- The Enumeration Sayings
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- Brown Judaic Studies
- pp. 109-120
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THE ENUMERATION SAYINGS
The final chapters of PA and ARN consist mostly of enumerations, that is, lists of items which begin with an interpretative remark stating the number of items in the list and describing the nature of those items. The final sections of each work, PA, ch. 5, ARNA, chs. 31-41, and ARNB, chs. 36-48, differ starkly from the preceding chapters because of the dominance of enumerations and consequently are often treated separately as additions. (PA, ch. 6 is universally recognized as a late addition to PA for liturgical purposes.) However, the enumerations are integral to the works as we have them and they will be related to what has preceded through theme and function. Some general comments on the nature and functions of enumerations in Biblical, Rabbinic and other literature will prepare for an analysis of the functions of enumerations in ARN.1
Most of the sayings in this section of ARN are enumerations with a scattering of non-numerical sayings. Most of the enumerations are anonymous because they are a listing of what is either in Scripture or in nature. The items listed are not matters of learned opinion needing interpretation, but simply observations of the world around us or of Scripture, open and patent to all. The enumerations are a type of list. Lists are used in many cultures to catalogue, present and preserve matters of importance and interest. Continuity, authority and education demand the construction of lists, such as the alphabet, numbers, lists of the Presidents of the USA and the top forty popular recordings. The chain of tradition is a list which is not itself reported in the name of any sage (though it contains numerous authorities); rather it is stated as a fundamental and obvious fact.
The enumerations share with the rest of PA and ARN an interest in those aspects of Judaism which are early and fundamental. Just as the chain of tradition goes back to Sinai, the materials about Johanan ben Zakkai go back to the foundation of the Rabbinic school and the sayings of the early sages back to the formative period of Rabbinic Judaism, so the enumerations gather information about creation, Abraham, the Exodus, Jerusalem, the Temple, human nature and sin. The foundations of the world and of Judaism are presented and sometimes expounded through commentary and exegeses. All these subjects are connected to Scripture through constant citing of proof texts and phenomena in Scripture which illuminate aspects of life. The enumerations serve as a review of all that is basic and essential in life as propounded in ARN as a whole.
W.M.W. Roth in a form critical study of enumeration sayings in the Old Testament reviews both the Old Testament and other ancient literature, including Rabbinic literature. He divides the enumerations into three major groups: Narrative Numerical Sayings; Reflective Numerical Sayings; Hortative Numerical Sayings. Narrative numerical sayings are characterized by their setting and are divided into genealogical groupings, social groupings and geographical groupings. Reflective numerical sayings treat nature, society, humanity, history, canonical Scripture and theology. Hortative numerical sayings cover legal requirements, ritual requirements, covenant stipulations and wise counsel (typical of Proverbs). Roth contends that the enumerations exhibit a serious, philosophical tone aiming at mastery of life and world.2 He also characterizes the enumerations as a
“frame pattern, i.e. a pattern which frames several items into a coordinated whole. Its setting in life are those situations in human life when elementary items of information, knowledge, or ethics are to be grouped together as of equal importance. Broadly speaking it can be said that whenever human reflection is at work by way of ordering and classifying, the pattern of the numerical saying offers itself as that genre which most readily and adequately fixes the results of such reflection. Hence the pattern is basically a philosophic-didactic genre; philosophic, in that it is the outcome of a simple form of philosophy, attempting to understand and to master life and world, didactic in that such formulation is meaningful only if it aims at framing and fixing once for all the results of reflection, to be retained in oral or literary tradition.”3
Roth’s conclusion concerning the enumerations found in Scripture, especially in the wisdom literature, correspond with the data found in ARN. The enumerations in ARN aim at mastering life and the world, but even more at mastering Scripture itself which gives insight into and authority for the Rabbinic way of life and view of the world.
