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    7. RASHI METHOD: FORMATTING
    BRIEF EXPLANATION:Inferences from Biblical formatting: --bold,italics, and paragraph structure.
    • Use of repetition to indicate formatting effects: bold,italics,...;
    • use of repeated keywords to indicate a bullet effect;
    • rules governing use and interpretation of climactic sequence;
    • rules governing paragraph development and discourse
    This example applies to Rashis Ex07-28b Ex07-29a
    URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/w35n3.htm
    Brief Summary: Frogs will enter your a)house b) bedroom, c) bed d) ovens and e) you yourself (Your body)

The climax principle asserts that a sequence of similar phrases should be interpreted climactically even if the words and grammatical constructs used do not directly suggest this. That is the fact of the sequence justifies reading into the Biblical text a climactic interpretation even if no other textual source justifies it. For this reason we consider the climax method a distinct and separate method.

    Verse Ex07-28:29 discussing the plague of Frogs is written in a climactic manner as shown. For convenience we have inserted the Rashi comments clarifying the nature of the climax in brackets
  • ...the frogs will come to your house [ ]
  • your bedroom [ ]
  • your bed [ ]
  • your slave and national houses [ We would expect the frogs to start in the slave houses and then filter up to the palace but the Bible states that the frogs will start with the palace since Pharoh, not the people, instigated the enslavement of the Jews (Ex01-08) ]
  • your ovens and troughs [ ]
  • you [ you yourself, your body ]
  • your nation [ their bodies ]
  • your slaves [ their bodies ]

    Advanced Rashi: A careful reading of Rashi shows two climaxes here:
  • There is the climax that the frogs entered a) house, b) bedroom, c) bed, d) ovens/bread troughs e) you, meaning you yourself, entering the body.
  • There is a second climax: a) you b) your nation/slaves. Rashi explains that although we might expect frogs to start in poorly kept slave houses they instead started in the palace because Pharoh, not the people or staff, instigated the enslavement of JewsEx01-08.

We should emphasize that driving force behind Rashi is the climax. That is Rashi is not being exegetical on the extra word ..in you your nation and slaves. For it is not the extraness of the word in you but rather the position and sequence of the word in you. The position of the word in you coming after house, bedroom, bed, stoves implies in you yourself, in your body. This is in fact the essence of the climax method which infers interpretation based on position.

To appreciate Rashi we should be aware of an Egyptian torture practice. A small animal (frog, rat) was placed on the stomach of a slave. A hot metallic cover was then placed on the animal. The animal, to avoid the heat, would then start eating away from the plate into the body of the slave. The animal would start eating the insides of the slave. Thus the plague of frogs with frogs literally entering the bodies of the Egyptians should be considered a punishment for slave torture practices.


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