Commentators:Character Consolidation/1
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Character Consolidation
Introduction
Consolidation of Characters
Identification of three or more different names
- Moshe – Vayikra Rabbah
- Yitro – Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael Yitro Amalek 1, see our discussion in Shemot 18.
- Beor and other evil doers – Bavli Sanhedrin 105a
- Sichon and other Canaanite kings – Bavli R"H 3a
- Shelomo – Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:1
- Nevat and other evil doers – Bavli Sanhedrin 101b
- Sancheriv and other Assyrian kings – Bavli Sanhedrin 94a
- Koresh and other Persian kings – Seder Olam Rabbah 30, Bavli R"H 3b
Identification of two characters with different names as the same person:
Consolidation of Objects
- Yiskah as Sarah – Seder Olam Rabbah 21, Bavli Sanhedrin 69b
- Malkizedek as Shem – Bereshit Rabbah 56:10
- Keturah as Hagar – Bereshit Rabbah 61:4
- Shifrah and Puah as Yocheved and Miryam/Elisheva – Shemot Rabbah 1:13
- Efrat as Miryam – Shemot Rabbah 1:17
- Pinchas as Eliyahu – Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan) Shemot 6:18
Identification of two characters with the same or similar names
- Haran the father of Yiska with Haran the brother of Avraham – Bavli Sanhedrin 69b
- Potiphar and Potiphera – Bavli Sotah 13b
- Hirah and Hiram – Bereshit Rabbah 85:4
- Calev the son of Chetzron with Calev the son of Yefuneh – Yerushalmi Yevamot 10:7 (see Ibn Ezra Short Commentary Shemot 24:14)
- Ovadyah the steward of Ahav with Ovadyah the prophet – Bavli Sanhedrin 39b
Identification of anonymous people with known personalities
- Naamah as Noach's wife – Bereshit Rabbah 23:3
- Og as the fugitive from Sedom – Bavli Niddah 61a
- Eliezer and Yishmael as Avraham's servants – Bereshit Rabbah 48:13, Vayikra Rabbah 20:2
- Dinah as Shimon's wife and Asenat's mother – Bereshit Rabbah 80:11
- Menashe as Yosef's steward – Bereshit Rabbah 91:8
- Datan and Aviram as the sinners in Egypt and the wilderness – Shemot Rabbah 1:30, Tanchuma Buber Beshalach 24
- Calev and Pinchas as Yehoshua's spies – Tanchuma Buber Shelach 1
- Eved Melekh HaKushi as Barukh – Pirke DeRabbi Eliezer 53
Identification of one anonymous person/group 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 – Bemidbar Rabbah 12:16, Shemot Rabbah 5:20