Difference between revisions of "Literary Devices – Bereshit 17/0"

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<subcategory>God
 
<subcategory>God
 
<ul>
 
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #339966;"><b>Elokim </b></span>– This is the name used for God throughout most of the chapter. It is the name that was used throughout the story of Creation, but has not appeared since the story of the flood in Bereshit 9.&#160; The usage here might recall the Creation unit, as this chapter too, is a story of creation, the creation of the Jewish people with the covenant of circumcision.</li>
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<li><span style="color: #339966;"><b>Elokim </b></span>– This is the name used for God throughout most of the chapter. It is the name that was used throughout the story of Creation, but has not appeared since the story of the flood in Bereshit 9.&#160; The usage here might recall the Creation unit, as this chapter too, is a story of creation, the creation of the Jewish people with the covenant of circumcision.<fn>There might be a number of other allusions to the story of Creation:<br/>
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<ul>
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<li>Naming – Naming plays a central role in both stories. Avraham and Sarah receive new names in this chapter.&#160; During creation, too, Hashem names many of the objects that He creates in Bereshit 1 and Adam later names the animals in Bereshit 2.&#160;2.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;</li>
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<li>Be fruitful – The promise of being fruitful and multiplying appears in this chapter and is prominent in the story of creation.</li>
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<li>"Finished" – The word “ויכל” (“He finished”) in verse 22 may hearken back to the same verb that appears in Bereshit 2:1 and 2:2.&#160; </li>
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</ul></fn></li>
 
<li><b><span style="color: #339966;">Hashem</span> </b>– The narrator refers to Hashem by His proper name, Hashem, in verse 1.</li>
 
<li><b><span style="color: #339966;">Hashem</span> </b>– The narrator refers to Hashem by His proper name, Hashem, in verse 1.</li>
 
<li><b><span style="color: #339966;">El Shaddai</span></b> – Hashem identifies Himself as “אֵל שַׁדַּי ” in 17:1. See the&#160;<a href="https://mg.alhatorah.org/Concordance/7706">concordance</a> and&#160;<multilink><a href="RYosefibnKaspiBereshit17-1" data-aht="source">R. Yosef Ibn Kaspi</a><a href="RYosefibnKaspiBereshit17-1" data-aht="source">Bereshit 17:1</a><a href="R. Yosef ibn Kaspi" data-aht="parshan">About R. Yosef ibn Kaspi</a></multilink> that in almost every context in which this name for Hashem appears in Sefer Bereshit, it is associated with a divine blessing of offspring and land.<fn>Interestingly, the one verse in Bereshit in which the name is not explicitly associated with this promise is 43:14, in which Yaakov agrees to send Binyamin to Egypt despite his fear of losing him and expresses his hope that Binyamin and his brother will return. Perhaps the use of this name for Hashem expresses Yaakov’s hope that all of his descendants survive.</fn> Da'at Mikra further&#160; points out that this name for Hashem is used when the protagonist of the story is in distress, and that the name connotes either God’s encouragement<fn>Here, Avraham's distress over Sarah's infertility is assuaged as Hashem promises that she is to bear him children.</fn> or attribute of judgment.<fn>See the&#160;<a href="https://mg.alhatorah.org/Concordance/7706">concordance</a> that about two thirds of all the occurrences of the name are found in the book of Iyyov. [Press on "graph" to see this visually.]</fn></li>
 
<li><b><span style="color: #339966;">El Shaddai</span></b> – Hashem identifies Himself as “אֵל שַׁדַּי ” in 17:1. See the&#160;<a href="https://mg.alhatorah.org/Concordance/7706">concordance</a> and&#160;<multilink><a href="RYosefibnKaspiBereshit17-1" data-aht="source">R. Yosef Ibn Kaspi</a><a href="RYosefibnKaspiBereshit17-1" data-aht="source">Bereshit 17:1</a><a href="R. Yosef ibn Kaspi" data-aht="parshan">About R. Yosef ibn Kaspi</a></multilink> that in almost every context in which this name for Hashem appears in Sefer Bereshit, it is associated with a divine blessing of offspring and land.<fn>Interestingly, the one verse in Bereshit in which the name is not explicitly associated with this promise is 43:14, in which Yaakov agrees to send Binyamin to Egypt despite his fear of losing him and expresses his hope that Binyamin and his brother will return. Perhaps the use of this name for Hashem expresses Yaakov’s hope that all of his descendants survive.</fn> Da'at Mikra further&#160; points out that this name for Hashem is used when the protagonist of the story is in distress, and that the name connotes either God’s encouragement<fn>Here, Avraham's distress over Sarah's infertility is assuaged as Hashem promises that she is to bear him children.</fn> or attribute of judgment.<fn>See the&#160;<a href="https://mg.alhatorah.org/Concordance/7706">concordance</a> that about two thirds of all the occurrences of the name are found in the book of Iyyov. [Press on "graph" to see this visually.]</fn></li>

Version as of 05:33, 2 July 2023

Literary Devices – Bereshit 17

This topic has not yet undergone editorial review

Key Words

  • ברית – Tanakh Lab demonstrates that the word “ברית” appears 13 times in this chapter, emphasizing the theme of the reciprocal covenant between Hashem and Avraham that is represented by the covenant of circumcision.1

Character Titles

God

  • Elokim – This is the name used for God throughout most of the chapter. It is the name that was used throughout the story of Creation, but has not appeared since the story of the flood in Bereshit 9.  The usage here might recall the Creation unit, as this chapter too, is a story of creation, the creation of the Jewish people with the covenant of circumcision.2
  • Hashem – The narrator refers to Hashem by His proper name, Hashem, in verse 1.
  • El Shaddai – Hashem identifies Himself as “אֵל שַׁדַּי ” in 17:1. See the concordance and R. Yosef Ibn KaspiBereshit 17:1About R. Yosef ibn Kaspi that in almost every context in which this name for Hashem appears in Sefer Bereshit, it is associated with a divine blessing of offspring and land.3 Da'at Mikra further  points out that this name for Hashem is used when the protagonist of the story is in distress, and that the name connotes either God’s encouragement4 or attribute of judgment.5

Sources

Parallelism

  • Avraham’s response to Hashem’s promise of a son is structured parallelistically, lending it poetic structure: הַלְּבֶן מֵאָה 6.שָׁנָה יִוָּלֵד /  וְאִם שָׂרָה הֲבַת תִּשְׁעִים שָׁנָה תֵּלֵד