5 - Commentaries on the Later Books of the Hebrew Bible

Summary

IN HIS COMMENTARIES on the later books of the Hebrew Bible (the Prophets and the Writings, collectively referred to by the Hebrew acronym Nakh), Rashi made extensive use of rabbinic material, though to a lesser degree than in his commentary on the Torah.1About a quarter of the commentary on the Torah is original material; in the commentaries on Nakh, the figure is about two-thirds, the amount varying with the nature of each book and its commentary. He makes less use of midrashic language, and the commentaries differ somewhat in character too. He gives more consideration to historical background, to literary devices, and, especially, to anti-Christian polemic. In this chapter, I consider these phenomena and others. In some instances, the discussion will en compass matters that appear in the commentary on the Torah but were not considered in the preceding chapter.

Language, Grammar, and References to Daily Life

Questions of Language and Grammar

Questions of language and grammar receive considerable attention in Rashi's commentaries. With regard to lexicography, he was substantially influenced by the tenth-century Spanish grammarians, most notably Menahem ben Saruk and Dunash ben Labrat. But his grammatical method differed from theirs, and even in lexicography he did not always follow their lead and sometimes differed from them outright. In some respects, his work was superior to theirs.

Rashi's achievements as a grammarian were many, and he greatly influenced the biblical commentators who succeeded him in France. Gradually, however, the Spanish grammarians came to prevail in France, and Rashi's grammatical understandings yielded to theirs. In his commentaries, he established numerous important rules of usage and dealt with the different nuances of synonyms. In doing so, he made extensive use of rabbinic language, sometimes distinguishing between biblical and rabbinic Hebrew but also explaining some 120 biblical words according to rabbinic Hebrew. Ninety of these words were not to be found in the works of earlier sages. On occasion he did so even if he found no parallel or support in the Bible itself, and Rashbam criticized him on that account.