‘From Where Are These Words?’ The Reception of the Bible in the Babylonian Talmud

Abstract This article addresses the paradox of the Bible’s reception in the Babylonian Talmud: that despite the Bible’s centrality to many of the discussions and stories in the Talmud, the Talmud ultimately recontextualizes the Bible by creating a new version of the Jewish study canon. It argues that this paradox cannot be understood without recognizing that there are essentially two different concepts of the Bible held by the late rabbis; that is, a material Bible and a memorized Bible. The Bible makes an appearance in the Talmud as a physical object or set of objects, composed of words on parchment, and consisting of a specific collection of works, which are accorded special status. However, the Bible as a memorized study text plays a different role in Talmudic hermeneutics, in which the redactors of the Talmud present the Bible in atomized form as one of many sources that are all subject to the same type of discussion and interpretation. By analyzing the complexity of the Bible’s role in the Talmud, this article stakes a middle ground between the argument that the Talmud and other works of rabbinic literature are in some fundamental sense part of a continuous line of revision and commentary that dates back to the earliest forms of inner-biblical exegesis; and, on the other hand, the position that the rabbis either are uninterested in or represent an active rupture from modes of reading the Bible.