One God Report 151) Answering Rabbi Tovia Singer: Jewish Hermeneutics, with Troy Salinger
In this episode we hear Troy Salingers article called “AnsweringRabbi Tovia Singer: Jewish Hermeneutics/The Resurrection of The Messiah on 3rdDay”. The article appears on Salinger’s “Let the Truth Come Out” website.
Salinger begins by outlining the interpretive methods usedby ancient Jewish rabbis, contrasting them with the typical modern Christianemphasis on literal, historical–grammatical interpretation (peshat). In Jewishtradition, while the plain sense of a text was recognized, it was oftensecondary to deeper interpretive layers such as midrash—an approach of“mining” the scriptures for hidden meanings beneath the surface.
To illustrate, Salinger cites an example from the Talmud inwhich a rabbi derives a messianic era of four hundred years from two unrelatedpassages simply because they used the same word afflict. Another exampleis from Midrash Rabbah, where a single ordinary verse is applied to sixdifferent people or events in Jewish tradition—including the Messiah—ratherthan simply to the plain meaning
Salinger then shows how New Testament authors employ similarmethods: for instance, in the Gospel of Matthew the event of Jesus’ flight intoEgypt and return is linked to Hosea 11:1 (“Out of Egypt I called My son”), eventhough the plain context of Hosea addresses Israel’s historical situation inEgypt. These midrashic methods were normative in ancient Jewish hermeneutics.
Turning to the work of Tovia Singer, Salinger contends that RabbiSinger criticizes New Testament writers for misusing the Tanakh (HebrewScriptures) but fails to apply the same standard to the rabbinic interpretershe otherwise praises. Specifically, Rabbi Singer is accused of ignoring orminimizing how the rabbis themselves freely used midrashic interpretation,while insisting that the New Testament authors are being deceptive when they dothe same. Salinger calls this approach “disingenuous,” suggesting that Rabbi Singercapitalizes on Christian ignorance of Jewish interpretive traditions in orderto undermine Christian claims about Scripture and fulfillment.
Hebrew Vocabulary:
Tanach:the Hebrew Scriptures, “Old Testament”
Pashat:plain or “simple” meaning of the text
midrash:“enquiry”, commentary or interpretation of the Hebrew Bible usually findingdeeper meanings
Resources:
Answering Rabbi Tovia Singer:Jewish Hermeneutics/The Resurrection of The Messiah on 3rd Day
One God Report Podcasts with author Troy Salinger
Pre-IncarnateAppearances of Jesus in the OT: Truth or Myth
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUqWXumvcp5p1klRmE6uAaU7uGSOMDuCX
Is the "Memra" the Pre-incarnateSon of God?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUqWXumvcp5rvmD5Q9dO68RFlfeg_cc8C