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Certain Biblical paragraphs are stated in a Theme-Development-Theme form.
In other words a broad general idea is stated first followed by the development
of this broad general theme in specific details. The paragraph-like unit is then
closed with a repetition of the broad theme.
The Theme-Detail-Theme form creates a unified paragraph.
The detailed section of this paragraph is therefore seen as
an extension of the general theme sentences.
Today's example illustrates
this as shown immediately below.
Verse
Ex06-10:28
discussing
the selection of Moses and Aaron to free the Jewish
people from Egypt
states
- General: God spoke to Moses and Aaron...commanded them to take the
Jews out of Egypt
- Detail: These are the (sub)tribes: Reuven is the eldest...
..Levi had ...Kehath....Kehath has ...Amram...Amram married...
who gave birth to Moses and Aaron.....
- General:They are the same Moses and Aaron that God commanded to take
take the Jews out of Egypt...they were the people speaking to
Pharoh...they were them, Moses and Aaron
Rashi sees the detail clause
the genealogies of Moses and Aaron
as describing attributes of the general clause,
Moses and Aaron were picked to free the Jews.
Rashi states:
The 3 tribes listed in the genealogies - Reuben, Shimon, and Levi -
were the three tribes cursed by Jacob. In fact Shimon and Levi
took the law into their own hands (e.g. the destruction of a city
where their sister was raped) and were the instigators in selling
Joseph to Egypt. They sold Joseph because they did not believe his
dreams had prophetic content. Therefore the Bible emphasizes The
Moses and Aaron that God asked to save the Jews were descendants of
Levy who denied prophecy and caused the whole Egyptian exile!
Advanced Rashi: Three additional points can be made
- The above passage is one of the clearest examples of the Rabbi Ishmael
Theme-Development-Theme method. Note the underlines in the above cited passage:
They are the same Moses and Aaron .... In other words the Bible goes out of
its way to emphasize the point of the Theme-development-Theme.
- I would strengthen Rashi's point by emphasizing that Moses and Aaron were taking
the Jews out of Egypt. But the essence of Egypt was an emphasis on class structure.
Many of the Biblical prohibitions of slavery refer back to Egypt. The Bible in effect
says You were slaves in the Class society of Egypt...so you know what it feels like...
don't treat others like class people --- judge people by their merits. It is therefore
important when God redeemed the Jews for him to use someone with poor lineage --- Moses/Aaron were
chosen despite their descent from someone, Levi, who denied prophecy and helped
cause the whole Egyptian exile. By selecting Moses and emhasizing These are the same
Moses and Aaron the Bible emphasizes that God wants people judged by merit not by
who they descended from. At the critical moment of redemption God did not redeem the Jewish
people by the descendants of Joseph who believed in prophecy or by the Judaeans to whom
Monarchy was assigned, rather God selected the best person independent of their
ancestors. By so doing God was already negating the class philosophy of Egypt.
- In explaining Rashi I have combined the comments of four Rashis:
Ex06-26a Ex06-27a Ex06-27b Ex06-14a. Some of these Rashi just note the emphasis
in the text these are the same Moses and Aaron while other Rashi note that the
three tribes listed were cursed. By combining the Rashis together the comment becomes holistic.
This technique of combining Rashis can be very useful
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