Anyone who says... sinned is simply mistaken

Found 2 Search results

1. The Sins of Biblical Figures

   Part 2

   Rabbi Amnon Bazak

   Two fundamental approaches exist regarding three incidents involving Avraham: one maintains that the plain reading of the text suggests that the acts in question were wrong – perhaps even serious sins – and are recorded with a view to instructing the readers how not to behave. The other view seeks to cast their actions in a positive light and regards them as a model for emulation.

   Those who seek a favorable interpretation of all questionable actions of biblical characters rely, as one of their central sources, on a well-known discussion in Massekhet Shabbat (55b-56b) which lists six figures who seem, according to the plain text, to have committed various transgressions – some of them extremely serious ones. In each case, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani teaches, in the name of Rabbi Yonatan, that "anyone who says that so-and-so sinned, is simply mistaken."

2. The Sins of Biblical Figures

   Part 3 - David

   Rabbi Amnon Bazak

   The episode of David and Batsheva illustrates the dilemma of the sins of Biblical figures in all its intensity and complexity. A plain reading of the chapter arouses great perplexity concerning David, the king chosen by God to establish the eternal royal house of Israel. How are we to reconcile God's positive attitude towards His chosen King throughout the grand sweep of the David narratives, with the straightforward meaning of the verses in chapters 11 and 12 on the other?

   While opinions exist both in Chazal and amongst the medieval commentators that minimize David’s sin, those seeking to address this complex story on the plain level of the text are not deviating from the path of Chazal and of the great Jewish scholars of previous generations; on the contrary, they are continuing the central view amongst Chazal and the path adopted by many of the medieval commentators.