Antony Michael Hylton

Prophet Sahal, Rabbi Janach and the End of Babylon's Dominion Antony Michael Hylton

The Hebrew Bible has never been simple to understand. "What is written in the Torah how do you read it?" How to read the biblical text has been a problem since time immemorial, and the question: "How do you read it?" Seems as pertinent today as it ever was, the amoraim had a saying. "A text never departs from it simple meaning" and yet getting to that simple meaning seems such a complicated task. One medieval scholar who took seriously this adage was Ibn Janach. He in his determination to get to the simple (peshat) meaning of text was willing to raid and copy the learning of the Arabic Semitic culture around him. He copied, their methods imitated their rules. In doing so he fulfilled the prophetic words of the anti Rabbinic Karaite, Sahal.