Editing Midrash (section)

== Etymology ==
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The Hebrew word ''midrash'' is derived from the root of the verb {{transliteration|he|darash}} ({{lang|he|דָּרַשׁ}}), which means "resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, require",<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/nas/darash.html |title=Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon: Darash |access-date=2018-07-31 |archive-date=2018-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801003943/https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/nas/darash.html |url-status=live }}</ref> forms of which appear frequently in the Bible.<ref>''[[Brown–Driver–Briggs]]'': [http://biblehub.com/bdb/1875.htm 1875. darash] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801035111/https://biblehub.com/bdb/1875.htm |date=2018-08-01 }}</ref>

The word ''midrash'' occurs twice in the Hebrew Bible: 2 [[Book of Chronicles|Chronicles]] 13:22 "in the ''midrash'' of the prophet [[Iddo (prophet)|Iddo]]", and 24:27 "in the ''midrash'' of the book of the kings". Both the [[King James Version]] (KJV) and [[English Standard Version]] (ESV) translate the word as "story" in both instances; the [[Septuagint]] translates it as {{lang|grc|βιβλίον}} (book) in the first, as {{lang|grc|γραφή}} (writing) in the second. The meaning of the Hebrew word in these contexts is uncertain: it has been interpreted as referring to "a body of authoritative narratives, or interpretations thereof, concerning historically important figures"<ref name=ODJR>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hKAaJXvUaUoC&dq=oxford+jewish+%22body+of+authoritative%22&pg=PA493 ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion'' (Oxford University Press 2011): "Midrash and midrashic literature"]</ref> and seems to refer to a "book", perhaps even a "book of interpretation", which might make its use a foreshadowing of the technical sense that the rabbis later gave to the word.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=aOVOYrZkrBoC&dq=%22midrash+by+the+rabbis%22&pg=PA162 Lieve M. Teugels, ''Bible and Midrash: The Story of "The Wooing of Rebekah" (Gen. 24)'' (Peeters 2004), p. 162]</ref>

Since the early Middle Ages the function of much of midrashic interpretation has been distinguished from that of {{transliteration|he|peshat}}, straight or direct interpretation aiming at the original literal meaning of a scriptural text.<ref name=ODJR/>