The Rewritten Bible in Late Antiquity

Overview & Synopsis

Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer (PRE) is most famous for introducing into rabbinic tradition several legends about biblical figures not found in the classical rabbinic corpus of Talmud and Midrash. Modern scholarship considers the non-rabbinic legends in PRE an example of the survival of Second Temple literature within Jewish tradition. The present study, however, will attempt to explain the non-rabbinic material found in PRE as the result of the author’s adoption (and adaptation) of elements from the surrounding Christian and Muslim cultures rather than through the direct transmission of Second Temple works among Jews. This hypothesis will be tested through the examination of two works close to PRE in form and content, Jubilees (second century BCE) and the Cave of Treasures (sixth century CE). All three are examples of the "Rewritten Bible," which recount the history of ancient Israel independently of the biblical text. The study concludes that region, rather than religion, shaped the author’s presentation of the history of the ancient prophets and patriarchs