Eran Viezel

The first part of the article (see Beit Miqra 66,2) was devoted to the early stages of clarifying the question of the division of biblical books into Torah, Prophets and Writings in the Jewish tradition. As is made clear,interest in the division of the Bible into sections only began in Middle Ages, with Maimonides’s Guide of the Perplexed. Following Maimonides,the idea took shape that this division reflected three distinct levels of prophetic revelation: those of Moses, the prophets, and the holy spirit (ruahha-qo desh). Although this view was recognized as part of Maimonides’ legacy, rabbis considered it to reflect the traditional religious position, and anchored it in well-known sayings of the Sages (Hazal). The following part of the article outlines the development of the rabbinic scholars’ interpretation of the division of the Bible, and the manner in which this scholarship expanded during the second half of the Middle Ages. In an extended, foundational period spanning some 300 years – beginning with R. David Kimhi at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, and lasting until Abarbanel and Joseph ibn Yahya in the 15th and 16th centuries – dozens of dicta were written on the subject, and a number of detailed and system atic works devoted exclusively to the matter were penned by leading rabbinical scholars. The reasoning employed by these scholars, their assumptions and conclusions, inform us of their influence on each other, and attest to the gradual creation of what might be called, in general, the traditional view of the tripartite division of the Bible into Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim.