This document provides a brief overview of Jewish biblical interpretation and scholarship during the Middle Ages. It discusses key Jewish scholars such as Saadia Gaon, Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Maimonides, Nachmanides, and Gersonides who developed new approaches to interpreting the Bible literally (peshat) and non-literally (derash) in response to Karaite rejection of rabbinic tradition and Islamic influences. The document also notes how Jewish learning flourished during this time in the Islamic world and Christian Europe, interacting with emerging Islam and ongoing Christian-Muslim struggles over territories.

1. The Bible in
Medieval Jewish
Scholarship
A Very Short Introduction for
Beginning Reception Historians
Chris Heard
Associate Professor of Religion
Pepperdine University

2. 476
Rome falls to the “barbarians.”
The Middle Ages fade in.

3. Jewish literary-theological
production still thrives especially
in Palestine and Babylonia …
INE
BA
EST
BYL
L
ON
PA
IA

4. … and derash* rules Jewish
biblical interpretation.
* The nonliteral or homiletically applied meaning of a scriptural text.

5. 610
Muhammad hears a voice
telling him to “Recite!”
Islam is on the rise.

6. 632–661
Muslims conquer lands they, Jews,
and Christians all consider holy.

7. Islam draws on Jewish
interpretation and lore.
For example …

8. The devil replied, “Adam, … [w]hen God breathed into you
the breath of life, and your face and likeness was made in the
image of God, Michael brought you and made us worship you
in the sight of God; and the Lord God said, ‘Here is Adam. I
have made him in our image and likeness.’ … And I answered
… ‘I will not worship an inferior and a younger being than I
am.’”
From The Life of Adam and Eve 13–14, trans. Wells and Whittaker in Sparks 1984. The Life of Adam and Eve apparently
originated within Judaism, and survives in a variety of manuscripts and versions with some obvious Christian additions.
This portion of the Latin version seems to derive from a Jewish original of c. AD 1–500.

9. And We [Allah] created you [Adam], then fashioned you, then
told the angels: Fall ye prostrate before Adam! And they fell
prostrate, all save Iblîs, who was not of those who make
prostration. He said: What hindered thee that thou didst not
fall prostrate when I bade thee? (Iblîs) said: I am better than
him. Thou createdst me of fire while him Thou didst create of
mud.
Qur’an 7:11–12, Pickthall’s translation.

10. At Allah’s command, the
angels prostrate themselves
before Adam—except for Iblîs
(i.e., Satan), upper right.
Several such illustrations are
known from the 16th and
17th centuries—post-Middle
Ages, but useful here to
illustrate the trend of Islamic
echoes of Jewish lore.

11. 8th Century
Karaite* Jews go “back to the
Bible,” rejecting the Oral Torah.
* From qara’, the Hebrew word meaning “to read (aloud).” The same root gives us Miqra’, the Hebrew word for
“scripture” (i.e., “that which is read [aloud]), analogous to Qur’an (i.e., “that which is recited”) in Arabic.

12. Saadia ben
Joseph (882–942)
or Saadia Gaon*
* Head of a Jewish academy (in Saadia’s case, at Sura in Babylonia, the most prestigious one at that time).

13. Saadia Gaon
• Translates the Tanak into Arabic
• Writes commentaries on the Torah
and other scriptures
• Shifts toward peshat* to answer
Karaites and Muslims
* The plain sense or literal meaning of a text.

14. Saadia Gaon
I have seen that despite the loftiness of
the Torah and its great importance, it is
not God’s only trustworthy source nor
guidance set up for his servants in
serving Him, but He has two other
sources of knowledge for us.

15. Saadia Gaon
The first precedes this Book and the
other succeeds it. The one that precedes
it is intuitive knowledge, which is
created in the one whose mind is devoid
of [all] impediments and pure of [any]
defect.

16. Saadia Gaon
The one succeeding it is the knowledge
transmitted by God’s messengers that
His righteous prophets passed over by
informing [us of] the authentic reports.

17. Saadia Gaon
These three sources [of knowledge]—I
mean intuitive*, written**, and received†
—when they meet, give people perfection.
1 Reason 2 Scripture 3 Tradition
* Reason. ** Scripture. † Tradition. From the introduction to Saadia’s Torah commentary, as translated by Linetsky (2002).

18. Saadia Gaon
By focusing on peshat, Saadia can
better respond to
• Islamic promotion of Arabic as the
most excellent language
• Karaite insistence on using the
Tanak to the exclusion of Talmud

19. 711–718
Muslims from North Africa
invade and conquer Spain.