Deeper implications of lists for cognition and culture have been expounded by J. Goody.4 Goody’s main thesis is that the development of literacy in a society changes both the ability of people to know and the actual way that they know. Specifically, the technology of the written list produces new learning because items graphically represented on a page in hierarchical order (vertically) or as equivalents (horizontally) form new categories and can be manipulated in new ways. The decontextualization of concrete items produces abstraction and reflection with resultant sharper classification, but also the reduction of multiple qualities to quantity. For example, lists of events (annals, chronicles, king lists) helped to produce history from the flow of events and from the imprecise grasp of the past contained in oral myths. Goody has found such phenomena in ancient Near Eastern literature and also in modern African cultures.
In his study of Rabbinic examples of the enumeration form W.S. Towner argues that the proverbial form of the enumeration (a list of things without corroborating prooftexts from Scripture) precedes the exegetical form (with prooftexts) because the proverbial form is so widespread in time and place.5 The Rabbinic use of lists with prooftexts is a specialized form of the enumeration which fits general tendencies in Rabbinic culture and literature. Towner has used studies of oral tradition to show how the shift has taken place. Rule A suggests that two similar patterns (the proverbial and the exegetical) will assimilate to one another; Rule B suggests that the stronger pattern (the exegetical form, in Rabbinic circles) will dominate the weaker; and Rule C suggests that early loose traditions will be regularized according to the dominant pattern (Biblical verses are often added to lists.)6
The exegetical enumeration forms are divided into six categories: common-sense analysis of an individual text (four groups of Israelites at the Red Sea); hermeneutical analogy (in three places God warned Israel not to return to Egypt); lexical analogy (seven clouds: Stiahwort); syntactical analogy (three things named after Moses because he devoted himself totally to them); legal analogy (three nonvoluntary “ifs” in Torah); and technical exegetical analogy (the five uncertain syntactical constructions in Torah.) Throughout these six functions of the exegetical enumeration, the form remains the same even though the functions become more technical and less haggadic, more mnemonic and less exhaustive in their listings. The haggadic functions (e.g., hermeneutical analogy) are closer to the earlier proverbial enumeration forms; the technical functions (e.g., legal analogy) are closely tied to the language of the text and to Rabbinic concern with preserving and interpreting the sacred words. Surprisingly, even these technical, mnemonic functions, which we would expect to be precise and unchanging, exhibit as much modification and development in transmission as the more haggadic functions.7 The many variations in the contents of the lists argue that Rabbinic enumerations are literary, at least as we have them now, and not primarily an aid to exact memory. All of the categories distinguished by Towner occur in ARN where they serve various functions according to their context.
Most of the enumerations in PA, ch. 5 are found in ARN. The two versions of ARN contain many other enumerations common to both. Yet, each version has organized the materials differently and each contains much unique material. As Towner noted in the Mekilta, so here the number at the head of the lists and the remarks which characterize the items in the lists are very stable, but the members of the lists vary. In addition, some lists announce a certain number of items, but contain more or less than that number.
AREA
ARNA, chs. 31-33, each begin with a major event or figure and each chapter is filled with material which expands on the topic and functions as a commentary or explanation. Ch. 31 begins with the ten words used in creation, ch. 32 with the ten generations from Adam to Noah and ch. 33 with the ten generations from Noah to Abraham along with further groups of ten concerned with the Exodus. Chs. 31 and 32 are devoted entirely to teachings and exegeses concerning creation and the flood. Ch. 33 speaks of Abraham’s obedience and charity and then enumerates the ten trials of Abraham; it notes that in Egypt there were ten miracles for Israel and ten plagues for the Egyptians and at the sea the same. The ten plagues on the Egyptians are developed at length though only six are described. The chapter ends with dialogue between Moses and Israel in which Israel resists crossing the sea. The groups of ten in ch. 33 themselves number seven, another favorite number in this section and Rabbinic literature. These groups of ten summarize the situation of humanity and the Hebrews up to the formation of the people of Israel in the wilderness at Sinai.
