HISTORY OF THE JEWISH INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS 1:26, 3:5, 3:22 IN THE MIDDLE AGES

• Matthew Oseka

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7833/117-1-1355

Keywords: Genesis 1, 26, Genesis 3, 5, 22, Hebrew Studies, Jewish Studies, Hebrew Scriptures, Saadia Gaon, Rashi, Samuel ben Meir, Abraham ibn Ezra, Maimonides, David Kimhi, Nahmanides, Jacob ben Asher, Hezekiah ben Manoah

Abstract

The present paper examines the plural forms found in Genesis 1:26, 3:5 and 3:22 which might appertain to the Divine and which acted as focal points for theological and exegetical discussion within the framework of the Jewish tradition. Thus, the paper studies the mediaeval Jewish exegesis of these plural forms as perpetuated in the representative Jewish commentaries and situates it against the early Jewish reception of these forms which was mirrored in the ancient Jewish Aramaic and Greek translations of the Scripture and reflected in the Midrashic and Talmudic literature. The mediaeval Jewish tradition, on the one hand, relied on the earlier exposition of such phenomena, on the other hand, it enriched and advanced the trajectory of the interpretations accepted within the limits of Judaism.