Rabbinic Parables

Maer — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:31:10 +0000

I recently read a fascinating book entitled They Also Taught in Parables: Rabbinic Parables from the First Centuries of the Christian Era by Harvey K. McArthur and Robert M. Johnston. The first part is a collection of selected parables of the תנאים (tannaim – the Rabbinic sages in the Mishnah from approximately 70-200 CE) and the second part comprised of essays on the nature of their parables and some comparisons with the parables of Jesus.

The rabbinic word for parable(s) is mashal/meshalim, and, to mark a literary item as a narrative mashal, the authors chose the following elements:

Explicit label. Often the introductory formulas to the items explicitly label them as meshalim. Some typical introductions are: “A parable”; “A parable: It is like unto . . .”; and “They parable a parable. Unto what is the matter like? It is like unto. . . .”

The Sages and Midrash

Maer — Thu, 29 May 2008 23:10:23 +0000

In his article entitled “Ancient Biblical Interpretation and the Biblical Sage,” James Kugel surveys the development of the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible after the exile and shows the influence that the sages had on its development. The post-exilic condition that ushered in this new wave of biblical interpretation is what Kugel calls the “mode of return” (5). Basically, the dilemma faced by those returning from exile was how to go back to the glorious days.

The interpreters of Scriptures were not only priests or Levites (due the the centrality of the laws) but also wisdom sages. If we read Proverbs, Qohelet, or Job, one of their striking characteristics is that they are quite detached from history. The post-exilic sages, however, went back to the biblical writings and showed how principles of wisdom could be derived from them. Kugel first talks about how previously the sages used the meshalim and then how these teachers of wisdom became teachers of Scripture using Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon as examples of these “transitional figures” (12).

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Rabbinic Parables

The Sages and Midrash