Ch. 34 contains ten groups of ten, beginning with the ten trials with which Israel tried God in the wilderness. A brief exegesis of Dt. 1:1 provides warrant for the ten trials. The other groups of ten, all of which are followed by Biblical verses or words which support them, concern ten names of praise for God and ten names of contempt for idolatry, ten dotted passages in Scripture, ten descents and ten ascents of the Shekina, ten names for prophets and for prophecy (prophecy is called the Holy Spirit), ten names for gladness and ten who were called living. The references to God, idolatry, the Shekina, prophecy and the sins of Israel in the desert all recall God’s revelation to Israel on Sinai which is the foundation of the people Israel. Torah is the revelation and all these enumerations indirectly point to aspects of Torah and revelation. In addition, ch. 34 contains a list of the eleven passages where hy’ is used for hwJ (only ten verses are cited), the two inverted nuns (Num. 10:35-36) and the suspended Ayin (Ps. 80:14). They were attracted to this chapter by the list of ten dotted passages in Scripture and they all manifest the Rabbis’ determination to safeguard the revelation given on Sinai.
Ch. 35 continues the groups of ten and the emphasis on fundamental aspects of Judaism. It presents three lists of ten things associated with Jerusalem and the Temple: miracles done for former generations in Jerusalem, things said of Jerusalem and miracles done for former generations in the Temple. The lists actually contain eight, fifteen and eleven items respectively. They manifest the desire to say as many marvelous things about Jerusalem and the Temple as possible, especially since their destruction. Items are gathered even if the limits of the traditional number ten cannot be maintained.
Ch. 36 completes the discussion of the basic phenomena which support and give shape to Israel. It begins with five groups who will neither gain life in the world to come nor be brought to judgment. (The number five is not explicitly cited.) The claim for each is validated by an appeal to Scripture and variant opinions and explanations follow each. The discussion of life after death completes the sequence of subjects which began with creation in ch. 31. Ch. 36 ends with two groups of seven who will have no share in the world to come; both the number seven and the reference to the ultimate destiny of humans lead smoothly into chs. 37 and 38 which contain mostly groups of seven and are concerned with human types and human behavior.
Ch. 37 begins with seven things, one created superior to the other; for example, stars are superior to the firmament. The final comparison concerns the superiority of the ministering angels to humans. Mention of the ministering angels and humans leads to two further comparisons in which humans are said to be like ministering angels in three things and unlike them in three and then are said to be like and unlike demons in three things. These comparisons establish the relative places of the important elements of the universe and humans in particular. Humans may come to know who they are by locating themselves in the hierarchy of the universe and comparing themselves to angels. and demons. These reflections continue in the rest of ch. 37 which consists of ten groups of seven: seven types of Pharisee, seven things beneficial to humans in small quantity, seven types of wisdom used to create the world, seven qualities (or virtues), seven levels to the universe, seven heavens, seven names for the earth, seven distinctions between the righteous and others, the seven hermeneutical rules of Hillel and finally the seven qualities which characterize the wise man (PA 5:7). The last group of seven qualities is explicated by appropriate examples and verses from Scripture.
The development of the nature of the universe and the qualities of a wise man (ch. 37) contrasts with a list of seven kinds of calamity which come upon the world for seven kinds of transgression (ch. 38). This saying is found in PA 5:8 immediately after a saying which ends ARNA, ch. 37. Four of the calamities and transgressions receive explanation through sayings or Biblical verses. The theme of sin in ch. 38 logically leads to repentance in ch. 39, which functions as an appendix to ch. 38. Ch. 39 begins with a list of five types who will not obtain forgiveness. PA 3:15-16 concerning judgment follow, along with other sayings on repentance and judgment. PA 3:14 on the dignity of humanity and a saying by Eliezer ben Zadok on the righteous and wicked complete the discussion. The chapter ends with three lists of six names each for the lion, serpent and Solomon; these are disconnected from the rest of the chapter. They are probably here in numerical order between groups of seven in previous chapters and the fours and threes which follow in the last two chapters.
