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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
    URL Reference: (c) http://www.Rashiyomi.com/nu13-18a.htm Nu13-18a Nu13-18b Nu13-19a Nu13-19b Nu13-20a
    Brief Summary: STRONG-weak; GOOD-bad; FAT-lean; MANY-small; FORTIFIED-(**open**) camped.

We have explained in our article Biblical Formatting located on the world wide web at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/biblicalformatting.pdf, that the Biblical Author indicated a bulleted or table structure by skillful use of repated keywords.

That is, if a modern author wanted to get a point across using a table then the Biblical Author would use repeated keywords.

    To illustrate this we take verses Nu13-17:20, which discuss Moses' instruction to the spies on what to scout. Moses instructed the spies to study various aspects of the land for various attributes. A typical verse is Nu13-19, which in modern bulleted form reads as folows:
    • and what the land is that they dwell in,
      • whether it is good
      • or bad;
    • and what cities they are that they dwell in,
      • whether in camps,
      • or in fortifications;
    The table below presents the modern table version of the Biblical text - the repeated keywords - and what, whether - have been interpreted as column markers for the table. The Rashi comments are provided in the table. Further comments after the table provide final clarification.

Label See What? Test whether is is... Rashi comment
A1a Land ' '
A1b People Strong or Weak '
A1c ' Small or Many Combine A1a,A1b,A1c. See the land as it affects people. Does the land encourage strength and big population growth in its inhabitants or weakness and small population growth.
A2 Land Good or Bad
    Cf. A1,A2,A3. All deal with the land.
  • (A3) Deals with plumpness/fertility of land;
  • (A1) deals with land as it affects people;
  • So it is reasonable that (A2) deals with water supply of land.
B Cities Camps or fortified All other pairs in the previous column -- strong/weak, small/many, good/bad -- are contrastive.Hence camps/fortified must be contrastive. We conclude that camps means open-camped.
A3 Land Fat or thin See previous Rashi comment: A1,A2,A3 all deal with land from point of view of people, fountains, and here land itself (Fertility). The force driving the interpretation of land in (A2) as referring to fountains is the bulleted structure.
C ' Does it have trees or not See the 2nd column. The other inquiries were about the land, people and cities. But here the Test for-column is blank. Hence we interpret tree as symbolically referring to a strong upright person whose merit protects the inhabitants. The force driving this interpretation is the absence of a category in the 2nd column suggesting that this row presents a general inquiry on overall protection of the land.

    Advanced Rashi:
  • Notice how the first three rows (A1a, A1b, A1c) have many blanks. This led Rashi to suggest a unified overall interpretation.
  • Many readers dismiss Rashi's interpretation of Land in (A2) as homiletic. Not so! The interpretation is based on the simple premise that bullets are contrastive and exhaustive. If there are three bullets on land - A1, A2, A3 - and the other two deal with land as it affect people, land then the remaining bullet must deal with the remaining aspects of the land - its water supply.
  • Many readers similarly dismiss Rashi's interpretation of Tree as referring to an upright person as fanciful and homiletic. Not so. The driving force behind the symbolic interpretation is the absence of an item in the See what column. This led Rashi to interpret tree as referring to a general category of protection.

In all cases the driving force behind the Rashi comment was not the meaning of words or grammar or even superfluity. Rather the driving force was the indications of table structure. Those who wish mastery in Rashi and exegesis should carefully study the above table and the Biblical text that gives rise to it.


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