Commentators:Character Consolidation/1

Character Consolidation

Introduction

This topic has not yet undergone editorial review

Consolidation of Characters

 I. Identification of three or more different names as the same person:

• Moshe – Vayikra Rabbah 1:31:3About Vayikra Rabbah
• Yitro – Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael Shemot 18:1, see also Yitro – Names
• Beor and other evil doers – Bavli Sanhedrin 105aSanhedrin 105aAbout the Bavli
• Sichon and other Canaanite kings – Bavli R"H 3aRosh HaShanah 3aAbout the Bavli
• Shelomo – Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:11:1About Shir HaShirim Rabbah
• Nevat and other evil doers – Bavli Sanhedrin 101b
• Sancheriv and other Assyrian kings – Bavli Sanhedrin 94aSanhedrin 94aAbout the Bavli
• Koresh and other Persian kings – Seder Olam Rabbah 30,30About Seder Olam Rabbah Bavli R"H 3bRosh HaShanah 3bAbout the Bavli

II. Identification of two characters with different names as the same person:

• Yiskah as Sarah – Seder Olam Rabbah 2120About Seder Olam Rabbah, Bavli Sanhedrin 69bSanhedrin 69bAbout the Bavli
• Malkizedek as Shem – Bereshit Rabbah 56:1056:10About Bereshit Rabbah
• Keturah as Hagar – Bereshit Rabbah 61:461:4About Bereshit Rabbah
• Shifrah and Puah as Yocheved and Miryam/Elisheva – Shemot Rabbah 1:131:13About Shemot Rabbah
• Efrat as Miryam – Shemot Rabbah 1:171:17About Shemot Rabbah
• Pinchas as Eliyahu – Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan) Shemot 6:18Shemot 6:18About Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan)

III. Identification of characters with the same or similar names as the same person:

• Haran the father of Yiska with Haran the brother of Avraham – Bavli Sanhedrin 69bSanhedrin 69bAbout the Bavli
• Potiphar and Potiphera – Bavli Sotah 13bSotah 13bAbout the Bavli
• Hirah and Hiram – Bereshit Rabbah 85:485:4About Bereshit Rabbah
• Calev the son of Chetzron with Calev the son of Yefuneh – Yerushalmi Yevamot 10:7 (see Ibn Ezra First Commentary Shemot 24:14Shemot First Commentary 24:14About R. Avraham ibn Ezra)
• Ovadyah the steward of Ahav with Ovadyah the prophet – Bavli Sanhedrin 39bSanhedrin 39bAbout the Bavli

IV. Identification of anonymous people with known personalities:

• Naamah as Noach's wife – Bereshit Rabbah 23:323:3About Bereshit Rabbah
• Og as the fugitive from Sedom – Bavli Niddah 61a
• Eliezer and Yishmael as Avraham's servants – Bereshit Rabbah 48:1348:13About Bereshit Rabbah, Vayikra Rabbah 20:220:2About Vayikra Rabbah
• Dinah as Shimon's wife and Asenat's mother – Bereshit Rabbah 80:1180:11About Bereshit Rabbah
• Menashe as Yosef's steward – Bereshit Rabbah 91:891:8About Bereshit Rabbah
• Datan and Aviram as the sinners in Egypt and the wilderness – Shemot Rabbah 1:301:30About Shemot Rabbah, Tanchuma Shemot 10Shemot 10About the Tanchuma, Tanchuma Buber Beshalach 24Beshalach 24About the Tanchuma
• Zipporah as the Cushite whom Moshe married – Sifre Bemidbar12:1About Sifre Bemidbar, TanchumaTzav 13About the Tanchuma, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer53About Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer
• Calev and Pinchas as Yehoshua's spies – Tanchuma Buber Shelach 1Shelach 1About the Tanchuma
• Eved Melekh HaKushi as Barukh – Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer53About Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

V.  Identification of one anonymous person with another:

• Paroh in Shemot 1-2 with Paroh of Bereshit 37-50 and Paroh of Shemot 3-15 – see Melekh Chadash.
• The officers of the nation in Egypt with the princes or seventy elders – Shemot Rabbah 5:205:20About Shemot Rabbah, Bemidbar Rabbah 12:16,12:16About Bemidbar Rabbah

Consolidation of Objects

I. Identification of objects with other objects:

• Esav's clothing with the leather garments of Adam and Chavah – Bereshit Rabbah 63:1363:1385:491:8About Bereshit Rabbah
• Yaakov and Yehudah's staff with Moshe's staff – Yalkut Shimoni Chukat 763

II. Identification of places with known places:

III. Identification of unknown dates with known ones:

• Angel's visit to Lot – 15 Nisan
• Giving of the Decalogue – 6 Sivan
• Moshe's descent with the 1st Tablets – 17 Tammuz
• Moshe's descent with the 2nd Tablets – 10 Tishrei
• Night of the return of the spies – 9 Av

Analysis

I. Why does the Midrash identify characters?

• Omnisignificance – Identifying anonymous or unknown figures explains why details are mentioned – Ramban Shemot 6:23
• Solve exegetical problems – see our discussion of Yitro's names in Shemot 18.
• Avoiding theological problems –
• Demonstrate reward and punishment – see Nechama Leibowitz in עיונים בספר במדבר pp.95-96.
• Character development and embellishment – 

II. Textual hooks and parallels

III. Difficulties with methods:

• Why would Tanakh use different names in different places?