The themes of judgment and repentance from ch. 39 are continued in the initial pair of fours which open ch. 40. The list of four things which give humans reward in this world and the next are drawn from m. Peah 1:1 and t. Peah 1:2. These two groups are expanded by t. Peah 1:2 and other comments on virtue, sin and repentance. The heart of ch. 40 lies in seven groups of four most of which distinguish types of disciples and sages. The last of the seven groups lists four sages and the appropriate interpretation if one sees them in a dream. This last group of four prompts three groups of three (scholars, prophetic books and writings) which have a certain import when seen in dreams. The end of the chapter contains several sayings not organized into numerical groups.8 The final three sayings, all from PA (5:16; 17; 4:11) discuss proper motivation for love, controversies and assemblies. All these sayings fit generally with the themes of human types and behavior, but they are not tightly structured into a whole.
The final chapter of ARNA, ch. 41, begins with a characteristically heavy emphasis on study of Torah. PA 4:13, which also appears at the beginning of the final chapter of ARNB, mentions the crowns of priesthood, royalty and Torah. The author of ARNA has used the saying to point out that the crown of Torah is superior because it is open to all who study assiduously. Seven groups of three items follow, similar in theme and function to the seven groups of four in the preceding chapter. The groups of three characterize humans, scholars, physical phenomena associated with humans and finally earthenware and glass vessels. These themes continue in two groups of four: four times when cohabitation is harmful and four requirements to become an associate (hinted at already by the characteristics of vessels which are subject to impurity.)9 The final section of the chapter lacks tight organization according to numerical groups, as did the previous chapter. One possible group of three, some unnumbered sayings, two groups of five and one of six lead to a final controversy between the Schools of Hillel and Shammai concerning the fate of the mediocre at the judgment, a fit theme for the end of a Rabbinic document of Torah and human behavior. As is traditional, PA 6:11 concludes the text.
ARNB
The enumeration sayings comprise fully one third of ARNB, a much larger proportion of the whole than in PA and ARNA. The enumerations are more loosely edited here than in PA and ARNA and they have a less sharp impact on the reader. Lists with ten items begin the enumerations and numbers descend to lists of three in the final chapters, but the descending sequence is interrupted frequently by lists of eighteen and twelve and by smaller sequences of seven, six and five items. Most of the material in PA, ch. 5 and ARNA, chs. 31-41 is found in ARNB, chs. 36-48 but the order often differs and the lists are not integrated one with the other in the same way in all the sources. ARNB quotes Biblical verses more consistently and voluminously than ARNA. Though ARNB is less tightly edited than ARNA it does have some chapters and sequences of lists which fit logically together. Many other lists have been added because such lists were very popular and abundant in the tradition.
The comprehensive organization of ARNB, chs. 38-48 may be seen in the numbers which dominate the chapters:
SEVENS: 40 (?), 41, 43 end, 45a
FIVES: 44
FOURS: 45, 46b
THREES: 45, 46, 47, 48
Note that the descending order of numbers is not wholly consistent. In addition, many chapters have other numbered groups in them, especially ch. 43 which contains groups of ten, two, seven, three, eighteen, twelve, six, five, four and three.
Ch. 36 is constructed with six groups of ten which cover creation, the early generations up to Abraham and the Exodus up to the crossing of the Reed Sea. Three of the six lists are itemized. The treatment of these lists is much more brief here than in ARNA, chs. 31-33. Ch. 37 contains eleven groups of ten phenomena, words or events found in Scripture. Eight of the eleven are itemized with most supported by Biblical verses. The lists are: ten changes made in the Septuagint (eleven are actually listed), ten things originally planned by God (Sabbath, Jerusalem, the light of the just, etc.), ten things created at twilight of the sixth day of creation, ten names for prophets, ten names for prophecy, and ten who were called men of God. The final five lists are introduced together and then three of them are itemized (ten descents, dotted passages, vigils, interruptions and generations in Torah.) The lists cluster around Scripture and catalogue things found there.
