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Originally Posted by Gamera
You're assuming an exegetical perspective that arguable didn't exists when Genesis was written. You're retrojecting. Near as I can tell the earliest instance of an exegetical approach to Hebrew scriptures is Philo (and Jesus and Paul of course) Why do you beleive otherwise.
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The earliest evidence for exegetical method is the Hebrew Bible itself, as spin rightly asserts. There's an entire book on the subject -- a rather famous and important one in Hebrew Bible studies, by Michael Fishbane, entitled
Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel (or via: amazon.co.uk).
It seems to me that Gamera's methodology of seeking metaphorical interpretations is a poor approach to mythic and folkloric literature. It would make a hash out of the Norse myths, for example. Part of the power of the creation stories in the bible and in other literatures is their description of cosmic forces. Genesis 1 says that Elohim was able to speak elements of our world into existence. Formulaically, after Elohim speaks, the text reports
vayehi kein -- "and it was so." This seems to stress the immediacy of the action. Why should we try to stretch
yom into something other than a day? What does it add to the story?
02-13-2007, 08:44 AM
