Literary:Dialogue/0

Dialogue in Torah

Unspecified Audience

There are several verses in which Hashem speaks but His audience is left unspecified:

• Bereshit 1:3,6,9,11,14,20,24,26 – Is Hashem speaking aloud to angels or is Hashem merely thinking (aloud?) to Himself with אמר meaning thought? See commentators to Bereshit 1:26 and more.
• Bereshit 2:18, 3:22, 6:3,7, 11:6
• Bereshit 18:20 – Is Hashem merely thinking (aloud?) to Himself or is He speaking to Avraham or to the angels? This depends on the dispute among the commentators throughout the chapter regarding if "Hashem" refers to God Himself or to one (perhaps the most important) of the angels, and regarding with whom Avraham is conversing. See Avraham's Guests – Angels or Men for discussion.
• Shemot 20:1 – When introducing the Decalogue, the verse states: "וַיְדַבֵּר אֱ-לֹהִים אֵת כָּל הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה לֵאמֹר", without specifying to whom Hashem is speaking.  No where else in Torah does the root "דבר" appear in reference to Hashem without the verse then stating with whom Hashem is conversing. Here the ambiguity makes one question whether Hashem spoke directly to the nation or whether He delivered the Decalogue only to Moshe who was then charged with relaying it to the nation. See The Decalogue: Direct From Hashem or Via Moshe for elaboration and discussion of the theological ramifications of each possibility.

Unstated Multiple Voices

Usually when there is conversation in Tanakh, each speaker is mentioned.  There are times, however, where there might be multiple speakers even though they are not mentioned:¹

• Shemot 14:10-12 – See RambanShemot 14:10About R. Moshe b. Nachman that the various statements (crying to Hashem for help, complaining about leaving Egypt etc) are made by different groups in the nation, one that believed in Hashem and Moshe and one which denied Moshe's prophecy.
• Shemuel I 9:11-13 – These verses describe Shaul's conversation with the women at the well when he searches for Shemuel. In response to his questioning if they have seen the prophet, the women speak at length, leading Midrash Shemuel to suggest that they were enamored by Shaul's good looks and wanted to prolong the conversation. Here too, though, it is possible that the verses contains multiple speakers, which each woman responding to Shaul, vying for his attention. If so, the continuous  jabber would make more sense, as each clause is potentially said by a different speaker, perhaps even at the same time.
• Nechemyah 5:15 – The first few verses of the chapter detail the various complaints of the people, each opening with "וְיֵשׁ אֲשֶׁר אֹמְרִים" (there are those who say). Verse 5 does not contain such an introduction, perhaps implying that it is a continuation of the complaint of verse 4.  It is also possible, however, that in verse 5 multiple voices speak, with each of the previously mentioned groups attempting to shout over the other, their voices mingling without order. Indeed, each clause appears to connect to one of the various gripes mentioned earlier.
• Yonah 1:8 – After the lottery falls on Yonah, holding him responsible for the storm, the sailors turn to him with a series of question regarding his identity, nationality, profession and purpose.  It is possible that each question is actually said by a different sailor.
• Tehillim 118 – R. B"S Jacobson² and A. Hakham³ both suggest that the psalm be read as a drama with multiple speakers praising God throughout the psalm.  As the people head to Jerusalem to offer a thanksgiving offering, various individuals tell their personal stories of salvation en route. As such, every few verses of the psalm might be said by a different speaker. For elaboration, see Historical Setting of Tehillim 118.

Double Vayomer

In a recorded dialogue, one would expect the word "ויאמר" (he said) to appear only when there is a new person speaking.  However, In many Biblical verses, one finds that the word "וַיֹּאמֶר" is mentioned twice despite there not being an explicit change in speaker.⁴ At times, there is no speech at all in between the two occurrences of the word "וַיֹּאמֶר" (as in Bereshit 22:7:"וַיֹּאמֶר יִצְחָק אֶל אַבְרָהָם אָבִיו וַיֹּאמֶר אָבִי"),⁵  while at other times, the initial "וַיֹּאמֶר"  is followed by a speech, but in the middle of that speech, the word "וַיֹּאמֶר" appears again, seemingly for no reason. Several explanations have been given for the phenomenon,⁶ with some viewing this as simply a literary device and "a way of the text",⁷ and others assuming that there is something to be learned from the doubling in each case.⁸

• For in-depth discussion of this phenomenon with many examples, explanations of commentators, and analysis, see Redundancy: Double Vayomer.

¹ See: Ed. Gavriel Gil, דרכי הסיפור במקרא : לפי הרצאותיו של שמריהו טלמון (Jerusalem, 1965) who discusses some of the following examples.

² See: הרב יששכר יעקבסון, נתיב בינה כרך ג' (תל אביב, תשמ"ח): 312-298.

³ See Da'at Mikra Tehillim Vol. II (Jerusalem, 1981): 364-373.

⁴ Many commentators note the phenomenon, giving different explanations for the various cases. Abarbanel and Malbim comment on it especially often.

⁵ See Bereshit 22:7, Bereshit 46:2, Shemot 1:15-16, Shemot 16:6-8, Vayikra 16:1-2, Shemuel II 14:4, Shemuel II 21:2-3, Shemuel II 24:17, Melakhim I 3:26, Yirmeyahu 28:5-6, Yechezkel 10:2, Esther 7:5, Nechemyah 3:34, Divrei HaYamim II 31:10.

⁶ For a comprehensive discussion of the topic and literature on it, see מאיר שילוח, "ויאמר... ויאמר", ספר קורנגרין (תשכ"ד): 251-267. See also, Dr. R. Steiner, "He Said, He Said”: Repetition of the Quotation Formula in the Joseph Story and Other Biblical Narratives", JBL 138:3 (2019): 473–495.

⁷ See Ibn Janach, Ibn Ezra, Ramban and R"Y Bekhor Shor in the examples brought on the topic in Redundancy. They each view at least some of the cases as being examples of resumptive repetition, which serves a functional role but adds no deeper meaning to the text.

⁸ R. Yochanan in several places (Eikhah Rabbah 1:41, Tanchuma Emor 3, Midrash Shemuel 24:8, and compare Vayikra Rabbah 26:8) asserts that any time the word "וַיֹּאמֶר" appears twice one is supposed to learn something out from the verse ("צָרִיךְ לִדָּרֵשׁ"), implying that this is not a literary device, but rather each case might have its own explanation.