Midrash

[notreligus]

What is Midrash?   The term comes from the Hebrew word darash, meaning "search" or "seek" and refers to interpretation.   In short the Midrash is rabbinical commentary on the Books of the Bible.   Consider the following:




This statement is by the author and a description of rabbinical influence on the Scriptures:

"They did not write about Scripture, they wrote with Scripture...much as painters paint with a palette of colors."   

So, rabbis added their own coloring to the Scriptures. 

Christian scholars have labored for many, many years with the desire to provide translations of the Bible in native tongues minus any particular doctrinal slant or changes in the original intent of the Scriptures. 

[DaveW]

Drash means teaching. Maybe not in ancient Hebrew of Moses' time but in the Hebrew/Aramaic of the first and 2nd centuries when the Midrash was written it did.

[notreligus]

This is an accurate definition of Midrash:

Midrash:   "Interpretation."  Rabbinic fantasy tales embroidered around Bible narratives, patriarchs, and events and used to "discern" the hidden meanings of Scripture at the esoteric level of "derush."

Reference: p. 368, Judaism's Strange Gods, Michael Hoffman.

I'm waiting for the Midrash Hazita, a Midrash of Song of Solomon to be posted which contains a story about a Jewish woman who had 600,000 children who were swallowed into the ground, further buried into the ground by Egyptians who used plows and oxen, and they later spouted up through the ground like herbs.   

Midrash is fantasy.   But it's being presented here like it's an innocent commentary.   It is dishonest to call it commentary and an insult to a fine Christian men like John Gill or Matthew Henry.