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

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<category>Parallelism
 
<category>Parallelism
<p>Avraham’s response to Hashem’s promise of a son is structured parallelistically, lending it poetic structure: <fn>For more information about the nature of Biblical parallelism, see Dr. Mayer I. Gruber’s article&#160;<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20689374?read-now=1&amp;seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">The Meaning of Biblical Parallelism: A Biblical Perspective</a> and Dr. Adele Berlin’s <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23503350?searchText=&amp;searchUri=&amp;ab_segments=&amp;searchKey=&amp;refreqid=fastly-default%3A597a674cac61fd731f453302a133d0b9">Grammatical Aspects of Biblical Parallelism</a>. Other resources (not available online) are Dr. Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Poetry pp. 3-61, Dr. Adele Berlin’s The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism, and Dr. James Kugel’s The Idea of Biblical Poetry: Parallelism and Its History.</fn>.</p>
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<p>Avraham’s response to Hashem’s promise of a son is structured parallelistically, lending it poetic structure:<fn>For more information about the nature of Biblical parallelism, see Prof. Mayer I. Gruber’s article&#160;<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20689374?read-now=1&amp;seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">The Meaning of Biblical Parallelism: A Biblical Perspective</a> and Prof. Adele Berlin’s <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23503350?searchText=&amp;searchUri=&amp;ab_segments=&amp;searchKey=&amp;refreqid=fastly-default%3A597a674cac61fd731f453302a133d0b9">Grammatical Aspects of Biblical Parallelism</a>. Other resources include: Prof. Robert Alter’s <i>The Art of Biblical Poetry</i> pp. 3-61, Prof. Adele Berlin’s <i>The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism</i>, and Prof. James Kugel’s <i>The Idea of Biblical Poetry: Parallelism and Its History</i>.</fn></p>
 
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<li>הַלְּבֶן מֵאָה שָׁנָה יִוָּלֵד /&#160; וְאִם שָׂרָה הֲבַת תִּשְׁעִים שָׁנָה תֵּלֵד</li>
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<li><span style="color: #ff00ff;">הַלְּבֶן</span> <span style="color: #339966;">מֵאָה שָׁנָה</span><span style="color: #0000ff;"> יִוָּלֵד</span> /&#160; וְאִם שָׂרָה <span style="color: #ff00ff;">הֲבַת</span> <span style="color: #339966;">תִּשְׁעִים שָׁנָה</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">תֵּלֵד</span></li>
 
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<category>Plays on Words
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<category>Wordplay
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<subcategory>Examples
 
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<ul>
 
<li>"וּלְיִשְׁמָעֵאל שְׁמַעְתִּיךָ" – In verse 20, Hashem plays with the root "שמע".&#160; Yishmael's name means "God will hear", and Hashem tells Avraham that He has indeed heard his plea, and will bless Yishmael as well.</li>
 
<li>"וּלְיִשְׁמָעֵאל שְׁמַעְתִּיךָ" – In verse 20, Hashem plays with the root "שמע".&#160; Yishmael's name means "God will hear", and Hashem tells Avraham that He has indeed heard his plea, and will bless Yishmael as well.</li>
 
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<subcategory>Articles
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<p>The following articles contain general discussion of wordplay in Tanakh:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>See <a href="https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/docman/rendsburg/791-word-play-an-eclectic-collection/file">Wordplay in Biblical Hebrew: An Eclectic Collection</a>, by Gary A. Rendsburg, for exploration of various forms of Biblical wordplays.</li>
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<li>See&#160;<a href="https://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/pubs/9780884144762_OA.pdf">Wordplay in Ancient Near Eastern Texts,</a> 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.<fn>See <a href="https://aeon.co/ideas/how-translation-obscured-the-music-and-wordplay-of-the-bible">How Translation Obscured the Music and Wordplay of the Bible</a>, by Prof. Robert Alter, for an interesting account of Prof. Alter’s efforts to capture the wordplays of the Bible in translation.</fn></li>
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Latest revision as of 13:21, 11 April 2024

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

Parallelism

Avraham’s response to Hashem’s promise of a son is structured parallelistically, lending it poetic structure:6

  • הַלְּבֶן מֵאָה שָׁנָה יִוָּלֵד /  וְאִם שָׂרָה הֲבַת תִּשְׁעִים שָׁנָה תֵּלֵד

Wordplay

Examples

  • "וּלְיִשְׁמָעֵאל שְׁמַעְתִּיךָ" – In verse 20, Hashem plays with the root "שמע".  Yishmael's name means "God will hear", and Hashem tells Avraham that He has indeed heard his plea, and will bless Yishmael as well.

Articles

The following articles contain general discussion of wordplay in Tanakh: