematic Order/2
Chronological and Thematic Order
Exegetical Approaches
Literary Concerns
Tanakh often sacrifices chronological order for literary reasons, preferring thematic order over strict chronology. Rather than switching off between two stories just so as to adhere to a historical timeline, Tanakh will often prefer to finish one narrative unit before moving to another. At times, the displaced unit is secondary to the main narrative, while at other times both the chronological and achronological components might be of equal import.
Secondary to Main Unit
In many cases, the majority and main crux of a given story is recorded in its proper chronological place and it is just one or two secondary components of the story which are displaced. The displaced unit might be moved to join and thereby complete the focal story ("להשלים את הענין") or it might be separated from it so as not to interrupt the main storyline ("לא להפסיק את הענין").
Introductions and Epilogues: "להשלים את הענין"
A subordinate component of a story might be moved either forward or backwards to complete the main narartive. This might take the form of an introduction, summation or epilogue.
Introduction
An event which occurred earlier is displaced in order to serve as an introduction and provide necessary background to a later story or law.1
Summation
An episode which occurred and was explicitly mentioned earlier in Tanakh is repeated in order to serve as either and introduction or a summation to a different unit.
