Description

This book attempts to answer the question of why Laban the Aramean, a rather harmless character as presented in the biblical text, is generally portrayed in rabbinic literature as a major enemy of Jacob and Israel. It is argued that the portrait of Laban as a villain developed as a result of rabbinic hermeneutics, and that the characteristics which are attributed to him in rabbinic literature were not arbitrarily chosen due to a particular interest in his person or a wish to endow him with a certain set of negative characteristics. It rather derives from interaction between the rabbis and the biblical text in a process where the rabbis filled in gaps that they perceived in the biblical text and explained inconsistencies with material provided by the Bible itself and by material taken from their ideological code. The book draws attention to the role that exegesis of the Bible played in the formation of the opinions and world view of the rabbis as well as the inseparability of exegesis and ideology.

Portrait of a Villain: Laban the Aramean in Rabbinic Literature

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Paperback / softback by Karin Hedner Zetterholm

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This book attempts to answer the question of why Laban the Aramean, a rather harmless character as presented in the... Read more

    Publisher: Peeters Publishers
    Publication Date: 00/03/2003
    ISBN13: 9789042910331, 978-9042910331
    ISBN10: 904291033X

    Number of Pages: 214

    Description

    This book attempts to answer the question of why Laban the Aramean, a rather harmless character as presented in the biblical text, is generally portrayed in rabbinic literature as a major enemy of Jacob and Israel. It is argued that the portrait of Laban as a villain developed as a result of rabbinic hermeneutics, and that the characteristics which are attributed to him in rabbinic literature were not arbitrarily chosen due to a particular interest in his person or a wish to endow him with a certain set of negative characteristics. It rather derives from interaction between the rabbis and the biblical text in a process where the rabbis filled in gaps that they perceived in the biblical text and explained inconsistencies with material provided by the Bible itself and by material taken from their ideological code. The book draws attention to the role that exegesis of the Bible played in the formation of the opinions and world view of the rabbis as well as the inseparability of exegesis and ideology.

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