Literary Devices – Bereshit 27/0

Literary Devices – Bereshit 27

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Key Words

Tanakh Lab indicates that the most frequent words in Bereshit 27 are בֵּן ,אָב, ברך and אָח, reflecting the narrative’s focus on complex family dynamics surrounding the bestowal of blessing.  

Blessing

Not surprisingly, given the focus of the chapter, the root "ברך" and noun "ברכה" together are among the most prevalent words in the chapter.¹

Family Relationships

The word "בֵּן" (son) appears 25 times, "‎אָב‎" (father)  24 times and "אָח‎" (brother) 23 times, highlighting the family relationships around which the story revolves. Interestingly, despite Rivka's masterminding the drama, the noun "אֵם" (mother) appears only five times in the narrative.  Perhaps this reflects her subtle, hidden involvement which takes place only behind the scenes.

Food

When looking at the relative usage of words here versus in the rest of Tanakh, two other words emerge as being significant:  "מַטְעַמִּים" and "צַיִד".‎² The role that food plays the giving of blessing is somewhat surprising and invites questioning. Compare how R"Y Bekhor Shor, R. Avraham b. HaRambam and R. D"Z Hoffman each understand why Yitzchak made the blessing contingent on bringing him a meal.

Character Titles

¹ The verb appears 17 times and the noun six times.

² The word "מטעמים" appears six times in the unit and only two more times in the rest of Tanakh making it 359 times more prevalent here than elsewhere.  The word "ציד" appears seven times, and only ten more times in the rest of Tanakh.