Adam Outside Genesis: Connecting Texts: Three Studies on Rabbinical Reception of Adam

In this dissertation the usage of Adam in the reception history of the Hebrew Bible is investigated. Focus lies in rabbinic sources during late antiquity. The selection of rabbinic sources to be analyzed is based on interpretations which used Scripture passages taken from outside Genesis 1-5 and where Adam is seen as the referent in the interpretation. The overall goal is to study how different texts and themes were connected and related in the ancient interpretations and, as far as possible, to understand why the texts and themes were brought together and associated in that particular way and investigate how the argumentation had been built up.
The rabbinic texts chosen for this study along with their key passages were Pesiqta de Rab Kahana 4:3–4 (1 Kgs 5:11; Ps 8:5; Eccl 8:1; and Ezek 28:12–13); Genesis Rabbah 19:9 (Hos 6:7), and Talmud Bavli Tractate Sanhedrin 38b (Ps 8:5; Hos 6:7).
The aim I have been to trace the steps of the ancient interpreters and to follow their line of thought. The principle of the self-evident from A. Nygren is important in order to handle sudden shifts and complex combinations in the interpretations.
The treatment of the material consists of a display of the Hebrew text of the rabbinic source along with a translation. Thereafter an overview of the structure of the rabbinic text is given, together with an analysis of the argumentation of each text. Next, the analysis focuses on the quotations and their function. Finally, the interpretive techniques observed in the rabbinic text are summarized. In addition, a summary and overview of the network of texts linking to each other by keyword association is given.
The results can be evaluated on at least two levels. Firstly, on a specific level concerning the particular interpretative techniques and motifs in each rabbinic text; and secondly, on a principal level regarding the overarching principles concerning rabbinic exegesis. Conclusions on a meta level can be said to indicate how the rabbinic mode of interpretation works according to the cases investigated — the rabbinic way of thinking, so to speak. Conclusions on a specific level give examples of how those themes and texts in the ancient interpretation have been interpreted in relation to Adam in that particular rabbinic text.
An important result is that association is key in order to understand how links connect between words and themes. A link between two passages is primarily identified via shared vocabulary and thematic correspondence also taking the context of the passages into account. Self-evident connections and usage of motifs suggest and explain the existence of, and transitions between, otherwise unexplainable or remote ideas in the interpretation.