Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Brak <Brak AT neo.rr.com>]

I was kind of suspect that this might be the reason behind the divisions 
- but it was just a thought.

Since you gave the same idea/theory,I  decided to actually check this to 
see if it is so.

I ran a program to analyze sedarim breaks calculating both the number of 
verses and number of words.
The result: the sedarim division DO NOT separate the text into equal 
parts - not even close.

Here are the actual output from the program. I only checked the first 
three books of the Prophets - Joshua, Judges, and Samuel.

************************************************************************************
01: Jos 001:001 - Jos 003:006   Verses: 48   Words: 823
02: Jos 003:007 - Jos 004:023   Verses: 34   Words: 569
03: Jos 004:024 - Jos 006:026   Verses: 42   Words: 777
04: Jos 006:027 - Jos 007:026   Verses: 27   Words: 503
05: Jos 008:001 - Jos 008:032   Verses: 32   Words: 547
06: Jos 008:033 - Jos 010:007   Verses: 37   Words: 629
07: Jos 010:008 - Jos 010:041   Verses: 34   Words: 600
08: Jos 010:042 - Jos 012:024   Verses: 49   Words: 681
09: Jos 013:001 - Jos 014:014   Verses: 47   Words: 705
10: Jos 014:015 - Jos 017:003   Verses: 77   Words: 763
11: Jos 017:004 - Jos 018:027   Verses: 42   Words: 661
12: Jos 018:028 - Jos 019:050   Verses: 51   Words: 478
13: Jos 019:051 - Jos 021:040   Verses: 50   Words: 713
14: Jos 021:041 - Jos 022:033   Verses: 38   Words: 745
15: Jos 022:034 - Jos 024:033   Verses: 50   Words: 889

01: Jud 001:001 - Jud 002:006   Verses: 42   Words: 618
02: Jud 002:007 - Jud 003:030   Verses: 47   Words: 738
03: Jud 003:031 - Jud 005:030   Verses: 55   Words: 792
04: Jud 005:031 - Jud 006:039   Verses: 40   Words: 678
05: Jud 006:040 - Jud 008:002   Verses: 28   Words: 552
06: Jud 008:003 - Jud 009:006   Verses: 39   Words: 612
07: Jud 009:007 - Jud 009:057   Verses: 51   Words: 761
08: Jud 010:001 - Jud 011:031   Verses: 49   Words: 764
09: Jud 011:032 - Jud 013:023   Verses: 47   Words: 757
10: Jud 013:024 - Jud 016:002   Verses: 44   Words: 707
11: Jud 016:003 - Jud 018:005   Verses: 47   Words: 824
12: Jud 018:006 - Jud 019:019   Verses: 45   Words: 775
13: Jud 019:020 - Jud 020:026   Verses: 37   Words: 601
14: Jud 020:027 - Jud 021:025   Verses: 47   Words: 727

