Literary Devices – Bereshit 15/0

Literary Devices – Bereshit 15

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Structure

Two Promises

• Bereshit 15 is comprised of two sections: verses 1-6 in which Hashem promises Avraham plentiful seed, and verses 7-21, known as the Covenant of the Pieces, in which He tells Avraham that his progeny will inherit the Land of Israel. 

Articles

• For discussion of whether the two parts of the chapter constitute two halves of an integrated blessing of seed and land or whether they comprise two distinct prophecies, see Bereshit 15 – One Prophecy or Two?

Key Words

Examples

• Tanakh Lab demonstrates that the words that appear with the greatest frequency in Bereshit 15 are the roots “ירש” (inherit) and “נתן" (give), highlighting the theme of the gifting of the land to Avraham as an eternal inheritance for his descendants.

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• For a general overview of the use of key words in the Biblical text, see Martin Buber’s דרכו של מקרא: עיונים בדפוסי-סגנון בתנ”ך.  For some online resources with discussion of the various functions and characteristics of key words and many examples, see The Multi-Purpose ‘Leading Word’ and the Problems of Its Usage, by Yairah Amit and Jeffrey M. Green, and Leitwort by Professor Yonatan Grossman.

Wordplay

Examples

• See R. David Zvi HoffmannBereshit 15:2About R. David Zvi Hoffmann that the appellation "וּבֶן מֶשֶׁק בֵּיתִי" is a play on the words "דַּמֶּשֶׂק אֱלִיעֶזֶר". The fact that the phrase  "בֶן מֶשֶׁק בֵּיתִי" appears only here (see the concordance) suggests that the play on words in intentional.¹

Articles

The following articles contain general discussion of wordplay in Tanakh:

• See Wordplay in Biblical Hebrew: An Eclectic Collection, by Gary A. Rendsburg, for exploration of various forms of Biblical wordplays.
• See Wordplay in Ancient Near Eastern Texts, by Scott B. Noegel, for a book-length treatment of the range of permutations of wordplays in Tanakh and in other Ancient Near Eastern texts. ²

Symbolism

• תַנּוּר עָשָׁן וְלַפִּיד אֵשׁ – See RambanBereshit 15:17About R. Moshe b. Nachman that this represents Hashem coming to make the covenant, noting that the image is parallel to the "cloud and darkness" and "consuming fire" found during the revelation at Mount Sinai. The concordance reveals that the word "עשן" appears in Torah in only these two stories, strengthening the comparison.

¹ Because this word appears only here, the commentaries (including Rashi, Ibn Janach, R. Yosef Kimhi, and Radak) disagree on its derivation and, in some cases, its meaning.

² See also  How Translation Obscured the Music and Wordplay of the Bible, by Prof. Robert Alter, for an interesting account of Prof. Alter’s efforts to capture the wordplays of the Bible in translation.