Midrash
From Encyclopædia
The Hebrew word midrash ("to search," "to expound") is used to designate (1) a method of interpreting Scriptures; (2) an instance of this method; and (3) a literary compilation of midrashic material. Midrash is an attempt to penetrate beneath the obvious meaning of a biblical passage and elicit further implications. It was used by
Jews both for the elaboration of law (HALACHAH) and as a technique of preaching (haggadah). The method flourished in the centuries immediately before and following the beginning of the Christian era; many examples are found in the
Talmud and in the first three Gospels. The collections of midrashic
literature were made from about AD 300 until late in the
middle ages. Most of them were edited in
Palestine, a few perhaps in Babylonia and
Europe. Several early midrashim contain extensive legal material; the others are exclusively sermonic. They usually take the form of commentaries to a biblical book, but some are structured differently.Bernard J. BambergerBibliography: Freeman, G. M., The Heavenly Kingdom (1986); Hartman, G. H., Midrash and
literature (1986; repr. 1988); The Midrash--Midrash Rabba, Eng. trans., ed. by H. Freedman and M. Simon, 10 vols. (1939); Neusner, J., Comparative Midrash (1986); Oesterley, W. O. E., and Box, G. H., A Short Survey of the
literature of Rabbinical and Medieval
Judaism (1920; repr. 1973); Reeves, J. C., Jewish Lore in Manichaean
cosmogony (1991); Stemberger, G., and Strack, H. L., Introduction to the
Talmud and Midrash, trans. by M. Bockmuehl, rev. ed. (1990).