Ch. 3 8 repeats the types of material found in the previous two chapters: the ten trials in the wilderness, ten miracles at the sea (out of place?), ten names of praise for God, ten names for idols and ten things which are the equal of all transgressions (the Shema, tithes, etc.). These five lists of ten are followed by a list of the eleven places in Scripture where hyJ is used for hwJ (ten are actually given, as in ARNA, but one entry differs from ARNA). Lists of two men whose lives spanned twenty-four generations and seven men who covered the whole history of the world end the chapter. Lists concerned with early events in Israel’s life at the beginning of the chapter and the two lists covering the span of world history at the end bracket several lists of items found in Scripture. Ch. 38 lacks unified composition, though its contents continue the themes found in the previous two chapters.
Ch. 39 speaks of one theme, Jerusalem, in five lists of ten items each: ten miracles done in Jerusalem, ten at the Temple, ten names of praise for Jerusalem and ten of contempt and finally, ten things in which Jerusalem excels other lands. Each list is itemized and each actually contains ten items, in contrast to parallels in ARNA, ch. 35. The list of miracles at the Temple is followed by a further unnumbered set of eight wonders associated with the sounds and smells of the Temple. The first series of lists in chs. 36-39 concern mainly the fundamentals of the world and Israel, as they did in ARNA.
Ch. 40 describes the qualities of the wiseman and the contrasting characteristics of the clod, a list which contains seven items in PA 5:7 and ARNA, ch. 37. However, ch. 40 of ARNB announces that there are ten qualities which characterize them, actually lists eight in the saying and finally gives comments and explanations for nine qualities. The presence of lists of ten in the previous chapters has influenced the beginning of ch. 40, as has the availability of extra descriptive characteristics for expanding the list and commentary.
Ch. 41 describes each of the seven calamities which follow seven kinds of sin (PA 5:8-9 and ARNA, ch. 38) and the four periods when pestilence is on the increase (PA 5:9b). The seven calamities are proven by Biblical verses. The four periods of pestilence are followed by seven statements (without an opening exegetical comment or number) designating in great detail the punishments for certain sins. As ch. 40 described humans when they behave well, so ch. 41 describes them when they behave badly. The theme of humanity’s misbehavior continues in ch. 42 which examines the origins of sin. After some numbered items concerning creation (three entered to be judged and four emerged: Adam, Eve, the serpent and the earth; the 12 hours of Adam’s creation), the bulk of the chapter explains the ten decrees given by God against Adam, Eve, the serpent and the earth.
The recurence of groups of ten at the end of ch. 42 continues at the beginning of ch. 43 with three groups of ten: ten who prophesied and did not know it, ten names for the earth and ten things by which the world was created (wisdom, knowledge, etc.) The theme of the origin and structure of the universe continues in two brief lists, two things that continue 500 years (and are stable like the universe) and seven things that are superior one to another. The seven of the last list are followed by seven rich gifts of the just in the world to come and that list by three companies of the just. Mention of the just leads to several lists of those favored by God in Scripture: eighteen called servants, twelve called chose, six called beloved, and five called loved ones. The descending numbers of this sequence continue in two more lists, four called fire and the four banners at the throne of glory.
Ch. 43 continues with another sequence of descending numbers: twelve called living, six called full, and four who were told to ask, four of whom it was said “in good old age” and four called Cushites. The chapter ends with three groups of seven: seven names for lions, seven for a poor man and seven for a serpent. (ARNA, ch. 39 ends with six names for lions, serpents and Solomon.) Groups of seven will occur again in ch. 45. But first ch. 44 intervenes with three groups of five (one without an exegetical comment), some sayings on judgment and nine statements about Israel (again without exegetical comment.) The themes of these lists repeat concerns which arose earlier. For example, five expressions in Torah which need their syntax clarified, five instances of inference from the lesser to the greater in Torah and an unnumbered group of five places where reference to God was removed to avoid blasphemy. All are technical lists concerned with interpreting Scripture. The themes, judgment and the attributes of Israel (beloved, servants, etc.), have been seen before.