01: 1Sa 001:001 - 1Sa 002:009   Verses: 37   Words: 517
02: 1Sa 002:010 - 1Sa 003:019   Verses: 46   Words: 740
03: 1Sa 003:020 - 1Sa 006:013   Verses: 49   Words: 855
04: 1Sa 006:014 - 1Sa 009:001   Verses: 48   Words: 738
05: 1Sa 009:002 - 1Sa 010:023   Verses: 49   Words: 856
06: 1Sa 010:024 - 1Sa 012:021   Verses: 40   Words: 697
07: 1Sa 012:022 - 1Sa 014:022   Verses: 49   Words: 768
08: 1Sa 014:023 - 1Sa 015:016   Verses: 46   Words: 749
09: 1Sa 015:017 - 1Sa 016:017   Verses: 36   Words: 549
10: 1Sa 016:018 - 1Sa 017:036   Verses: 42   Words: 639
11: 1Sa 017:037 - 1Sa 018:013   Verses: 35   Words: 548
12: 1Sa 018:014 - 1Sa 020:004   Verses: 45   Words: 747
13: 1Sa 020:005 - 1Sa 020:041   Verses: 37   Words: 599
14: 1Sa 020:042 - 1Sa 022:003   Verses: 20   Words: 365
15: 1Sa 022:004 - 1Sa 024:019   Verses: 67   Words: 1127
16: 1Sa 024:020 - 1Sa 025:032   Verses: 36   Words: 604
17: 1Sa 025:033 - 1Sa 026:024   Verses: 36   Words: 665
18: 1Sa 026:025 - 1Sa 028:023   Verses: 36   Words: 642
19: 1Sa 028:024 - 1Sa 030:024   Verses: 37   Words: 662
20: 1Sa 030:025 - 2Sa 002:006   Verses: 53   Words: 740
21: 2Sa 002:007 - 2Sa 003:020   Verses: 46   Words: 745
22: 2Sa 003:021 - 2Sa 005:009   Verses: 40   Words: 729
23: 2Sa 005:010 - 2Sa 007:015   Verses: 54   Words: 806
24: 2Sa 007:016 - 2Sa 010:011   Verses: 56   Words: 908
25: 2Sa 010:012 - 2Sa 012:012   Verses: 47   Words: 780
26: 2Sa 012:013 - 2Sa 013:024   Verses: 43   Words: 715
27: 2Sa 013:025 - 2Sa 014:032   Verses: 47   Words: 830
28: 2Sa 014:033 - 2Sa 015:036   Verses: 37   Words: 620
29: 2Sa 015:037 - 2Sa 017:019   Verses: 43   Words: 750
30: 2Sa 017:020 - 2Sa 018:026   Verses: 36   Words: 664
31: 2Sa 018:027 - 2Sa 019:039   Verses: 45   Words: 813
32: 2Sa 019:040 - 2Sa 021:006   Verses: 37   Words: 679
33: 2Sa 021:007 - 2Sa 022:050   Verses: 66   Words: 691
34: 2Sa 022:051 - 2Sa 024:025   Verses: 65   Words: 927
************************************************************************************

So the question remains:
What is the rhyme and reason behind the placement of these break points?
What is the method to this apperent madness?


B"H
Brak


JAMES CHRISTIAN READ wrote:

> I haven't looked into this much but in light of Yigal's 
> explanation it would seem that making the separations 
> in logical places was of little importance and that the 
> aim was rather to divide the reading up into equally 
> sized chunks.
>
> I find this most interesting actually, because it does 
> bring to light evidences about the older form and order 
> of the cannon.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brak <Brak AT neo.rr.com>
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2006 15:23:04 -0500
> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Psalms and Sedarim
>
> So this goes to my original question. IF these breaks indicate reading 
> portions why are a lot of them placed in places where (in my logic) 
> should be placed. Such as in the middle or the 2nd to the last or third 
> to the last verse of a Psalm, or no breaks at the beginning of a book in 
> the Minor Prophets. In many places the breaks are put in the middle of 
> conversations and thoughts. In one place there is a list of genealogies. 
> And a break is place in between a man's 4th son and his 5th son (I don't 
> remember where it is at, I would have to look for it at a later time).
>
>
>
> Yigal Levin wrote:
>
>  
>
> > Dear James,
> >
> > The sedarim are meand for daily reading, one seder a day. So the reader 
> > would go through the entire book in two months!
> >
> > The intrduction to the Koren Tanakh, while not dealing specifically with the 
> > Psalms, does say the following: the division of the Torah into 154 sedarim 
> > follows the ancient custom of reading the Torah over a triannual cycle, one 
> > seder for each Sabbath (the present custom is to divide the whole Torah into 
> > 52 "parshiyot", one for each Sabbath of the year). Additionally, according 
> > to the Koren, the entire Tanakh is divided into 293 sedarim, which is the 
> > number of non-holydays in the solar year (that is, 365 minus 52 Sabbaths, 7 
> > days of Passover, 1 of Shavuot, 2 of Rosh Hashanah, 1 Yom Kippur, 8 Sukkot 
> > and the 9th of Av). So, the division enables one to read through the entire 
> > Tanakh in a year of "weekdays", leaving the holidays and Sabbaths for their 
> > own assigned readings.
> >
> > Yigal
> >