Biblical Text in Rabbinic Context: The Book of Chronicles in the Mishnah, Talmud and Midrash 9781463234447

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Biblical Text in Rabbinic Context

Analecta Gorgiana

1060 Series Editor George Anton Kiraz

Analecta Gorgiana is a collection of long essays and short monographs which are consistently cited by modern scholars but previously difficult to find because of their original appearance in obscure publications. Carefully selected by a team of scholars based on their relevance to modern scholarship, these essays can now be fully utilized by scholars and proudly owned by libraries.

Biblical Text in Rabbinic Context

The Book of Chronicles in the Mishnah, Talmud and Midrash

Isaac Kalimi

Y W 2013

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com G&C Kiraz is an imprint of Gorgias Press LLC Copyright © 2013 by Gorgias Press LLC Originally published in 2010 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2013

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ISBN 978-1-4632-0107-4

Y W

ISSN 1935-6854

Reprinted from the 2010 Piscataway edition.

Printed in the United States of America

2. BIBLICAL TEXT IN RABBINIC CONTEXT: THE BOOK OF CHRONICLES IN THE MISHNAH, TALMUD AND MIDRASH ISAAC KALIMI UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO [email protected] ABSTRACT

This study investigates how the Rabbis handled the Book of Chronicles. Among several issues, it shows that the Rabbis tried to reconcile the intermarriages mentioned in genealogical lists in Chronicles with the opposition to intermarriage stated in Ezra-Nehemiah. This is apparent because the baraita quoted in b. B. Bat. 15a and the Gemara following it attribute the composition of Chronicles to Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra composed at least some of the lists, including the intermarriages mentioned there, because those intermarriages were acceptable under certain conditions.

INTRODUCTION Without a doubt, the book of Chronicles is much closer to the line of the Rabbis’ way of thinking than the books of Samuel and

This article is a revised version of chapter 9 of my book, The Retelling of Chronicles in Jewish Tradition and Literature: A Historical Journey (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2009), 141-54.

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MIDRASH AND THE EXEGETICAL MIND

Kings.1 Certainly, Chronicles reflects some of the methods of interpretation and explanation of the scriptures, such as attribution of names to unnamed figures; content harmonization; “measure for measure” retribution; “generalization and specification;” “purifying of the core personalities of Israelite history;2 even some seeds of Midrashic interpretation,3 all of these methods of interpretation developed further and were widely used in the Rabbinic literature. Thus, obviously in this study I inquire about how the Rabbis handled the book of Chronicles. I provide the main features of the Mishnaic, Talmudic and Midrashic use of Chronicles, illustrating each with a variety of representative examples. I also present the Rabbis’ opinion about the authorship of Chronicles and its relationship with Ezra-Nehemiah. The placing of Chronicles in the Hebrew Canon as well as its location in the Writings and the question whether the Rabbis disputed the inclusion of Chronicles in Jewish Canon, I have dealt with elsewhere, together with other views on these issues.4 Needless to say, it is not the intention to discuss here all the references to the book of Chronicles in the extremely rich, complex Rabbinic literature. The succeeding discussions in my book, “Chronicles Targum” and “Chronicles in Jewish Liturgy and Ritual”, which, due to their unique merits are dealt with separately,

1 Cf. Isaac Kalimi, The Reshaping of Ancient Israelite History in Chronicles (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2005), 408 (idem, Zur Geschichtsschreibung des Chronisten [BZAW 226; Berlin & New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1995], 323-24; idem, The Book of Chronicles - Historical Writing and Literary Devices [The Biblical Encyclopedia Library XVIII; Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 2000], 390-91). 2 See in detail, Kalimi, Reshaping of Ancient Israelite History, 74-77, 14058, 186-93, 369-80 (idem, Zur Geschichtsschreibung des Chronisten, 61-64, 12743, 165-71, 311-18; idem, Historical Writing and Literary Devices, 77-80, 14056, 183-89, 353-62). 3 See Isaac Kalimi, “The Characterization of the Chronicler and His Writing,” An Ancient Israelite Historian: Studies in the Chronicler, His Time, Place, and Writing (Studia Semitica Neerlandica 46; Assen, The Netherlands: Royal Van Gorcum, 2005), 19-39, esp. 20-23; idem, “Utilization of Pun / Paronomasia in the Chronistic Writing,” An Ancient Israelite Historian, 67-81. 4 See Kalimi, Retelling of Chronicles in Jewish Tradition and Literature, 1733, esp. 21-31.

KALIMI – CHRONICLES

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should be considered as part and parcel of the classical Rabbinic literary activities related to Chronicles.5

UNITY, AUTHORSHIP AND THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHRONICLES TO EZRA-NEHEMIAH In contrast to the Septuagint, where the book of Chronicles is divided into two portions,6 the classical Rabbinic tradition as testified by the baraita speaks only about one comprehensive Hebrew book called -'/'! ':, as well as one book of Samuel and one book of Kings (b. B. Bat. 14b, 15a). This tradition is reflected also by the Masoretic scribes (“traditionalists”). At the end of 2 Chronicles they note: “the sum of all the verses of the book is 1,765.” Accordingly, they pointed to 1 Chr 27:25 as “the middle of the book in verses.”7 The division of the book into two parts in the Hebrew manuscripts and the printed editions of the Jewish Bibles (that remain to the present time), was secondary and came after 1448. This division was due to the length of the book, and, most probably, has been influenced by the various Christian translations, which followed the form of the Septuagint and the Vulgate.8 According to the afore-mentioned baraita and the following sentence that stated by the Gemara, the authors of the book were Ezra, the scribe, and Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah: !'+ 3''2/ .#+ 3 -'/'! ': +< 2%'# #:62 =) :$3 3 +/ :$3 !+3 + :: :/ !#!' : :/ ,:+ .!'+)% 0 !'/%1 ?!'92 0/# .!+3# #/83 2%'