INTRODUCTION
23
a rule, it makes no reference to grammatical and
linguistic questions. The purpose of the Midrash
is to expound the Scriptures with a view to
edifica-
tion and instruction, from the standpoint not of the
scholar but of the preacher. And probably the con-
tents of the various Midrashim are collected extracts
from the sermons, as we might call them, of the
Rabbis to their hearers, either in the synagogues or
the schools. The general plan of a Midrash is to
take a book or selected passages of a book of
the O.T., and to arrange under each separate
verse in order the expositions of several
Rabbis.
The connexion between the text and the exposition
is often very slight ; and, just as in the case of the
Gemaras, digressions are frequent, as opportunity
offers for bringing in some interesting but irrelevant
topic. The method of Tradition is followed in the
Midrash, though not
with the same strictness as in
the Talmud. Most of the expository notes are
given in the name of some Rabbi, and of course the
whole body of Midrash is now Tradition. But a
good deal of the contents of many Midrashim is
anonymous, and therefore presumably due to the
compiler. In no instance in the Rabbinical litera-
ture can we say that any individual Rabbi is the
author of such and such a work ; at most he is the
editor. But a nearer approach is made to individual
authorship in the Midrash than in the Talmudic
literature.
Midrash, then, is homiletic exposition of Scripture.
And it will be seen from what has been said above,
that the distinction between Halachah and Haggadah
is applicable no less to the Midrash than to the
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