Commentators:Character Consolidation/1

Character Consolidation

Introduction

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Introduction

• One of the techniques often employed by Midrash is the identification of different Biblical characters one with another, a method which can be termed the "Law of Conservation of Biblical Characters".
• In many cases, an anonymous or lesser known character (or even objects, places, and dates) is identified with a named and more famous figure. In other instances, two well-known personalities are identified as one and the same person. Sometimes, a person might even be connected to numerous other figures.
• The method stems from the Midrashic belief in the omnisignificance of Torah, leading it to develop the identities of unknown figures whose presence in the text is otherwise not understandable.
• The technique is often employed to resolve exegetical or theological questions, to amplify the merits of the righteous and the faults of villainous figures or to mitigate seeming sins of the Patriarchs, and to demonstrate historical continuity.
• Often, textual links and contextual parallels further motivate and / or bolster the identifications.

Consolidation of Characters

Below are many examples of character consolidation with sources and links for further discussion.

 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. For discussion, see  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 101bSanhedrin 101bAbout the Bavli
• 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. For elaboration, see: Avraham's Many Wives.
• Lavan as Bilam – Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan)Bemidbar 22:5About Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan).¹ To discussion of the parallels which might lead to the identification, see Bilam.
• Shifrah and Puah as Yocheved and Miryam/Elisheva – Bavli Sotah 11bSotah 11bAbout the Bavli, Shemot Rabbah 1:131:13About Shemot Rabbah. For discussion, see: Who are the Midwives.
• 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 10:7Yevamot 10:7About the Yerushalmi, Bavli Sotah 11bSotah 11bAbout the Bavli (Cf. Ibn Ezra First Commentary Shemot 24:14Shemot First Commentary 24:14About R. Avraham ibn Ezra)
• Yoel the son of Shemuel with Yoel the prophet –
• 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. For more, see Did Yaakov's Sons Marry Canaanites.
• 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.  See also: Miryam's Critique of Moshe and his Cushite Marriage
• 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 anonymous people one with another:

• Paroh in Shemot 1-2 with Paroh of Bereshit 37-50 and Paroh of Shemot 3-15 – Bavli Sotah 11aSotah 11aAbout the Bavli. See discussion in New King or Dynasty
• The officers of the nation in Egypt with the princes or seventy elders – Shemot Rabbah 5:205:20About Shemot Rabbah, Bemidbar Rabbah 12:1612:16About Bemidbar Rabbah

Consolidation of Objects

I. Identification of objects with other objects:

• Esav's clothing and 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:

• Beit El and Yerushalayim –

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 – As Midrash views every word in Torah as significant, it finds the presence of anonymous or unknown figures who play no other role elsewhere troubling.  By identifying such figures with known characters, it can explain why such details are mentioned – See Ramban Shemot 6:23Shemot 6:23About R. Moshe b. Nachman.
• Textual links – Often, textual links and content parallels² between stories will motivate a certain identification.  People with similar or identical names³ or those who play similar roles in different stories will be connected.  Uncommon words⁴ shared by two stories might lead to other associations.
• Solve exegetical problems – At times, an identification serves to solve exegetical difficulties. See, for example, ShadalBereshit 11:29Bereshit 11:29About R. Shemuel David Luzzatto's discussion of the Midrashic identification of Sarah as Yiskah and the discussion of Yitro's names in Shemot 18.
• Addressing theological issues
• Apparent misdeeds of the righteous – Giving a Jewish identity to an idolator or Canaanite can obviate problems of apparent "intermarriages" or other undesirable unions. See, for instance, the identification of Shimon's Canaanite wife with Dina at Did Yaakov's Sons Marry Canaanites or the identification of the Cushite whom Moshe married with Zipporah at Miryam's Critique of Moshe and his Cushite Marriage.
• Demonstrate reward and punishment – Nechama Leibowitz⁵ suggests that in certain instances, such as the identification of the officers whipped in Egypt with the seventy elders, the technique serves to demonstrate Divine providence and how good deeds are rewarded and suffering compensated.⁶
• Character development – Identifying villains with other wicked individuals or the worthy with similarly righteous people serves to further blacken or whiten their characters.  This fits the Midrashic tendency to augment the faults of evil characters and amplify the merits of righteous figures. See, for example, the identification of Shifra and Puah with Miryam and Yocheved at Who are the Midwives.⁷
• Bridge history – When Midrash connects figures who live centuries apart, its goal might be to bridge history and show continuity over the generations, similar to the concept of מעשה אבות סימן לבנים.

II. Difficulties with method:

• Why would Tanakh use different names in different places?

¹ Cf. Bavli Sanhedrin 105a above which equates Lavan with BiIam's father, Beor, instead.

² See, for instance, the identifictaion between Eliyahu and Pinechas or Lavan and Bilam.

³ See the list above.

⁴ See, for example, mention of the place Rephaim in connection to both Og and the story of the four and five kings, leading (in part) to the identification of Og as the refugee who spoke to Avraham.

⁵ See her Iyyunim BeSefer Bemidbar (Jerusalem, 1992): 94-96.

⁶ See also the identification of Ovadiah who saved prophets in the time of Izevel with Ovadiah the prophet.

⁷ See also the conflation of Lavan and Bilam or Datan and Aviram with other rebellious people in the wilderness period.