Meaninglessness, Meaningfulness, and Super-Meaningfulness in Scripture: An Analysis of the Controversy Surrounding Dan 2:12 in the Middle Ages
Does the midrashic principle of biblical omnisignificance have an echo in peshaṭ exegesis? How far may a pashṭan go in cutting Scripture down to size? Is meaninglessness ever an option? These are the questions lurking just beneath the surface of the medieval controversy surrounding Dan 2:12. Dunash&...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Penn Press
1992
|
| In: |
The Jewish quarterly review
Year: 1992, Volume: 82, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 431-449 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Does the midrashic principle of biblical omnisignificance have an echo in peshaṭ exegesis? How far may a pashṭan go in cutting Scripture down to size? Is meaninglessness ever an option? These are the questions lurking just beneath the surface of the medieval controversy surrounding Dan 2:12. Dunash's analysis of בנס וקצף שגיא in that verse as a prepositional phrase ("in great agitation and anger") rather than a verb phrase coordinate with the following ואמר וגו׳ ("got very upset and angry and gave an order..."), forced him to take the - ו of ואמר as meaningless. Despite the many parallels he cited, not everyone was convinced. Even some of the exegetes who accepted his analysis of בנס וקצף שגיא rejected his view of the following - ו. Among them was Joseph Qimḥi, who turned Dunash's meaningless - ו into a super-meaningful one by positing an ellipsis before it. Another application of the omnisignificance principle can be seen in R. Tam's use of Dan 3:13 as a parallel to Dan 2:12, which betrays an aversion to meaningless variation. Further aspects of the question remain to be investigated, but preliminary research suggests that attitudes toward the omnisignificance principle may be a variable which can serve to establish a new classification of medieval pashṭanim. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1553-0604 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The Jewish quarterly review
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/1454866 |