Literary Devices – Bereshit 12/0
Literary Devices – Bereshit 12
Rhetorical Devices of Repetition
In his article, Epiphora, Professor Yonatan Grossman points out that, in the beginning of the story of Avraham and Sarai in Egypt, the text employs the literary devices of anaphora and epiphora to emphasize the unexpected intrusion of Pharaoh into the story. In verses 14-15 not only do the Egyptian "see" Sarah, so does Paroh. In verse 15, the threefold repetition of Paroh again emphasizes how Avraham and Sarah are now in a much more precarious position than they had anticipated:
Anaphora
Anaphora refers to the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses:
- ויִּרְאוּ הַמִּצְרים אֶת הָאִשָּׁה כִּי יָפָה הִוא מְאֹד / וַיִּרְאוּ אֹתָהּ שָׂרֵי פַרְעֹה (Bereshit 12:14-15)
Epiphora
Epiphora refers to the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses:
- וַיִּרְאוּ אֹתָהּ שָׂרֵי פַרְעֹה / וַיְהַלְלוּ אֹתָהּ אֶל פַּרְעֹה / וַתֻּקַּח הָאִשָּׁה בֵּית פַּרְעֹה (Bereshit 12:15)
Key Words
"לֶךְ... מֵאַרְצְךָ... אֶל הָאָרֶץ" In the first half of the chapter (verses 1-9) the noun "ארץ" appears seven times, and the root "הלך" five times. This reflects the main theme of the unit, Avraham's uprooting himself from his homeland to go to the land promised him by Hashem.
"וֶהְיֵה בְּרָכָה" In verses 2-3, the concept of "blessing" appears 6 times (the root "ברך" is mentioned 6 times, and the noun "ברכה" once). Avraham is both blessed and a source of blessing.
Type Scene
Robert Alter1 has identified a convention of Biblical narrative in which a basic narrative sequence appears multiple times in Tanakh, each time with modifications that serve the needs of the narrative. The story of posing one’s wife as one’s sister is one such example of a type-scene, which appears three times in Sefer Bereshit, the first time in Bereshit 12. For analysis of the motivations for this ploy, see Endangering Sarai in Egypt.
