Rabbi David

Rabbinic documents of David, progenitor of the Messiah, carry forward the scriptural narrative of David the king. But he also is turned by Rabbinic writings of late antiquity-from the Mishnah through the Yerushalmi and the Bavli-into a sage. Consequently, the Rabbis' Messiah is a rabbi. How did this transformation come about? Of what kinds of writings does it consist? What sequence of writings conveyed the transformation? And most important: what do we learn about the movement from one set of Israelite writings to take over, or submit to the values of, another set of writings? These are the questions answered here for David, king of Israel. Rabbi David proves that the first exposition of the figure of Rabbi David in a program of elaboration and of protracted exposition of law and Scripture is found in the Bavli. Prior to the closure of that document, that is, in the Rabbinic documents that came to closure before the Bavli, we do not find an elaborate exposition of the figure of David as a rabbi. By contrast, in the Bavli, ample canonical evidence attests to the sages' transformation of David, king of Israel, into a rabbi. So while bits and pieces of Rabbi David find their way into most of the canonical documents, we find the elaborately spelled out Rabbi David to begin with in the Bavli, now represented as a disciple of sages and a devotee of study of the Torah. That usage attracts attention because when we encounter David in Rabbinic literature-as in all other Judaic canons, not only Rabbinic-this signals we are meeting the embodiment of the Messiah. The representation of the kings of Israel in the Davidic line as heirs of David forms a chapter in exposing the Messianic message of Rabbinic Judaism.

Auteur

By Jacob Neusner

Contenu

Preface
Introduction

1. David in Abot and the Mishnah
2. David in The Tosefta
3. David in Sifra
4. David in Sifré to Numbers and Sifré Zutta to Numbers
5. David in Sifré to Deuteronomy
6. David in Mekhilta Attributed to R. Ishmael
7. David in Genesis Rabbah
8. David in Leviticus Rabbah
9. David in Pesiqta Derab Kahana
10. David in Esther Rabbah I
11. David in Song of Songs Rabbah
12. David in Ruth Rabbah
13. David in Lamentations Rabbah
14. David in the Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan
    15 David in Yerushalmi Berakhot and Zeraim
15. David in Yerushalmi Moed
16. David in Yerushalmi Nashim
17. David in Yerushalmi Neziqin
18. David in Bavli Berakhot
19. David in Bavli Moed
20. David in Bavli Nashim
21. David in Bavli Neziqin
22. David in Bavli Qodoshim and Niddah
23. Conclusion