20. Christians and Muslims vie for
control over Spain …
… for the next seven centuries.

21. Jewish learning enjoys a “golden
age” in Muslim-controlled Spain.
SPAIN
BA
BYL
ON
IA

22. FRANCE
SPAIN
Jewish learning also flourishes
in Christian-controlled France.

23. Rabbi Solomon
Yitzhaqi (1040–
1105)
or Rashi*
* The great medieval rabbis are often known by acronyms of their names: R (for Rabbi) + sh (for Shlomo) + i (for Yitzhaqi).

24. Rashi
• Lives in northern France
• Writes peshat commentaries on
almost the entire Tanak
• In retrospect, the most influential
medieval commentator on the
Tanak and Talmud

25. Rashi
There are many homiletic midrashim*,
and the rabbis have long ago arranged
them in their proper place in Genesis
Rabba** and the other midrashim.
* Interpretations made according to derash principles. ** A collection of Rabbinic midrashim about Genesis.

26. Rashi
Whereas I have only come to explain
Scripture according to my contextual
understanding,* and according to the
aggadah** that reconciles the words of
Scripture, each word understood
according to its character.
From Rashi’s commentary on Genesis 3:8, as given in Harris (2003).
* Interpretations made according to peshat principles. ** Rabbinic stories and legends.

27. 1096–1099
Christian crusaders retake Jerusalem
from its Muslim occupants.
This was the first of several crusades.

28. Rabbi Samuel
ben* Meir
(1080–1160)
or Rashbam
* Ben means “son of” in Hebrew. I couldn’t find a portrait of Rashbam, so I used a stock photo instead.

29. Rashbam
• Lives in northern France
• Devotes himself thoroughly to
peshat interpretation

30. Rashbam
Similarly, Rabbi Solomon,* my mother’s
father, who illumined the eyes of all the
diaspora, who wrote commentaries on
the Torah, Prophets and Hagiographa,
set out to explain the plain meaning of
Scripture.
* That is, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi—Rashi.

31. Rashbam
However I, Samuel, son of his son-in-law, Meir—
may the memory of the righteous be a blessing—
[often] disputed [his interpretations] with him
to his face. He admitted to me that, if only he
had had the time, he would have written new
[revised] commentaries, based on the insights
into the plain meaning of Scripture that are
newly though of day by day.
From Rashbam’s commentary on Genesis 37:2, as translated by Lockshin (1989).

32. Abraham
ibn* Ezra
(1089–1164)
* Like Hebrew ben, Arabic ibn means “son of.”

33. Ibn Ezra
• Leaves Muslim Spain in 1140 (to
escape persecution?); travels in
Italy, France, and England
• Practices peshat, but submits to
Rabbinic halakah*
* Legal rulings and teachings about behavior.

34. Ibn Ezra
The third approach is the way of
darkness and gloom. It lies outside of the
circle. This is the approach of those who
invent secret explanations for everything
in Scripture. They believe that the laws
and statutes of the Torah are riddles.*
* Or “allegories.” Ibn Ezra seems to have Christians in mind.

35. Ibn Ezra
Anyone with a little bit of intelligence
and certainly one who has knowledge of
the Torah can create his own Midrashim.
The Midrashic interpretations are like
clothes to the naked body. … The end of
the matter is, there is no limit to
Midrashic interpretations.

36. Ibn Ezra
The fifth method is the one upon which I will
base my commentary. It appears to me to be
correct in the presence of God whom alone I fear.
I will not show favoritism to anyone when it
comes to interpreting the Torah. I will, to the
utmost of my ability, try to understand
grammatically every word and then do my best
to explain it.
From the introduction to Ibn Ezra’s commentary on Genesis, as translated by Strickman and Silver (1988).

37. Rabbi Moses
ben Maimon
(1135–1204)
or Rambam
or Maimonides*
* Once again, the -ides ending, derived from Latin, means “son of.”

38. Rambam
• Writes a massive commentary on
Jewish law (Mishneh Torah)
• Blends Judaism with Aristotelian
philosophy (Guide for the Perplexed)
• Sees both literal and metaphorical
levels in scripture

39. Rambam
[Our sages] use the text of the Bible only as
a kind of poetical language [for their own
ideas], and do not intend thereby to give an
interpretation of the text. As to the value of
these Midrashic interpretations, we meet
with two different opinions.

40. Rambam
For some think that the Midrash contains
the real explanation of the text, whilst
others, finding that it cannot be reconciled
with the words quoted, reject and ridicule it.

41. Rambam
The former struggle and fight to prove and
confirm such interpretations according to
their opinion, and to keep them as the real
meaning of the text; they consider them in
the same light as traditional laws.

42. Rambam
Neither of the two classes understood it, that
our Sages employ biblical texts merely as
poetical expressions, the meaning of which is
clear to every reasonable reader. This style was
general in ancient days; all adopted it in the
same way as poets [adopt a certain style]. …

43. Rambam
Now I wonder whether those ignorant persons
[who take the Midrashic interpretations
literally] believe that the author of this saying
gave it as the true interpretation of the text
quoted … I cannot think that any person
whose intellect is sound can admit this.

