How should Israel act among the nations? How does YHWH express Himself in history? Micah’s deliberately ambiguous images of שְׁאֵרִית יַעֲקֹב, “the remnant of Jacob,” as both dew and a lion (5:6–8) place the burden of interpretation on readers themselves, who must decide how divine action, human agency, and the remnant’s relationship with the nations are to be understood.
After Miriam is stricken with a skin affliction for speaking badly of Moses, Aaron begs Moses to forgive her, and Moses prays to God for her healing with five words: אֵל נָא רְפָא נָא לָהּ “O God, pray, heal her.” But the original prayer was likely different.
Hosea (ch. 11) reveals a poignant portrait of God as a tender parent, swaddling Israel’s feet, lifting him to His cheek, and feeding him, only to watch His beloved child walk away. Yet, in the end, hope prevails as the wayward child returns home. But the chapter’s meaning emerges only through historical linguistics and textual criticism: from obscure Hebrew forms to Septuagint variants.
Is it Ahasuerus, Mordechai, or the horse?
To enhance the sounds of the text for their audience, biblical authors plumbed the depths of the Hebrew lexis for alliterative rare words, some of which appear only once in the Bible.
After Joseph’s goblet is found in Benjamin’s sack, Judah makes a passionate speech to save Benjamin, in which he claims that if Benjamin leaves his father, “he will die.” Who will die? Why does the Torah phrase this so ambiguously?
Samson’s conception story may be read subversively as the result of a union between a divine being and a mortal woman, making Samson a demi-god with superhuman characteristics. At the same time, the text keeps open the more mundane possibility that his father is Manoah and his powers are simply a gift from God.
Deuteronomy’s description of the circumstances of divorce is ambiguous. Thus, the Mishnah (m. Gittin 9:10) records three different opinions on when a man is allowed to divorce his wife. What can we infer from the biblical text?
Deuteronomy gives broad permission to eat your fill from a neighbor’s vineyard and grain field, so long as you don’t gather in a vessel or cut with an implement. Famously, the disciples of Jesus gather grain on the Sabbath, earning the Pharisees’ wrath not for theft but for violating Shabbat. Commentators debate the reason for this law and whether it has any limits.
The biblical text is ambiguous about the death of Korach following his rebellion, leading later interpreters to disagree over exactly how he died.