Ch. 45 continues the discussion of human nature and human types begun in chs. 40-41 and here as there a list of seven introduces the chapter. Seven types of Pharisee are listed but many of the designations are obscure and it is not even certain whether some are laudatory or pejorative. Immediately following are three characteristics of a disciple of Abraham, three of a disciple of Balaam (PA 5:19) and then PA 5:18, “If one leads the multitudes to virtue, through him shall no sin come; if one leads the multitudes to sin, through him shall no virtue come,” which implicitly refers to Abraham and Balaam. As a further explanation of Balaam and Abraham, ch. 45 lists four who erred in vision (Adam, Cain, Balaam and Hezekiah) and three who conceived evil plans, contrasted with three who conceived good plans. This discussion of good and evil behavior concludes fittingly with three groups of three who engaged in certain behavior and then inherited or failed to inherit this world or the world to come. Ch. 45 ends as it began, with types: seven groups of four types including groups such as givers of charity, disciples, women, etc.
Ch. 46 begins with non-numerical sayings which distinguish assemblies and controversies which are and are not for the sake of heaven. After the significance of four groups of three figures who appear in dreams has been elucidated, ch. 46 continues the analysis of types of people and behavior using non-numericalsayings and then two lists of four. The chapter ends with a list of the three Torah scrolls kept in the Temple. Ch. 46, like ch. 38 previously, lacks coherence.
Ch. 47 contains seven lists of three items. Some are types found in Scripture (prophets, those who wept and God heard them) and some are observations of life. Ch. 48 continues the threes with ten lists of three. This final chapter begins with the three crowns of Torah, priesthood and royalty, as did the last chapter of ARNA, but here the saying is not oriented so strongly toward Torah as in ARNA. The other groups of three concern things which nurture the body, increase the sperm, increase excrement, etc. These folk observations are continued in the sequence of eleven sayings which contain a number but are not exactly enumerations: each saying claims that there are ten portions of something in the world, nine in one spot and one throughout the rest of the world. For example, “There are ten portions of foolishness in the world, nine among the Babylonians and one throughout the rest of the world.” Jerusalem is both praised and blamed and the concluding claim concerns Torah: “There are ten portions of Torah in the world, nine in Jerusalem and one throughout the rest of the world.” ARNB concludes with the exhortation of Judah ben Tema (PA 5:20a) to be strong and swift to do God’s will and a saying about scholars increasing peace in the world which traditionally ends tractates.10
The editors of ARNB did not completely tame the profusion of lists in chs. 36-48. There are several sequences of descending numbers which introduce the lists and some chapters have a controlling theme, such as human behavior, groups and types found in Scripture, Jerusalem, etc. Other chapters lack any discernable unity and many lists lack an appropriate context. Most probably the core of lists common to PA and both versions of ARN were added to from many sources and by many editors over a long period of time. Any plan or purpose originally embodied in these final chapters as a whole has been lost.
See Towner, The Rabbinic “Enumeration of Scriptural Examples," for a careful form critical study of this form with special reference to the Mekilta of Rabbi Ishmael.
Roth, Numerical Sayings, pp. 95-96.
Roth, Numerical Sayings, pp. 99-100.
J. Goody, The Domestication. See especially ch. 5 on lists. Goody began his study in “The Consequences of Literacy.” The transition from oral to literate culture is traced by E. Havelock, most recently in The Greek Concept of Justice and “The Alphabetization of Homer” (with citations of previous literature.)
Towner, The Rabbinic “Enumeration", pp. 75-76.
Towner, The Rabbinic “Enumeration", pp. 86-95.
Towner, The Rabbinic “Enumeration", pp. 213; 244-250; see also pp. 75-76 on variations in the contents of the lists.
See Goldin, ARNA, ch. 40, nn. 33-35 for the editor, Julian Oberman’s highly speculative attempt to reconstruct three groups of three.
Actually five requirements are listed. See m. Demai 2:2-3.
See the end of the Babylonian Talmudic Tractates Berakot, Yebamot, Nazir, Tamid and Keritot for this saying.
