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Midrash – Identifications

One of the techniques Midrash employs is the identification of anonymous or lesser known characters, objects, places, and dates with their named and more famous counterparts:

  • Consolidation of Characters:
    • Identification of three or more different names as belonging to the same character:
      • Moshe – Vayikra Rabbah 1:3
      • Yitro – Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael Yitro Amalek 1, see our discussion in Shemot 18.
      • Beor and other evil doers – Bavli Sanhedrin 105a
      • Sichon and other Canaanite kings – Bavli R"H 3a
      • Shelomo – Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:1
      • Nevat and other evil doers – Bavli Sanhedrin 101b
      • Sancheriv and other Assyrian kings – Bavli Sanhedrin 94a
      • Koresh and other Persian kings – Seder Olam Rabbah 30, Bavli R"H 3b

    • Identification of two characters with different names as the same person:
      • Yiskah as Sarah – Seder Olam Rabbah 21, Bavli Sanhedrin 69b
      • Malkizedek as Shem – Bereshit Rabbah 56:10
      • Keturah as Hagar – Bereshit Rabbah 61:4
      • Shifrah and Puah as Yocheved and Miryam/Elisheva – Shemot Rabbah 1:13
      • Efrat as Miryam – Shemot Rabbah 1:17
      • Pinchas as Eliyahu – Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan) Shemot 6:18

    • Identification of two characters with the same or similar names as the same person:
      • Haran the father of Yiska with Haran the brother of Avraham – Bavli Sanhedrin 69b
      • Potiphar and Potiphera – Bavli Sotah 13b
      • Hirah and Hiram – Bereshit Rabbah 85:4
      • Calev the son of Chetzron with Calev the son of Yefuneh – Yerushalmi Yevamot 10:7 (see Ibn Ezra Short Commentary Shemot 24:14)
      • Ovadyah the steward of Ahav with Ovadyah the prophet – Bavli Sanhedrin 39b

    • Identification of anonymous people with known personalities:
      • Naamah as Noach's wife – Bereshit Rabbah 23:3
      • Og as the fugitive from Sedom – Bavli Niddah 61a
      • Eliezer and Yishmael as Avraham's servants – Bereshit Rabbah 48:13, Vayikra Rabbah 20:2
      • Dinah as Shimon's wife and Asenat's mother – Bereshit Rabbah 80:11
      • Menashe as Yosef's steward – Bereshit Rabbah 91:8
      • Datan and Aviram as the sinners in Egypt and the wilderness – Shemot Rabbah 1:30, Tanchuma Buber Beshalach 24
      • Calev and Pinchas as Yehoshua's spies – Tanchuma Buber Shelach 1
      • Eved Melekh HaKushi as Barukh – Pirke DeRabbi Eliezer 53

    • Identification of one anonymous person with another
      • Paroh in Shemot 1-2 with Paroh of Bereshit 37-50 and Paroh of Shemot 3-15 – see Melekh Chadash.

    • Identification of one anonymous group with another anonymous group
      • The officers of the nation in Egypt with the princes or seventy elders – Bemidbar Rabbah 12:16, Shemot Rabbah 5:20

  • Consolidation of Objects, Places, and Dates:
    • Identification of objects with other objects:
      • Esav's clothing with the leather garments of Adam and Chavah – Bereshit Rabbah 63:13
      • Yaakov and Yehudah's staff with Moshe's staff – Yalkut Shimoni Chukat 763

    • Identification of places with known places:

    • Identification of unknown dates with known ones:
      • Angel's visit to Lot – 15 Nisan
      • Giving of the Decalogue – 6 Sivan
      • Moshe's descent with the 1st Tablets – 17 Tammuz
      • Moshe's descent with the 2nd Tablets – 10 Tishrei
      • Night of the return of the spies – 9 Av

  • Analysis:
    • Reasons for Midrash doing this:
      • Solve exegetical problems – see our discussion of Yitro's names in Shemot 18.
      • Avoiding theological problems –
      • Demonstrate reward and punishment – see Nechama Leibowitz in עיונים בספר במדבר pp.95-96.
      • Omnisignificance – explains why details are mentioned – Ramban Shemot 6:23

    • Difficulties with methods:
      • Why would Tanakh use different names in different places?
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