44. Rambam
The author employed the text as a
beautiful poetical phrase, in teaching
an excellent moral lesson … poetically
connected with the above text.
From Guide for the Perplexed III,43, as translated by Friedländer (1904).

45. Rabbi Moses
ben Nachman
(1194–1270)
or Ramban
or Nachmanides*
* The ch is pronounced as in Chris, not as in choice. It is sometimes written as ḥ or just h (with no c).

46. Ramban
• Fuses peshat and derash
• Reads the Tanak mystically following
principles of kabbalah,* such as
- Numerology
- Alphabetic speculation
* A form of Jewish mysticism that flourished during and after the Middle Ages.

47. Ramban
Everything that was transmitted to
Moses our teacher through the forty-
nine gates of understanding was written
in the Torah explicitly or by implication
in words, in the numerical value of the
letters or …

48. Ramban
… in the form of the letters, that is,
whether written normally or with some
change in form such as bent or crooked
letters and other deviations, or in the
tips of the letters and their crownlets, as
the Sages have said …
From the introduction to Ramban’s commentary on Genesis, as translated by Chavel (1971).

49. Rabbi Levi
ben Gershom
(1288–1344)
or Ralbag
or Gersonides

50. Ralbag
• Combines philosophy and biblical commentary
• Usually discusses three aspects of a text
- Difficult words and phrases
- Contextual meaning
- Philosophical, moral, and legal lessons

51. Ralbag
In general, the Torah is not a coercive
nomos which compels us to believe things
that are incorrect, or to do things which
have no benefit, as the multitude thinks.

52. Ralbag
Rather, it is a perfect nomos of absolute perfection,
as is made clear in our commentary to the Torah, so
that the perfection in it will lead men to desire that
they conduct themselves according to this perfect
nomos. This is in accordance with the definition of a
perfect nomos, as the Philosopher* explained.
From Ralbag’s Wars of the Lord, as translated by Staub (1982).
* For Ralbag, Aristotle is “the Philosopher” and Rambam is “the Master the Guide.”

53. 1453
Constantinople falls to the Ottomans.
The Middle Ages begin to fade out.

54. 1492
Christians complete the Reconquista,
expelling Muslims from Spain.
Modernity is coming.

55. Primary Sources
Ibn Ezra, Abraham. 1988. Commentary on the Pentateuch: Genesis. Trans. H. Norman Strickman and
Arthur M. Silver. New York: Menorah.
Linetsky, Michael, ed and trans. 2002. Rabbi Saadiah Gaon’s Commentary on the Book of Creation.
Northvale and Jerusalem: Jason Aronson.
Lockshin, Martin I. 1989. Rabbi Samuel ben Meir’s Commentary on Genesis: An Annotated Translation.
Jewish Studies 5. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen.
Maimonides, Moses. 1881. Guide of the Perplexed. Trans. M. Friedländer. London: Society of Hebrew
Literature.
Pickthall, Mohammed Marmaduke. 1953. The Meaning of the Glorious Koran: An Explanatory Translation.
New York: Penguin.
Ramban (Nachmanides). 1971. Commentary on the Torah: Genesis. Trans. Charles B. Chavel. New York:
Shilo.
Rashi. 1973. Commentaries on the Pentateuch. Trans. Chaim Pearl. New York: Viking.
Sparks, H. F. D., ed. 1984. The Apocryphal Old Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Includes
Wells’s and Whittaker’s translation of The Life of Adam and Eve.)
Staub, Jacob J. 1982. The Creation of the World According to Gersonides. Chico: Scholars Press. (Includes
Staub’s translation of Wars of the Lord 6:2:1–8.)

56. Secondary Sources
Bakhos, Carol. 2009. “Jewish Midrashic Interpretation in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.”
Pp. 113–140 in A History of Biblical Interpretation, Vol. 2, The Medieval through the Reformation
Periods. Ed. Alan J. Hauser and Duane F. Watson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Harris, Robert A. 2009. “Medieval Jewish Biblical Exegesis.” Pp. 141–171 in A History of Biblical
Interpretation, Vol. 2, The Medieval through the Reformation Periods. Ed. Alan J. Hauser and Duane F.
Watson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Kaltner, John. 1999. Ishmael Instructs Isaac: An Introduction to the Qur’an for Bible Readers. Collegeville:
Liturgical Press.
Sawyer, John F. A. 2009. A Concise Dictionary of the Bible and Its Reception. Louisville: Westminster John
Knox.
Telushkin, Joseph. 2008. Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know about the Jewish Religion, Its
People, and Its History. Rev. ed. New York: HarperCollins.

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