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From: Russell Hendel <rhendel@mcs.drexel.edu>
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 22:08:17 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: ANI=Confrontational I, ANOCHI=Supportive I:Old Bible Criticism

A very quick answer to Yacov Shulman's question on the difference
between ANI and ANOCHI. This was a favorite during previous
centuries. People who attacked the Bible use to say that it was not a
unified document: To prove their point they said that certain parts of
the Bible use the word ELOKIM for God while others use ADNAY for God
etc. Similarly certain sections use ANI for "I" while others use
ANOCHI. To sum it up certain keywords---God, I....---were used to
suggest that different parts of the Bible were written by different
authors.

To refute this literature the orthodox (and secular camps) developed a
whole literature on why different words were used in different
sections. This in turn led to higher appreciation of the Bible. These
multi-section views of the Bible are no longer popular due to the
successful refutations of these scholars.

As an example of a refutation: ELOKIM is used to denote God when He is
EXERCISING JUSTICE while the ineffable tetragramaton is used to denote
God when He is EXERCISING MERCY.

In a similar manner ANI denotes the CONFRONTATIONAL I--a person who is
confronting the desires of someone else--I vs YOU. By contrast, ANOCHI
denotes the CARING I--a person who is responding to the needs of someone
else.

Perhaps one nifty example will illustrate this. In Dt 32:39 God is
confronting the Jews for observing idolatry--hence He says "...See now
that I (Ani), it is I who am God"--the confrontational I is used. By
contrast in the next verse, Dt 32:40 God promises to care for the Jews
and punish their enemies ((Dt 32:41-42) and hence the caring I (ANOCHI)
is used.

Of course the full development of this theme on the roughly 600 ANI and
250 ANOCHI requires more analysis and details then this introduction
could produce. I hope however that this whets the appetite. All modern
commentators (Rav Hirsch, Malbim) discuss this issue.

Russell Jay Hendel; Phd ASA RHendel @ mcs drexel edu
Moderator Rashi Is Simple
http://www.shamash.org/rashi/