Saint Bruno the Carthusian’s (1030–1101) method of biblical interpretation took literary structure and grammar into consideration in applying select Christological readings. Rashi, a younger contemporary, created a similar methodology by incorporating only midrashim that conform to peshuto shel miqra, “the plain sense of Scripture.” Was this Rashi’s response to the threat of Bruno’s influential work?

Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law, is twice-widowed, but the Torah still expects Judah to allow his third son Shelah to marry her. In the Second Temple period book, Tobit marries his seven-times widowed cousin upon the advice of the angel Raphael. And yet, the Talmud prohibits marrying twice widowed women, for fear they are dangerous.

As Tamar gives birth to twins, the midwife ties red thread around Zerah’s wrist. The spies instruct Rahab to tie a red cord in her window. What is the significance of the red thread?

“Now Joseph was well-built and handsome”—Genesis 39:7

Onan son of Judah “would let [his seed] go to waste on the ground, so as not to provide offspring for his brother. This was wicked in the eyes of YHWH, who killed him” (Genesis 38:9–10). What was Onan’s sin?

Sheʾol and its synonyms, בּוֹר “pit,” שַׁחַת “chasm,” and אֲבַדּוֹן “oblivion,” was the fate of all people upon death. The wicked were sent there early, while the righteous were rewarded with a long life. During the Second Temple period, the negative attitude about death and sheʾol develops into a concept of post-mortem punishment and eventually hell. 1 Enoch’s four chambers for the dead is the first step in that direction.

Jacob berates Joseph when he hears his second dream: “Are we to come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to you?” (Genesis 37:10) Rachel, his mother, was dead. What then did the dream mean?

When Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, he says, “I am your brother, whom you sold into Egypt” (Gen 45:4). Tradition takes for granted that Joseph’s brothers were indeed the ones who sold him. However, as Rashbam and Shadal note, a straightforward peshat reading of events once Joseph is thrown into the pit reveals a different conclusion.

Samson also meets a woman of questionable status in ​Timnah. Why do sexual encounters with foreign women take place in Timna?

The story of Joseph is replete with narrative contradictions. Source criticism has long dominated the quest for textual coherence. But how are we to make sense of the integrated text?

Jacob is famously born with his hand grasping the ankle of his twin brother, Esau. Similarly, Zerah puts his hand out first, before being overshot by his twin brother Peretz. Does this reflect men’s ignorance of childbirth or their familiarity with other realia?

Joseph, sold by two different groups (Midianites and Ishmaelites), seems to have been bought by two different men (Potiphar, captain of the guard, and an unnamed Egyptian man), leading to two discrete storylines, each of which place Joseph in a different position when he meets the cupbearer and the baker.

The character of Tamar draws on a botanical motif—the tamar, the date palm—to evoke a recurring trope of female family members whose beauty and presence have the power to destroy or save the family.

The story of Joseph as a young man (Genesis 37-40) is full of contradictions and doublets, and is interrupted by the story of Tamar and Judah (Genesis 38). Beyond that, hovering in the background is the question: how can the spoiled youth, his father’s favorite, become the prudent leader and savior of his family?

Understanding the practice of dream interpretation in the Joseph story by using the ANE interpretive traditions as background.

A background fraught with favoritism

Clothing, beginning with Joseph’s coat, functions both as a marker of distinction and as the source of undoing in the Joseph story. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer adds layers of history to this coat: it is the original garments made from the sloughed skin of the serpent that God gave to Adam and Eve, which was then worn by Nimrod, Esau, and Jacob. Midrash Tanchuma claims it to be the (future) High Priest’s tunic.

By withholding his son Shelah from Tamar, Judah sins against her. Powerless to oppose him legally, Tamar must resort to subterfuge to achieve what is justly hers, the possibility of children from her deceased’s husband’s stock.

The Joseph story provides a compelling case for the use of source-critical methods for unraveling intertwined stories in the biblical text.

The history and geography of the Judahite clan of Shelah as portrayed in the Bible and in the extra-biblical Sources.