
The Midrash on Proverbs
Yale University Press
Published on 26. February 1992
Book
Hardback
160 pages
978-0-300-05107-0 (ISBN)
Description
The Midrash on Proverbs, a ninth-century collection of rabbinical commentary on the Book of Proverbs, is now available to English-speaking audiences for the first time. Burton L. Visotzky here provides a lucid translation of the work from his annotated critical edition of the Hebrew text, Midrash Mishle. Midrash Mishle is a watershed in midrashic literature, as it marks the point at which broader forms of classical midrash on the Scriptures gave way to verse-by-verse commentary. It is unlike most earlier midrash in that it regularly pays attention to context, relates verses to each other, provides comments on apparently simple meanings of verses, and philologically considers the meaning of specific terms. At the same time, it resembles earlier midrash by considering narrative legends-offering, for example, fanciful versions of Solomon's meeting with the Queen of Sheba, the death of Moses, and Joseph's encounter with his brothers. It also alludes to medieval Jewish law and custom, anti-Karaite polemic, and rabbinic mysticism (with its esoteric speculations on such subjects as the measurements of God's body).Visotzky's volume illuminates all these subjects for the scholar and nonspecialist alike in a prose translation that mirrors the style of the original Midrash Mishle text. His introduction to the volume sets it in the wider context of Jewish hermeneutics of the Bible.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 162 mm
Weight
494 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-05107-0 (9780300051070)
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